A presentation from the HEA's Research Conference: Promoting Equity in Higher Education 2010.
School-university link programmes contribute to widening access and participation diversity raising students' aspirations and staff development. This paper presents findings from stakeholder interviews and focus groups on the experiences of those involved and the impact of three programmes associated with the University of York to identify the factors which contribute to or inhibit the success of building links between schools colleges and HE institutions. The analysis explored programme characteristics including programme aims activities and aims of the activities programme uniqueness and aspects that did or did not work. Best practice and barriers for school–university link programmes were identified.
The presentation will present the results from three in-depth case-studies to discuss the potential scope of building links between secondary and tertiary education; show how these programmes aim to contribute to widening participation and access increasing diversity in tertiary education and promoting social equity through providing opportunities for students from disadvantaged groups; demonstrate factors for best practice and potential barriers to aid programme development for practitioners elsewhere; and present a methodology for how a rigorous and comprehensive evaluation could be conducted to promote best practice for researchers evaluating these types of programmes in the future.
