Happy Birthday to The Access Project!
In October 2023, The Access Project celebrates its 15th anniversary.
Since 2008, The Access Project has helped thousands of high potential young people bridge the education gap and access courses at top UK universities. Teacher Alex Kelly founded the organisation on the belief that all young people should have the chance to succeed, with a mission to bring higher education opportunities to students from under resourced backgrounds.
Alex Kelly, founder of The Access Project, said: “15 years ago a super bright group of students I was teaching got me thinking: these students are so smart, how come so few young people from their backgrounds get into top universities? The main thing I wanted to do was to help my students get better grades, so I asked some of my friends in city jobs if they would tutor them at work.”
“I never imagined that this do-it-yourself project would grow into such an amazing social enterprise, delivering thousands of hours of tutorials every week. In the UK, who your parents are still has such a huge impact on where you are likely to go to university. I hope that The Access Project can continue to grow and make the country fairer.”
Anna Searle, Chief Executive Officer at The Access Project, said:
“Thanks to the vision of our founder 15 years ago, we have now worked with thousands of young people, supporting them on their journey to realise their potential and access top third university education. We are incredibly proud of all the young people we have worked with over this period, and of the support they, and we, have received from schools, universities, funding partners and from our thousands of volunteers.
We know that our model works with students from The Access Project on average twice as likely to place at a top third university when compared with their peers over the past 15 years. As educational inequity persists, we are more motivated than ever to extend our evidenced impact to bring lasting change to students, families, schools and communities across the country.
We’re grateful to all our partners and volunteers who have helped make our mission a reality over the past 15 years.”
To celebrate our 15th birthday, we’re asking our supporters to donate £15 to The Access Project. Your donation will help fund our tutoring and mentoring programme, meaning we can change the lives of more under resourced students across the UK.
Students from under-resourced backgrounds are twice as likely to attend top universities after studying with The Access Project. One hour of volunteering per week can put a student on track to a good education, giving them the best chance at social mobility.
The Access Project combats educational inequality through widening participation programmes, offering tutoring, mentoring and enrichment opportunities. We empower disadvantaged young people to realise their full potential.
Around 25% of our programme is paid for by schools. The rest is funded by university partners, corporate sponsorships, and donations from people like you.
Your donation to The Access Project will give these under-resourced students the chance to thrive.