About Widening Participation

LSE has been committed to widening access to university for students from all backgrounds for over two decades - from our pre-entry widening participation programmes to our holistic contextual admissions processes and a comprehensive package of financial support.

What is Widening Participation?

Widening participation describes our work to tackle inequalities in access to higher education, and to improve representation within LSE's student community of groups who are underrepresented compared to regional and national populations.

We use data and evidence to target activities, interventions and support at different stages of the student lifecycle to address disparities in access, success and progression as outlined in our Access and Participation Plan.

LSE's Widening Participation Team lead our pre-entry programmes and events with young people from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds, working collaboratively with others across LSE, other universities and expert third-sector organisations.

We believe that potential is found everywhere, but opportunity is not – and we’re determined to play our part in changing that.

Our impact

We've made good progress closing access gaps, but we're committed to making sure that studying and succeeding at LSE is within reach for talented students from all backgrounds. We've set ambitious targets and commitments to continue widening access as part of our Access and Participation Plan until 2028/29.

We're proud of the impact our work has in supporting the next generation of university students to unlock opportunities at LSE and beyond. All of our activities are based on evidence and best practice, and are underpinned by a comprehensive evaluation and monitoring plan to ensure continuous improvement and impact tracking.

We publish our progress and findings openly, and use this evidence to hold ourselves to account, to strengthen our work over time and to inform best practice across the sector.

Data protection

We collect personal data about you if you take part, or apply to take part in a widening participation initiative or request any of our services. You can read our data protection privacy statement or find out more about our partnerships and data sharing.