Widening Access, Student Recruitment, and Outreach

The Widening Participation team at the University of Oxford work with state school students aged 9-16 (Year 5 to Year 11) in Oxfordshire, Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire, to help them understand what they could gain from further or higher education, and what type of study might suit them best.

Working with carefully selected groups of young people, our Oxford Young Ambassadors and Compass: Young Carers programmes aim to raise aspirations, increase attainment and build life skills over a period of sustained contact. 

Our primary programme, Dave Smith and the Great University Mystery, introduces the language of Higher Education to a younger audience through an interactive workshop.

We also run the .b Mindfulness programme. Pronounced "dot-be"and standing for "Stop, Breathe and Be!" the programme aims to equip students with Mindfulness as a life skill allowing them to:
-feel happier, calmer and more fulfilled
-get on better with others
-concentrate and learn better
-cope with stress and anxiety

During the Easter holidays we also run Murder in the Cloisters for Year 8 and Year 9 students. This three day subject taster event allows students to experience Law, Classics and Chemistry in a university setting. Working with actors (the Oxford Imps), the students interrogate 'suspects', examine evidence and work together in their groups to solve a murder. Students stay in Pembroke College and eat in the dining hall giving them a real taste for what life at University is like.

For more information on any of our programmes, or to contact a member of the team, please visit the Widening Participation site.

Uniq Summer Schools    Research from Oxford’s participation in Sutton Trust summer schools shows that 40 per cent of students who have applied to Oxford after attending a summer school here received an offer. In 2010, the University will launch its own ‘Uniq’ summer school. Starting with 500 places for state school pupils in 2010, by 2014, there will be a Uniq summer school course for every undergraduate degree offered by the University - 1,000 places in total. The summer schools will give high-performing pupils from state schools the chance to spend a week in Oxford – attending lectures in their chosen subject, living in college accommodation with other summer school pupils and student mentors, and finding out more about applying to Oxford.

Here’s a snapshot of just some of the many outreach activities undertaken by Oxford colleges.

Trinity College recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Durham Outreach Programme, which gives state school students from the Durham region a taste of Oxford undergraduate life. Participants experience three-day residential visits, staying in typical undergraduate rooms and taking part in sessions with students and tutors.  Trinity and the University as whole have seen an upswing in the number of applications from this under-represented part of the UK as a result of this programme. Similarly, Lincoln College encourages applications from Lincolnshire, the north and north-east - areas historically underrepresented at Oxford - through its Lincolnshire Access Initiative, run on behalf of the University.

St Anne’s College is working with the National Black Boys Can Association to develop a sustained contact programme to inspire black boys to continue on to higher education, and to support them in reaching their full potential. The programme aims to support the boys over an extended period of their secondary school education, encouraging boys, their families, and their schools in a variety of events and activities.

University College recently established an Undergraduate Admissions Office to sharpen its focus on how it recruits and admits the best and brightest candidates from all types of background and school. Undergraduates become ‘Univ ambassadors’ to play a role in the college’s outreach work. The college has also established an e-mentoring programme for students in Humberside.