Equality in education is not easy to achieve

'Creating greater equality of opportunity and access to higher education is a problem we have singularly failed to tackle in …

'Creating greater equality of opportunity and access to higher education is a problem we have singularly failed to tackle in this country." This statement, made at a recent conference on challenges facing Irish universities, is typical of the sentiments expressed on the question of access, writes Prof William Reville.

It is true that the less well-off socio-economic groups access higher education here to a lesser extent than the better off groups, but we are no different in this regard to other developed countries and ongoing efforts are slowly but steadily evening matters out. This is a complex situation that will yield only to prolonged effort. We should take credit for the success of efforts to-date and it is most unhelpful to minimise the effects of these efforts.

The Republic ranks ninth among 28 OECD countries when funding of higher education is considered. Expenditure on third-level institutions in Ireland per student is greater than Japan, Germany, Austria, Belgium, UK, France, Finland and Italy, among others, but behind the US, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, Norway, Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Primary degree graduation rates in the Republic rank 11th among OECD countries, ahead of France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Austria, but behind Australia, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Poland, UK, Japan, Spain and Sweden.

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Numbers enrolled in higher education in Ireland have ballooned over recent decades. But the Government has not adequately resourced its policy of mass third-level education and we now have a problem rarely discussed - too much overall access for the resources available.

Of those who enrol in university, approximately 40 per cent are male and 60 per cent are female. This serious gender imbalance rarely figures in public commentary. If the gender ratio was the other way around it would be a stock item for public commentary.

Access to higher education in the Republic has been intensively studied by Prof Patrick Clancy, of University College Dublin. His most recent publication, College Entry in Focus: A Fourth National Survey of Access to Higher Education, was published by The Higher Education Authority in 2001.

Prof Clancy expresses the extent of participation of the different socio-economic groups in higher education as the ratio of the percentage of students from each group in higher education to the percentage of each group in the population as a whole. Thus, if the national percentage of school-leaving-age teenagers in socio-economic class A is 30 per cent and the percentage of students in higher education from class A is 15 per cent, class A is participating in higher education with an index of 0.5.

Prof Clancy divides the socio-economic spectrum into the following categories: Employers and Managers; Higher Professional; Lower Professional; Non-Manual; Manual Skilled; Semi-Skilled; Unskilled; Own Account Workers; Farmers; Agricultural Workers. I will pick some of these to illustrate the participation ratios and the trend in these ratios since 1980. The first figure within the brackets after each group is the 1980 participation ratio and the second figure is the 1998 ratio: Employers and Managers (2.12, 1.82); Higher Professionals (2.95, 2.18); Lower Professionals (1.65, 1.05); Manual Skilled (0.43, 0.73); Semi-skilled (0.46, 0.51); Unskilled (0.15, 0.48); Farmers (1.48, 1.63).

The percentage of college-entry-age young people in each social group going on to higher education can also be estimated. Some examples are (the first figure within brackets is the 1980 percentage and the second figure is the 1998 percentage): Employers and Managers (42, 81); Higher Professionals (59, 90); Lower Professional (33, 47); Manual Skilled (9, 32); Semi-Skilled (9, 23); Unskilled (3, 21); Farmers (30, 72).

While the better-off groups access higher education in much higher proportions than the other groups, there has been impressive improvement in participation rates among the less well-off groups over the past 25 years.

It is unclear what further measures can be taken in the short term to further increase participation in higher education by the poorer socio-economic groups. The factors inhibiting participation are intimately embedded in the social/economic fabric and will not be easily manipulated.

It is clear that interventions to increase participation at third level will make significant further improvements only if applied consistently from the early stages of the child's development and also target parents. Interventions targeted only at teenagers will never do more than scratch the surface. William Reville is associate professor of biochemistry and director of microscopy at University College Cork.