Universities

SUPPORTING STUDENT ACCESS, TRANSITIONS AND SUCCESS

We work with a range of teams: recruitment, outreach, student success, and access, and understand the challenges and complexities that they face.

Our focus is on helping students to achieve their potential, whatever that may be, regardless of their background. This includes:

Supporting outreach and recruitment...

...and boosting applications from diverse students to competitive universities and degree courses.

Easing transition to university life...

...especially for contextual students or those who have faced any kind of disadvantage.

Supporting student success

...to develop the skills they need to thrive within the first year of study at university and beyond.

According to data from UCAS, the number of Elephant Access students accepting an offer at a top university has increased by 35%.

For our partners, those figures are even more impressive: the number of students accepting a place at a partner university has trebled from 70 in 2023 to 205 in 2025.

Elephant Access

Available to all competitive universities and degree courses, including Oxbridge Colleges. Partners gain access to around 4,000 students from over 60 highly engaged schools across our three regional hubs in London, Yorkshire and the North East, and the Midlands. You'll benefit from a range of interactions which will:

  • Enable you to gain access to highly able and ambitious university applicants who may have experienced barriers to HE;
  • Access a tailored, regional model of school, trust, and student engagement;
  • Give you the opportunity to work with and engage with teachers, schools and trusts that fall within your priority areas, both geographically and demographically;
  • Attend, co-deliver, and create activities nationally and regionally according to your needs.

META METHOD

Available to universities looking to support attainment, access, transition, retention, and student success. This evidence-informed metacognitive programme helps students become more confident, independent learners.

You'll benefit from a flexible range of options which will:

  • Enable you to commission bespoke programmes for cohorts from Year 7 through to undergraduate level, aligned to your student cohorts, institutional priorities, and widening participation objectives;
  • Give you the flexibility to choose from standalone workshops, structured programmes across the academic year, or fully editable resources for your own team to deliver;
  • Equip students with practical metacognitive strategies that support attainment, transition, independent learning, and success in higher education;
  • Provide interactive student resources, staff training where required, and simple evaluation aligned to your reporting and widening participation frameworks.

As part of our formal governance structure, you will have regular insight meetings with Headteachers and Heads of Sixth Form. These meetings serve as a platform to share good practices, exchange ideas, and co-create opportunities that benefit both students and your university. Your input and expertise will help shape our programme and ensure its effectiveness. By engaging with school leaders, you will gain a direct insight into the challenges and successes experienced by non-selective schools throughout the university application process.rnrnYou will gain access to hub data analysis that will empower your university to gain valuable insights into student performance and engagement. We also report our findings through HEAT and UCAS, to provide a comprehensive overview of the impact of our partnerships work.

Our university partners

What our university partners say about us

“Developing new partnerships with schools can prove difficult for a variety of reasons. Forming a part of The Elephant Group has allowed our institution to work alongside key schools gaining an immensely valuable entry point to senior management. The collaborative nature of this project has ensured that we have all developed common aims and objectives ensuring that high attaining students derive the maximum benefit from participating in this programme”

Karl Devincenzi

Recruitment and Schools Relationship Manager, University of Exeter

“Working with the Elephant Group is really helpful in supporting our commitment to widening access to our university. Since joining the Elephant Group we have made great connections with schools that have previously been hard to reach. Through our relationship we are speaking with students who we want to welcome to Newcastle University. Being part of Elephant Group means collaborating with partners who share our passion for widening participation in higher education. We are really delighted with the partnership and are excited to see our work together grow in the coming years”

Sarah Cowey

Head of UK Student Recruitment and Widening Participation, Newcastle University