Supporting University Entry in the Age of Widening Participation

Designed for those working with widening participation students, this key guide provides all of the information needed to support learners from widening participation backgrounds and ensure fair admission to university can be effectively delivered.Providing the reader with a theoretical and practical understanding of how to reach non-traditional students, this book addresses the realities of the challenges the modern university widening participation applicant faces. Each chapter offers a fresh and engaging insight into widening participation and explores the fascinating range of factors that determine whether students from non-traditional backgrounds successfully access university and benefit from it. This book systematically considers the barriers, approaches and solutions required to reach university and encourages a ‘best evidence’ approach that could enable the people of tomorrow to have more equal access to learning and through that, a positive and healthy future on a planet under severe challenge.Ideal reading for all those working in widening participation or committed to expanding the diversity of their student populations, this book offers the insights, advice and considerations needed when deciding how best to help often highly vulnerable and unsupported students transform their lives through learning.

John R. D. Blicharski has thirty years’ first-hand experience of widening university participation policy and practice. His sector-leading work has drawn individual, national and international praise. His most recent recognition was a Heist award for Best UK Widening Participation Initiative 2021, becoming an Honorary Professor the same year.