Outreach Partnership Project celebrates success

Thousands of young people from across the county have been helped to follow their education dreams thanks to the University of Essex’s Outreach team.

The University’s Outreach Partnership Project is celebrating its fourth anniversary of working with schools in Essex to make higher education a more accessible option by supporting local students to overcome any barriers they are facing.

Over the past four years, the Outreach Partnership Project has delivered 320 activities attended by nearly 17,000 students.

Head of Outreach Rachel Wier said: “We’re delighted to have been able to work with 17 partner schools across Essex to deliver targeted interventions for the students who need it most.

“With the help of our school partners, we’ve been able to reach thousands of students, deliver hundreds of activities, and transform the future of many, many young people.”

“Together, we’ve changed the hearts and minds of students who face some of the greatest barriers to Higher Education progression.”

"One of the best educational experiences"

Activities organised through the Outreach Partnership Project include HE Taster Campus visits, Human Rights & Leadership projects, GCSE Revision Roadshows, Student Mentoring programmes and Summer Sleepover residencies.

And the feedback has been incredibly positive. One Summer Sleepover participant described it as “one of the best educational experiences I have had.” Another student who took part in the mentoring sessions said: “I learnt to be confident and follow the things I like to achieve my dreams”.

Rachel added: “None of this would be possible without our academic and professional services colleagues who have supported the Outreach Partnership Project with workshops, talks and access to facilities – enabling us to showcase the transformative opportunity an Essex education offers.”

Building on our success for the future

The University’s new Access and Participation Plan for 2025 to 2029 will see the Outreach team building on this success and focus on working with male students from neighbourhoods with very low participation in higher education and the highest level of deprivation across a number of measures - Quintile One in the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).

A core target will be to ensure that applications to the University of Essex by male students to subject areas where they are currently under-represented within the School of Health and Social Care are increased by 5%.

Rachel said: “This new target will help direct the interventions we deliver and the students we target as participants. There are many rewarding careers which studying within the School of Health and Social Care can help you to access and we want to raise aspirations in our region.

“We look forward to maintaining our strong school partnerships and continuing to support students across our region access attainment raising interventions, aspiration enhancing opportunities and enriching HE experiences.”