Efficiency savings
The new government has, in the spirit of cost-cutting, removed the funding for the Aimhigher institute. An organisation which presents the idea of higher education to school pupils of from disadvantaged areas. The aim is to raise and stir the ambitions of students in the interest of widening participation for all and increasing the number of low-income background students going to university. An admirable and important programme.
Enthusiasm for learning
Having worked closely with some of the Aimhigher team recently, I heard about their loss of funding and imminent winding-up of the business. It was heartening to see the enthusiasm of the team and the interest of the young people in higher education. The students seemed interested in using university as a pathway to independance and learning at a higher level. The staff involved said they really enjoyed reaching out to young people and opening their minds to show them a part of the world outside their area.
Question of Support
Conversations with teachers associated with the school parties unveiled that there was a lack of support of the school system at home for many of the young people on the programme. The teachers continued, highlighting that a lack of support from home (in some cases negative reinforcement) severely hampers the positive ideas that are gained out of the Aimhigher project. They roundly supported Aimhigher and weren't happy about the removal of the funding. They ventured that planting the seeds of ideas about higher education was an important keystone to widening the participation of young people in further education. There is talk of shifting the responsibility of the funding of exercises such as these over to the universities (considering the amount to be taken in fees by the majority of HE providers in Britain, it is right that they help at least in this capacity).
New hope
The Aimhigher program is certainly dead in the water as far as its current manifestation is concerned. However, there is hope for future cohorts of students as the balance of responsibility in HE recruitment and inspiration shifts from government to universities. This shift is still a way off yet as the universities take a few years to adjust to the new fees system and balance their books before they continue bringing school pupils into the university environment to immerse them in the HE way of thinking to show them that there's much more beyond school than simply studying. That's the key and it's a shame that, for the immediate future at least, it has been lost.
