accessprofessions.com

With funding from the Sutton Trust and a number of leading law firms (as well as involvement from a range of universities and third sector organisations), accessprofessions.com is a web portal to match young people with aspiration-raising opportunities in higher education and the professions, focussed particularly on students from under-represented backgrounds.

To be launched in late 2010, it will work by young people registering with the site and entering key pieces of information - their examination grades, subject interests, career aspirations and background.  They are then notified of programmes and events for which they might be eligible, whether that be summer schools, work experience, taster days or any of the other wealth of access-related activities out there.

Although open to all young people, the priority is to support those groups which are currently under-represented in higher education and the professions.  We know that these students are less likely to know about and apply for access programmes; that they tend to be more cautious; and hold preconceptions about pathways and choices which are 'not for the likes of them'.

By providing a single point of contact accessprofessions.com, which is completely free, overcomes many of these barriers.  In particular, it makes communication with notoriously hard-to-reach groups more manageable: one site to promote and a single, simple step that will put students in touch with a host of organisations which can support them in making informed choices about their future on an ongoing basis.

Particularly importantly, the site enables those organisations interested in fair access and widening participation to be proactive in encouraging applicants from non-traditional backgrounds to participate in their initiatives.  The site will also become a powerful tool in tracking and monitoring the reach and spread of access programmes so that resources can be directed to where they are most needed.