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UEL seminar addresses fair access to higher education

Thursday 10 April 2008

Innovative approaches to inspiring disengaged and disadvantaged youngsters were the focus of an international seminar held at the University of East London’s (UEL) Docklands campus on Wednesday 2 April.

Continuum, UEL’s Centre for Widening Participation Policy Studies, organised the event to enable researchers and practitioners to share and debate their experiences of working with young learners in Australia, the UK and Sweden.

Professor John Storan, Director of Continuum, said: “Widening participation has become a top priority for universities all over the world and especially in the UK. As we aim to create partnerships providing pathways into higher education, it's critical to ensure that we start from where learners currently are, rather than where we think they should be.

“A wide range of strategies and approaches are now being tested and developed to ensure fairer access to higher education and the success of students from under-represented groups. This seminar has been a great chance to bring together practitioners and researchers to discuss what works and share understanding of ongoing projects."

Faezeh Khalaji, Project Leader at Stockholm’s University for Everyone, was among a group of Swedish widening participation practitioners who attended the seminar as part of a four-day study trip organised by Continuum.

Faazeh said: “Today’s been a great opportunity to learn from the inspiring work of Continuum and other leading practioners and researchers. It’s been especially interesting to discover how similar the challenges are that we all seem to face.”

Continuum, based at UEL’s Docklands campus, is the first research centre of its kind in the UK. The centre aims to provide a focus for critical understanding of widening participation policy and practice. For further information, visit www.uel.ac.uk/continuum.

For details and pictures contact Daniel Cherry: 020 8223 2194

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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