Targeting ‘Communities First’ areas in Wales to widening access to higher education: how appropriate are the methods?

In recent years, widening participation in higher education in Wales has been a key policy drive of the Welsh Government. Central to meeting its widening access agenda has been the adoption of area based strategies to widening access to higher education(HE) in Wales. This has been manifest in the targeting of residents of Communities First (CF) designated areas of Wales. Communities First was introduced in 2001 as the Welsh Government’s community based programme for tackling poverty (Welsh Government, 2014). Areas designated as Communities First are those which fall within the top 10% most deprived according to measures on the Welsh Index of Multiple deprivation. In previous years the higher education funding council for Wales(HEFCW) had emphasised improving rates of participation amongst individuals with other characteristics such as those with disabilities and from particular ethnic background.