Universities to reach out to students from Britain's poorest areas

Students with learning difficulties are to be offered help to win places on degree courses in British universities, the government announced Thursday.

New guidelines announced today include them for the first time as a target group for universities.

It will pave the way for university education for students with learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, Asperger's Syndrome and those with attention deficit disorders such as ADD/ADHD.

It is part of new guidance issued today which calls on universities to work more closely with schools in poorer neighbourhoods.

Currently only 10 percent of young white British men from the most disadvantaged backgrounds progress to university.

More than one in 10 black students drop out of university after the first year, and only six percent of young entrants to elite universities are from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The guidance, published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, sets out the government's clear ambitions for the progress universities should make to boost social mobility and raise young people's aspirations.

It comes just weeks after Prime Minister David Cameron issued a new requirement for British universities to publish data on the backgrounds of their applicants to shine a light on admissions processes.

Universities Minister Jo Johnson said: "This guidance for the first time identifies the groups of students where most attention is needed, such as white boys from the poorest homes and students with specific learning difficulties."

New goals include doubling the proportion of university entrants from disadvantaged backgrounds by 2020 compared with entry levels in 2009. The government also wants the number of black and ethnic minority students going to university to increase by 20 percent by 2020.

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said university access agreements will be monitored and reviewed annually by the DFA and their progress published, to help ensure they are meeting their obligations.

DFA director Professor Les Ebdon said: "For the first time this guidance specifically asks institutions to consider how they can work to widen access to white men from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This group is among the least likely to enter higher education.

"I will be expecting to see an increase in outreach work - with universities working to raise aspirations and attainment among people from disadvantaged backgrounds - so that nobody with the potential to benefit from higher education feels that their background holds back their ambition." Endit