R.O.A.M.
to
Widening Access Official Accreditation Awarded by National Network for the Education of Care Leavers
Supporting under-represented groups
Higher Education
What is Widening Access?
One of the Office for Students (OfS) primary regulatory objectives is to ensure that all students, from all backgrounds, with the ability and desire to undertake higher education, are supported to access, succeed in, and progress from higher education.
As a higher education provider, we are expected to address the risk posed to fair access and successful participation by knowledge, skill and attainment gaps emerging across childhood by making meaningful and effective contributions to supporting schools to raise pre-16 attainment.
The Access and Participation Plan (APP) should relate to those groups of students who are at risk of not experiencing equality of opportunity in higher education – including but not limited to students:
• In receipt of free school meals
• Who are first-generation scholars
• From low-income backgrounds and areas where participation in higher education is low
• With certain characteristics, including care experienced, students who are estranged from their families, military families, refugees or asylum seekers and students from Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities
• From under-represented ethnic backgrounds
• Who live with a disability
• Who experience multiple barriers to higher education or who are identified when looking at intersections of characteristics, such as male students who are in receipt of free school meals
The Team
The Widening Access Teams at the University of Bedfordshire consist of the Access & Outreach Team and the Collaborative Projects Team. This includes the Office for Students (OfS) funded Uni Connect programme, Aspire Higher. Both teams work across the geographical area of Bedfordshire.
We work closely with local schools, colleges, local enterprise partnerships, local authorities and other key stakeholders to support students’ pre-entry and develop their understanding and knowledge of applying to further and higher education and apprenticeships to make informed decisions about their progression.
We offer individual, long-term and bespoke projects to support learners in school and college. We deliver these on our campuses, at the school, college, or online and they can be co-developed to meet each school’s needs.
Collaborative Projects
& Outreach
Paula Page Collaborative Outreach Project Manager Roisin Kendall Access and Outreach Manager Sundip Sahota Access and Outreach Support Officer Emma Semi Collaborative Outreach Project Officer Colleen Galley Collaborative Outreach Project Officer AccessVision
Our vision is to provide all students from all backgrounds the support and knowledge to make informed decisions about their future so there are equal rates of progression to higher education.
We aim to increase the number of young people from under-represented groups and backgrounds who progress to higher education.
Stage
1 2 3 4
Introduce the concept of university to target groups
Target
• First generation scholars (parents or siblings who have not been to Uni before)
• Students who are receipt of FSM (Free School Meals) PP (Pupil Premium)
Offer range of opportunities to expose them to university
• New emerging group 800,000 children in poverty but do not fall into PP or FSM
• White working class boys
Support them as they progress through the education system Analysis of target groups in terms of entry to HE
• Students from BME background
• Students from disabled background
• Students from care background
• Students who are independent from their families (financially estranged)
• Students who have caring responsibilities
• Parents/carers of above groups
• Teachers/professionals (gate keepers)
Student Opportunities
We offer paid opportunities to our undergraduate and postgraduate widening access students to develop and deliver on our initiatives with schools and colleges, which additionally supports the APP objectives of Success and Progression.
Students have the opportunity to deliver bespoke outreach sessions based on their academic degree. This supports employability and potential progression into teaching routes.
We recruit throughout the academic year and always welcome interest from faculties, schools and departments.
Select or scan to watch Widening Access Student Ambassadors video
Programmes
We develop programmes for key stakeholders including schools from primary to adult learners returning to higher education. We offer a range of events including:
• Aim for Uni days
• Subject specific days
• GCSE tutoring support
• Careers events
• Conference curriculum days
• Summer schools
• Mentoring/CPD events
• Bespoke community events
• Teacher and Advisor CPD
• Bedfordshire Stars
Impact
43.7%
The national average of progression to HE is 43.7%. We achieved 44.1%.
42.7% 27%
National average for students from POLAR 4 Q1 postcodes is lower at 29.5%.
For disadvantaged tracked students who engaged with Access & Outreach and Collaborative Projects programmes, the HE progression rate was 42.7%.
bedfordshire
27% of students that we worked with progressed to University of Bedfordshire
Top 23
Social Mobility League Table (Sutton Trust - Uni of Beds is ranked 23 out of 111)
2021/2022
In academic year 21/22, we have worked with:
• 81 institutions from primary to FE, including alternative providers, virtual schools and home educated
• We have delivered 317 activities with tracked participants
• 6292 participants engaged with 2+ activities
• Total of 8099 participants engaged with access focused events
Partnership Working and Community Engagement
The Widening Access Team has a strong and long-standing relationship with community groups and key stakeholders across Bedfordshire and nationally. This engagement further strengthens the widening access work that we do to allow us access to those harder to reach under-represented groups. In addition, this collaborative working supports the Community Engagement and Civic Agreement of the University.
We have worked in partnership with the University of Hertfordshire and University of Northampton on the Aspire Higher programme; work closely with all three local authorities, including the Careers Hubs, 14-19 Teams, SEMLEP, Progression Transition Board, School Improvement Teams and Economic Development. In addition we partner with third sector charities such as SetPoint Herts, NNECL, Children in Need, The Level Trust, Science Learning Partnership, Philharmonia Orchestra, Advanced Maths Study Programme and Keech Hospital.
Working with parents and carers
One of the main influences on a young person’s decision to progress to higher education are their parents and carers. Through our Aspire Higher Team, we run online workshops for parents and carers which are available to all parents and carers nationally and covers subjects relating to Post16 options, UCAS, preparing for results day and helping your young person to bounce back.
We offer unbiased information and guidance to encourage parental engagement that will empower them to support their young people make informed decisions about the future.
Evaluation
Integral to the work of Widening Access is evaluating and understanding the impact our activities make on the students that we work with. We aim to develop an evidence base of our widening access initiatives to inform our work going forward.
Student engagement is tracked using the Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT) database where we are able to follow the students through their educational journey. We have created a rich dataset with over 11 years of data collection and have started to track the progression of students through the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) annual reports into Further and Higher Education, Post Graduate Study and Graduate Employment.
Access & Outreach
Roisin Kendall
Access and Outreach Manager
Email: roisin.kendall@beds.ac.uk
Collaborative Projects
Paula Page
Collaborative Outreach Project Manager
Email: paula.page@beds.ac.uk
The Access and Outreach team’s work meant that the University of Bedfordshire became the first in the east region to be recognised for their work for care experienced students, through the NNCEL Quality Mark. The Quality Mark brings together the work from pre-entry to graduation and beyond for students who have experienced social care and supports students to achieve and excel at higher education.
