OFFA publishes 2012 annual report

The annual monitoring report by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) published on 4 July 2012 shows that in 2010-11 English universities and colleges invested significantly more on outreach activity.

The report, a joint publication with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), shows that outreach expenditure on activities such as summer schools rose by 15 per cent to £45.7 million (up from £39.6 million in 2009-10).

Key findings from the report are that:

  • universities and colleges spent £378.1 million on bursaries and scholarships for students from lower income and other under-represented groups, up from £363.5 million in 2009-10. The vast majority of this money (80.8 per cent) was spent on students from the lowest income group – those in receipt of a full grant
  • in total, 432,000 students from lower income backgrounds and other under-represented groups received a bursary or scholarship in 2010-11 compared to 413,000 in 2009-10. Almost three-quarters of students receiving a bursary or scholarship (74.1 per cent) were from the lowest income group (up from 67.3 per cent in 2009-10)
  • in total, universities and colleges spent £424.2 million on access measures, up from £403.7 million in 2009-10. Although total spend on access measures rose, it represents a smaller proportion of the income universities and colleges received from charging higher fees – 24.4 per cent compared to 25.3 per cent in 2009-10. This is because higher fee income rose in 2010-11
  • total higher fee income was £1.74 billion, up from £1.60 billion in 2009-10 (reasons for this include an increase in the total number of students and an inflationary increase in the maximum fee)

Read the full report.

Posted in: