The Access Project

Who we are

About The Access Project

The Access Project works with bright students from under-resourced backgrounds, providing in-school support and personalised tuition to help them gain access to top universities.

As a charity we run programmes with 1800 young people aged 14-18 across 40 schools. We recruit and train graduate volunteers to be exceptional tutors who work with our students for an hour a week to raise their grades. In addition, a dedicated school-based staff member mentors our students so they have the knowledge and support to make strong university applications.

Our results show this approach works. Our students perform better than their peers academically, and independent analysis by UCAS has shown that students on our programme are twice as likely to get into a top university than another student with the same academic track record and background who has not had our support. As a charity our ambition is to reach more young people whilst maintaining this exceptionally high impact.

The Access Project currently works in London, the East and West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. We have a team of 66 people working at The Access Project. Our funding comes from a range of sources including schools, businesses, major donors and grant-making trusts.

We know that there are many under-resourced young people outside of our current geographies who have the talent to go on to top universities – but aren’t able to fulfil this potential. Our long-term ambition is to grow to national reach.