Strategic Outreach

The term ‘Gypsy, Roma and Traveller’ encompasses a wide range of individuals

This includes:

In 2020-21, approximately 660 Gypsy or Traveller students were registered in higher education. Learners in this group have the lowest attainment in compulsory schooling of all ethnic groups, which in turn impacts their access to higher education.

The proportion of students who disclose themselves as disabled or as having a mental health condition is rising. Despite this, disabled people remain underrepresented in higher education.

Between 2010 and 2018, the proportion of UK students self-reporting a disability increased from 9.5% to 16.7%. Disabled graduates are also less likely to progress onto highly skilled employment or postgraduate study (Office for Students data shows a 1.8 percentage point gap for full-time students graduating in 2017).

Progression rates for pupils with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) lag well behind those for other pupils. The proportion of pupils who had progressed to HE by age 19 by 2021/22 was just 8.9% for pupils with an EHC plan or Statement of SEND compared with 51.2% for pupils with no SEND.

We’ve identified that within our catchment area we have Nottingham with D/deaf attainment of below 3/4 of non-SEND children, and Derby with the highest population of D/deaf people outside of London, as per the 2021 census.

Young carers are identified as young people who offer unpaid care and support for a family member or friend. This may be to support someone with an illness, disability, physical or mental health conditions or addiction.

Being a carer can impact a young person’s education and decisions around progression to higher education. Young carers accounted for just 3.9% of UCAS applicants in 2024. (UCAS, 2024)

Being a young carer can also affect course choices with a recent UCAS study revealing that young adult carers are 59% more likely to apply to health and social care courses and 57% are more likely to apply to nursing and midwifery courses than applicants without caring responsibilities. (UCAS, 2024)

Being a LAC or a care experienced learner means a young person will have spent time living with foster carers under local authority care, in residential care (e.g. a children’s home), looked after at home under a supervision order, or in kinship care with relatives or friends, either officially (e.g. a special guardianship order) or informally without local authority support.

Being a care experienced learner can impact on a young person’s education and consistency of schooling as well as their higher education options. University Accommodation costs were a key concern for three quarters of care experienced applicants last year.

Estranged learners are young people aged 25 or below, studying without the support and approval of either parent due to a breakdown in their relationship. This might be biological, step or adoptive parents, or possibly wider family members who have been involved in their care.

Children from military families have low participation rates in higher education. Various factors can affect access to higher education among children from military families including mobility, separation, wellbeing and caring responsibilities.

Fewer children from Armed Forces families progress to higher education than their peers. The participation rate is estimated to be 24% compared to a national average of 43%.

Refugees face significant barriers to successful participation in higher education, including a lack of certainty over immigration status, tuition fee concerns, language and cultural barriers and issues around validating previous qualifications.

Only 1% of displaced people are in higher education.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates the number of displaced children under 18 to be approximately 33 million, with a further 6.5 million young people aged 19-26. This means that there are almost 40 million young people worldwide who are likely to be missing out on education, other opportunities for personal fulfilment, and economic advancement.

Learners from the global majority face a range of barriers, leading to them being underrepresentation/underserved at HE.

Check stats – Black Caribbean pupils were among the least likely to progress to high tariff HE by age 19 in 2022/23. The progression rate of 8.3% is just over half the overall national figure (15.3%).

There is still a significant difference in the proportions of Black, Asian and minority ethnic students awarded a good (first or 2:1) undergraduate degree when compared to white students.