Widening Participation

How could aspirations be raised in target groups?

Aspiration raising may be best tackled at institutional level or by groups of institutions acting together within local areas. Some potential students may feel that HE is not for them and some cases

Institutions may arrange:

• Visits to schools, colleges and communities - Targeting and reaching parents as well as prospective students (starting as young as age 11), visits can be assisted by various organisations, such as UNIAID, which offer resources and workshops for school visits;
• Targeted activity - Directed at particular communities as each group has special needs and may be best approached using a particular strategy - for example a project funded by the Centre which aims to increase interest by pupils in HE bioscience through virtual forensic science activities;
• To help improve standards of learning - Links with schools and colleges can help to teachers up-to date and help HE staff keep up to date with the skills and knowledge students may develop pre-HE;
• Mentoring of school students - A mentor or buddy scheme with school pupils and undergraduate students may help to de-mystify HE and raise awareness of what studying at HE level involves. Undergraduates could also support learning in schools by acting as student tutors - two examples of mentoring are described in Bioscience Bulletin 17 and Bulletin 18;
• Summer schools - Provide prospective students a taste of university or college to raise their educational achievements - information and resources for summer schools are available from the Action on Access web site, alongside links to summer schools and information about their activities;
• Presentations - As part of visits or summer schools, demonstrate the financial advantages in a career of higher education and ensure that potential students know about the funding and bursaries available to them. You could also encourage current and former students who are started HE due to widening participation initiatives to discuss their experiences;
• Outreach to new communities - when raising awareness of your institution or group of institution to a new community look at differences in motivation, attitudes and expectations and try to tailor initiatives accordingly; and
• Information dissemination - Use a range of media best suited to the target audience, for example internet, TV and radio in addition to the more traditional prospectus.
  

Further links

AimHigher - Information for both students and practitioners

Progression Partnerships - Example of good aspiration raising site

Connexions Service

Uni4me - Another example of good aspiration raising site

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