About Outreach

What we do

Our activities enable people to recognise that higher education is an option for them. Absolutely everything is provided totally free of charge (sandwiches and buses, even) – our reward is being able to reach out and make a real difference.

Because our goal is to widen participation in higher education, our work is highly targeted. We crunch lots of data to generate a list of partner schools and colleges to work with each year. The people we work with include, but are not limited to:

• Students from an area of low progression to higher education (using Office for Students postcode data)
• Students who qualify for free school meals
• Looked after children and care leavers
• Young careers
• Students with disabilities, as detailed by UCAS.

Our work starts with students in year 5, through to adult learners. We also work in partnership with local authorities, our Students’ Union and other local universities to ensure we can have maximum impact in the region.

We take an evidence based, research led approach to our activity. At the core of this is our evaluation framework, NERUPI. This framework integrates theory and practice in order to inform thoughtful delivery that maximises impact. It’s five key principles: know, choose, become, practise and understand form the foundations of all activity. It’s a progressive structure, so each year we build upon the knowledge already built through previous activity. Importantly, our activities help support your OFSTED and Gatsby Benchmark reporting requirements.

NERUPI is based on Bourdieu’s theory of social capital. There’s an overview of the capitals below, but there is loads more online to read through.