What does it really feel like to be an access student at UCL? What barriers still stand in the way once you arrive? And what can we, in partnership with UCL do more of to ensure every access student can thrive, not just academically, but socially too?
To find out, we carried out research with Access UCL students, generously funded by the UCL Student Success Fund. The findings are clear: Access UCL students bring huge potential to UCL, but too many continue to face barriers that affect their confidence, well-being, and sense of belonging.
We are committed to changing that by removing barriers to participation in our activities so that all students feel the benefits that come from engaging with extracurricular activity.
What is Access UCL?
Access UCL is UCL’s contextual offer scheme for UK-domiciled undergraduate applicants from groups that are underrepresented at UCL. Through Access UCL, eligible students receive an offer that is lower than the standard entry requirements for their chosen programme. Contextual offer schemes like Access UCL recognise that a person’s social context prior to higher education can affect their attainment at school, but not their potential.
What we learnt
Our research found that Access UCL students engage in Students’ Union activity at a lower rate than other UK undergraduate students at UCL, with students who used, rather than exceeded, their contextual offer having the lowest rates of participation.
Students offered many reasons for why this might be. These ranged from practical issues such as time and cost to more personal barriers such as a lack of confidence and understanding, both of which are underpinned by many students being the first in their family to attend university. Students commented on being overwhelmed by the number of opportunities on offer, unsure of expectations when engaging with activities, and anxious about fitting in.
We also found that when Access UCL students do participate, they experience greater overall wellbeing emphasising the importance of student life outside of the classroom. Developing a sense of belonging was a more complicated. This is less affected by engagement with activity and more by offer status, with students who used their offer consistently reporting a lack of belonging – highlighting that there is more the Students’ Union can do to support these students to find and sustain community at UCL
What next?
The following actionable recommendations were proposed by our student participants, and we are now in the process of working across the Students’ Union and in partnership with UCL to implement them. Watch out for an update later on in summer term!
- Timetabling and Flexibility
1. Increase the number of taster or open sessions run by clubs or societies and schedule these across the year.
2. Promote a greater variety of membership options, such as termly memberships, to suit different budgets and schedules.
3. Encourage societies to publish a termly schedule of events with associated costs to help students budget and plan.
- Foster Confidence and Inclusion
1. In collaboration with the UCL Access office, deliver a specific Access UCL mini-freshers fair and refreshers fair in January.
2. Support clubs in delivering a wider range of non-alcoholic social events (e.g., coffee mornings, walking tours, craft sessions).
3. Introduce more beginners’ level sports, dance, or otherwise skills-based societies events.
- Strengthening Support
1. Work more closely with the UCL Access and Student Success Offices to increase the visibility and accessibility of Students’ Union UCL’s offer.
2. Dramatically improve the visibility of the Participation Fund, targeting promotion directly to the Access UCL cohort.
3. Create a fast-track application route for the fund for students already in receipt of university financial support to reduce administrative burden.
Read the full report below: