Sussex is committed to equality of opportunity for students, and we believe that those who could benefit from higher education should have that option. Our current Access and Participation Plan (2021-22 to 2024-25) outlines our approach to supporting people in underrepresented groups to access, succeed in and progress from higher education, and how we work towards equality of opportunity for students.

Our new Access and Participation Plan (2025-26 to 2028-29) was developed in collaboration with students and in close partnership with the Students’ Union. It will be our active plan from summer 2025, enabling us to build on the work currently underway. We have a whole-University approach, and colleagues and teams across Sussex will continue to work together to deliver the plan to improve equality and inclusion for all students.

View our current and new Access and Participation plans, including short summary overviews, or read the highlights below.

How does our new Access and Participation Plan help students?

As with our current plan, it sets out how we will promote equality of opportunity for underrepresented students. The plan identifies student groups within our University, and also within our local region more broadly, who are most at risk of experiencing barriers to opportunity, and outlines how we aim to tackle those barriers.

This works through both focused activities designed to reduce barriers for particular student groups, as well as ambitious whole-University initiatives that benefit all. Our plan goes hand-in-hand with the University’s wider aim to support positive outcomes for every student.

What’s changed from our current plan?

Our current plan aims to close gaps in outcomes between specific student groups, and we are pleased that as a result of focused initiatives we have seen progress in removing or reducing some of these gaps. For example, the awarding gap (percentage of students who receive a first or 2:1 degree classification) between students with a declared disability and those without, has closed entirely. The progression gap (progressing onto a graduate job or further studies) between Black and white students has significantly reduced.

Our new plan focuses on three key areas: tackling socioeconomic barriers, reducing ethnicity-based awarding gaps, and supporting students’ mental health and wellbeing. Alongside new objectives to support underrepresented groups, our whole-provider approach has been strengthened with support from teams right across the University.

How will our new Access and Participation plan have impact?

Our new plan, which takes effect from summer 2025, focuses on:

1. Access
We aim to increase access to higher education for students who have been eligible for free school meals. This includes both those coming to Sussex and, through an innovative joint objective with the other higher education providers in our region, supporting access to higher education more broadly. We also aim to increase access for students from Gypsy, Roma, Traveller, Showmen and Boater (GRTSB) backgrounds and those with experience of care, who are currently underrepresented.

How?

• Our access programme includes dedicated outreach for primary, secondary and sixth form with a range of events, information, guidance and academic support.
• We have developed a Regional Risk Register with other regional higher education providers, which enables a data-driven assessment of gaps in equality of opportunity locally.

2. Success
We aim to address current gaps in on-course outcomes (continuation, completion and attainment) for students with a declared mental health condition, mature students, students who have been eligible for free school meals, and students from Black, Asian and mixed-heritage backgrounds.

How?

• We focus on student transitions, community building and fostering a sense of belonging from students’ first welcome to Sussex and throughout their courses. Our Residential Life scheme provides students living on campus with spaces to build peer communities and encourages participation in extra-curricular activities. Our peer mentoring scheme helps students improve academic self-efficacy, and our Academic Skills resources support students’ academic development.
• We are implementing an increasingly inclusive curriculum, and our Curriculum Change student connectors directly support this, alongside the Race Equity Advocates scheme run in partnership with our Students’ Union.
• Our whole-University approach includes developing a new, consistent approach to academic advising and a new system for academic planning around student experience and outcomes.

3. Progression
We aim to reduce the gap in progression into highly skilled work or higher study for students with a declared mental health condition, and students from postcodes where people are less likely to attend higher education.

How?

• Our careers and employability activities support students on their onward career path, including online global summer internships, UK summer internships, student consultancy, a Junior Research Associate scheme, Digital & Video Accelerator, insights visits, and an entrepreneur mentoring scheme through our broader Career Lab programme.
• Our work to embed employability within and across our curriculum is a key part of our progression strategy and forms part of our whole-University approach.

Want to find out more?

You can find more information about our plan and work underway, including how staff and students can get involved, on our Access and Participation Plan webpage.  

This work supports the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 4 (quality education) and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities). You can read more about our work on the SDGs.