Widening participation and contextual entry policy in accounting and finance

What is it about?

The paper analyses the relative performance of 'widening participation' students. 'Widening participation' students represent socio-economic groups that have been under-represented at high ranked universities, and are given lower, 'contextual' entry offers in line with UK government policy. Student performance is analysed across a degree programme with the highest proportion of widening participation students at a large UK 'Russell Group' university.

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Why is it important?

The findings show that 'widening participation' students perform at least as well as other students across their undergraduate degrees. This supports UK government policy on fair access and widening participation, and implies that equal pre-university academic qualifications might not reflect equivalent academic potential due to differences in schooling, support, tutoring and assessment guidance across different socio-economic groups.