The Office for Fair Access has today (Thursday 21 March) welcomed an announcement from The Sutton Trust which will see 400 students a year benefit from a scheme to help them become lawyers. The funding, available to young people whose families are from non-professional backgrounds, forms part of the Pathways to Law programme which has already benefited 2000 students. The funding underpins a much broader programme of support, where participants will be offered practical assistance on making applications to university, work experience in the legal profession, and mentoring from undergraduate law students.
The extension of the programme was made possible thanks to a donation to The Sutton Trust of £1.2 million from the Legal Education Foundation. This has been matched by a further £1.2 million from law firms and universities.
Commenting, the Director of Fair Access, Professor Les Ebdon, said:
“This additional funding is extremely welcome news. Pathways to Law really opens up the profession and has already helped 2000 students who might not otherwise have chosen a legal career.
“OFFA is keen to see more initiatives of this kind to help smooth the path for under-represented students into employment, particularly the professions. That’s why in our recent guidance to universities on drawing up an access agreement, we have asked them to consider how they might work with employers to provide mentoring and greater uptake of industry placements and years abroad.”
ENDS
For further information, contact Zita Adamson, OFFA Communications Manager (0117 931 7272) or Sean Beynon, OFFA Press and Communications Adviser (0117 931 7022), or email press@offa.org.uk
Notes to editors
- The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) is an independent, non-departmental public body established under the Higher Education Act 2004 to help promote and safeguard fair access to higher education. The main way we do this is by approving and monitoring ‘access agreements’. All English universities and colleges offering both full-time and part-time undergraduate higher education courses must have an access agreement with us in order to charge higher fees. Access agreements set out the fees an institution wishes to charge and the access measures they will put in place to sustain or improve access and student retention. Access measures include outreach (e.g. summer schools, mentoring, after-school tuition, links with schools and colleges in disadvantaged areas and activities to improve retention and success), and financial support such as bursaries and scholarships.
- For more about OFFA, please see our website www.offa.org.uk, particularly the Quick Facts and FAQ in the Press section.