Public First are undertaking a review of collaborative support for improving equality of opportunity within access to higher education across England on behalf of the Office for Students (OfS). At the moment, much of the collaborative outreach work (although not all) is undertaken through Uni Connect.  

The OfS and its predecessor bodies have provided funding to support collaborative access activity by higher education providers in several different guises over the last two decades. This includes through the AimHigher programme and the National Networks of Collaborative Outreach. The current incarnation, Uni Connect, was initially envisaged as a four year programme starting in 2017. The OfS has given a commitment, in principle, to support the current phase of the programme through to the end of 2024-25.  

This review of collaborative outreach has two key aims: 

• To look at what is currently working well and what is not working as well in Uni Connect and consider the variation across the 29 Uni Connect consortia which operate across England.  
• To think about the opportunities for collaborative outreach in the future, including the most effective model, funding and structure. 

Over the next few months, Public First is aiming to speak to people from organisations across the sector and beyond in order to better understand collaborative outreach – and particularly Uni Connect – from as many different perspectives as possible. In order to do this, we will be running roundtables, 1-1 interviews, surveys and in-depth fieldwork in different locations.   

We are aware that no matter how comprehensive and inclusive we try to be, we will not be able to speak directly to everyone in the sector. We are therefore keen to create a channel to hear from anyone who would like to contribute to the review and invite you to do so by emailing us at collaborative.outreach@publicfirst.co.uk .  

Please see our Privacy Notice which details how we will use this information, including how and whether we progress in touch with you any further.