In 2020, the Higher Education Commission, with Policy Connect and the University of Derby, published the report, Arriving at Thriving: Learning from disabled students to ensure access for all.
Three years on, applying that report’s recommendations, the University of Derby has eliminated both the continuation and attainment gaps for students with a disability, as well as enhancing the quality of their experience more broadly. In the context of increasing numbers of students with a disability, this is a significant achievement.
Arriving at Thriving uncovered the reasons for continued disparity in higher education in the representation of disabled students, the quality of their experience, and their attainment, continuation and graduate outcomes.
The data gathered in the original research, and particularly the voices of disabled students quoted in the report, made for uncomfortable reading. For example, 57 per cent of respondents said that they had felt excluded from social activities, societies, or clubs at their university.
