UK: Aimhigher brought down by coalition axe

A national programme that aims to widen participation in higher education in the UK is to be scrapped, writes Rebecca Attwood for Times Higher Education. Speaking at a Universities UK conference in London last week, David Willetts, the universities and science minister, said funding for the Aimhigher programme would cease next year.

Willetts said: "Aimhigher has assisted universities and schools to learn a lot about what works in raising the aspirations of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, but we now need to use this knowledge to make much faster progress on social mobility.

Under coalition proposals to raise the cap on tuition fees, universities wanting to charge more than £6,000 a year will have to demonstrate their involvement in outreach initiatives and the National Scholarship Programme, which will target bright students from poor backgrounds.
Full report on the Times Higher Education site