The Admissions Statistical Report published in May 2023 provides extensive information about undergraduate admissions at Oxford, including the success rate of UK undergraduates by education, region, ethnicity, and socio-economic background. Despite admissions continuing to be increasingly competitive, the hard work of colleagues across the university has ensured that progress is being made to ensure those with the highest academic potential can study here.
At Queen’s, our outreach initiatives aim to contribute to University-wide access targets, as set out in the University’s Access and Participation plan. The College employs a full-time Schools Liaison, Outreach and Recruitment Officer, who works with state schools in our link areas of Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Cumbria, Lancashire, Lewisham and Sutton. We also support University-led outreach events and initiatives such as the Opportunity Oxford Programme, and collaborate with colleagues from Corpus Christi, Pembroke, and St Peter’s Colleges in our work as the ‘Oxford for North West’ Consortium.
We are also excited to be progressing with our newly established partnership with The Access Project, which started in schools in Michaelmas 2022. This partnership has been set up with schools across our North West link regions; with students receiving detailed support and advice on applying to university, as well as regular tutoring. The project is funded by the College as well as with generous contributions from Old Members. We are proud to say that at the time of writing, members across our Queen’s community (students, Old Members and staff) have delivered 443 tutorials and over 460 hours’ worth of volunteer tutoring.
With the pandemic behind us, we have been pleased to deliver most of our outreach initiatives in-person. For the first time since 2019, our North West Science Residential took place in April 2023, welcoming 30 students across our North West regions to Queen’s for a week of activities and tutorials. We are also looking forward to the Open Days later in June, where we hope to welcome prospective students from all over the world to look around Queen’s.
We do not deliver our outreach programme with a sole aim of recruiting undergraduates to Queen’s. Instead, we hope that the information, advice, and guidance we provide will help all students to make the right choices for them. Where that choice is Oxford, our events (such as our annual Lewisham Programme run in collaboration with our outreach colleagues at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, and the Lewisham Borough Council) aim to provide students with the support necessary to make strong, competitive applications.
We welcome suggestions and engagement from teachers and young people, especially those in our link areas, about any additional forms of support or events they think would be beneficial. Please contact our Schools Liaison Officer with your ideas or to request a visit to or from the College. We know that there is always more that we can do to continue to widen access, both to the College and the University more generally, and to make sure that students of all backgrounds feel at home within our community.
Tutor for Admissions & Tutor for Access and Outreach
