EMWPREP would like to announce the forthcoming Joint National Outreach Coverage Project to examine the coverage of outreach delivery across England.  This will be a collaborative research project, co-funded by the Office for Students.  The project will use data collected by three tracker organisations:  EMWPREP, Aim Higher West Midlands and HEAT. We are also hoping to include data from large Third Sector organisations (subject to Data Sharing Agreements). More information can be found here.

A new online hub ‘Uni4Me’ bringing together 250 online activities from 50 organisations in the higher education (HE) sector is being launched on the 1st July 2020 by the Minister of State for Universities, Michelle Donelan. The online hub led by the National Education Opportunities Network (NEON) and funded by the participating organisations will act as central portal where learners, parents and teachers can access free activities to help them progress to HE. Uni4Me will offer free, interactive ...

The EMWPREP team has now moved to a position of remote working for the foreseeable future. During this time if you need to contact the team you can do so by continuing to email the appropriate contact, using the contact section on the database or website, or by phoning and leaving a voice mail (we will return your call). Partners should be advised that we are currently working on an action plan to ensure we are able to operate a near normal service during this period. As an aside EMWPREP w...

Colleges and universities no longer required to spend set amount of tuition fee income to support disadvantaged students. Major changes to rules around what colleges and universities have to spend on widening participation are on the way. Previously, higher education institutions charging more than £6,000 for courses had to establish an access agreement with the former Office for Fair Access (Offa). Following a recent consultation, the Office for Students (OfS), the new higher educatio...

The Office for Students (OfS), the higher education regulator, has today challenged all universities to eliminate the gaps in access and student success within 20 years. Following a consultation process, the OfS has set itself ambitious targets to achieve equality of opportunity in higher education, and will now expect universities, colleges and other higher education providers to set their own individual plans and targets to work towards these during the next five years. Read More.  

Universities must do more to safeguard students’ mental health by contacting the families of those experiencing problems, Education Secretary Damian Hinds has said. Mr Hinds wrote to Professor Julia Buckingham, who chairs a Universities UK (UUK) round table on mental health, urging her to “explore the issue and identify a clear way forward”. On Tuesday UUK, which represents 137 universities in the UK, is bringing together university leaders, mental health experts and students to discuss the circ...

Widening access and participation is not enough to tackle social exclusion in the world’s universities, an international conference marking the first World Access to Higher Education Day (WAHED) heard from representatives from all corners of the globe. “You also need to offer psychological support to students coming through the access route because they can struggle with many problems during their time at university,” a Latin American vice rector told the Beyond Borders conference hosted by Asto...

The Global Equity Policy Map represents a first attempt to build an international database on national equity policies in higher education. The first report looking at these policies “All around the world – Higher education equity policies across the globe” contains information on each country obtained by consulting official websites, official documents, academic publications and the advice of government officials or academics. Read More.

Elite universities are all but failing to increase access for disadvantaged pupils, according to a study published by the public services thinktank Reform. In the past five years, the average annual increase in the proportion of disadvantaged students at each of 29 elite universities has been less than 1 per cent. "According to Ucas, more 18-year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds are entering higher education than ever before, with an increase of 78 per cent since 2006 for the most disadvantag...