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widening participation

  • Raising institutional aspirations for supporting Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen and Boater students in higher education

    7 December 2022 by Natalie Forster

    This blog was kindly contributed by Dr Natalie Forster, Research Fellow in Applied Health and Social Care at Northumbria University. The idea of ‘raising aspirations’ has long been recognised as problematic in the field of widening participation. A focus on aspiration can blame members of under-represented groups themselves for their low…

  • A Test of Spirit for English Higher Education

    7 March 2022 by Diana Beech

    This guest blog was kindly written by Dr Diana Beech, Chief Executive Officer of London Higher – the representative body for the UK’s largest regional higher education powerhouse in London. Diana was previously Policy Adviser to the last three Universities Ministers, and you can find her on Twitter at @dianajbeech. The…

  • Widening Access is Working: Why won’t we admit it?

    2 March 2022 by Graeme Atherton

    This blog was contributed by Professor Graeme Atherton, Director National Education Opportunities Network (NEON) and Head of Centre for Inequality and Levelling Up (CILUP), University of West London. UCAS’s recent end-of-cycle report showed that the number of students going to higher education from the country’s lowest-participation neighbourhoods has increased by more…

  • What next for admissions in Scotland?

    21 April 2021 by Rebecca Gaukroger

    We have been running a selection of chapters from HEPI’s recent collection of essays Where next for university admissions? , which was edited and introduced by Rachel Hewitt, HEPI’s Director of Policy and Advocacy. On Friday we shared the chapter by Mary Curnock Cook, non-executive director across the education sector and…

  • How could admissions reform work in practice?

    8 April 2021 by Graeme Atherton

    This week, we are running a selection of chapters from HEPI’s recent collection of essays Where next for university admissions?‘ edited and introduced by Rachel Hewitt, HEPI’s Director of Policy and Advocacy. Yesterday we shared the chapter by Dr John Cater, Vice-Chancellor at Edge Hill University ‘Post qualification admissions: Should…

  • Post-qualification admissions and further education: the time is now

    23 March 2021 by Dr Ann Limb CBE DL

    This blog was kindly contributed by Dr Ann Limb CBE DL. Ann is a former FE College Principal and Founder of the Helena Kennedy Foundation. You can find Ann on Twitter @AnnLimb and the Helena Kennedy Foundation @TheHKF.   The Government’s consultation on moving to a system of post-qualification admissions…

  • The Fair Access Coalition: 10 requirements for a fair admissions process

    22 March 2021 by Nathan Sansom, Laura Gray, Anne-Marie Caning, Sam Holmes, Eleanor Harrison, Rachel Carr, Johnny Rich, John Craven & Rae Tooth.

    This blog was kindly contributed by The Fair Access Coalition. The Fair Access Coalition is a group of the heads of leading third sector organisations engaged in activities to support access and progression, including the Access Project (Nathan Sansom), Brightside (Laura Gray), The Brilliant Club (Anne-Marie Canning), Causeway Education (Sam…