The vast majority of students applying to a Scottish university from communities considered deprived are not disadvantaged at all, a leading academic has warned.
Professor Nigel Seaton, principal of Abertay University, in Dundee, said the issue affected two thirds of applicants from the co-called poorest postcode areas under the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD).
Read more: Record number of poor students at universities
The findings undermine the Scottish Government’s current drive to recruit more pupils from poorer backgrounds because progress is measured using SIMD figures.
Writing in The Herald , Mr Seaton said: “Only about one-third of the students that apply to Abertay from the lowest SIMD postcode areas are disadvantaged in terms of their own personal circumstances.
“It follows that, while SIMD is a perfectly good indicator for use in public policy, individual students should not be made an offer simply because of where they live, but rather after taking a full view of their personal circumstances.”
Mr Seaton said Abertay now used a range of additional measures to assess disadvantage including where applicants went to school, the education of their parents and experience of the care system.
Opposition politicians attacked the Scottish Government over the use of SIMD.
Liz Smith, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservative Party, said: “SIMD measurement is only partially successful when it comes to identifying students from more disadvantaged communities and clearly this has major implications for Scottish Government policy.”
Read more: Plans to lower entry grades for poorer students
Iain Gray, education spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party added: “SIMD is a deeply flawed way of measuring deprivation.
“The Scottish Government’s stubbornness with regard to SIMD and university entry remains puzzling, but they refuse to address the problem.”
Professor Sir Peter Scott, Scotland’s Commissioner for Fair Access, said he hoped measurement of disadvantage would be updated.
He said: “Work is already underway to refine the best way of identifying the most disadvantaged applicants.
“The emerging consensus seems to be to combine residence in an SIMD area and eligibility for free school meals to target community-based deprivation and individuals who are themselves deprived wherever they live.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said SIMD data was currently the best measure available to support fair access work.
He added: “We recognise there is merit in using additional measures alongside SIMD which is why we established an Access Data Working Group which has been working closely with the sector to consider what other measures might be useful such as registration for free school meals.”
Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said all institutions had concerns over the use of SIMD data.
“After years of sustained campaigning on the limitation of SIMD as an indicator of individual disadvantage we are now working with the Scottish Government on how we best implement changes that will help us to target a wider range of learners,” he said.
“There is now a wide consensus that free school meals are a valuable indicator of disadvantage among young learners and urgent work is needed to add another indicator of disadvantage for older learners.”
Read more: Free year in halls for deprived students
Mary Senior, Scotland official for the UCU union, welcomed the use of a wider range of measures by Abertay.
She said: “It’s very welcome to see universities using a range of different measures to bring more students from non-traditional backgrounds to university.
“This is useful evidence to demonstrate how we can continue to make progress on widening access targets.”
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