Uni Connect Programme: Finance

Department for Education written question – answered at on 10 June 2022.

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Photo of Matt Western Matt Western Shadow Minister (Education)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the impact of the reduction in Uni Connect funding on rates of participation in higher education.

Photo of Michelle Donelan Michelle Donelan Minister of State (Department for Education) (Higher and Further Education)

Uni Connect programme was originally set up as a four-year investment programme to support the creation of a strong and versatile network of local partnerships, aimed at providing sustained outreach to young people across England. During this initial start-up phase, funding was set at £60 million to support the establishment of local partnerships and establishing projects to support hard-to-read students.

The programme is now in its third phase, and we have set out in strategic priorities guidance in 2021 and 2022 that funding should be reduced, with funding to be spent on maintaining core infrastructure and delivering the most effective interventions which meet specific policy aims.

On 26 May 2022, the Office for Students (OfS) published the Uni Connect national evaluation which provides an updated evaluation of one of the stated aims of the Uni Connect programme: to reduce the gap in higher education participation between the most and least represented groups of learners. The full report can be found on the OfS website, available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/uni-connect-national-evaluation-updated-analysis/.

In November 2021 we issued new guidance to the OfS on rebooting the access and participation regime in England. As part of this new approach, the director for fair access and participation has asked providers to play a greater role in improving equality of opportunity in further and higher education within schools.

In April 2022 the OfS issued guidance to providers inviting them to vary their current plans in order to better support real social mobility – delivering interventions that allow students to both succeed in and progress from higher education, rather than just getting more students through the door. Providers are being asked to incorporate in their current access and participation plans more attainment raising activities in partnership with schools, and to develop more diverse pathways into their institution, including levels 4 and 5 and apprenticeships. Providers are being asked to consider the needs that exist both nationally and within their own regional and local context.

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