Commissioner for Fair Access: annual report 2025/26

2 - Improvement and innovation in challenging times

Over the last few years, a range of innovation has been introduced from a range of stakeholders, ten examples of which are described to evidence the breadth and depth of the on-going commitment to fair access in Scotland.

1. Strengthening the metrics.

In my last report^[10] I recommended that the existing institutional target should be withdrawn and replaced with a commitment from each HEI to take action to increase the proportion of those from Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas among its entrants or, if this is demonstrably not possible without adverse consequences, to match the highest proportion and number of SIMD20 entrants that it achieved since 2013-14. Background work was undertaken to engage with universities (through Universities Scotland and the Access Delivery Group) to clarify the rationale underlying this recommendation,^[11] and to acknowledge the concern of some HEIs that this would be an unreasonable ask if it required them to match exceptionally high levels of access that were thought to characterise the ‘pandemic years’^[12]. Consequently, I refined this recommendation taking account of the exceptional circumstances of the ‘pandemic years’ that might otherwise have led to benchmarks being set that were exceptional, rather than optimal. The Minister has written to SFC’s CEO confirming this change in policy direction (which was the initial Commission on Widening Access (CoWA) recommendation 32 in A Blueprint for Fairness^[13]). SFC will work with officials in Scottish Government and the sector to introduce this change for academic year 2026-27, which will add further focus to work towards achieving the 2026 and 2030 widening access targets of increasing the proportion of entrants from Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas.

This is a significant development, which reinforces the commitment of the sector to fair access, demonstrates the willingness of the sector to be challenged to achieve more, and indicates that the Scottish Government is open to shifting focus, where such pivots strengthen the commitment to achieve the fair access goals.

Table 1 highlights the levels that institutions will be asked to exceed. Highlighted in yellow is the highest level of intake of students (Scottish-domiciled, full-time and first-degree) from Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas for each of the 18 HEIs to which the target pertains. For example, for entry in academic year 2026-27 the Robert Gordon University should aspire to exceed the 7.2% of entrants who came from Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas in 2023-24. This is a lower target that the previous flat rate target of 10% that was set for all institutions. In contrast, the University of Glasgow, which always exceeded the previous 10% target, will now be asked to exceed the 16.1% of entrants from Scotland’s 20% Most Deprived Areas that it achieved in 2023-24. Notably, this is a lower target than the 16.7% that was achieved in 2021-22, one of the ‘pandemic years’.

However, it is acknowledged that exceptional circumstances may have led to an institution achieving its highest intake and that to now ask that institution to match such a level is unreasonable. Similarly, it is acknowledged that the conditions under which an institution achieved its highest intake may no longer apply. Where it can be demonstrated that it is not possible for an institution to match (and then exceed) what they have previously been able to achieve, it is reasonable that an alternative benchmark is proposed.

The new target asks HEIs to build on recent progress, with eleven institutions achieving their highest intake, outside the ‘pandemic years’, in 2023-24.

2. Strengthening the evidence base through disaggregation.

In my last report, I also recommended that SFC and institutions should report evidence in deciles up to SIMD40, in addition to quintiles. The thinking behind this recommendation was partly defensive and partly progressive. It was defensive in the sense that it would provide the evidence that would allay concerns that a focus on fair access for the very most disadvantaged would displace – or be at the expense of – those who were marginally less disadvantaged. It was progressive in the sense that it would open fair access work to scrutiny to appraise whether the very most disadvantaged (those from the 10% Most Deprived Areas) were benefiting equally from fair access work.

Although I have not yet examined the extent to which institutions have acted on this recommendation, the new background table in the RoWAs of 2022-23 and 2023-24 has replicated CoWA Table 1 providing data on the number and proportion of entrants in each FEI and HEI for the four most deprived SIMD decile areas since 2013-14. These data are used later in this report (Wider RoWA evidence base).

This is another significant development, which reinforces the willingness of the Scottish Funding Council to strengthen an already strong evidence base. Further considerations of how this evidence base could be improved to better serve the sector are suggested later in this report.

Legend

* Highest proportion (outside ‘pandemic years’)

** Highest proportion (‘pandemic years’)

Target = highest proportion (outside ‘pandemic years’)

Highlighting indicates whether the target was also the *highest ever proportion (during or outside the ‘pandemic years’) or **whether the target is a lower proportion than what was achieved during the ‘pandemic years’.

Source: RoWA Background Tables 2023-24: CoWA Table 1B.

3. Reviewing, with a view to strengthening, the National Schools Programme.

In the Spring of 2025, the Scottish Funding Council announced the formation of a Strategic Advisory Group (SAG)^[14] to oversee and monitor the implementation of the fifteen recommendations that concluded the review of the National Schools Programme (NSP),^[15] the report from which was published at the end of 2024.

It is widely accepted that the NSP is a cornerstone of work in Scotland to achieve fair access to higher education, comprising a combination of four targeted programmes, organised and delivered across four regions, in a non-partisan manner.^[16] It is the most tangible form of fair access as a collective endeavour, with most HEIs actively involved in supporting its work. As recommendation 2 acknowledges, it makes a very specific contribution to fair access work - supporting Senior Phase pupils in Scotland from backgrounds of socioeconomic disadvantage and underrepresented groups to access higher education in university. Notably, it is not the sum total of access work or institutional outreach, nor is it a vehicle for recruitment to individual institutions.

The Review demonstrates the sector’s commitment to this work, but also conveys a desire to build on its success. Recommendation 6 outlines the ways in which it is envisaged that future work to promote fair access through the NSP could be strengthened, which will be the focus of task groups, as set out below:

• Better understanding regional needs and differences including eligible pupil population size, distribution/rurality, geography amongst other factors.
• Agreeing core eligibility criteria, targeting and selection methodology.
• Exploring a national approach to supporting Senior Phase-aged students who have left school and are pursuing qualifications in college.
• Developing an agreed upon minimum baseline offer for NSP participants.
• Developing a national credit rated programme (aligned with SCQF).
• Portability of NSP participation and recognition for HE admissions.
• Reviewing, and if required refreshing, the definitions of, and subject offer under the Access to High Demand Professions provision of the NSP.

If this wide-ranging list is delivered, it will greatly strengthen the core framework of support for fair access in schools across Scotland.

4. Widening Access to Higher Education – the report following the inquiry of the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee.

In May 2025, the Education, Children and Young People Committee of the Scottish Parliament published the report arising from its inquiry into Widening access to higher education.^[17] The Inquiry collected written evidence and conducted four sessions with witnesses during February and March. It sought to explore five issues:

• What is needed for colleges and universities to meet the 2026 interim target.
• Which access initiatives are showing success .
• What impact widening access is having on other SIMD groups .
• Whether the work of the Scottish Government and partners to introduce additional data measures is progressing, and when and how this might be incorporated into targets .
• What access challenges exist for disabled, Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and care experienced students outwith SIMD20 areas, and what might be done to address these challenges.

Following deliberations, the Committee identified a number of issues for further consideration, most of which have featured in this and previous Commissioner reports. The Committee:

• Questioned whether the financial support available to students being targeted under widening access initiatives is adequate (paragraph 87).
• Proposed that further measures are introduced to improve access for disabled and BME students as part of the widening access agenda. (para. 88, 91).
• Asks for greater consistency of support for care experienced students to be delivered (para. 92).
• Asks that data is improved on estranged students (para. 93) and former armed forces personnel (para. 97).
• Asks that greater consistency of advice is made available to students from career advisors (para. 96).
• Concurred with the proposal to adopt a different approach for the institutional target (para. 154).
• Advises that the remit of the Commissioner should be extended to include colleges (para. 159).
• Asks the Scottish Government to consider consulting on including part-time students within widening access work (para. 160, 161).
• Asks for the focus on retention to enable analysis across the whole period of study (para. 162).
• Opines that work to improve retention must acknowledge the importance of financial barriers and mental health (para. 163).
• Recommends that the Scottish Government works with stakeholders and the Commissioner to introduce a basket of measures to identify person-centred characteristics for widening access measures (para. 212).
• Requests that the Scottish Government sets out how it will take forward plans to introduce Free School Meal (FSM) data as an access measure at a national level, including timescales attached to this work and any legislation required. (para. 215).
• Strongly agrees with the value of introducing a Unique Learner Number (ULN) to track students' educational journey and allow a better understanding of what works regarding transitions in the longer term … The Committee recommends that the Scottish Government now commits to the introduction of a ULN, and outlines how this will be achieved. (para. 218).

5. The introduction of fair access criteria in applications for postgraduate studentships to the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science.

Although postgraduate education was not the focus of the Commission on Widening Access and subsequent work to act on its recommendations, it is an important part of the business of higher education, and progression to postgraduate study is considered one of the positive outcomes of an undergraduate education. If we are concerned with fair access in tertiary education, we should have an interest in access to postgraduate study.

The Scottish Graduate School of Social Science describes itself as the “UK's largest facilitator of funding, training and support for doctoral students in social science”. It combines the expertise of sixteen universities across Scotland, facilitates world-class PhD research, with funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Scottish Funding Council. In recent years, it has taken steps to try and widen participation and inclusion in doctoral programmes, and has intimated an ambition to strengthen its work to promote fair access. For example, part of the application process for the student-led open competition invites applicants to reflect their preparedness for PhD study and to explain how they might flourish as a result, advising that “Drawing on your own background (including your life experiences, journey to/through university, work experiences or volunteering) please provide a summary of why you are ready to undertake a PhD now and how you will flourish as a result of PhD funding. You might include, for example, personal challenges that you have overcome or achievements that you are proud of in your work, study or life experiences and how these map onto the skills required to flourish in a PhD programme. Challenges could include, but are not limited to, protected characteristics, socio-economic status and of being first-in-a-generation to university or care-experienced.” Furthermore, in its profiling of applicants, it includes metrics such as free school meal entitlement at school, and whether applicants are first-in-family.

The timeliness and quality of the research proposal, the ability of the candidate, and the supervisory fit and research environment into which they will become a part, remain critical considerations in determining successful candidates in this highly competitive scheme. However, it is positive that fair access considerations have been introduced in the process. It would be interesting to review the impact of these innovations, and to consider the extent to which fair access is being promoted in postgraduate education more generally.

6. Adopting a disciplinary focus - National Medical Students Widening Participation Forum.

The National Medical Students Widening Participation Forum is a UK-wide initiative that was established in 2015 to “promote equity in access to medical education”, with aims to:

• Support students not just into medicine, but through it—helping them progress and thrive.
• Develop collaborative work across widening participation (WP) teams in UK medical schools.
• Champion the inclusion of students from underrepresented and WP backgrounds.

It has convened seven annual conferences, the most recent of which was hosted by the University of Glasgow in July 2025.^[18] Since 2017, it has convened a student working group.

Medicine and dentistry are high demand professions, which have been successful in facilitating access for applicants from disadvantaged areas in recent years (see Figure 11 in this report). Medicine is one of the subject areas that is supported by Reach^[19] as part of the National Schools Programme. More generally, it is an example of what can be achieved when subject experts take an active interest in who gets to access their discipline.

In addition to the work of the Forum and Reach programmes, a body of knowledge is developing to support work to widen access in medical studies. Gibson Smith and colleagues have explored the ways in which medical students from a widening participation background have found their own experiences of adversity to be an asset.^[20] Although Simpson and colleagues also acknowledge that individual resilience is an factor that enables success, they also identify many institutional constraints and ways in which the education system – both before and during medical studies - discourages and disadvantages students from widening access backgrounds.^[21] Krstic and colleagues also explore entry, through the administration of a survey of ‘prospective Scottish-domiciled applicants to medical schools’ to better understand perceptions of the NHS, medical careers, and barriers to medical school.^[22] Complementing this work is the study of Alexander and colleagues, which engages secondary school teachers to better understand their thinking when offering advice on entry to medical education in higher education.^[23]

A disciplinary focus on fair access in Scotland is not limited to medical education, with recent contributions including studies from Games Development,^[24] Geography,^[25] Initial Teacher Education,^[26] Mathematical Sciences,^[27] Nursing education^[28] and Social Sciences^[29].

7. The investment in fair access by charitable trusts in Scotland.

Scotland’s many independent charitable trusts have a history of supporting access to tertiary education in Scotland. Many of these are small-scale, offering support to ease the burdens associated with the cost of study. Some target support to particular population groups or discipline areas, while others offer support to residents, regardless of background. The Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) lists those actively involved in providing education endowments, and describes conditions of eligibility.^[30]

One of the largest providers of support have strengthened their commitment to fair access in 2025. The Robertson Trust has awarded funding to ‘test and demonstration’ projects through its Education Pathway. Projects funded include:

• Abertay University. Abertay+ Scheme: Reimagining Admissions Criteria, aims to ensure fair access to higher education by removing barriers and supporting student success for under-represented students through student success coaching.
• Parent Power (of The Brilliant Club). This work aims to reduce local inequalities in access to higher education by empowering parents and carers to become agents of change. It seeks to build strong community networks in two areas of disadvantage (North Glasgow and rural East Ayrshire), with potential to influence both local practice and wider systemic change.
• Edinburgh Napier University. Supporting students who have experienced poverty and trauma. By tackling the underlying policies and practices that act as barriers, it aims to reshape institutional cultures so they are more inclusive, trauma-informed, and focused on wellbeing - helping more students to succeed and contributing to national Fair Access goals.
• University of Glasgow. Through development of an app and online platform focused on promoting best practice in fair access, it is hoped this project could lead to more effective partnership working to drive fair access to university on a national scale.

The Robertson Trust is also partnering with the Carnegie Trust for Universities in Scotland to provide a clearer picture of Scotland’s fair access landscape - highlighting gaps and overlaps, and delivering a baseline from which current practice can be better understood, and key improvements identified. By taking a national, system-view of fair access activity in Scotland, this work aims to enable funders, researchers, practitioners and policymakers to identify opportunities to work collectively across sectors to drive progress towards a more equitable higher education system in Scotland.

8. The introduction of a Student Success Model at the University of the West of Scotland.

First approved in 2022-23, the University of the West of Scotland has been developing its ‘Student Success Model’, which aims to “provide a personalised approach to supporting our students’ academic, professional and personal development, promoting student engagement and supporting successful outcomes”. Comprised of three core pillars - professional service support, academic support and peer support - it is a recognition of the importance of a whole institution partnership approach. Although introduced to students as a service that does not seek to monitor or report on progress,^[31] the work is informed by engagement data and learner analytics to anticipate needs and intervene at an earlier stage than hitherto, to support students at-risk of not progressing with their studies. It is a model that has been deployed successfully elsewhere,^[32] including other institutions in Scotland.^[33] Although it is too early to definitely appraise the impact on student experience and retention of the work at the University of the West of Scotland, emerging evidence^[34] suggests that this is making a positive contribution to tackling one of the emergent challenges in sustaining fair access in Scottish education – the persistently high rates of students not continuing with their studies beyond the initial year of registration.

9. The strengthening of connections between the academic research community in Scotland and those access and participation practitioners concerned to measure impact.

I am supportive of those practitioners who prefer to focus on service delivery and do not have the skills or inclination to formally evaluate this work – this is an acknowledgement of the critically important role of practitioners in enabling fair access. However, and as intimated in my last report, I am also strongly supportive of those access and participation practitioners who wish not only to be effective and reflective practitioners,^[35],[36] but also aim to develop their research skills in order to evaluate impact and improving project monitoring.

Through its Evaluation Matters Community of Practice,^[37] the Scottish Community of Access and Participation Practitioners has been developing capacity to support evaluation of fair access work across Scotland. Eight case studies have been published, which showcase work to appraise the efficacy of fair access interventions. The links that have been established between SCAPP and the education research community in Scotland is a welcome development, which has the potential to enhance the evaluation of work pertaining to access and participation. The partnership of SCAPP and the Scottish Educational Research Association in the delivery of the Shaping the Future of Access and Participation: Sharing Knowledge, Valuing Impact conference (Glasgow Caledonian University, May 2025) was a positive development,^[38] as was the contribution of SCAPP officers to the annual conference of SERA in Aberdeen in November 2025.^[39]

Equally welcome is the breadth of academic research and evaluation that has emerged across Scotland in recent years, with contributions from within a range of institutions, including Abertay University,^[40] University of Aberdeen,^[41] University of Dundee,^[42] University of Edinburgh,^[43] Edinburgh Napier University,^[44] City of Glasgow College and Glasgow Caledonian University,^[45] University of Glasgow,^[46] Queen Margaret University,^[47] University of St. Andrews,^[48] and the University of Strathclyde^[49]. It is also promising that fair access has piqued the interest of the next generation, with doctoral theses on fair access being successfully defended at the University of Edinburgh,^[50] University of Glasgow^[51] and the University of Strathclyde^[52], and work on-going at the University of Dundee^[53].

Confirmation that specifying a target based on socio-economic disadvantage is not the only focus of fair access research is evident in the diversity of populations that have been the subject of fair access analysis in Scotland, including estranged students,^[54] mature students,^[55] commuter students,^[56] students from gypsy/traveller communities and working-class students,^[57] and those from rural areas who elected not to become students^[58].

As the central CoWA metric focuses on equity of access, it is reassuring that this issue is being appraised by the wider research community. In addition to the work of Krstic and colleagues that was mentioned earlier;^[59] Nathanial, in a cross-country study explored ‘non-traditional trajectories’ into higher education by canvassing the experiences of adult learners;^[60] Reid and Sutherland report on the retrospective analysis of school experiences of ‘gifted’ students in higher education who hail from areas of deprivation;^[61] and, Horrock-Birrs describes the work of STEP UP and how an approach to access that emphasises continuity, rather than difference can assist students who articulate from college to university.^[62]

The work of Horrock-Birrs demonstrates that fair access is more than entry to higher education. Better understanding what works to facilitate successful transitions to university from college students in Scotland has also been explored by engaging staff^[63] and students^[64]. More generally, the experiences of fair access students in higher education in Scotland has involved work that reports on strategies to engender a sense of belonging,^[65] inclusion,^[66] and connection^[67]; what would be required to achieve a more just and equitable university experience for commuter students in institutions that traditionally have a lower proportion of such students;^[68] and the extent to which, and ways in which, poverty is encountered by university students^[69].

The lens on fair access work in Scottish higher education has also considered outcomes. On one hand, Iannelli and colleagues have found that tighter student selection criteria in Scotland (compared to Ireland) accounts for higher rates of retention and less marked social inequalities in withdrawal.^[70] In contrast, although Burns and colleagues at the University of Strathclyde report that most students with contextualised admissions successfully progress beyond their first year and attain an Honours degree at the end of their studies, not as many are as successful as those who entered higher education with a standard offer. Furthermore, students from more deprived areas were found to be less likely to be successful compared to those who were not, even when they had the same level of attainment at secondary school.^[71] Further work by Burns and colleagues found that successful completion of Advanced Higher in Mathematics in school was associated with more positive outcomes in Mathematics and Statistics courses at university, leading them to speculate on whether access to this qualification at school was more likely to disadvantage candidates from more socio-economically deprived areas.^[72]

There is also a body of knowledge emerging that appraises the system as a whole. O’Toole and colleagues have produced a ‘semi-systematic’ literature review on widening participation in Scotland over one-quarter of a century leading up to 2021;^[73] Robertson reflects on the role of colleges in facilitating access to higher education;^[74] Finkel-Gates has adapted the English Social Mobility Index to evaluate the role of Scottish universities in promoting social mobility by examining access, retention, and graduate outcomes;^[75] Simpson and Hope express concern that fair access work is only focusing on a single ‘super-category’ of disadvantage,^[76] which resonates with Kourova’s cautions that the way in which widening access to higher education in Scotland is conceived is overly narrow and privileges the needs of those who are white, Scottish and urban^[77].

In summary, a rich body of evidence is emerging that supports, directs and challenges those involved in delivering fair access in Scotland, with access and participation practitioners making important contributions to this endeavour.

10. Tripartite working on fair access priorities.

Over the last year, closer working arrangements have been introduced between the Commissioner for Fair Access, Scottish Funding Council (Student Interests, Access and Quality team) and Scottish Government (Student Equalities and Fair Access team). Bi-monthly meetings are convened through which key developments in fair access are shared and discussed. However, the primary purpose of these meetings has been to focus attention on the most challenging fair access priorities, i.e., (i) the prospects for replacing the area-based metric (SIMD) for fair access targets with a household/individual metric; (ii) the prospects for introducing a universal student identifier to track progress across the educational life-cycle; and (iii) work to replace the flat rate 10% institutional target with a bespoke target that challenges each institution to make progress on an annual basis. As reported above, the new metric for institutions will be introduced in 2026-27 and work continues at pace to make progress on the other objectives.

Collectively, these ten examples demonstrate the on-going commitment to achieve fair access to higher education in Scotland. However, they are not the sum total of new innovation with many other developments also strengthening the infrastructure to support fair access, such as:

• The introduction of the University School at New College Lanarkshire, which in partnership with the University of the West of Scotland, is bringing higher education within reach of local communities in Cumbernauld, Motherwell, Coatbridge and their immediate vicinities.^[78]
• The second round of entrants to the BVSci Veterinary Science course at SRUC, which was the first new Vet School in Scotland for over 150 years when the degree welcomed its first intake of students in 2024, and which extends access to education in rural Scotland.
• Glasgow Caledonian University setting an ambitious target to increase the proportion of Scottish-domiciled undergraduate entrants to 30% by 2030.^[79]
• The expansion of the Young Strathclyder programme at the University of Strathclyde, which now engages Primary 6 and 7 pupils at 15 Glasgow primary schools (an increase from an initial pilot of work with 8 schools), as well as piloting a Primary 5 programme in two schools, and a secondary school programme with Secondary 2 pupils in eight Glasgow schools.^[80]
• Work to improve our understanding of articulation led by the Joint Articulation Group co-convened by Universities Scotland and Colleges Scotland.^[81]