Regional access partnerships

We are developing regional access partnerships to bring together organisations across England to improve equality of opportunity in higher education.

They will support a more joined-up approach to access and participation and help create clearer pathways from education into employment that reflect the needs and priorities of different regions and wider strategic priorities grant reform.

We are proposing 17 regional access partnerships. These will replace the Uni Connect programme from the 2027-28 academic year.

Our proposals for regional access partnerships have been informed by the findings from our 2025 call for evidence and discussions with stakeholders.