The Access Project

Impetus-PEF & The Access Project from Impetus-PEF on Vimeo.

The Access Project & Impetus

Our partnership with Impetus goes so much deeper than funding – the ongoing involvement from their expert staff has supported us to develop a truly impactful programme and to prepare us for scale.

– Nathan Sansom, CEO, The Access Project

The need: Disadvantaged young people are significantly under-represented at top universities, making up only 6% of the intake.

Our charity partner: The Access Project works with high-potential students from disadvantaged backgrounds, providing tutoring and intensive support including mentoring, practice interviews and networking, to help them get into top universities.

Our impact: Working with us, The Access Project now works in more schools, with more disadvantaged young people achieving the outcomes that matter. 56% of their students were accepted to top tier universities in 2018, up from 30% when we started working with them in 2014. We’ve also helped to strengthen their leadership team.

Read our impact story: Backing the best: Our work with The Access Project.

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Backing the best: Our work with The Access Project

In 2014, just over half of the pupils The Access Project was working with were from disadvantaged backgrounds and of these, 66% applied to a selective university and 33% got in. By 2017, following four years of partnership with Impetus, over 90% of pupils came from disadvantaged backgrounds and of those, 85% applied to a selective university and 53% got in. This story reveals how they did that.

November 2018

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Widening participation

Disadvantaged young people are significantly under-represented at top universities, making up only 5% of the intake. We're calling on the government to protect widening participation funding so that we can close the university access gap.

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Now is not the time to give up on widening participation

A lot of progress has been made on widening participation in higher education. But this may now be under threat. We need to maintain funding and ensure it is directed to what works – our Director of Public Affairs explains how.

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Delivering university access for all – what the evidence says

The new universities’ regulator Professor Sir Michael Barber prioritised improved access to university in his speech, but how do we deliver access for all regardless of background? In this joint blog, three leading charities, experienced in opening opportunities for disadvantaged young people, provide their assessment.

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Funding for the future

With the government’s review of post-18 education ongoing, and most of the debate seemingly centring on tuition fees, we must remember that widening participation work is essential to helping more disadvantaged young people access higher education.

June 2018

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