Supporting your young person to access higher education.

Higher education is the next level of study after sixth form or college (when you are 18+), and is available to those who’ve completed Level 3 qualifications (such as A-levels, BTECs or T-levels). Your young person might study a HE course at a university, in a further education college or with an online provider.

There are many different types of higher education qualifications, such as bachelor degrees, degree level apprenticeships, diplomas, foundation degree and foundation years and higher technical qualifications (HTQs).

Greater Manchester Higher provides a large menu of outreach activities to help young people make informed choices about higher education. We also signpost to activities delivered by our partner institutions.

These activities provide young people with an experience of what it means to study in higher education via activities like subject masterclasses, mentoring, summer schools and campus visits. We also run workshops and presentations in schools and colleges to help young people understand their choices and to equip them with the skills to succeed.

The level of participation of young people aged 18 and 19 in higher education in England varies across the country. Our programme is a Government initiative, which aims to increase progression rates of young people from areas where higher education participation is lower than might be expected based on GCSE results. These areas are known as ‘target wards’.

Most of our activities are targeted at young people whose postcode is located within one of the government’s target wards.

For some activities, we may ask schools to select learners who are under-represented in higher education such as those who are the first in their family to progress to higher education, are in receipt of free school meals, who have been in local authority care, who have a disability, learning difficulty or have caring responsibilities.

We have some activity that is available to all learners.

Our activities are free to your young person. Our programme is Government-funded.

As a Government-funded programme, Greater Manchester Higher are required to collect the personal data of pupils. The collection of this data allows us to evaluate the programme by monitoring engagement in our activities, and tracking the progression of pupils into higher education.

In order to support these evaluation requirements, schools and colleges are obligated to share the data of pupils in eligible year groups with Greater Manchester Higher. You/your young person can opt out of their data being shared by contacting their school or emailing gmhigher@mmu.ac.uk.

For further information, please see our Data Collection and GDPR Privacy notice and privacy policy.

Greater Manchester Higher arrange specific events for parents and carers. These are listed above and you can see a full list of our events and activities here. Please select your young person’s school or college when searching for events.

Our resources page signposts you to all the relevant organisations with the latest information about higher education, from student finance to qualifications. Our students page also provides an overview of routes and pathways.

UCAS has lots of useful resources for parents/carers, including an up-to-date guide containing all the information you need to support your young person with their higher education choices.