Key Information
Go Higher West Yorkshire: Working Together for Fairer Access to HE
Go Higher West Yorkshire (GHWY) is a partnership of 13 higher education providers, committed to improving access, success, and progression in higher education across our region.
We align strategy and practice through a shared governance model and our Progression Framework. This supports member institutions to meet Access and Participation priorities through joint delivery, shared learning, and collaborative outreach.
Our Uni Connect programme (funded by the Office for Students), enables targeted support for learners, educators, and communities—ensuring that background or circumstance isn’t a barrier to higher education.
Annual Reports
Strategy
Mission
- To achieve common goals on access to and success in HE for those from under-represented groups by connecting our unique range of member HE providers with each other and external stakeholders.
Aim
- To bring together members and stakeholders to ensure HE is an accessible option that is considered by a wider and more inclusive audience in our local area, and to support these prospective students in and through our institutions.
Focus
- West Yorkshire
Our strategic approach
- We support sustainability by building connections and working with those who work with our under-represented groups.
Priorities for our work
- Under-represented groups
- Informed choices
- Evidence-based practice
Enablers of our work
- Collaborative engagement and input from our diverse range of members and external stakeholders
- A flexible approach which recognises the diversity of our membership
- A sustainable approach to resourcing to enable longer-term planning
Delivery of strategy
- Collaborating to create demand for higher education
- Collaborating to respond to need
Governance and Networks
Go Higher West Yorkshire is governed by a Board comprising senior representation from each of the 13 members. It also has one ancillary group, the Access and Participation Group, along with five optional Networks.
Progression Framework
The Office for Students has stressed the need for sustained outreach interventions that build upon one another. The GHWY Progression Framework maps out the stages on the journey to Higher Education, and the suggested activities that will help individual learners to progress.
The phases of the framework are structured around key decision points on the student journey. The journey starts with preparing for Level 2 (especially GCSE options), moves on to preparing for Level 3 (whether that’s, A Levels, T Levels, BTEC or Access), and finally progresses to preparing for HE (a degree or higher level apprenticeship). Throughout the framework, longer term ambitions and career goals are explored and linked to relevant courses, qualifications and pathways. The end point for each phase is the decision about the next step. To inform these important decisions, the outcomes for each stage on the journey are based on the four D’s that we think learners need to go higher: Dream, Discover, Debate, and Do.
The activities at each stage of the journey are suggest as a guide. To support schools and colleges, all activities are also mapped against Gatsby benchmarks.
Go Higher Network Map
Go Higher West Yorkshire is a consortium of HE providers in our local area, working together to reduce inequality in higher education access, success and progression. Go Higher West Yorkshire is part of the UniConnect programme funded by the Office for Students. The project offers activities, advice and information on the benefits and realities of going to university or college.
The following Network Map illustrates the structure of Go Higher West Yorkshire, including its central staff and those allocated to partner institutions, and how those partner institutions are represented on the
GHWY board and other key groups, as well as other external relationships.
The nature and benefits of these relationships are evidenced and explored in more depth in the Network Analysis research report also developed by Cosmos Engagement.
