Widening Participation to Medical and Dental Education, 1996 to 2009

Objectives: To compare the demography (age and social status) and academic experience (school type) of focused and successful applicants to medicine with dentistry in the UK over the years 1996-2009, in relation to the widening participation agenda. Methods: Retrospective descriptive analyses of anonymised UCAS data for focused applicants whose preferred subject was dentistry or medicine, and successful (accepted) applicants to the same programmes from 1996 to 2009 (inclusive). Individual applicant data included programme, age, socio-economic group and school type, taking account of category changes over time. Data were analysed using SPSS v17. Results: From 1996 to 2009, the number of applicants to study medicine increased by 55% from 12,022 to 18,608, while the number of applicants to dentistry increased by 14% from 2,634 to 3,001. The volume of students accepted over the 14-year period increased by 63% for medicine and 31% for dentistry. The percentage of mature students being accepted to medicine increased from 18% in 1996 to 31% in 2009, while for dentistry it nearly tripled from 12% in to 30% in the same period. One quarter of applicants to medicine and dentistry (25%) were from upper socio-economic backgrounds in 2008, compared with one third (34% & 31% respectively) of accepted applicants being from this socio-economic group. Between 1996-2009, the proportion of successful applicants from independent schools reduced from 38% to 27% for medicine and from 28% to 24% for dentistry. Conclusion: Medicine and dentistry have attracted, and accepted, a greater proportion of mature students and students from non-independent/private schools, in parallel with increased numbers in education; however, applicants from high socioeconomic groups continue to dominate accepted applicants to both programmes.