Union welcomes increase in pupils going to university

Responding to the Initial Destinations of Senior Phase School Leavers report from the Scottish Government, UCU Scotland official Mary Senior said: 'Widening access to universities, to enable everyone who has the ability to learn to participate, is a key priority in Scotland, so it is very welcome to see an increasing number of school pupils going into higher education.
 
'Today's report does however reveal geographical disparity across Scotland, with 66% of school leavers in East Renfrewshire moving into higher education, but only 25% of Clackmannanshire local authority school leavers going on to study at university.  
 
'This gap underlines the extent of the challenge to close the opportunity gap.  Scotland's Widening Access Commissioner certainly has his work cut out to ensure that all those who are able can go on to study at university, and that the investment is there to support students in higher education.  Nevertheless it is heartening to see the progress in that 40 per cent of school pupils are now going into higher education.'