Higher education outreach to widen participation: toolkits for practitioners
18 December 2012
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has today published four widening participation toolkits offering practical guidance to those working in higher education outreach.
The toolkits are designed to support the effective strategy, management and delivery of outreach work to encourage progression to higher education and draw on existing outreach methods and resources, including those produced by the Aimhigher partnerships. They focus on four themes: targeting activities; partnership building; delivering programmes; and undertaking evaluation.
HEFCE commissioned iCeGS and the Progression Trust to create the toolkits, which are supported by the Office for Fair Access, to enable the higher education sector to strengthen the quality and effectiveness of outreach for widening participation and access. At today's launch, 'Widening participation 2012 and beyond: tools and resources for the new HE context', held at the London School of Economics, Phil Dent, Chief Executive, The Progression Trust, and expert panel member, encouraged universities and widening participation professionals to take full ownership of the agenda and build on the strong platform laid by the toolkits.
Heather Fry, Director Education, Participation and Students, HEFCE, said:
'The UK education system has recently undergone considerable change, and with it, the nature of widening participation practice has shifted. The content of the toolkits reflects this change, adapting and reframing the learning from previous programmes such as Aimhigher. We very much hope that the guidance, materials and practical ideas and tools prove to be useful for those working in widening participation and serve as a basis for further innovation.'
Speaking at the event organised by HEFCE and the Higher Education Academy, Professor Les Ebdon, Director of Fair Access commented:
'Universities and colleges plan to invest more than £110 million in outreach by the academic year 2016-17 and these highly practical toolkits will help them get the best return from that investment. For example, I'm very pleased that one of the toolkits focuses on the challenge of evaluating your outreach activities so that you know what works best and can concentrate your efforts accordingly. This is essential to a good access strategy.'
The toolkits and associated tools, along with resources from the Aimhigher programme, are available on the Higher Education Academy archive at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/WP_outreach_toolkits/all.
The Progression Trust has provided off-the-shelf and tailored training and support around the toolkit themes this year for widening participation staff and teams in Bristol, London, Manchester, Plymouth and Sheffield. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss how we can help you develop your strategy, planning and practice for progression to higher education.
The toolkits were launched at an event in London on 18 December called 'Widening participation 2012 and beyond: tools and resources for the new higher education context'. The event also launched six syntheses of the literature and resources in the HEA's new Widening access, student retention and success (WASRS) national programmes archive.
For further information about the tooolkits contact Nicki Moore.
