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Access and Participation Focus Group

Background

The Office for Students, the independent regulator for higher education in the UK, requires that each university registered with it has an Access and Participation Plan (APP) as part of its strategy. The goal of this plan is to ensure there's an equality of opportunity for all students in access to, success in and progression from higher education. CSU, together with the University of Chester's Directorate of Accessibility, Skills and Apprenticeships, is supporting the University's work on its APP for 2024 onwards.

What this means for you

Access and Participation Plans help to ensure that students from backgrounds not traditionally well represented at university are given the tools they need to succeed in their academic careers. The best way for us to understand how these backgrounds or experiences shape and change someone's uni experience is for us to talk to them directly.

If you have lived experience of any of the following, we would love to speak to you:

  • Growing up or living in poverty
  • Social care
  • Disability
  • Estrangement from family or parents
  • Discrimination on the basis of your race or gender

Additionally, we would value the opportunity to explore questions on similar themes with the following groups of people:

  • Mature students (ie. students who started an undergraduate degree at age 21+)
  • Students who commute more than 5 miles to university
  • Students who entered university with qualifications other than A Levels (e.g. BTECs, T Levels, HNDs etc.)

On this occasion, we're looking to speak to home students only. There will be opportunities in the future for international students to share their thoughts on similar themes/ideas.

How can I participate?

Fill in this quick survey

We'll be in touch to book you into a group sharing session.

Focus groups are taking place on the following dates, both in person and online (hybrid sessions):

  • Monday 3rd April, 2-3:30pm
  • Tuesday 4th April, 4-5:30pm
  • Wednesday 5th April, 12-1:30pm
  • Thursday 6th April, 10-11:30am

Time is short if you'd like to get involved, so make sure you fill in the survey.

Questions?

Any questions regarding this research can be directed to csu@chester.ac.uk