£2 million Equality in Higher Education Fund launched by OfS

A new Equality in Higher Education Fund launched by the Office for Students (OfS) will distribute up to £2 million for collaborative projects to support new ideas and innovation in delivering equality of opportunity.  

This funding aims to support the sector in addressing risks to equality of opportunity, as outlined in the Equality of Opportunity Risk Register (EORR), which identifies 12 sector-wide risks that may affect a student’s opportunity to access, succeed in, and progress from higher education.  

This funding scheme aims to: 

• support institutions to undertake new and innovative collaborative work or projects that will reduce risks to equality of opportunity 
• catalyse new practices and innovations that will benefit the sector 
• increase the sector’s capacity and capability to address risks to equality of opportunity. 

Initiatives should have the potential to generate impact, inform future work and benefit the wider higher education sector. 

Successful projects will involve: 

• the collection, use or interrogation of data on equality of opportunity 
• opportunities for learning and knowledge sharing on ‘what works’ 
• facilitating partnership and collaboration across the sector and with relevant organisations. 

Today the OfS has published the bidding guidance and template for the fund, with the submission window open until Friday 25 October 2024. Successful bids will be announced in December.  

John Blake, Director for Fair Access and Participation at the OfS said: 

“We’re so pleased to be launching this fund, as part of our commitment to ensuring all students have the chance to flourish in higher education, regardless of their backgrounds.  

“One thing we are very keen to see with these bids is a real emphasis on collaboration, whether that’s submitting a bid alongside a third sector organisation, or perhaps a group of higher education providers working together in their region. This is because we know that the only way to tackle the many challenges identified in our equality of opportunity risk register is to have consistently joined up, coordinated approaches. I look forward to seeing the new ideas we receive in these bids and working closely with the successful recipients to make them a reality, as well as sharing learning across the sector.”