Posted 27 July 2026

At Go Higher West Yorkshire (GHWY), we welcome the confirmation of continued Uni Connect funding for 2026/27. The programme funder, the Office for Students, has indicated that this will be the final year of the programme in its current format, as it transitions to the new Regional Access Partnerships model. 

Since Uni Connect began almost 10 years ago, originally as the National Collaborative Outreach Programme, we have worked with more than 51,400 learners. Most of these young people have taken part in multiple activities, helping them build their knowledge, skills and confidence for the future. Over these years, we have strengthened and refined our programmes, including our flagship collaborative Go Higher In Industry events and Think and Go Higher attainment-raising programme. At the same time, we have continued to build our evidence base and evaluate our impact. We are particularly pleased that our attainment-raising evaluation has, for the first time, moved from the Strong Empirical category into the Causal Evidence bracket as part of the latest OfS review of Uni Connect attainment raising evidence. 

Our evidence demonstrates that these activities are making a difference. The latest progression data from HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) shows that learners who have participated in our programmes are more likely to progress to higher education than comparable groups, especially those from POLAR Quintile 1 backgrounds. 

With funding secured for another year, we will be able to support a new cohort of young people. This work will contribute to tackling the growing NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) challenge by helping more individuals and their key influencers understand the wide range of higher education opportunities available to them and make informed decisions about their future before they reach a point of disengagement. 

We are delighted to continue working in partnership with GHWY’s 13 higher education providers and colleagues across West Yorkshire to ensure more young people can access the information and opportunities they need to make their informed choices about their next steps.