Young participation by area

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This tool can be used to search by postcode for levels of young participation in higher education.

Guidance for students and other users

Some universities and colleges are sending students to these pages to help them work out if they are eligible for bursaries, other financial support or contextual offers.

This is not the purpose of the tool and it should not be used on its own for this purpose.

The OfS cannot confirm or advise on student eligibility. Students should discuss this with their university or college.

Instead, the tool aims to help staff at universities and colleges who are working to address inequalities in higher education.

What does the search show?

The search tool shows:

levels of young participation (POLAR4, TUNDRA MSOA and TUNDRA LSOA)
higher education qualifications among adults (Adult HE 2011)

All measures classify areas into five groups (quintiles):

quintile one shows the lowest rates
quintile five shows the highest rates.

Geographic boundaries

Postcode pins are shown within geographic boundaries because we assign quintiles to boundaries rather than specific postcodes. This means all postcodes within the same geographic boundary will have the same quintile.

The measures are produced using different boundaries. Selecting the different measures on the detailed results page will change the outlined geographic boundary depending on which measure you are interested in:

POLAR4 and Adult HE 2011 were produced using Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOAs) in England and Wales, Intermediate Zones (IZs) in Scotland and Super Output Areas (SOAs) in Northern Ireland.
TUNDRA MSOA was produced using MSOAs as it covers England only.
TUNDRA LSOA was produced using Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOAs) and covers England.

Find out more about our latest changes to the postcode look-up (September 2023).

If you are experiencing technical difficulties or if you have any questions about this tool, please email [email protected].

Please let us know if you have any feedback about the look-up. We are especially interested in how you accessed it, what you used it for and why.

The postcodes in this tool are subject to copyright.

Postcode copyright

Postcodes are subject to copyright. Find out more about postcode copyright on the Office for National Statistics website.

This look-up includes Northern Ireland postcodes from the Central Postcode Directory which are the intellectual property of Land & Property Services (Land & Property Services © Crown Copyright Licence No. DO 7390 - 2022). The Central Postcode Directory data incorporated in this web page has been extracted from Land & Property Services (LPS) Intellectual Property (IP) and includes PAF® data licensed from Royal Mail Group Limited. LPS IP is subject to Crown Copyright. The IP may not be further sub-licensed, sold, demonstrated, lent, or otherwise transferred or exploited without the prior written permission of LPS. LPS shall not be held liable for the IP not being fit for Your purpose or applications.

Last updated 28 September 2023 + show all updates

28 September 2023: Postcode look-up tool updated to include the latest data.
30 September 2022: Postcode look-up tool updated to include the latest data.
30 September 2021: Postcode look-up tool updated to include the latest data.
11 March 2021: Latest changes to postcode lookup date updated
22 December 2020: Data behind postcode look-up updated to correct an error in the assignment of some Uni Connect target area flags.
14 October 2020: Link added to a survey of the postcode search function
24 September 2020: The search facility has been updated with amended features and new data.
05 February 2020: The National Collaborative Outreach Programme (NCOP) has been renamed to Uni Connect. Page content updated to reflect this.
09 January 2020: Postcode look-up tool updated to include Northern Ireland postcodes

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Young participation by area

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