BOURNEMOUTH University has been praised for its work to widen access to higher education.

A number of schemes are currently running at BU to work with people from under-represented groups in higher education, such as care leavers, people with disabilities or additional learning needs, and those from lower income backgrounds.

These include the AimHigher outreach project, where teams visit schools and colleges to run workshops, and the Peer Assisted Learning and Grow@BU support and mentoring schemes once students get to university.

Professor Les Ebdon, director of the Office of Fair Access, which is an independent body safeguarding and promoting fair access to higher education, spoke to staff and students at the university about the importance of making higher education available to all.

He said: “I think BU has an excellent record in widening participation and has gone out to a lot of people in this area and I wanted to see what work was being done.

“It is clearly a challenge that is taken very seriously here at BU, and particularly in terms of contributing to national research on these issues.”