Students at one of Greater Manchester’s four universities are almost all from under-represented groups, new data shows.
The University of Bolton says nearly 99 percent of its students last year ‘fall into one or more of the five core under-represented groups’.
It comes as UCAS, the service which runs university admissions in England, announced that there has been a surge in applications from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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In 2020-21, 28 percent of applicants were from disadvantaged areas, the organisation said — a big rise from the 17 percent seen in 2013.
And in Bolton, the figure of current students is very high — which bosses say helps students climb the social and economic ladder.
“The University of Bolton is proud to have one of the most diverse and inclusive student populations in the UK,” said Professor George E Holmes DL, the University’s vice-chancellor and president.
“Universities like Bolton play a massive part in social mobility in their country.
“It is a real credit to the government that they are prioritising the Bolton College of Medical Sciences with £20 million of levelling up bid funding which will provide training and careers and in medicine to some of the most disadvantaged communities in Britain.”
A spokesperson for Bolton added: “The Access & Participation Plan 2020-21-2024-25 identified that 98.6 percent of University of Bolton students fall into one or more of the five core under-represented groups.
“The number may have varied slightly in the latest year, and represents enrolled students rather than applicants, but would still be typical.”
Greater Manchester’s other major universities — Manchester, Salford, and Manchester Metropolitan — were also asked to share their data on under-represented student numbers by the Manchester Evening News.
While the University of Manchester could not source ‘specific data’ at the time of writing, a spokesperson said UCAS’ data trends were ‘fantastic’.
A statement said: “It is vitally important that people from all backgrounds are able to come to university, so it is fantastic to see the UCAS data indicating that an increasing number of students from the most disadvantaged areas are doing so each year.
“We run a number of projects to widen participation including the Manchester Access Programme, which helps local Year 12 students to gain a university place through events, workshops and an academic assignment.
“We also work with a number of strategic external partners to support thousands of school pupils across the north in order to close the attainment gap.
“Our Widening Participation Highlights Report 2021 includes key statistics relating to our work to improve access, success, and progression for underrepresented groups in higher education.”
Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford did not provide a comment by the time of writing.
