The Urban Student and Higher Education in the UK

Increasing the take-up of University places by students from backgrounds of relative deprivation has become a major component of the education policy of the UK government. A four-year intervention programme designed to supplement the school-based education of a cohort of inner-city students was delivered by a University team. The content and delivery of the evaluated programme are reported. Data relating to changes in aspirations, attitudes and transformations of outlook, as well as some indicators of performance in national tests, are presented. Socio-economic parameters of relative deprivation, coupled with personality traits and cognitive factors, are evaluated so as to support the approach of the programme model and recommended it for national and international replication.