Uni Connect

Uni Connect supports young people to achieve their ambitions by helping remove academic, financial and cultural barriers to higher education.

It does this by supporting attainment raising, through impartial, collaborative outreach, and through schools engagement by higher education providers.

Programme aims

Uni Connect aims to:

1. Contribute to reducing the gap in higher education participation between the most and least represented groups.
2. Equip young and adult learners from underrepresented groups to make an informed choice about their options in relation to the full range of routes into and through higher education and to minimise the barriers they may face when choosing the option that will unlock their potential, including barriers relating to academic attainment.
3. Support a strategic local infrastructure of universities, colleges and other partners that can cut through competitive barriers, offer an efficient and low-burden route for schools and colleges to engage with higher education outreach, enable schools to engage with attainment raising activity, and address outreach ‘cold spots’ for underrepresented groups.
4. Contribute to a stronger evidence base around ‘what works’ in higher education outreach and strengthen evaluation practice across the sector.

Our priorities

In 2025-26, Uni Connect partnerships will deliver collaborative approaches with universities and other higher education providers to support young people from underrepresented groups in four priority areas:

1. Attainment raising: This aims to improve the academic attainment and progress of pupils and support their progression into higher education.
2. Strategic outreach: This aims to support strategic activity and engagement to address local outreach gaps.
3. Targeted outreach: This aims to help young people from targeted local areas make well-informed decisions about their future education.
4. Signposting: This aims to offer an efficient and low-burden route for schools and colleges to engage with higher education outreach and enable schools to engage with attainment raising activity. 

Funding

Programme funding is subject to annual confirmation. Uni Connect has been allocated £20 million in funding for the academic year 2025-26.