Tag: degree

Report finds racial disparities in STEMM degree persistence

A new report from the Common App found major racial disparities in persistence rates for students who enter college pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, mathematics or medicine.

Just over half of all college applicants express interest in a STEMM field before entering college—except for Asian American students, 72 percent of whom are interested in STEMM. But while more than half of white and Asian students pursuing STEMM obtain a degree in their chosen field within six years, only one-third of first-generation and Latino students who pursue STEMM, and 28 percent of Black or African American students, persist to earn a degree.

The disparities go beyond race. While 54 percent of continuing-generation STEMM students earn a degree in their chosen field, only 34 percent of first-gen students do so. And 51 percent of STEMM-interested students from above the median household income earn a degree in their field, compared to 38 percent of students from below median income levels.

“Our research finds many more talented STEMM aspirants from underrepresented backgrounds applying for college than completing it,” the report concludes.

The study also found that more female STEMM students switch their degree paths (18 percent) than male students (14 percent), though they complete STEMM degrees at similar rates.

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February 27, 2025
Hiding in plain sight? A simple statistical effect may largely explain the ethnicity degree awarding gap
- By Sean Brophy (@seanbrofee), Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Decent Work and Productivity, Manchester Metropolitan University.
A persistent challenge in UK higher education is the ethnicity degree awarding gap – the difference between White and ethnic minority students receiving top degrees (firsts or 2:1s). The Office for Students (OfS) aims to entirely eliminate this gap by 2030/31, but what if most of this gap reflects success in widening participation rather than systemic barriers?

Between 2005/6 and 2021/22, university participation grew 21% faster for Asian students and 17% faster for Black students compared to White students. This remarkable success in widening access might paradoxically explain one of the UK’s most persistent higher education challenges.

Figure 1 presents ethnicity gaps over time compared to a White baseline (the grey line constant at zero). The data for 2021/22 shows significant gaps: 21 percentage points for Black students, 9 for Asian students, and 4 for Mixed ethnicity students compared to their White peers. Traditional explanations focus on structural barriers, cultural differences, and potential discrimination, and much of the awarding gap remains unexplained after adjusting for prior attainment and background characteristics. However, a simpler explanation might be hiding in plain sight: the gap may also reflect a statistical effect created by varying participation rates across ethnic groups.

Ethnicity Degree Awarding Gap (2014/15 – 2021/22)

Figure 1. Source: HESA

Here is the key insight: ethnic minority groups now participate in higher education at remarkably higher rates than White students, which likely then drives some of the observed ethnicity awarding gaps. Figure 2 presents the over-representation of ethnic groups in UK higher education relative to the White reference group (again, the constant grey line). The participation gap has grown substantially – Asian students were 22 percentage points more likely to attend university than White students in 2021/22, with Black students 18 points higher.

Over-representation of ethnic groups in HE compared to White baseline (2005/6-2021/22)

Figure 2. Source: UCAS End Of Cycle Report 2022

This difference in participation rates creates an important statistical effect, what economists call ‘compositional effects’. When a much larger proportion of any group enters university, that group may naturally include a broader range of academic ability. Think of it like this: if mainly the top third of White students attend university, but nearly half of ethnic minority students do, we would expect to see differences in degree outcomes – even with completely fair teaching and assessment.

This principle can be illustrated using stylized ability-participation curves for representative ethnic groups in Figure 3. These curves show the theoretical distribution of academic ability for Asian, Black, and White groups, with the red shaded area representing the proportion of students from each group accepted into higher education in 2021/22. It would be surprising if there was no degree awarding gap under these conditions!

Stylized ability-participation curves by ethnic group

This hypothesis suggests the degree awarding gap might largely reflect the success of widening participation policies. Compositional effects like these are difficult to control for in studies, and it is noteworthy that, to date, no studies on the ethnicity awarding gap have adequately controlled for these effects (including one of my recent studies).

While this theory may offer a compelling statistical explanation, future research pursuing this line of inquiry needs to go beyond simply controlling for prior achievement. We need to examine both how individual attainment evolves from early education to university, using richer measures than previous studies, and how the expansion of university participation has changed the composition of student ability over time. This analysis must also account for differences within broad ethnic categories (British Indian students, for example, show different patterns from other Asian groups) and consider how university and subject choices vary across groups.

My argument is not that compositional effects explain everything — rather, understanding their magnitude is crucial for correctly attributing how much of the gap is driven by traditional explanations, such as prior attainment, background characteristics, structural barriers, or discrimination. Only with this fuller picture can we properly target resources and interventions where they’re most needed.

If this hypothesis is proven correct, however, it underscores why the current policy focus on entirely eliminating gaps through teaching quality or support services, while well-intentioned, may be misguided. If gaps are the statistically inevitable result of differing participation patterns among ethnic groups, then institutional interventions cannot entirely eliminate them. This doesn’t mean universities shouldn’t strive to support all students effectively – but it does require us to fundamentally rethink how we measure and address educational disparities.

Rather than treating all gaps as problems to be eliminated, we should:
1. Fund research which better accounts for these compositional effects.
2. Develop benchmarks that account for participation rates when measuring degree outcomes.
3. Contextualize the success of widening participation with acknowledging awarding gaps as an inevitable statistical consequence.
4. Focus resources on early academic support for students from all backgrounds who might need additional help, particularly in early childhood.
5. Explore barriers in other post-16 or post-18 pathways that may be contributing to the over-representation of some groups in higher education.
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February 12, 2025
The barriers that must be removed for degree apprenticeships to meet NHS workforce targets

The recent notion that level 7 apprenticeships will be ineligible for support from the apprenticeship levy has caused consternation amongst training providers, especially in healthcare.

Training providers and employers are urgently seeking clarity on the government’s position – the current “announcement without action” leaves stakeholders unclear about next steps and further risks the reputation and role of apprenticeships in skills development.

The development of advanced roles in health or shortened routes to registerable qualifications significantly relies on level 7 apprenticeships. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan is full of examples of how advanced and new roles are needed now and in the future.

Once again, decisions are being made by the Department for Education without consulting or collaborating with the Department of Health and Social Care, which means that questions are left unanswered. It is not the first time that training providers and University Alliance have called for joined up thinking and, unfortunately, it certainly won’t be the last.

Expansion of opportunity

Health apprenticeships at the University of Derby started small with level 5 provision about ten years ago (subsequently expanding to levels 6 and 7) – we could not have foreseen the enormous expansion of opportunity both in health and other industries that would follow.

I am proud to say that “I was there” when the nurse degree apprenticeship standard was approved in 2017 – the culmination of two years’ collaboration between the Nursing and Midwifery Council, government, Skills for Health, employers and training providers.

There were challenges, but we made it, and it opened the door to transformation in how healthcare professionals are educated.

A bumpy road

But the journey remains bumpy, and apprenticeships seem to be experiencing a particular period of turbulence. New research conducted by the University of Derby on behalf of University Alliance demonstrates the need for change in how the levy is utilised, the importance of partnership working, and the support that those involved with apprenticeship delivery need in order to secure successful outcomes.

While the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan of 2023 is itself being refreshed, we can be confident that apprenticeships will continue to have a significant part to play in workforce development. However, our new research has shown how and where employers and training providers need support to make this happen.

Employers told us how expensive they find it to support apprenticeships, with apprentice salaries, backfill and organisational infrastructure contributing to the financial burden. We know that apprentices need significant support through their learning journey, taking time and investment from employers.

To make apprenticeships truly successful, the support required is over and above that normally expected in healthcare programmes, yet apprenticeships are specifically excluded from the NHS Healthcare Education and Training tariff. This feels like a double whammy – no support from the tariff and no flexibility in how the levy could be utilised differently, meaning that the responsibility remains with the employer to resource.

Equally, training providers reported the additional activities and responsibilities associated with the delivery of apprenticeships. The University of Derby has recently successfully completed its inspection by Ofsted. The week of the inspection required input from teams across the University, but the enduring responsibilities of compliance and record keeping make this a continuous activity for a skilled and specialist team.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency then came hot on the tails of Ofsted – while this is not unexpected, it has again required teams from across the University working long hours to be audit ready. These inspections have served as a reminder of the regulatory burden placed on training providers, especially in healthcare.

A matter of commitment

Today marks the start of National Apprenticeship Week. At the University of Derby, we are hosting a week of activities and events, encouraging aspirant apprentices and a range of employers to come and find out more about what apprenticeships can do for them. It is heartening to hear that the number of young people coming to the campus this year has more than doubled since last year’s event.

Finally, the word is beginning to spread about apprenticeships, and we find school leavers are increasingly well informed about their post-16 and post-18 options.

The week’s events will be ably supported by our employer partners and apprentices, truly reflecting the partnerships that have developed over the years. These partnerships take a significant amount of investment on all sides – anyone in the vocational education and training world will know that strong partnerships take time and effort to build and maintain. But even the briefest of conversations with apprentices will tell you that it is all worth it. Their confidence, passion and knowledge (their skills and behaviours too) shine through. In a city like Derby, the awareness of the positive difference you are making not only to the apprentice, but also to their family and friends, is never far from your thoughts.

It is difficult to know how the advent of Skills England will impact the pace and scale of reform, but the present inertia may set the country back – and it certainly will if a blanket approach to level 7 apprenticeship funding is adopted, and lack of join-up between DfE and DHSC remains the status quo.

National Apprenticeship Week 2025 has the potential to be a force for good – and should be the week that all stakeholders commit to making a difference.

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February 10, 2025
Degree Apprenticeships in England: What Can We Learn from the Experiences of Apprentices, Employers, and Education and Training Providers?

By Josh Patel, Researcher at the Edge Foundation.

Degree Apprenticeships (DAs) were launched in 2015, as a novel work-based learning route to obtaining a degree. On their introduction, then Prime Minister David Cameron said they would ‘give people a great head start, combining a full degree with real practical skills gained from work and the financial security of a regular pay packet’. Since then, they have taken the higher education sector by storm. Their growth has been the key factor in the expansion of higher apprenticeships from 43,800 starts in 2015/16 to 273,700 in 2023/24, a rise from 4.8% to 35% of all apprenticeships. They have stimulated innovative models of delivery and new and productive relationships between employers and providers. Former Skills Minister Robert Halfon remarked that ‘Degree Apprenticeships’ were his ‘two favourite words in the English language’.

DAs have, however, recently come under scrutiny. Concerns persist that the growth of DAs and their high cost – reported in the media as growing from 2% of the apprenticeship budget in 2017/18 to 21% in 2021 – might crowd out opportunities for young entrants to the workforce, as DAs are primarily taken by existing employees. The suitability of DAs as instruments to improve upward social mobility has been contested. Meanwhile, the government is drawing up plans to increase the flexibility of the Apprenticeship Levy through which Degree Apprenticeships can currently be funded, asking employers ‘to rebalance their funding for apprenticeships… to invest in younger workers’.

Our report, ‘Degree Apprenticeships in England: What Can We Learn from the Experiences of Apprentices, Employers, and Education and Training Providers?’, written in collaboration with colleagues from the Universities of Bath, Huddersfield, and Oxford, was published on Tuesday and is a timely intervention into these discussions. Here, we present the evidence for some our policy recommendations, gathered from nearly 100 interviews with stakeholders including large employers and SMEs, providers, degree apprentices, and policymakers.

Engaging employers

The government needs to consider a more systematic approach that serves to rationalise the way that employers are supported to offer a wide range of work-based opportunities. As Edge has identified in other programmes, such as T Levels or plans to provide universal work experience through the government’s Youth Guarantee, DAs are restricted by the number of employers willing to engage. We repeatedly heard evidence of the difficulties ‘resource-poor’ employers had in engaging with the design of apprenticeship standards and participating fully in collaboration with providers. As one SME told us contributing to the design and development of a DA ‘doesn’t give me any benefit now, and I’m impatient’.

The government needs to develop a coherent strategy for DAs with a particular focus on support for SMEs, including improved awareness of levy transfer schemes. Involvement in DAs is often based on being ‘in the know’ and contacts with providers and local authorities. In our ‘Learning from the past’ stream of work, we reviewed Education Business Partnerships, as an example of intermediary organisations, noting both their strengths and shortcomings, which could inform effective initiatives for supporting employers.

Reducing complexity

With the creation of Skills England, the government should take the opportunity to review and simplify the process of design, delivery and quality assurance for DAs, and ensure regulatory elements work together. DAs currently draw in a large number of bodies including the OfS, IfATE, regulatory bodies, professional bodies and Ofsted. Providers told us that this had created a complex landscape of ‘many masters’ where lines of accountability are blurred and innovation is stifled. Providers described ‘overregulation’ as limiting ‘our ability to go off-piste’, and while the process could be constructive, providers were unconvinced of its added value. ‘Does that add to the quality?’ one provider asked. ‘I don’t think it necessarily does’.

Skills England’s remit includes shaping technical education to respond to skills needs, and its incorporation of IfATE has already begun. As a first exercise, it could review the regulatory requirements to remove any duplication and contradictions and then consult with the sector to devise a simpler, clearer mechanism for providers to report.

Increasing flexibility

These difficulties meant that, while we found examples of excellent integration of academic learning and the workplace, concerns persisted as to the vocational relevance and obsolescence of learning, particularly in fast-moving sectors such as IT and mental health provision. One employer involved in delivery said they told their apprentices: ‘we have to teach you this so you get through your apprenticeship, but actually in practice that is not the way it’s done any longer’.

In other countries, such as the Netherlands, a proportion (up to 20-25%) of an apprenticeship standard is kept flexible to be agreed between the employer and provider so that it can take better account of the current and changing situation in that particular industry, location and employer – such flexibility could be piloted in the UK.

…without compromise

The government’s commitment to adapting the levy into a ‘Growth and Skills Levy’, offers opportunities to improve DA delivery. Diversification was not a major consideration for the majority of employers when recruiting, though we certainly did hear evidence from those with a strong sense of their social corporate responsibility. As one SME put it:

there are too many people in the IT industry that are like me. So we’re talking middle-aged white guys. […] Now, DAs allow people who don’t necessarily, wouldn’t consider getting into this industry from a variety of backgrounds, creeds, colours…

We recommended in our Flex Without Compromise report that the government should take a measured approach to levy reform to minimise the risk that a broadening of scope diminishes the opportunities available particularly for younger people and newer entrants to the labour market. It should consider modelling the impact of differentiating levy funding available for DAs by either or both age and staff status, and diversification of the workforce. This could be a powerful mechanism to encourage employers to focus DA opportunities on younger people and on new recruits but would need to be considered carefully to allow for continued expansion of DAs.

These initiatives might help address existing challenges and enhance the efficacy of Degree Apprenticeships in fostering equitable access and meeting the needs of learners and employers.

To find out more about Edge and to read the report in full, visit www.edge.co.uk

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January 30, 2025
Liaison Unveils New Intelligent Names Degree Intent Scores, Enhancing Predictive Power and Reach

Liaison, a leader in education technology and data-driven solutions, is excited to announce the release of its 2025 Intelligent Names Degree Intent Scores. These advanced scores represent a transformative leap in identifying adult learners nationwide with the highest potential for pursuing a degree.

The 2025 Degree Intent Scores are powered by cutting-edge data science, advanced modeling techniques, and insights from a national survey conducted in late 2024. Combined with responses from Liaison’s extensive consumer database of over 260 million Americans, this enhanced model offers unparalleled precision and reach into the adult learners market.

Recent testing using a national dataset of graduate program applicants showed a 20% improvement in predicting applicant activity within the highest intent band when comparing the new intent scores to the original. Similarly, an analysis of a national dataset of bachelor’s degree seekers found that Liaison’s Bachelor’s Degree Intent model accurately identified 91% of degree seekers under the age of 25 in the top two quintiles. These findings underscore the model’s remarkable accuracy, effectiveness, and value for higher education institutions.

“The 2025 Degree Intent Scores mark a major milestone in our mission to connect educational institutions with adult learners who are ready to take the next step in their academic journeys,” said Dr. Mark Voortman, Chief Data Scientist at Liaison. “By leveraging large-scale data and state-of-the-art modeling techniques, we’ve significantly enhanced our ability to help institutions identify adult learners most likely to pursue degree opportunities in the near future.”

The updated scoring model empowers colleges, universities, and other education providers with deeper, data-driven insights to refine recruitment strategies, enhance student engagement, and achieve enrollment goals more effectively.

Learn more about Intelligent Names here.

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January 29, 2025
Degree apprenticeship delivery needs strengthening to realise their potential

Degree apprenticeships have, ten years from their introduction, stimulated innovative models of delivery and nurtured productive relationships between employers and education and training providers.

Their rapid growth has, however, invited questions as to whether they are the right instrument for introducing young people to the workforce, or whether Apprenticeship Levy funding would be better spent elsewhere. To consider and evaluate degree apprenticeships, the Edge Foundation in collaboration with colleagues from the Universities of Bath, Huddersfield and Oxford, conducted nearly 100 interviews with large employers, SMEs, education and training providers, degree apprentices and policymakers.

Our research confirmed degree apprenticeships represent a unique confluence of theoretical higher education and practical skills and promote both academic achievement and workplace competency. Our primary finding was, however, that there is considerable heterogeneity in delivery of these programmes. This flexibility is degree apprenticeships’ greatest asset; it simultaneously, however, increases their complexity.

Aligning employer needs

Our research found numerous examples of pragmatic, trusting partnerships between education and training providers and employers. As one education and training provider told us:

I was able to bring my employer partners with me to the university […] So it’s been great to sit down and […] say “what is it that is missing?” […] And them saying “can you do this? Can you do that?” […] so I can truly say, from the heart, this is for the first time, we are truly, truly, employer-driven.

However, it remains challenging to engage the full spectrum of employers. Employers engage in these initiatives primarily out of a concern for workforce development, striving to support employees’ professional growth while addressing existing or upcoming skills shortages. However, despite their significance in the UK economy, engagement with SMEs remains challenging.

Trailblazers, for example, that design apprenticeship standards, have struggled to engage and represent the needs of SMEs. Resource-poor businesses like SMEs often struggle to realise an immediate return on investment for their input. The process is resource intensive, and even with employer and input from regulatory bodies and sector-specific organisations, there is tension in whether professional body requirements can keep pace with modern workplace practices.

Diversity in delivery structures

The delivery of degree apprenticeships varies widely even within the same sector, with different patterns of block study, virtual or face-to-face sessions, workplace experiences, placement rotations, and assessments. We heard from apprentices whose learning environment was entirely virtual, featuring asynchronous methods such as recorded lectures and digital resources, to fully in-person models with collaborative project work.

Concerns about coordinating theoretical elements with workplace roles remain a high priority, with regular communication between employers and tutoring staff viewed as essential. Nonetheless, there is some evidence of excellent integration of learning with workplace practice and, as one education and training provider told us:

we have huge amounts of anecdotal discussions from employers about the very real, not just skills and talent impact, but the business benefits that students are bringing.

Positively, degree apprentices experienced learning outcomes and developed skills that surpassed typical undergraduate levels, and many apprentices and employers recognised they had significant advantages in employment for their present and future careers.

Support systems for apprentices

Employer mentors’ relationships with apprentices are varied, with providers offering different types of mentorship, from personal tutors to skills coaches. The coordination of tripartite reviews – involving apprentices, employers, and education and training providers – acts as a critical connection among all stakeholders. Apprentices also frequently reported they had formed important and supportive relationships with other apprentices, particularly those who were attached to large employers, where structured support networks were often in place – another area of divergence between the apprentices’ experiences of large and smaller employers. Nevertheless, despite apprentices with SMEs being less likely to have access to similar collegial groups of apprentices at similar career levels, they often praised their employers and team members for offering a supportive and nurturing environment for their development.

Repeatedly throughout our evidence, stakeholders of all types stressed the importance of effective communication as key for helping learners to see the connections between their work and their academic study. But this could be highly resource intensive, and we found ETPs were not confident in the sustainability of their provision. Education and training providers report that much of their activity around degree apprenticeships is compliance-driven, often overwhelmed by complex auditing and reporting processes that intersect with internal monitoring mechanisms, requiring considerable additional resources, administrative structures and staff. These multiple bodies can sometimes measure quality in incompatible ways. These burdens were significant enough that some education and training providers questioned the feasibility of continuing to offer degree apprenticeships.

The long-standing challenge of work-related learning, that features throughout vocational programmes, is ensuring the on- and off-the-job training work seamlessly together. Degree apprenticeships certainly exhibit instances of good practice here. But our research also highlighted the great deal of variability in delivery of degree apprenticeships. The linchpin of the quality of learning on a degree apprenticeship programme is directly related to the quality of collaboration between employers, education and training providers, and apprentices.

Employers and education and training providers in particular should work together to share and implement best practice and ensure that the content of the taught elements and the apprentice’s learning on the job connect and relate to each other as regularly and deeply as possible. Likewise, allowing increased flexibility in the apprenticeship standards, as we have seen in places such as the Netherlands, would allow degree apprenticeships to keep better pace with the rapidly changing economy and workplace practices.

Finally, we have learned that despite degree apprenticeships offering brilliant opportunities for people to both begin and develop their careers, their success rests on enough opportunities being available in the first place. This requires reducing barriers that hinder the engagement of education and training providers, employers and apprentices. Notably we have found the administrative burdens in relation to accountability on the part of education and training providers, and the management of DAs, as well as the ability to transfer levy funds, on the part of employers, are all persistent barriers to wider engagement.

With degree apprenticeships coming under scrutiny following the government’s announcement to broaden the Apprenticeship Levy into a Growth and Skills Levy, articulating their strengths and identifying where challenges lie is key to securing their sustainability and ongoing success.

You can read the full research findings from Degree apprenticeships in England here or sign up to attend the online launch event 10.00-11.30am UK time on Tuesday 28 January.

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January 28, 2025
From Gogglebox sofa to a degree via Go Higher – ALL @ Liverpool Blog

Photo by Andrew Teebay, Liverpool Echo.

At the University of Liverpool December graduations this year, 2024, the traditional student speech was given by Gogglebox and Go Higher star Viv Woedenweber. Viv came to Go Higher at the age of 56 after leaving the Goggle box show in 2020 to seek a change in her career and a route into university. Her love of history saw her excel on the Go Higher access programme and go on to achieve a Bachelor degree and then a Master’s degree in Archaeology.

In her Graduation speech at the Philharmonic Hall, Viv said: “I came along with slight trepidation at first, as perhaps we all did, but was soon overwhelmed by the sense of belonging I experienced. I have made so many good friends, gained a passion for my discipline, climbed hillforts, laughed, cried and had many adventures..’.

Alongside her studies, Viv works as a disability coach at the University of Liverpool to support students to fulfil their full potential, including Go Higher students and those on other courses in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

You can read more about Viv’s reflections on completing a degree as a mature student in the Liverpool Echo. Her story is yet another illustration that no matter your age or background, university is for you if you want it.

And, of course, mature people make the very best students….

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January 5, 2025
From no qualifications to a first-class degree in nursing – Joannne’s inspirational story – ALL @ Liverpool Blog

My name is Joanne Henry and started Go Higher in 2018 as a mature student. I left school with no formal qualifications and since then had always worked in the retail sector. I always looked back and wished I had done better at school, but truth be told, whilst suffering the bereavement of my mother whilst still young at age 13 so unexpectedly, I had experienced some mental health difficulties and had lost all interest in doing well on my exams.

Later in life, I become dissatisfied with how my life/career was progressing and applied for college to complete my level 2 in English and Maths. However, before being accepted, I had to sit an exam and was advised after this that unfortunately, it was believed I was not capable of sitting my level 2 in both subjects and that they could not accept me at the time. I found this extremely upsetting but accepted it and went back to my everyday employment within retail.

It was a year after this that a friend had recommended Go Higher to me, at first, I didn’t quite believe that with no formal qualifications I could attend any university never mind one as prestigious as the University of Liverpool. My friend encouraged me to apply like she had, so I did. Shortly after, I received a letter inviting me for an interview and a test, I was filled with sheer dread after my last experience! On the day I contemplated not attending and ringing with some excuse due to my fear of being rejected, but I decided to go along and see what happened…

That was when I met with a tutor from Go Higher for my interview who was warm, friendly and welcoming. My immediate dread subsided, and I was put at ease. I explained the reasoning for leaving school with no formal qualifications and I was given a big hug. I was then asked to sit the test. I did what I could and thought, well, it is what it is, if it is meant to be it will be.

To my sheer astonishment, I received an acceptance letter. I was so proud of myself. I started the course which is and was life changing, the tutors, the course content, the lovely cohort I was with, it was all thoroughly enjoyable. The year went so quickly and after completing Go Higher, I started to believe in my own ability and my confidence had increased drastically. I then applied for a degree in mental health nursing, something which I felt passionate about, helping others who experience mental illness. I was surprised when I received the acceptance letter and commenced my 3-year journey to become a registered mental health nurse. I finished with a first-class honours degree and began my career in the NHS helping others.

Go Higher provided me with the self-belief and confidence which I believe I would never have gained if I wasn’t for the lovely people who took a chance on me that day. I owe so much to Go Higher, and I hand on heart, encourage anyone who is considering starting higher education as a mature student not to hesitate, apply it’s never too late!

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August 9, 2024
From a shaky start to a first-class degree, by Tracy Roberts – ALL @ Liverpool Blog

Although I was considered quite bright in the small primary school I attended, when I started high school as an undiagnosed autistic child I became incredibly overwhelmed and found the only way to cope with the extra sensory and social pressure was to coast through. I fell behind with work as I spent most of my time just trying to cope with the school environment.

Having developed an apprehensive relationship with academia, I always hoped I might be able to access university. I had to drop my a-levels in 1995 when I was 18, so I could work full-time and move to a flat when it became obvious I needed to leave my toxic family home.

After two failed attempts at trying to complete a degree, struggling through a lot of personal hardships, when my youngest started school I decided I wanted one last go. That was when I started Go Higher, in 2018. The incredibly kind, knowledgable, experienced and dedicated staff helped me develop the skills and confidence I needed to finally achieve my lifelong goal of gaining a degree.

Many of us were particularly scared of the maths component, myself included. I actually ended up falling in love with maths, it is taught in such a well designed and easily accessible way. When my mother who had dementia was entering a severe decline in her condition I found the maths module gave me time to enter a logical mental space and actually helped me cope during an otherwise extremely emotional time. I even used the resources provided for the module to help my daughter develop a new confidence with maths.

I had a shaky start but thanks to the support and advice I received on the course I ended up being awarded the academic achievement award and 99% in maths, and began my degree with the University of Liverpool in 2019. I faced many more struggles and it took me two extra years, but this time I had everything I needed to push through. No more coasting, the Go Higher provided me with a new confidence and a realisation of what I could achieve. Next week I will be graduating with a first class degree in Evolutionary Anthropology and will be receiving the Evolutionary Anthropology Prize. I have been accepted onto the MSc in Human Evolution, and am working on publishing a paper with one of the professors, based on one of my third year undergraduate assignments. At 47 years old I feel as if life might finally be opening up for me.

For anyone who felt as if other people had access to a secret book of knowledge on how to develop their academic skills and confidence, the staff of the Go Higher team will help you access that book and guide you through every chapter.

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July 15, 2024