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STUDENTS from poorer areas of Scotland are now more likely to go to university, but less likely to graduate, according to a new report.
The Scottish Funding Council said today that the proportion of new students from the deprived areas grew from 13.6 per cent in 2013-14, to 16.6 per cent in 2021-22.
But it found that students from the most affluent areas are the most likely to make it beyond their first year, and the gap is widening.
Just 87.5 per cent of students from deprived areas made it to their second year — a 0.1 per cent fall — compared to 93.4 per cent from wealthy areas, an increase of 1.2 per cent.
Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth was “delighted” at the report, while University of Strathclyde UCU’s Ross Gibson said: “Staff are increasingly working the equivalent of two extra days each week to deliver the education students deserve, and student support services, including counselling and mental health provision, are woefully understaffed.
“If the Scottish government are genuinely driven to widen access to university, and to support students to complete their course, then the country’s expenditure ought to reflect it.”
