Question reference: S6W-22017
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 12 October 2023
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Current status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 9 November 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the reported recommendation that Higher Education widening access targets should take regional context and under-represented areas into account.
Answer
We fully recognise that we have more to do, and all institutions have to work hard to ensure students from deprived areas receive opportunities to achieve their potential.
The Scottish Government is engaging with the sector to develop a consistent and robust set of measures to actively identify students who would benefit from our Widening Access policy.
We have established an Access Data Short-life Working Group to consider proposals and to investigate other widening access measures and data sources alongside existing SIMD measures. The group is due to report its findings to Ministers this autumn.