Two Sussex colleges fail poor student targets (From The Argus)

Two Sussex colleges fail poor student targets

4:00pm Thursday 29th September 2011 in News By Emily-Ann Elliott

Two colleges in Sussex have been named after failing to meet targets to recruit more poor students.

The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) said nearly one in four universities and colleges, including Northbrook College in Worthing and Chichester College, failed to meet their own targets last year.

However, college bosses say they are baffled by the report and that they do not know where the figures have come from.

The figures are included in the Office for Fair Access's (OFFA) fourth monitoring report, which looks at how much money universities and colleges are spending, and how well they are doing at attracting and supporting candidates from poorer backgrounds.

The report says that in total, 44 institutions, including 23 universities, five of which are elite universities, did not meet the goals they set themselves in 2009/10.

OFFA director of fair access Sir Martin Harris said: “The large majority of universities and colleges are also meeting their statistical targets. Where they are not doing so, I am concerned to understand the reasons why."

But Shelagh Legrave, principal of Chichester College, said: “We've no knowledge of ever having set a target, nor do we collect socio-economic data of our students.

“However, we currently only charge £1,345 for our Higher National Diplomas (HNDs) and next year we're intending to charge £5,000, which is well below the average for the university sector. We've never been approached by OFFA and hence are unsure of the source of these statistics."

Sue Dare, principal of Northbrook College, added: “In excess of 50% of Northbrook students come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The College has plans approved by the Office of Fair Access to increase this over the next three years.”