The future is Leeds: how sustained outreach encourages applications

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Case study
Talking about
Engaging with year 12 and 13 school pupils from backgrounds underrepresented at university

Access Priority 3: We will focus on sustained and evidence-based outreach – Access and Student Success Strategy 2025, University of Leeds.

‘Futures’ is a new post-16 sustained outreach programme run by the University of Leeds. It engages with school pupils from underrepresented backgrounds across the UK in Years 12 and 13 when they start thinking about progression beyond school or college.

The initiative aims to increase access for students from POLAR4 Q1 areas (areas with lower percentages of students progressing into higher education) to study as undergraduates at Leeds and make sure that those who may not have the confidence, family background or cultural knowledge to apply to university are inspired and equipped to do so. It is important that these students can see themselves at Leeds, bringing with them their lived experiences and perspectives to diversify and strengthen the experience of the whole cohort. 

Regular intervention in the second half of Year 12 and the first half of Year 13 offers support across this key information-gathering and decision-making period. Futures participants are given access to Leeds’ academics, admissions teams and current students to provide realistic insight on life at Leeds, as well as practical help with subject choice and the application process. 

The original scheme was fully online due to COVID-19 but has developed into a hybrid format with online and on-campus sessions. In 2021/22, Futures programmes encompassed a wide range of subjects including Environment, Politics, History, English, Medicine, Dental and Healthcare. 

Positive feedback

Feedback from participants in the Futures programmes has been positive. A Year 12 participant in the History programme says, “I enjoyed taking part in the lectures and workshops on subjects I hadn’t studied before which was very exciting and has broadened my horizons.” 

A Political Futures participant says it changed their mind about what to study: “I was set on studying Economics only, but after taking part in this I want to do Philosophy, Politics and Economics.”

A Year 12 Dental Futures participant believes that the programme gave them the confidence to pursue dentistry as a career: “I never thought I would be capable of studying dentistry, but it highlighted that this was the career I wanted to pursue and helped me apply.”

A current Leeds undergraduate Healthcare student can see the benefit of the programme for future applicants: “I don't really see a lot of people that look like me in healthcare so it's nice to get involved so you can basically be that for someone else later.”

Leeds teaching staff are also enthusiastic about Futures. Alan Mighell, Dean of the School of Dentistry at Leeds, believes that Dental Futures is, “a brilliant programme that further enables a wide range of people to breakdown traditional barriers and successfully study in the school. Our students are the future dental workforce and need to be representative of the communities that they will go on to care for over many years. Our current Dental undergraduates are very engaged in both this and the student-led ‘Open Wide’ programme. Input from students rather than academic staff is so important as they are closer to the student experience.”

Student ambassadors for the programme reinforce this point: “Prospective students always want to hear about the university experience from a student perspective,” says a student ambassador on the Environment Futures programme. “Lots of us are from unrepresented backgrounds ourselves and are well placed to understand the challenges that such students face when applying to university.”

Futures success

Students found taking part in Futures confirmed their decision to apply to Leeds: “[Futures] has made me even more sure I want to go to Leeds!” Whilst others were clear that Futures had been important in clarifying their subject of study as Futures allowed “conversations about different aspects of the environment and finding out about passions I hadn’t discovered before” and facilitated new interests, “I discovered a new love of rocks in a geology session!”

Futures is going from strength to strength: additional arts, music, psychology and STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) programmes are coming on-stream and the non-academic aspects (such as finance, choosing your course and personal statements) are now delivered by a centrally coordinated team.  

To find out more about Leeds Futures, email the Student Success Team: studentsuccess@leeds.ac.uk.