Access to education
Encouraging talented students from underrepresented backgrounds to come to Sheffield through high-impact access projects paves a direct route to a brighter future - for individuals, communities, our region and our world. With your help, more students can fulfil their potential at our university.
In brief:
- Every student with the potential to flourish at Sheffield should be given the opportunity to do so, without financial or circumstantial barriers holding them back
- Attracting bright scholars from all backgrounds creates true social mobility, lifting us towards a more equitable future for everyone
- Your help allows us to run initiatives like Summer Schools to proactively reach out to young people who may not feel university is within their reach
You can help drive social mobility
Like you, we believe that every student with the potential to flourish at Sheffield should have the opportunity to do so.
To achieve this, it’s vital that we keep working to attract successful applicants with a real diversity of lived experience. Social mobility is the greatest tool we have for breaking unfair cycles of disadvantage and isolation. It raises us all up, creating a more just and equitable society for everyone.
Case study: Summer Schools
The Access to Sheffield Summer School is for young people who might assume university isn’t an option for them. It gives A Level students a first-hand taste of university life to build their aspirations, helping them to realise that studying at a leading university is for people like them. Not only that, thanks to kind donations, there's practical help on hand: from support with their university applications to tutoring and travel bursaries for Open Days.
Closing the ambition gap
Many of these students already live in areas of disadvantage or are eligible for free school meals. Some will be care-experienced, or may be young carers themselves. Others may have been placed in vulnerable situations through traumatic events like forced migration.
In comparison to their more advantaged peers, these young people are much less likely to apply to and win a place at leading universities.
Regardless, they all have something important in common: each and every one of them deserves a chance to make informed decisions about their future studies for themselves. That’s precisely what our Summer School programme is designed to do.
Our Summer Schools help young people realise that applying for - and succeeding at - a leading university like Sheffield is absolutely within their reach.
Megan Rostern-Thomson
Access Manager
Giving students the chance to experience university life
Over five days, potential applicants from diverse backgrounds get to immerse themselves in day-to-day life at the University, joining in with academic and social activities with young people from across the UK. They’re helped to start developing valuable transferable skills for their future academic and career journeys, experiencing university-level teaching and gradually growing their confidence around new peers.
A selection of exciting evening events gives them an authentic glimpse of extracurricular life, gaining vital insight into how undergraduates balance academic work with their wider interests. Through all of this, they’re directly supported by an inspirational team of current Sheffield student ambassadors.
You can help even more students access higher education
At Sheffield, we recognise that not everyone has access to the same level of support and guidance when looking to apply. Ability isn't always demonstrated through a standard set of qualifications. And everyone's journey to the University will be unique.
We wouldn’t have it any other way - and with your help, we’ll be able to open our doors to even more students who never thought they’d get a chance to fulfil their true potential.