Office for Students

All information about equality of opportunity

Contextual admissions: Promoting fairness and rethinking merit

The Office for Students is challenging universities and colleges to be ambitious and innovative in reducing persistent inequalities in access and participation. Contextual admissions are one way of doing this, but a more radical approach is needed if we are to achieve fair access. What might ‘ambitious and innovative’ look like in this area and how far do we need to go to achieve fair access?

Last updated: 01 May 2019

Publication

Evidence for impact on access and participation

At the end of last year, the Office for Students set itself ambitious goals to eliminate equality gaps in higher education. We have now issued our first guidance for higher education providers under this new approach.

Last updated: 04 Mar 2019

Blog post
Help us improve your experience

Describe your experience of using this website

Improve experience feedback
* *

Thank you for your feedback