Aston makes a strong commitment to social mobility

15 July 2013

Aston University’s Access Agreement and Scholarships Programme has been approved by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) for students joining the university in 2014-15.

Aston’s access agreement continues the Institution’s success of promoting Accessible Excellence in supporting students from a wide range of backgrounds.

Key Elements of Aston’s commitments for 2014 -15 include:

• Aston’s highly regarded sandwich placement year or year abroad will be heavily subsidised at £1,000 with most Aston students receiving a scholarship to reduce the fee to zero. Over 50% of Aston students take this potentially life-changing opportunity to gain industry experience in the UK or abroad. The Aston placement year is a significant contributor to Aston’s outstanding record for graduate employability.
• Aston’s Languages for all programme allows all new students to learn a foreign language for free giving them access to global skills networks and awareness.  Options include French, German, Arabic, Japanese, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese.
• A range of scholarships to support students with their living costs, accommodation or tuition fees.
• Most Aston Scholarships include a choice of how the award is taken, giving our students greater flexibility. Scholarships are based on family income and include Excellence Scholarships for students who achieve AAB or equivalent at A level.  Aston Scholarships are typically worth between £500 and £3,000 in first year and beyond.
• Significant investments in outreach activities with Schools and Colleges. This includes further support for Primary School students to aim for University. For example Aston supports the City of Birmingham Children’s University and hosts Graduation ceremonies for over 500 primary school pupils every year. Over 25,000 prospective students, parents and teachers visited Aston’s campus in 2012-13 for outreach and aspiration raising events.

The Aston University commitment aims to be one of the boldest and best at promoting widening participation. At the moment over 90% of Aston students come from state schools, and 35% are from the lowest four socio economic groups.  Aston is one of only a handful of Universities in the UK’s top 30 to consistently exceed its government benchmarks on social inclusion.

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For further media information contact Alex Earnshaw, University Communications on a.earnshaw@aston.ac.uk or 0121 204 4549