The pandemic hasn’t just kept students away from schools, it’s also prevented them from visiting the universities they might attend in future. At The Access Project (TAP) we have been working hard to make sure disadvantaged school pupils can still visit prospective universities - virtually.
We normally run a ‘trips week’ when we take students to see selective institutions in person. This year 400 TAP students from London, the West Midlands and East Midlands have experienced a trips week like no other. They have been ‘visiting’ SOAS University of London, The University of Leicester and The University of Southampton during February half-term.
Raising attainment
The Access Project helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds get to top universities. We work with schools to offer a unique combination of tuition and in-school mentoring for young people during GCSEs and A-Levels.
Data from UCAS shows that TAP students are more than twice as likely as similarly disadvantaged peers to attend a top university. Thanks to expert knowledge of online delivery and safeguardin,g we have been able to deliver the programme during COVID, at a time when young people need more support than ever.
The programme we offer not only increases students’ chances of attending a top third university, it also raises the aspirations of students throughout the schools in which we work. It helps to transform our schools’ overall post-18 student destination profiles.