OFFA today welcomed the publication of a report highlighting the successes of the higher education sector in improving access for people from families with no experience of higher education.
The Universities UK/SCOP commissioned study – From the Margins to the Mainstream: Embedding Widening Participation in Higher Education – demonstrates the ways in which institutions are ensuring that widening participation practices are increasingly central to their work.
Commenting on the report, Sir Martin Harris, Director of OFFA, said:
‘I welcome this report as it reinforces my view that institutions are fully committed to improving access for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and that the widening participation agenda is successfully embedded at the heart of institutional policy and decision making.
‘This commitment is also evident in the generous bursary support arrangements offered to low income and other under represented groups in the OFFA access agreements. It is clear to me that, as we move forward, institutions will quickly embed these bursary plans into their overarching widening participation policies, thus continuing to ensure that all those who have the potential to benefit from higher education have the opportunity to do so.’
The full report – ‘From the Margins to the Mainstream: Embedding Widening Participation in Higher Education’ – is available to download from the Universities UK website.