Universities and colleges will be expected to work with employers, schools and charities to increase equality of opportunity for all students.
This is a transcript of a speech given on 27 September 2022 by John Blake, Director for Fair Access and Participation, at an event organised by the Social Mobility Foundation.
I would like today to talk about the direction of travel for the Office for Student’s work on equality of opportunity in higher education (HE), particularly our approach to access and participation plans, ahead of the opening of our consultation on new regulatory expectations next week.
Because a substantial portion of our new expectations rests on collaboration and partnership between higher education institutions and others, including employers and the third sector, I’m delighted to have the chance to speak here at Browne Jacobson, whose work on social mobility is exemplary and includes their ground-breaking Fairer Access into Real Experience initiative, which rightly identifies a lack of experiences of meaningful engagement with professions and careers as much if not more so a barrier to the success of those from lower socio-economic backgrounds as a lack of aspiration.
