Initiatives to improve access to graduate study
As well as UNIQplus, Academic Futures and scholarships, the University's Graduate Student Access Strategy includes other pioneering initiatives and activities to improve access to graduate study.
The Richard Doll Building atrium. Credit: Oxford University Images / Graham Bagley
Graduate Student Access Strategy
In 2025, the University approved its first Graduate Student Access Strategy which aims to increase academic excellence by widening opportunities for exceptional students from every background and address barriers that can prevent students from considering Oxford for postgraduate study. In the University’s Strategic Plan (2025-30), graduate scholarships and access are identified as a key priority.
Collection and use of contextual data
The University currently collects a range of contextual data from candidates who apply for graduate study.
Initiatives to support fair assessment and selection
Initiatives to improve postgraduate access for under-represented and socio-economically disadvantaged groups.
Positive action under the Equality Act 2010
The University is also taking positive action under the Equality Act 2010 to tackle the underrepresentation of UK students from Black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani backgrounds at Oxford and to encourage more students from these groups to apply for graduate study.
Application fee waivers
A standard application for graduate study requires the payment of an application fee. These fees are used to support the University’s graduate access and widening participation initiatives for applicants or students from disadvantaged or underrepresented groups at Oxford. This helps us particularly to support applicants and potential applicants from all backgrounds, at every stage of their journey into graduate study at Oxford. A range of application fee waiver schemes are available to applicants who meet defined eligibility criteria.
Further information about application fee waivers can be found in our Application Guide, including full details of the various schemes and their eligibility criteria.
Optiver Foundation Scholarships
The scholarship programme is aimed at increasing the number of women from low and middle-income countries taking up offers for postgraduate science courses at Oxford. The programme has been made possible by a generous donation from the Optiver Foundation.
A second aspect of the donation funded research into how contextual factors among international postgraduate applications could be identified for scholarship assessment. Read the report: Assessing the socio-economic background of international postgraduate students.
Close the Gap
The Close the Gap project aimed to transform doctoral student selection to develop a socially and epistemically just and inclusive environment for research. It was an equal partnership between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. It was one of thirteen projects to improve access to doctoral study for UK Black, Asian and minority ethnic students, which were partially funded by the Office for Students and Research England.
Close the Gap developed and tested new disciplinary-specific, race-literate, fair selection processes that were designed to bring about meaningful change in postgraduate research and doctoral candidate selection. In particular, it worked to address the underrepresentation of Black British, British Bangladeshi and British Pakistani students in postgraduate research in the UK overall and in all major discipline groups at doctoral level in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
In the following short film, students from Oxford and Cambridge describe the importance of widening access to postgraduate study.
Close the Gap initiatives
Working with external partners and collaborators Blueprint for All, CRAC, Rare Recruitment and Leading Routes, Close the Gap trialled a number of initiatives in some of the eight participating departments – two in each of four divisions in the University of Oxford.
The Toolkit for Fair Doctoral Admissions
The final output of Close the Gap is the Toolkit for Fair Doctoral Admissions for Ethnically and Racially Minoritised Applicants.
