GM Higher provides a large menu of outreach activities to help learners make informed choices about higher education. We also signpost to activities delivered by our partner universities.

These activities provide learners with an ‘experience’ of what it means to study at university via activities such as subject taster days, mentoring, Uni:4U summer schools and campus visits. We also run workshops and presentations in schools to help learners 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. We are part of the National Collaborative Outreach Programme (NCOP). This 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. Therefore the majority of our outreach activities are targeted at learners whose postcode is located within one of the government’s target wards.

We have a selection of activity targeted at other groups who are underrepresented in higher education- such as learners 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.

Activity delivered by our partner universities may have additional targeting criteria.

Our events and activities aim to raise awareness of higher education and the aspirations of young people, our activities offer these experiences from campus visits to subject tasters.

Our network is a collaboration of all the universities and colleges that provide higher education courses in the region. We strive to deliver impartial information, advice and guidance (IAG).

Our activities are free. NCOP is a scheme that is government funded.

We continue to offer a smaller suite of activities for learners who do not live in an NCOP ward.

Generally, yes. As part of our monitoring and evaluation to show the effectiveness of our activities, learners will be required to complete a Destination Tracking Consent Form, which 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. The lawful basis on which we work is informed ‘consent’.

Under GDPR regulations, as an organisation that is collecting data for research purposes, we are able to gain consent to collect a learners data from the age of 13, as long as the explanation is clear and they have understood what is being asked of them (informed consent).

Following consent, for some of our activities, learners will be required to complete evaluation documents on which we collect their school name, year group and postcode. Their postcode is 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 and this will include their name, although this is optional. Only learners who volunteer for this will complete a case study document.

NCOP stands for – National Collaborative Outreach programme. Work is focused on local areas where higher education participation is lower than might be expected given the GCSE results of the young people who live there.

You can find out more

https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/promoting-equal-opportunities/national-collaborative-outreach-programme-ncop/

Yes. We offer HE talks for parents, amongst others.

Check out our events page for info or contact gmhigher@mmu.ac.uk 

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

UCAS for parents in under 90- seconds:

www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/ucas-undergraduate-advice-parents-and-guardians

A Parent, Guardian and Carer Guide to university has been produced by Which? University in conjunction with UCAS. It’s an important read for anybody with a learner in Year 11 and upwards with an interest in higher education.

Our My Student Journey page also provides an overview of routes and pathways.