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Widening Participation

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Widening Participation

At Newcastle, we have an active programme of raising aspirations and widening participation, welcoming the brightest and best students to our University regardless of background.

At Newcastle, our aim is to encourage and support the brightest and best students to succeed, regardless of background. We have an extensive programme of aspiration raising and support for students before, during and after their study with us. We have a longstanding commitment to widening participation and equality of opportunity not only in our region, but across the UK. 

Progressive programme of activities pre-entry

We provide a University-wide progressive programme of outreach to students and staff in schools and colleges nationally. Working in partnership with teachers, current students and our graduates, our range of activities and workshops is tailored to the needs of schools and colleges, including a focus on helping to raise pupil attainment. This is delivered by a team of expert staff, recent graduates and student ambassadors, and is one of the largest in the country with over 180,000 students attending activities in 2016-17. 

National and regional collaboration

We lead the following national and regional widening participation partnerships:  

Realising Opportunities

An award-winning national fair access scheme involving 14 research-intensive universities, which aims to encourage talented students from across England to apply to leading universities.

The North East Raising Aspiration Partnership

A collaboration of the five universities in the north-east, working to increase the progression of under-represented groups into higher education.

The North East Uni Connect Programme

A large and ambitious partnership of five universities and 15 further education colleges in the North East region that aims to create a step-change in higher education progression rates.

Newcastle University PARTNERS Programme supported entry route

The PARTNERS programme is our own access programme and is open to all students from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who fulfil widening participation eligibility criteria. Participating students receive lower offers and a programme of support from application to graduation and beyond.  

Contextual offers

Our commitment to widening participation includes University admissions. When considering all undergraduate student applications, we make use of additional data (socio-economic, school or college and/or personal or family circumstances) to set each student’s academic achievements in the context of their circumstances. This data, together with those provided on the UCAS application, inform the offers we make. More information on our use of contextual data in admissions is available in our University Admissions Policy. 

Access and Participation Plan

Full details of our commitment to Widening Participation can be found in our Access and Participation Plan.