NEON welcomes the recommendation in the ‘A review of collaborative support for improving equality of opportunity in access to higher education’ reported by Public First released last week that there should be a centrally funded collaborative widening access outreach programme in England that is supported over a three-to-five-year period. We strongly believe that such a programme is essential to any kind of policy commitment to widening access to higher education and social mobility, and the reductions in support, uncertainty in funding and shifting of focus that the Uni Connect programme has experienced in recent years has been detrimental to access work in England. The report is right to focus on the issue of what the appropriate strategic mission for Uni Connect should be and also to consider the balance of functions between any kind of central co-ordination and regional partnerships. Central co-ordination of collaborative outreach programme has always been an issue over the past 20 years, and we believe that it would be better done by an organisation outside of the OfS. This would help with some of the challenges the report identifies with Uni Connect such as its Low visibility among some non-HE stakeholders. This lack of visibility has been a continued issue where securing the political support for the continuation of this work, which the OfS itself needs, is concerned.
We note that the report does not put a value on the level of support that any future collaborative outreach programme should receive. However, when taking this decision OfS and government need to be realistic here regarding the extent to which Uni Connect partnerships and higher education providers are delivering outreach. The report describes Uni Connect as a ‘connective tissue’ bringing together schools, colleges and providers. But in many areas it also delivers much, if not the majority of, outreach work. It may well be that when it comes to outreach a collaborative programme may be best served to do this kind of work. Hence it needs adequate funding which is higher than Uni Connect receives at present. We would argue that taking forward a collaborative outreach programme that can have the maximum, transformational impact on learners across England requires not just a review of its purpose and funding, but where this whole area of work is heading over the next parliament and beyond.