Your article (Ministers’ loan plans could stop poorer students in England going to university, 22 February) notes that the plan requires grade 5 in GCSE maths and English to access a student loan, and poor children do worse at GCSE exams. The reforms would also prevent the 5%-6% of students with dyslexia who are likely to fail to achieve grade 5 in English, and the 5%-6% of dyscalculics who may not even achieve a pass grade in maths, from accessing student loans.
It is well known that dyslexics can succeed at university, including Nobel prize-winning scientists such as Carol Greider and politicians such as Michael Heseltine. Successful dyscalculics are harder to identify, since the condition is not as widely recognised, but we have formally tested many who have done well at university, usually in arts subjects.
The Equality Act (2010) states that individuals with disabilities are entitled to receive “reasonable adjustments” to support their difficulties. Will reasonable adjustments be made for these students so that they too can access student loans? And will provision be made for the appropriate diagnostic assessment?
Prof Brian Butterworth
UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
The government’s expected response to the Augar review of higher education gives me real concern about accessibility. Its proposal to set minimum entry requirements for students to be eligible for higher education loans will undoubtedly result in people from disadvantaged backgrounds being unable to progress to university and on to higher-level courses.
It would be a travesty to go back to the elitist days when only the very wealthy could afford to go to university. Our society and economy needs a mix of higher-level skills, delivered by people from a diverse range of backgrounds. This is even more fundamental as we tackle the post-Covid, post-Brexit economic recovery – with skills being a central pillar of this.
Widening participation is key to filling industry skills needs and supporting social mobility. Refusing loans to those who need them will do great damage – and goes against the principle of “levelling up”.
Dr Sam Parrett
Group principal and CEO, London and South East Education Group
