Equality in colleges in Scotland: statistical report 2016

Published: 02/09/2016

ECU has published our fifth statistical report for colleges in Scotland

We are pleased to announce the publication of the fifth Equality Challenge Unit statistical report for colleges in Scotland.

The report presents an equality-focused analysis of 2014/15 further education statistics (FES) collated by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

Data and analysis is provided on age, disability, ethnicity and gender, the intersectionality of these identities, and for the first time on the optional protected characteristics religion and sexual orientation.

There were high rates of return for the voluntary collection of the protected characteristics religion and sexual orientation.

For more information about the data and changes for 2014/15 visit the report page on our website.

Key findings

Age

• At HE level, SET subjects were more popular among the younger age groups: 34.7% of those aged16-24 studied SET subjects in comparison to 18.7% of students aged 40 and over.

Disability

• The proportion of students who disclosed as disabled was lower at HE level than at FE level, a difference of 5.0 percentage points.
• The proportion of students whose DSA status was unknown (51.2%) has fallen by 17.0 percentage points from 2013/14 levels, making it the lowest since 2006/07.

Ethnicity

• Among FE students, a larger proportion of BME students studied part time than white students (69.2% and 59.9%).
• At HE level, BME students were particularly well represented in engineering and technology compared with white students: 23.6% in comparison to 16.0% of white students.
• For FE students who completed their course, the successful completion rate was highest among white students in SIMD Q2-5 (79.1%) and lowest among white students in SIMD Q1 (72.4%).

Gender

• 6% of male HE students studied SET subjects in comparison to 13.9% of female HE students.

Intersectionalities

• More than twice the proportion of white students disclosed as disabled than BME students (14.7% and 7.2%, respectively).
• The majority of students aged 16-24 were men, and the majority of students aged 25 and over were women.