Accelerating Ambition: Our growth strategy 2024-2029
We’re thrilled to launch our growth strategy, Accelerating Ambition, outlining our plans to reach 20,000 young people through our university readiness programme by 2029.
The Access Project supports young people from under-resourced backgrounds to raise their aspirations, access top universities and achieve social mobility. We achieve this by providing a unique programme of in-school mentoring, skills coaching and tuition in more than 40 schools across the country.
Through our bold new strategy, we will expand our reach to help 1,200 young people place at top universities every year.
Enhancing university prospects with The Access Project
The ongoing impact of the pandemic on learning, combined with the cost-of-living crisis and reduced school budgets, has created significant barriers for young people striving to attend university and achieve social mobility.
Structural inequalities continue to hold back talented students, limiting their potential and future opportunities. At The Access Project, our work is proven to make a difference – students in our program are 50% more likely to attend top universities than their peers with similar backgrounds.
To close the access gap across the UK, we’re committed to expanding our reach and working with even more young people in more areas.
In the 2023/2024 academic year, we supported over 1,900 students across London, West Midlands, East Midlands, West Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria, helping 230 students to access top universities. By 2028/2029, we aim to support 1,200 young people to place at a top university each year.
Be part of our story
We rely on the generosity of our supporters and partners to keep our programme running and ensure we reach the young people who need our help the most.
Want to give back to a good cause? Partner with us today and you’ll help thousands of young people across the country realise their dreams.
Our new programme: Accelerate
Throughout our 16 years of operation, we’ve learnt a lot about what drives impact, and specifically which aspects of our programme drive higher university placement rates. Through our new programme, Accelerate, we take the most impactful components of our model and combine them into a bespoke package that focusses on university readiness, personalised mentoring and essential skills development.
At the heart of our new model is 1:1 mentoring for year 12 and year 13 students. We’ll also be providing support for younger age groups, with workshops and assemblies for young people in years 8-11. We launched the Accelerate programme in several schools in September 2024, and plan to expand this programme across the country over the coming years.
Growing across the UK
Our new programme is targeted towards state-funded, non-selective Key Stage 5 education providers with high numbers of under-resourced students.
We aim to enter all major urban areas of the country. We will establish ourselves in areas of high school density, which will allow our mentors to work across multiple schools in one area. Working with our corporate and university partners, we will build infrastructure in each of our target regions.
Through 2024-2026, we aim to focus growth on increasing scale in existing locations. Our high-priority areas for growth through 2026-2029 are Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Durham and Tyne and Wear. By 2029, we will host 167 programme across the country, reaching more than 20,000 under-resourced young people.