National Citizen Service increases chance of university for poorer pupils, report says

Disadvantaged pupils are more likely to go to university if they do the government’s National Citizen Service (NCS).

However, pupils from more affluent backgrounds are less likely to go to university if they do the four-week holiday course, with a 10 percentage point drop in girls and 8 point drop for boys.

This is according to an NCS report which looks at data from its 2015 programme.

The report also shows that among poorer pupils, an increase in university goers is greatest amongst girls, from 15 per cent going to university when they had not taken part in NCS, to a quarter going when they had.

Overall, university entrants rose by 12 per cent following NCS participation.

The fact that fewer affluent pupils went to university after doing NCS might be because they had joined to boost weak university applications, said the report.

Equally, pupils from less affluent backgrounds who took part “are more likely to be highly motivated” and “more able” than their peers who did not sign up.