Employers 'should help to widen access'

Partnership agreements between schools, colleges and universities should be extended to include employers, a conference will hear next week.

Employers should be engaged as part of the effort to widen participation, according to Richard Brown, chief executive of the Council for Industry and Higher Education. He is concerned that graduates from lower socioeconomic backgrounds earn less than their more privileged peers.

Mr Brown will be speaking at Partnerships for progression: what will change?, organised by lecturers' union Natfhe in London on Tuesday.