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A report from the Office for Fair Access published on 12 May, shows that ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº continues to make good progress in promoting access to higher education for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

¹û¶³Ó°Ôº has made positive progress towards all of its high level targets, which must be approved by the Director of Fair Access to Higher Education.

Although ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº monitors its own performance in this area, the report revealed how ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº does in comparison with others nationally. ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº made progress on all of its high level targets, against a sector average of 86%. Whilst nationally, 30% of additional fee income was spent on access measures and bursaries, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº spent 42.5%. Although ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº is below the national average for the percentage of students from low income backgrounds it admits (24.7% against 29%), ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº performs well when benchmarked against similar universities, with only King's College London and Manchester University admitting a higher proportion.

Katy Redfern, Head of Access, said, 'Widening participation is an area that ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº is committed to and invests heavily in. We are reassured to see that this investment along with our focused and evidence-led approach is delivering results.'

¹û¶³Ó°Ôº runs over 60 outreach projects each year, working with over 20,000 students and 400 schools and colleges. This summer, over 1,000 students will take part in a programme of summer schools and short courses, run in partnership with departments and faculties. For more information, visit