We exist to help give young minds from under-represented backgrounds in higher education the opportunity to shine. We work with students, teachers, parents and carers to deliver activity to inspire a generation of potential go-getters to get up and get going.
Our work is highly targeted - we only work with a shortlist of local schools at a pre-16 level. Pre-16 outreach is at the heart of our widening participation strategy as a university. Read more about widening participation activities at UEA. If you're an Outreach partner school and want to see more about what's on offer, please visit our offer website.
Find out what the UEA Outreach team do in 2 mins in our handy explainer video
Who?
The young 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 carers
Students with disabilities, as detailed by UCAS
We start working with students in year 6 and follow them through their educational journey, into sixth form or college and beyond.
What?
All partnership schools are offered a host of opportunities for young people, staff, parents and carers and the wider school community. They also get their own dedicated point of contact to help them select young people who will benefit most from taking part in our activities.
To give you an idea of our reach, in 2018/19 we interacted with over 36,000 students across 1,200 different activities. We have a team of Outreach Officers and support assistants that run activities on-campus and in-school across the county.
Our activities are designed to enable young people to recognise that going to university is an option for them. Absolutely everything is provided totally free of charge - our reward is being able to reach out and make a real difference. We offer financial support for individual and group travel costs, teacher cover fees and any resources required to deliver our in-school initiatives. Learn more about our travel fund.
All activities are built using a progressive Outreach framework at their heart and can greatly help support schools achieve both Ofsted and Gatsby Benchmark reporting requirements. We are here to support schools - teachers are time poor, we get it, but we exist to offer real value-added support.
Why?
Because social mobility is the life-blood of a successful society. We, university-wide, believe in championing young people from all backgrounds to succeed in whatever way is best for them. Let's be clear though, if young people from under-represented backgrounds are clued up on all things university and decide it's not for them, that's fine. As long as they've been able to make an informed choice, then we're happy.