NEON Professional Course: Leading the Way, December 2025 – July 2026

Access Academy Training

  • Date

      10/12/2025 - 15/07/2026

  • Time

      10:00 am - 12:00 pm

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Leading the Way is our course for those currently in, or aspiring to management positions within their organisations, which have a direct relationship to widening access. The course will appeal to:  

  

  • Heads of access and participation  
  • Heads of Uni Connect partnerships  
  • Widening access and student recruitment professionals wishing to pursue their own development.  
  • Other higher education professionals with a specific interest in leadership and widening access  

  

The course is made up of eight, online, two-hour sessions which will be held on a monthly basis and will run from December to July. Each session will consider aspects of widening access policy and practice, and participants will have access to a brand new Teams group, creating a community of practice who can help establish a network, and mutually support each other.   

Featuring a different guest speaker for every session, this course will give you the invaluable opportunity to learn about widening access policy and practice directly from senior sector leaders. Confirmed speakers include:

  • Professor Peter John, CBE, Vice-Chancellor, University of West London
  • Professor Nic Beech, Vice Chancellor, University of Salford 
  • Gino Graziano, Director of Widening Participation and  Social Mobility, University of Southampton
  • Dr. Hannah Merry, Head of Higher Horizons Operations
  • Baljinder Rana, Head of Aimhigher West Midlands 

Delivery mode: Online sessions  

Number of sessions: 8  

Duration of sessions: 2 hours  

 

Session  Learning outcomes  
 1. Widening access – taking a strategic approach   

 10 December 2025

  • Review, and reflect upon own organisation’s ethos around widening access.  
  • Understand the relationship between access, recruitment, transition, retainment and student success.  
  • Apply three approaches (logical, emotional, cooperative) in making their own business case for access.  
  • Use key data that can support the development of a business case.  

  

 2.  Widening access –        Building the plan   

 14 January 2026

  • Develop a strategy to widen access.  
  • Identify and critically assess key policies or procedures, within own organisation, that impact upon widening access.   
  • Gain team and organisational commitment.  

  

   3. Communicating the vision of access  

 11 February 2026

  • Identify methods to embed. approaches to access within own organisation.  
  • Identify key influencers within their organisation.  
  • Gain commitment from others to take action.  
  • Take a strategic approach to developing partnerships.  

  

 4. Ethical approaches to research in widening access  

11 March 2026

  • Reassess the importance of evaluation of interventions.  
  • Appreciate the ethical challenges that can come with evaluation.  
  • Be able to decide when evaluation is considered to be research and needs to follow research ethics guidance.  
  • Understand the concept of consent and when consent must be sought, and from who.  
  • Understand the benefits and challenges of randomised control trials with regards to widening access interventions.  

  

 5. Developing strategic partnerships to widen access  

15 April 2026

  • Discuss different forms of strategic partnerships.  
  • Identify opportunities, including changing existing relationships into more strategic partnerships.  
  • Understand how to build and maintain long term partnerships to support widening access.  
  • Recognise the potential threats to partnerships and how to mitigate them.  

  

 6. Providing excellent customer service  

 6 May 2026

  • Able to identify the full range of key stakeholders within their own context.  
  • Able to define the concept of customer service and identify the characteristics of excellence.  
  • Be able to “know” your stakeholders and understand their needs.  
  • Identify key risks to excellence and strategies to manage any risks.  
  • Understand the importance of feedback and how this can be built into a framework of continual improvement.  

  

 7. The importance of effective networking  

 17June 2026

  • Understand the definition of networking and its importance in building relationships, both within own organisation and externally.  
  • Able to list the key skills needed for networking.  
  • Apply different strategies for networking.  
  • Access a variety of tools to facilitate effective networking.  

  

 8. Course review  

15 July 2026

Learners to reflect upon their learning and experience during the course, how the course has supported them and be able to identify the ongoing support that may be needed to support their development.