A press release from the Department for Education, Universities Minister Chris Skidmore and Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi sets out the need for a ‘culture change’ at universities to encourage more care leavers to stay in higher education. Currently just 6 per cent of care leavers aged 19-21 go into higher education, and those that do are nearly twice as likely to drop out as their peers. The announcement was made on the 14th March as the DfE published ‘Higher Education Principles’, a policy paper to support Higher Education providers to develop their offer for care leavers to help them access and succeed in higher education.
More can be read in the DfE press release and the policy paper can be viewed on the Gov.uk website.