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Scottish Wider Access Programme: Supporting adults returning to education.

In this post, Lesley Dunbar, Director of the Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP), explains how SWAP supports the second strand of the Widening Participation Strategy: ‘Support to Get In’. SWAP offers a strong commitment towards a ‘transparent route into the University for learners undertaking a range of qualifications in a range of settings’. The University is proud to support SWAP (and SWAP East, situated on Buccleuch Place and is a partnership between colleges and universities in the east of Scotland), which aims to support access to higher education for adults returning to education – an important and often overlooked student group. SWAP students are eligible for a context plus flag in Edinburgh’s admissions process and therefore (wherever possible) will be made an offer…

The Scottish Wider Access Programme is a partnership of colleges and universities in Scotland. Our aim is to promote and support widening access to higher education for adults who have been out of education for some time and who, mostly, have qualifications below Level 6. Colleges across Scotland run one year SWAP access programmes to prepare students for entering higher education. Some are specialist, e.g., in Engineering, Medical Studies, Nursing, whilst others such as the Physical/Life Sciences or the Humanities programmes are more general and offer routes into many different degrees. Last year, over 1600 mature students (from as far south as Galloway to as far north as Thurso) studied on a SWAP access programme. Of those who successfully completed the year, over 90% entered higher education. All universities in Scotland offer places to SWAP students.

It’s a proven widening access programme that changes lives.

Students at SWAP East, photo Nick Hutcheon (SWAP East Co-ordinator).

For more information on SWAP, please go to: www.scottishwideraccess.org.

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