Teesside - a top performer for widening participation

The University of Teesside has come first in the region in three out of four key Performance Indicators published today (19 July, 2007) by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

And for the second year running the Middlesbrough-based university has dramatically cut the percentage of full-time degree students dropping-out without a qualification. This is down to 14.2% in the figures published today (compared with 18.5% two years ago) and puts Teesside in line with the UK average.

The HEFCE Performance Indicators were introduced to track how well universities were doing in attracting students from poorer neighbourhoods into higher education (HE) and in supporting students through their studies.

The latest figures relate to 2005/6 and show the make up of Teesside’s full time undergraduate intake. The figures show that:

• 98.6% of young entrants came from state schools or colleges – the highest figure for the North East’s five universities – and comparing well with the national average for all UK institutions of 87.9%. Teesside is in the top six of English Universities for state-educated students
• 46.7% of new students came from socio-economic groups 4 to 7 – top in the region and comparing with a national average of 29.8%
• 30.5% of young entrants came from neighbourhoods with a traditionally low participation – second in the region and comparing with a national average of just 14.6%. Teesside is in the top four of English Universities in this category
• 28.2% of new mature full-time students had no previous HE experience and came from a low participation neighbourhood – top figure for the North East. This compares with a national figure of 16.8% and puts Teesside in the top six of English Universities for this category.

Professor Graham Henderson: “I am very pleased with the national indicators. They continue to provide evidence of the University’s ability to simultaneously deliver its aims of providing opportunities and pursuing excellence.”

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