It’s not easy to raise prior attainment, but universities could better contextualise applicants’ grades

The government has challenged the Higher Education sector to double the proportion of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and to raise by 20 per cent the number of undergraduates from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. A report by the Social Market Foundation casts doubt on the achievability of these 2020 goals: we’re on track to do neither. Steve Jones outlines the important findings but challenges some of the solutions on offer.