We want all young people to reach their full potential and to gain the qualifications they need to succeed, regardless of their circumstances. So, for this reason we prioritise certain target audiences who we know are less likely to go into higher education (HE) and who are less likely to do well once they are there because of the additional barriers and challenges they may face.
These target audiences include:
- Students who come from households with a low income, or whose parents work in non-graduate level jobs
- Students who come from areas where low numbers of people go into higher education
- Some Black, Asian and minority ethnic students
- Disabled students
- Care experienced students
- Students who are carers
- Those who are estranged from their families
- Students from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities
- Refugees and asylum seekers
- Children from military families
These audiences have been identified by our funder, the Office for Students, as the key “underrepresented” groups in HE, meaning that there are fewer people from the above backgrounds studying in HE than one would expect given the size of these groups in the population as a whole.