The University of Birmingham has embraced widening participation and fair access since its foundation and is proud of its longstanding and pioneering approach to support access and participation in higher education.
In recent years, the University has provided not only outstanding initiatives to widen access and support participation and success, but have also invested in and are committed to evidence-based practice. This is set out in our Access and Participation Evaluation Strategy which outlines our approach to measuring progress and producing high quality evidence-based evaluations.
Here we bring together this widening access work and research as well as celebrate the impact of these initiatives through a number of case studies and student profiles.
Impact evaluation case studies
Academic Enrichment Programme (AEP)
Evaluating the impact of the Academic Enrichment Programme on widening access to selective universities: Application of the Theory of Change framework
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Forward Thinking: Impact Evaluation
Multi-intervention outreach and mentoring analysis report: Impact evaluation of the University of Birmingham’s Forward Thinking programme
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Forward Thinking: Local Evaluation
Multi-intervention outreach and mentoring evaluation report: Local evaluation of the University of Birmingham’s Forward Thinking programme
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Birmingham Scholar Report
Annual report for the second of the Birmingham Scholar including information about the cohort and evaluative data for activities undertaken.
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Outreach report
A summary of the University of Birmingham’s Outreach and Access activity for the academic year 2021-2022, including data on outputs and outcomes.
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What our students think
My experience on the programme overall has been very rewarding and reassuring. Academically, I have learnt about how lectures and seminars work and how to be successful in my studies. Socially, the programme has given me a sense of stability in knowing that there are people on this programme who have similar situations to me and are determined to get where they want to be.
Charlotte, Inspired@Birmingham graduate