Toolkits Will Widen Higher Education Participation Across The UK
18 December 2012
At the University of Derby we have great expertise in supporting learners from diverse backgrounds to be successful in higher education.
When we were creating the HEFCE toolkits we drew on this experience and combined it with the best of what we found across the UK.
”Dr Tristram Hooley from the University's International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS)
Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) 'toolkits' developed by academics at the University of Derby will be available to universities across the UK to help them recruit students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
HEFCE and the Higher Education Academy launch the toolkit publications at the 'Widening Participation 2012 and Beyond' event at the London School of Economics today (December 18 2012).
The toolkits were compiled by academics at the University of Derby's International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS) and The Progression Trust. They will be available to every higher education provider in the UK to support effective strategy, management and delivery of outreach work to encourage the progression to higher education for students from all backgrounds.
The toolkits draw together existing approaches to outreach, including those developed by the Aimhigher partnerships, and re-contextualise them for a new era of widening participation. They focus on four themes: targeting activities, partnership building, delivering programmes and undertaking evaluation.
Heather Fry, Director of Education, Participation and Students at 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 launch event, Professor Les Ebdon, Director of Fair Access to Higher Education commented: "Universities and colleges plan to invest more than £110million 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 outreach activities so that universities know what works best and can concentrate their efforts accordingly. This is essential to a good access strategy."
Dr Tristram Hooley from the University's International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS), added: "At the University of Derby we have great expertise in supporting learners from diverse backgrounds to be successful in higher education.
"When we were creating the toolkits we drew on this experience and combined it with the best of what we found across the UK. We hope that all universities across the UK will find them useful as they rethink their outreach strategies in the light of all of the changes in higher education."
To see the toolkits visit www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/WP_outreach_toolkits/all
For more on ICEGS visit www.derby.ac.uk/icegs and for more on the Office for Fair Access visit www.offa.org.uk
