GM 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 universities.

These activities provide young people with an experience of what it means to study at university via activities like subject taster days, mentoring, Uni:4U 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.

We also provide activities that are targeted towards other groups who are underrepresented in higher education. This includes young people 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 long-term health condition, or have caring responsibilities.

We have some activity that is available to all learners.

Our activities are free. Our programme is government-funded.

Generally, yes. We are required by the Office for Students (OfS) to demonstrate the effectiveness of our activities, and as part of this, learners are asked to complete a Destination Tracking Form. This outlines who we are, what we do, why we are collecting their data, what we will do with it, and who we might share it with.

Under GDPR regulations, as an organisation that is acting in the public interest, we are able to collect a learner’s data from the age of 13 under the ‘public task’ lawful basis. The public interest is: promoting and widening access to higher education, particularly amongst underrepresented groups. For some of our activities, learners will be asked to complete evaluation documents on which we collect their full name, school, year group and postcode. Their details are only collected for the purpose of reporting involvement in activities at a local area level and not to identify or contact individual learners.

The exception to this is where we ask for a case study form to be completed, although this is optional. Only learners who volunteer for this will complete a case study document.

Our partner institutions may ask for different or additional personal details depending on their internal monitoring guidance.

For more information and to see our GDPR compliance document, please see our Privacy Policy.

Yes. We offer talks for parents/carers on a range of topics, from higher education choices to student finance and apprenticeships.

Check out our events page to see what’s coming up or contact gmhigher@mmu.ac.uk for more information.

Our resources page sign posts you to all the relevant organisations with the latest information about higher education, from student finance to qualifications. Our My Student Journey 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.