In response to a major new report from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission on what schools can do to improve social mobility, University Alliance agrees that schools cannot do this alone.
Professor Steve West, Chair of University Alliance, welcomed the report, adding:
“Higher education is a critical engine of social mobility. The added value delivered by higher education institutions such as Alliance universities which accept students from a diverse range of backgrounds and achieve some of the highest graduate employment rates is a great success story. They are transforming the lives of the many, not the few.
“To deliver this, we need effective careers information, advice and guidance (IAG) which is joined up and keeps pace with new career and learning opportunities. Misinformation particularly affects students from less well-off backgrounds.
“But schools and Government need to move away from a narrow-minded view that only attending an “elite” university equals success in the 21st Century. This fails to recognise the outstanding courses that exist right across the higher education sector. Students should be encouraged from an early age to aspire for the best education route and experience for them.”
