|
What is Widening Participation?
Widening Participation is a government-funded initiative to help achieve a target of 50% of 18-30 year olds participating in higher education by 2010. It aims to increase take-up of HE by under-represented groups by:
- Raising aspirations;
- Encouraging applications;
- Ensuring progression, retention and success.
Why does Widening Participation Exist?
There are many young adults with the academic potential to enter higher education who, for a variety of reasons, do not currently apply to study at university. This may be due to:
- Low teacher expectation
- Lack of aspiration
- Financial concerns
- Insufficient information
How can we help?
We develop aspiration-raising activities for schools and colleges to encourage young people and adults to stay in, or re-enter, a learning environment and to move into higher education.
| Activities at Brunel |
Activities in schools/colleges and community organisations |
- Higher Education awareness visits Year 9 - Year 13
- Master classes Year 11 - Year 13
- Subject taster days Year 6 - Year 13
- Summer schools Year 8 - Year 13
- Health careers fairs Year 10
|
- Higher Education advice talks for students, parents and community groups
- Preparation for Higher Education workshops
- Attendance at parents and options evenings
- Support for regional initiatives
- Input by academic staff into collaborative events
|
Top
The Target Groups
We aim our activities at students who demonstrate the potential to achieve the entry requirements for Higher Education and who meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Little or no family history of Higher Education
- From a school or college with a poor record of entry to Higher Education
- From a low income/low participation area
- Disabled
- Traveller, refugee or looked-after by a local authority (see The Frank Buttle Trust)
- Have studied vocational courses
We also target widening participation students from ethnic minority and/or gender groups that are under-represented in particular subject areas at Brunel.
Top
Target Areas, Schools and Colleges
We mainly work with schools and colleges with large numbers of widening participation students in the following west London boroughs:
- Hillingdon
- Hounslow
- Brent
- Ealing
- Hammersmith and Fulham
- Harrow
Top
Support for Transition into Higher Education
We work with widening participation students who have applied to study subjects such as Social Work to ensure they meet the entry requirements by providing:
- Diagnostic tests
- Intensive maths and English language skills
- Essential study skills
Top
Support for Staying in Higher Education
Widening participation funding is used across the University to encourage specific groups of students to stay in Higher Education once they have taken the initial step. In particular we work closely with:
- The Academic Skills Service (ASK)
- The Job Shop
- The Counselling Service
- The Disability Service
Widening participation officers also contribute to the staff training programme for personal tutors and admission officers at Brunel.
Top
Supporting Success
To help widening participation students to develop essential employability skills and progress to graduate level jobs, we organise:
- Business mentors from the community for a number of ethnic minority students as part of a National Mentoring Consortium scheme and for other widening participation students as part of the Brunel Widening Participation Professional Mentoring programme.
- A student ambassador programme, providing training and part-time employment for widening participation students wishing to help with Brunel's widening participation outreach activities.
Top
Partners
The Aimhigher London West, Central and North Partnership (WECAN)
Aimhigher is a national programme which aims to provide additional support to enable and encourage more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to access higher education. WECAN is a partnership of over 150 schools, 14 local authorities, 16 further education institutions and 15 higher education institutions.
The Frank Buttle Trust (Care Leavers)
 Brunel was awarded The Frank Buttle Trust Quality Mark for Care Leavers in Higher Education in November 2009. The Quality Mark is given to institutions that go that extra mile to support students who have been in public care.
As part of our Commitment to Care Leavers 2009-12 we aim to provide:
- pre-entry advice and guidance
- support with the application and admissions process
- a pre-sessional induction event
- named contacts for assistance with problems
- year-round university accommodation, if required, subject to the usual terms and conditions
- opportunity for Level 2/3 to participate in the Brunel Widening Participation Professional Mentoring scheme.
For more information, contact Lesley Mortimer (details in the right column).
Top
Useful Links
Brunel's Widening Participation Strategy
|
