Key points

  • The speech and language therapy student population is much less ethnically diverse than the student population as a whole.
  • 22% of the speech and language therapy student population have declared a disability.

Page content

The following statistics focus on the make-up of the speech and language therapy (SLT) student population and it’s diversity  until the end of the 2020/21 academic year. 

In terms of the profession as a whole, HCPC published a diversity report in October 2021, which includes data about speech and language therapists. There is also a factsheet about SLT specifically. We are currently working with our members via our Horizons project to gain more insight on the diversity of the profession.  

Overview 

  • There has been a steady increase in the number of SLT students between 2017 and 2021.
  • Female students are overrepresented in SLT programmes. 
  • There is a greater proportion of white SLT students than in the student population as a whole.  
  • There has been a significant increase in participation of students from an Asian background across academic years, from 6.1% in 2017/2018 to 9.4% in 2020/2021.  
  • Students with mental health conditions and specific learning disabilities together account for over a half of students with disabilities. 
  • 7 in 10 SLT students are from household backgrounds classed as either  intermediate occupations or managerial & professional occupations. 
  • Students coming from areas where few people attend university are underrepresented amongst SLT students as compared to all UK domiciled students. 

Note on statistics:

Statistics originate from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). 

They are provided for the purpose of considering the make-up and diversity of the speech and language therapy profession. All statistics referring to SLT programmes are rounded according to HESA standard rounding methodology. They remain the property of RCSLT and should not be passed on or published without further permission. 

You can view details and charts on our findings across the following pages. 

Key findings

  • A steady increase in the number of SLT students has been observed across years 2017-2021. It closely matches the general increasing trends in the Higher Education student numbers.
  • Sharp increases in SLT student admissions were observed in academic years 2018/2019 and 2020/2021. Admissions in those years rose by 17% and 15% respectively.

Graph and bar chart Total SLT student admissions by academic year 2017-18 = 855 2018-19 = 1000, 17% increase 2019-20 = 1060, 6 % increase 2020-21 = 1220, 15% increase

 

Graph and bar chart - Total SLT student numbers and their year-to year changes by academic year 2017 – 18 = 2640 2018- 19 = 2720, 3% increase in SLT students with 2% increase across all Higher Education students 2019- 2020 = 2940, 7% increase in SLT students with 3% increase across all Higher Education students 2020 -2021 = 3140, 8% increase in SLT students with 9% increase across all Higher Education students

Note: Absolute figures for SLT students have been rounded up according to the HESA standards 

Sources 

Copyright Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited 2022. Neither the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited nor HESA Services Limited can accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived by third parties from data or other information supplied by the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited or HESA Services Limited. 

 

Key findings

  • When referenced against the gender of all higher education students, female students are overrepresented in SLT programmes.
  • A significant increase in male participation in admissions to SLT programmes was observed in the academic year 2020/2021.
  • These statistics also include people who have not identified as male or female but the number is too small to report in these graphs.

Bar chart – Gender of SLT students as compared to all higher education in academic year 2020/21 SLT students – 95% female, 4% male All higher education students – 57% female, 43% male

 

Bar graph – Male participation in SLT programmes admissions by academic year 2017-18 – 4.1%, 2018-19 – 3.5%, 2018-20 – 3.8%, 2020-21 – 6%

Sources 

Copyright Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited 2022. Neither the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited nor HESA Services Limited can accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived by third parties from data or other information supplied by the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited or HESA Services Limited. 

Key findings

When referenced against all Higher Education students, there is a greater proportion of white SLT students than in the student population as a whole. However, there has been a significant increase in participation of students of Asian background across academic years, from 6.1% in 2017/2018 to 9.4% in 2020/2021.  

Bar graph – SLT students by ethnicity compared to all UK domiciled students in academic year 2020/21 SLT students: White 83%, Other 1%, Mixed 3%, Black 3%, Asian 9% All UK domiciled students: White 74%, other 2%, Mixed 4%, Black 8%, Asian 12%

 

Sources 

Copyright Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited 2022. Neither the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited nor HESA Services Limited can accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived by third parties from data or other information supplied by the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited or HESA Services Limited. 

Key findings

  • A steady increase in participation of disabled students in SLT programmes has been observed between academic years 2017/2018 and 2020/2021. A part of this increase can be attributed to significant increases in SLT students with mental health conditions.
  • Students with mental health conditions and specific learning disabilities together account for over a half of students with disabilities.

Bar graph Participation of students with disabilities in SLT programmes as compared to all UK domiciled students by academic year SLT students with disabilities 2017 -18 18%, 2018 -19 21%, 2019 -20 21%, 2020 -21 22% All UK domiciled students with disabilities 2017-18 13%, 2018-19 14%, 2019-20 15%, 2020-21 15%

Bar graph Participation of students with a mental health condition in SLT programmes by academic year 2017-18 4.3%, 2018-19 5%, 2018-20 5.5%, 2020-21 6.1%

 

Sources

Copyright Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited 2022. Neither the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited nor HESA Services Limited can accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived by third parties from data or other information supplied by the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited or HESA Services Limited.

Key findings

  • 7 in 10 of the SLT students are from households with the backgrounds of intermediate occupations as well as managerial & professional occupations*.
  •  Students coming from low participation neighborhoods** are underrepresented amongst SLT students as compared to all UK domiciled students.

Definitions:

* Occupation of the parents, stepparents or guardians of students

** The POLAR4 classification is a proxy measurement of how many people go to university from the area a student comes from (not their student address). There are five groups ranging from quintile 1 areas, with the lowest young participation at university (most disadvantaged), up to quintile 5 areas with the highest rates (most advantaged), each representing 20 percent of the UK young student cohort. Low participation(at university) neighbourhoods are defined as quintile 1 in the POLAR 4 classification.

Bar graph – SLT students from low participation neighbourhoods (POLAR 4) as compared to UK domiciled students in academic year 202/21 SLT Students 9%, UK domiciled students 13%

Pie chart Socioeconomic background of young SLT students studying at first degree level in the academic year 2020/21 Lower managerial and professional occupations 26%, Intermediate occupations 23%, Higher managerial and professional occupations 20%, Semi routine occupations 15%, Small employers and account workers 7%, Routine occupations 5%, Lower supervisory and technical occupations 4%

*Note: the classified students are up to 21 years old studying at the first degree level

 

Sources 

Copyright Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited 2022. Neither the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited nor HESA Services Limited can accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived by third parties from data or other information supplied by the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited or HESA Services Limited. 

Key findings

  • 70 students left an SLT programme in 2020/21 which accounts for 2% of all SLT students.
  • Amongst students who left the program the most prevalent reasons were academic failure, health reasons and other personal reasons. Altogether they accounted for 70% of reasons why students dropped out of an SLT programme.

Note: The numbers of people leaving across years are not high enough to enable statistically robust conclusions about trends.

Percentage Pie chart -Reasons why SLT students left a programme 2020/21 Transferred to another provider 5%, Written off after a lapse of time 1%, Academic failure/left in bad standing/not permitted to progress 23%, Completion of course- result unknown 3%, Health reasons 17%, Exclusion 1%, Death 0%, Other personal reasons and dropped out 30%, Gone into employment 3%, Financial reasons 0%, Other 17%

Sources 

Copyright Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited 2022. Neither the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited nor HESA Services Limited can accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived by third parties from data or other information supplied by the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited or HESA Services Limited. 

1 of 8