Access and Participation Plans

Our Access and Participation Plan outlines our commitment to working towards equality of opportunity for all students. Below you can find links to our current plan and to our previous plans and Access Agreements

What is an access and participation plan?

Access and Participation Plans set out how higher education providers will improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented Home undergraduate student groups to access, succeed in and progress from higher education.

Our APP enshrines our commitment to working towards equality of opportunity for students. It is also a requirement that any institution wishing to charge more than the basic fee rate has to submit an Access and Participation Plan to the Office for Students (OfS). Having an approved Access and Participation Plan is also a requirement of registration with the OfS for certain categories of provider.

For more information on the OfS or Access and Participation Plans please visit www.officeforstudents.org.uk

Our Access and Participation Plan identifies those student groups within our University and region that are most at risk of experiencing barriers to opportunity, and how we plan to address these. It focuses on three key areas, including the intersections between:

tackling socioeconomic barriers
challenging structural racism
ensuring an inclusive environment for mental wellbeing.

Our new APP for 2025-26 (starting Summer 2025) focuses on:

Access: increasing access to higher education for students who have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) while at school, as well as for other groups that are currently underrepresented in higher education, including those from gypsy, Roma, traveller, showmen, boater (GRTSB) backgrounds and those with experience of care.

Success: addressing current gaps in on-course outcomes for students with a declared mental health condition, mature students, students who have been eligible for free school meals (FSM), and students from Black, Asian and mixed-heritage backgrounds.

Progression: reducing the gap in progression into highly skilled work or higher study for students with a declared mental health condition, and students domiciled in postcodes from the lowest quintile in the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).

Find out more about access to education, student on-course success and careers support for Sussex students. Students are involved in the co-creation and evaluation of many of our initiatives, primarily through the Connector Programme, the APP Student Panel and working closely with the Students’ Union.

How you can help

Our whole community can help create an environment where all students can flourish. Students can find out how to get involved through contacting the teams at the links above. You can also play a vital role in ensuring student voices are heard by becoming a student rep.

Staff involvement is crucial in embedding existing and new APP initiatives throughout the University and making a lasting impact in our Sussex community. We invite your insights into how Faculty and department activities can contribute to meeting our ambition. Whether it's addressing awarding gaps in degree outcomes, enhancing employability in the curriculum, supporting students from underrepresented backgrounds or other initiatives, your input is invaluable. We encourage staff to share examples of good practice in your Faculty or department.

We would also appreciate your thoughts on the support and information that would be most useful to you in helping us collectively realise our APP targets, and our broader mission to provide academic support for underrepresented student groups.

Contact APP Programme Manager, Jo McKinney-Green with your thoughts.