GHWY is the partnership of HE institutions and colleges responsible for collectively delivering the Uni Connect programme in West Yorkshire. We were commissioned by GHWY to carry out an analysis of the impact of their outreach work on university applications and entry.

The activities that GHWY has delivered range from intensive Summer Schools to mentoring, and provision of general HE information. The partnership works with target schools and eligible students can be a beneficiary of multiple Uni Connect activities. In fact, over a thousand students have participated in more than five Uni Connect activities.

Seven key findings from the analysis:

1. Post-18 Pathways in West Yorkshire vary a lot across the five West Yorkshire local authorities
2. Progression to HE for those engaging in GHWY Uni Connect activities were higher than the England average for students from areas with similar historical rates of progression to HE and higher than for those who did not participate in any activities
3. GHWY had a stronger impact on those living in areas of low HE participation
4. Ethnic group differences in progression rates reflect those across England
5. Rejection rate of UCAS applications varies by ethnic group and POLAR quintile
6. Participating in more GHWY Uni Connect activities was associated with increasing HE progression rates
7. GHWY Uni Connect participants tend to go on to local universities