It is important that every young person has a fair chance at securing a place at a university, regardless of their background. Contextualised offers help with this, and here is how.
A contextualised offer is an alternative entry offer to what is regularly advertised by the university, which is based on the social background of the applicant. This could lead to a lower grade offer, or other help, such as work experience reductions.
There are various factors considered by
universities. One of these is based on home
postcode data, looking at how disadvantaged
that area is and the higher education
participation within that postcode area.
Another factor is around the individual and
their circumstances, such as whether they
were in receipt of free school meals, are from
a low-income household or where parents
have not been in higher education. This factor
also considers other personal circumstances,
including having a disability, being in care, or
being a refugee. Universities also look at school
level indicators, such as GCSE averages within
that area.
Then finally, universities will run contextualised
schemes, in which a successful long period
of engagement with the university and that
young person could make them eligible for a
contextualised offer.
Universities will openly advertise their
contextualised offer scheme on their
webpages. It may be located on different
areas on the website, depending on the
university, so a general search on their page for
‘contextualised offers’ might work best.
Otherwise, navigate to the admissions pages
or the ‘how to apply’ page and look out for the
words ‘access’, ‘contextualised admissions’ or
‘offers’. If you can’t see anything that way, then
email the universities admissions or widening
participation teams and they will be able to help
you out.
Universities will usually have an online form
for students to fill in with basic details, such
as their home and school address. There may
also be other tick boxes for extra information
collection. Then the access teams in the
university will check their details and let them
know if they are eligible for a contextualised
offer and what that offer might be.
Only the university will know if the student has a
different offer, so it’s entirely up to them if they
choose to tell anyone.
If students are concerned about achieving the
entry requirements that the university is asking
for, it is always worth them exploring eligibility
for a contextualised offer. This system is
in place to help everyone access university,
but if they find that they’re not eligible for a
contextualised offer, their eligibility check may
lead on to other advice and help that they may
not know about, such as alternative courses or
work experience sessions!