In January 2024 the Office for Students added two groups of students with care responsibilities to their Equalities of Opportunity Risk Register: young carers and students with parental responsibilities. However, student carers form a broader group that includes young carers in school or in further or higher education, and higher education students with parental or other care responsibilities. All might experience inequalities that limit progression at each stage of their educational journey. The particular challenges that young carers and student carers may face include:

• accessing a sufficiently wide variety of further or higher education opportunities due to restrictions on spatial mobility or regional differences in the availability of types of higher education courses and modes of delivery
• restricted access to academic, personal support and extra- or supra-curricular activities such as sports or leisure activities, volunteering, paid employment, work experience or placements
• increased cost pressures that may affect their course outcome
• reduced opportunities to access further study or progress into employment that is reflective of their qualification levels.

At this NERUPI event participants:

• Explored the definitions of student carers, young carers and students with parental responsibilities and the impact of caring responsibilities on student educational progression
• Heard about recent research about the impact of caring responsibilities on students from Professor Marie- Pierre Moreau and Dr Rachel Spacey into carers
• Learned about interesting practice from NERUPI members and colleagues Claudia Lusardi, Oxford Brookes University (supporting young carers aged 13-18 to access higher education) and Lauren Huxley, University of Leeds (supporting students in higher education with parental or other care responsibilities)
• Considered what ‘care-full’ higher education might look like.

Download the short programme here

Download the long programme here