Towards a more inclusive higher education system in th e UK (1998/99 to 2007/08): students with and without disabilities

Based on data drawn from ten cohorts of students successfully completing a first degree, this paper examines Government higher education (HE) policy and changes in its effects in practice over a period of ten years until 2008. In 1998, Government policy on HE was set to make HE more inclusive of previously under‐represented groups. These groups included students from semi‐skilled or unskilled family backgrounds and from socially deprived localities. By the year 2010, a target was set to have 50 per cent of 18‐30 year‐old individuals experiencing HE. Educational standards were to be maintained. Another identified under‐represented group was students with disabilities. This paper addresses the relationship between HE policy and its effects in practice in relation to both groups. Changes in the numbers and the first degree results of cohorts of successful male and female students with and without disabilities were analysed annually between the years 1998/99 (Cohort 1) and 2007/8 (Cohort 10). The numbers and the first degree results of successful disabled (nine categories of disability) and non‐disabled male and female students were analysed. To date, results from an overall total of 2,588,792 successful students have been examined. A Government announcement in the autumn of 2009 limited access to first degree courses. Has a metaphorical “end of the line” towards greater inclusion in HE been reached?