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Information about Widening Participation

The goal of widening participation in higher education is a major component of government education policy in the United Kingdom; see role of the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. It consists of an attempt to increase not only the numbers of young people entering higher education, but also the proportion from so-called "under-represented groups" (those from lower income families, people with disabilities and some ethnic minorities).

In this way it is hoped to redress the inequalities in participation between social classes. Widening participation is one of the strategic objectives of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The issue of widening participation became a political hot topic after the Laura Spence Affair which hit the headlines in 2000 and after the 2003 University of Bristol admissions row which converned alleged biases in favour of the state sector.

HEFCE is pursuing this policy through a number of measures, including the payment of financial incentives to universities, and by funding the Aimhigher programme.

This policy is linked to the Labour government's target of increasing participation in higher education to 50% by 2010, and is part of a wider drive to achieve social justice.

Action on Access is the National Co-ordination Team for HEFCE's Widening Participation Activities. Based at Edge Hill University in the North West of England, Action on Access provides an invaluable resource for widening participation practitioners in Higher Education Institutions and partnerships.

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Higher education is education provided by universities, vocational universities (community colleges, liberal arts colleges, and technical colleges, etc.) and other collegial institutions that award academic degrees, such as career colleges.
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2]   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) is a British government department created on 28 June 2007 to take over some of the functions of the disbanded departments of Education and Skills and Trade and Industry.
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disability is a condition or function judged to be significantly impaired relative to the usual standard of an individual or their group. The term is often used to refer to individual functioning, including physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual
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minority or subordinate group is a sociological group that does not constitute a politically dominant plurality of the total population of a given society. A sociological minority is not necessarily a numerical minority — it may include any group that is disadvantaged
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This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.
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This article has been tagged since February 2007.
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The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (previously the Department for Education and Skills) in the United Kingdom which distributes funding to Universities and
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The Laura Spence Affair was a British political row in 2000, ignited after the failure of high-flying state school pupil Laura Spence to secure a place at the University of Oxford.
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The 2003 University of Bristol admissions row was an argument over the admissions process for the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. It was sparked by concerns over the fairness of the admissions system for Bristol and concerns over bias towards state school students.
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university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees at all levels (bachelor, master, and doctorate) in a variety of subjects. A university provides both tertiary and quaternary education.
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Aimhigher is an umbrella term to describe initiatives aimed at widening participation in UK higher education, particularly among students from non-traditional backgrounds, minority groups and disabled persons.
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Social justice is the quality of a society's generalized right-ness. As there is no objective, known standard of what is just, the term can be amorphous and refer to sometimes self-contradictory values of justice.
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Edge Hill University is situated in Ormskirk in Lancashire, England. It has three faculties, Education, Health (based at Aintree, Liverpool) and Arts and Sciences.

In November 2006, Edge Hill University won the Times Higher Award for 'Outstanding Student Financial Support
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Motto
Dieu et mon droit   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen".
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