Independent schools encouraged to help state pupils get into university

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 17 Nov 2008

Independent schools could meet new public benefit measures by helping state school pupils win places at university, the Charity Commission has said.

Kenneth Dibble, executive legal director of the Commission, said that as well as providing scholarships, opening up facilities and loaning good teachers to the state sector, independent schools could share their expertise at getting pupils into elite institutions, to meet public benefit requirements.

"It is not solely about subsidised access, although this is a clear way," he said. "Other ways include helping state schools to improve their success rates to entry to university. We are open to persuasion where schools’ business models are stretched to the limit."

Schools face tough time in financial downturn

Speaking at an Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference, Dibble acknowledged that schools were facing a tough time in the economic downturn. He also stressed that the recent decision by Scottish regulator OSCR, where four independent schools need to increase bursaries by 2011 to retain their charitable status, was very different to the rules that apply in England.

"For some schools their way of conducting business may be affected, coming at a point in the economic cycle that is not favourable," he said. "When parliament enacted the legislation, it had no idea what might happen two years down the line."

Who's Who: Vibeka Mair

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