In 2025 Oxford approved its first University-wide Graduate Student Access Strategy, embedding graduate access into the institution’s long-term priorities and formalising work that has been growing steadily. The strategy aims to increase academic excellence by widening opportunities for talented students from every background and addressing 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.
Graduate access was included in the Government’s Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper last year and the Russell Group launched a workstream to tackle the challenge of widening participation in postgraduate study. The first round-table event takes place this week, chaired by Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey, bringing together representatives from across the sector.
'Ensuring that postgraduate education is open to outstanding students from every part of society is vital – not only for fairness, but because talent is everywhere and must be given the opportunity to flourish,' says Professor Tracey CBE, FRS, FMedSci. 'The strength and excellence of our research and academic community depends on our ability to attract and support exceptional students from all backgrounds. At Oxford, our first university-wide Graduate Student Access Strategy reflects a long-term institutional commitment to widening opportunities for academically talented students and addressing the barriers that can prevent prospective students from considering postgraduate study at Oxford.'
“The strength and excellence of our research and academic community depends on our ability to attract and support exceptional students from all backgrounds.”
Professor Freya Johnston, who as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) oversees Oxford’s educational strategies and student experience, says it is vital to the University’s academic mission to promote fair and inclusive graduate admissions.
‘Opening our educational remit and everything that we offer here to as large a group of applicants as we possibly can – that’s always at the forefront of what we do.’
Professor David Gavaghan, who is Chair of the Graduate Access Subcommittee, agrees. ‘We can't assume that excellence is only found in one place,’ he says. ‘We are trying to find the brightest and the best whatever their background. If you have the potential to do well here, then we want you to apply.’
From pilot projects to institutional strategy
Oxford’s work on graduate access began in 2019 with the establishment of the Graduate Access Working Group; the pace and scale of activity have accelerated rapidly in recent years.
One of the earliest initiatives was UNIQplus, a summer programme designed to give talented undergraduates hands-on research experience at Oxford – especially those who may never previously have considered postgraduate study at the University. Since its inception, around 880 students have attended the programme.
Several initiatives have since been introduced to increase the diversity of the graduate population, including the use of contextual data in selection, the introduction of application fee waivers, and the Oxford and Cambridge Close the Gap project, which aimed to improve access to doctoral study for UK Black, Asian, and minority ethnic students.
Financial barriers remain significant at postgraduate level. In 2021 the Academic Futures programme was introduced to address under-representation in the graduate student body. The programme has grown to support nearly 200 scholars on course in 2025-26, across a wide variety of under-represented groups including Black British, refugee and displaced background students, and care-experienced students. In 2026-27 scholars from British Pakistani and British Bangladeshi backgrounds will join the programme for the first time. Further expansion will build on contextual data collection to support students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds from 2027-28.
Changing perceptions
For many students, the biggest barrier comes before an application is submitted. Professor Johnston says part of the challenge is perception: whether students feel Oxford is somewhere they could belong. ‘It’s very complex, the ways in which people feel able or unable to consider Oxford as a graduate destination and some of those things can go right back to school.’
Professor Gavaghan also points to the ways applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds may appear less competitive on paper despite strong academic potential.
‘If you're a British student, for example, from a socioeconomically disadvantaged background, you may have spent the summers working to finance next year's funding,’ he says, ‘instead of doing an internship at Harvard or Yale or Tsinghua. So, your CV may not include such opportunities.’
UNIQplus aims to help bridge that gap by giving students research experience, mentoring, and greater confidence in applying to Oxford. The programme has also become increasingly competitive, receiving around 700 applications for 130 places.
The Graduate Student Access Strategy has also enabled the roll-out of contextual data in the admissions process across the University from next year. The information, such as indicators of disadvantage, can be used to better understand an applicant’s academic achievements and to inform decision making. The move follows pilots across several courses and aims to improve the fairness of assessment and selection.
The University is not taking a ‘one size fits all’ approach to graduate access. Barriers to graduate study vary between subjects and disciplines; in some areas, the challenge is a lack of diversity in the undergraduate student body while, in others, admissions processes or application patterns may create unintentional barriers for certain groups. Each of Oxford’s four academic divisions has a dedicated Graduate Access Manager working across departments to develop plans tailored to local needs.
Excellence and access
Both Professor Johnston and Professor Gavaghan reject the idea that widening access risks lowering academic standards. Instead, they argue, increasing the number of applicants from a range of backgrounds strengthens the quality of research and academic inquiry.
‘We want more talented people to apply,’ Professor Johnston says. ‘That way, you have a bigger pool of highly qualified people from which to choose.’
‘We're not getting as diverse a set of opinions, knowledge and backgrounds approaching the problems that we're interested in solving,’ agrees Professor Gavaghan.
The University’s longer-term ambition is a substantial expansion in scholarship provision. ‘There is absolutely no limit on the number of scholarships that we would happily go on to endorse’, Professor Johnston says. ‘We want to give as many people a fully funded place as we possibly can – that would be success.’
Find out more about graduate access at Oxford.
Hear how Academic Futures is supporting displaced scholars at Oxford.
