- This guest blog has been written for HEPI by Fiona Walsh, Partnerships and Development Director at Student Hubs, which is a national charity, working in partnership with universities to deliver social action programmes which support higher education students to engage with social and environmental challenges.
Earlier this month, HEPI and the UPP Foundation released a report on public attitudes towards higher education and the results show a lack of engagement with the benefits and advantages of the higher education sector, particularly among those who are semi-skilled and unskilled, casual workers and pensioners.
The polling shows ‘only 18% of our sample had visited a university in the 2021/22 academic year, with those in AB (28%) social groups significantly more likely to have done so compared to DE (11%).’
But is this surprising? It is clear not all of the current ways of working are not fit for purpose if we really want to prioritise social mobility and stronger engagement with the higher education sector as a whole in our communities.
