Building on our access and participation progress

Key messages

• The University’s Access and Participation Plan (2025-2029) has been submitted to the Office for Students  
• The Plan outlines our commitment to support students from all backgrounds to apply and gain admission to Oxford, get the most out of their time here and graduate with improved degree outcomes 
• The Plan builds on existing programmes to enhance access and participation as well as new approaches  

For well over a decade, colleagues across the Academic Administration Division (AAD) have worked in partnership with academic and outreach staff from across the collegiate University to define and deliver a series of ambitious targets on how Oxford will best support UK students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The latest iteration of our strategic ambitions has now been formally outlined in the University’s Access and Participation Plan (APP), culminating in a submission to our regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), on 31 May 2024.  

The purpose of the Plan

The APP is a formal requirement in which we are required by the OfS to self-evaluate and set ourselves stretching targets to improve equality of opportunity for students. This latest Plan, covering the academic years 2025/6 to 2028/9, has emerged following a rigorous analysis of our areas in delivering equality of opportunity, as defined by the OfS. Although this is a regulatory tool, it is also a positive opportunity to reflect on our progress, refresh our aims and ensure that our collective efforts to meet those aims are joined up and effective. 

Why it’s important 

The Plan outlines a range of interventions to address our targets, aimed at alleviating barriers to access and gaps in attainment. Influences stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, changes to assessment regimes and the rising cost of living have all impacted students, but most notably those from communities already under-represented at Oxford.  

As a result, issues around the availability of information and advice, access to academic and personal support, delays in disability diagnoses and the opportunity to develop necessary skills, all contribute to and underpin the very necessity of this Plan.  

Oxford’s own targets 

Oxford’s Plan sets out five clear targets for how the University will support both incoming and current student cohorts from disadvantaged backgrounds for the period 2025-29, following the conclusion of the current APP.      

Two of these targets are focused on our access and admissions, seeking to increase the representation of students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. These targets are based on two main UK Government data sources – free school meal (FSM) eligibility and the national Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD – an indication of geographically deprived areas). Drawing on the collegiate University’s extensive outreach activity, we will seek to increase the proportion of our students who are FSM-eligible to 10.7% of our intake, and the proportion from the lowest IMD quintiles to 23%. This considered approach echoes our strategic aim to continue to encourage the brightest students (especially those who may not typically consider Oxford) to apply here, regardless of their background and journey to this point.   

The final three targets relate to increasing the proportion of students from particular constituencies achieving good degree award outcomes. Firstly – and continuing with the support of admissions based on free school meal eligibility – we will aim to increase the proportion of ‘good’ degree awards for these students (namely, at 2:1 or better) from the current level of 90% to 94% (a more stretching target than if IMD were used in this context).  

Furthermore, we will work to increase good degree awards to 94% for students who are disabled or of Black heritage, up from the current level of 92.5% and 87.4% respectively.  

These targets are deliberately ambitious – both in alignment with Oxford’s commitment to continually strive for increased access, diversity and student experience, as well as striving to ensure equality of opportunity is realised for all. 

Current and proposed interventions 

There are a number of existing, brilliant programmes that will of course continue and be built upon as we seek to achieve these targets. These include the expansion of University managed programmes such as Opportunity Oxford, Astrophoria Foundation Year, and Target Oxbridge, as well as college and department managed programmes including Lincoln College’s Pathfinders, primary school-college twinning through Oxford Hub and The Queen’s College Translation Exchange.  

New initiatives will give greater focus to on-course support, building and developing students’ academic skills to be complemented by specialised support, adaptations to increase inclusivity in teaching and assessment, more joined up services for disabled students, and direct action for race equality across student welfare, advocacy, learning, knowledge and research.  

A collaborative approach  

The efforts behind this work speak to the dedication of colleagues working together across the breadth of the collegiate University’s academic and administrative roles to best support our students, representative of the shared principles of Professional Services Together. I extend my thanks to those in Education Policy Support, Undergraduate Admissions, Student Registry, Careers Service and the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) together with our divisional and college colleagues in their efforts to get us to this point of submission. 

Student voice and evaluation 

Throughout our consultation, it has been imperative to involve students to have their say, and we have welcomed input from Oxford SU and participants in student engagement exercises run by the CTL. Our approach to this Plan extends beyond our submission. The current and proposed interventions to deliver against the proposed targets will be fully evaluated, contributing to enhanced knowledge in this area across the sector. In parallel, the CTL is working with the Department for Education and TASO on guidance for Higher Education evaluation, including the impact of sharing results and the effective use of student voices.   

Next steps 

It is likely to be a little while until we hear from the OfS on its approval of our plans. In the meantime, we will continue to support our ongoing APP commitments so in turn we can continue to support all our students to thrive during their time at Oxford.  

Saira Shaikh is the University’s Academic Registrar, heading up the Academic Administration Division and its set of central services that support students from recruitment through to graduation.