All together – to narrow the gaps
EDGE Hill University and its partners are heading up the Liverpool-area regional branch of a new education outreach support programme.
The Office for Students (OfS) officially launched the Uni Connect programme to build on existing regional partnerships, help over 1,600 schools and colleges in England, and reduce the gap in higher education (HE) participation between the most and least represented groups.
The scheme offers impartial advice, guidance and activities to over 180,000 young people and their parents or carers, and new outreach hubs have been established to help teachers and advisers find impartial information about the outreach activity available in the local area; the Liverpool City Region hub is called Shaping Futures.
Dr Jane Moore, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Education at Edge Hill University, said: “We are proud to be working with partners from across the region to support young people at this big turning point in their lives.
“Shaping Futures highlights how important it is that higher education providers work together with partners such as schools and colleges to offer young people a variety of pathways for them to explore as they take the next step in their academic careers.”
The University of Liverpool hosts Edge Hill’s local Uni Connect partnership Shaping Futures, which is made up of a consortium of 12 higher education providers; the scheme has worked with almost 30,000 students from across the Liverpool City Region (LCR) with a focus on 43 priority schools and ‘target’ learners based on their home postcode.
The launch of Uni Connect will help promote the growth of Shaping Futures’ work with students, as it will broaden the schools it offers impartial guidance to and strengthen its relationship with all partners and other external organisations working to support young people to access HE in the region.
The HE providers which form Uni Connect in LCR are Edge Hill University, Carmel College, Hugh Baird College,
Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool John Moores University, The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, The University of Chester, The City of Liverpool College, The University of Liverpool, Riverside College, University Centre St Helens and Wirral Metropolitan College.
More information on Shaping Futures and Uni Connect can be found on: https://shaping-futures.org.uk/ and https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/ advice-and-guidance/promotingequal-opportunities/uni-connect/