An important element of the Office for Students’ (OfS’s) work around equality of opportunity is ensuring that there are flexible and diverse pathways into higher education.
It is important for individual universities and colleges, and the wider sector, to consider ways to widen the pool of people experiencing higher education.
One way to do that is through higher education short courses, which are designed to enable flexible learning and to help students develop skills needed by employers and the economy.
Today, the OfS has published the findings of an independent evaluation of a trial which has piloted access to student finance for these courses. The pilot, which is a collaboration between the OfS and the Department for Education, launched in August 2021 and continues until August 2025.
