OfS transparency information

In addition to around £3m in bursaries and scholarships that are available to individual students, the University invests more than £2.5m per year in outreach and access activities.

Our investment includes a range of activities for schools such as taster days and campus visits, access to university facilities and guidance for schools. Our Reading Scholars Programme works intensively across an academic year with 300 students from underrepresented groups, helping them to develop the knowledge and skills they need to successfully progress to higher education. 

The University is committed to access and participation and we recognise that, although our student population has diversified over the past five years in terms of ethnicity and disability, we have more to do to ensure that our current student population represents the breadth of society.

We do know that our commitment to supporting students through their course is helping them to progress throughout their studies. 93.8% of full-time, first-degree students continued their studies in 2020/21, degree awarding gaps are narrowing, and 76.6% of our 2020/21 qualifier cohort progressed to professional or managerial employment, further study, or other positive outcomes within 15 months of graduating.

Access and Participation

We recognise that the journey to University education is different for everyone, and so our work to support access to higher education begins at an early stage.

We run a comprehensive programme of outreach and activities with schools to help young people think not only about university but also about their future careers. Our support helps students from many and varied backgrounds to make informed choices about which university best suits their needs, situation and preferences for study. Full details are available in our Access and Participation Plan.