Access and Participation Plan 2025-26 to 2028/29
This Access and Participation Plan (APP) sets out how the university will support our diverse student student body to access, succeed, secure good employment or entry to further study, or any other positive outcomes from their higher education experience, regardless of their background. The APP is focused on UK-domiciled undergraduate students and identifies risks to equality of opportunity for these students, alongside a detailed overview of our objectives and associated intervention strategies designed to address those risks.
This plan buids upon the achievements from our previous APP and London Met’s strategy for the successful delivery continue to place the focus of institutional activity on the development of holistic inclusive academic practice and the creation of enabling environments which support students to succeed.
Our context
Our institution is a local university with a global vision and transformative mission. Based in the diverse borough of Islington, at the heart of London’s cultural capital, we are a University with a thriving community of approximately 6,800 undergraduate and 4,800 postgraduate students enrolled on campus in 2023/24.
The diversity of our staff and student body is a unique feature of our community, and it is one which is widely recognised and celebrated. Our students come from over 140 different countries and 94% of our on-campus student body fall into one or more categories of underrepresentation.
Our students have different economic backgrounds, ages, family situations, ethnicities, religions, identities, abilities and disabilities:
- 54% are from the most socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds (24% within IMD quintile 1; and 30% IMD quintile 2);
- 52% of our students are from Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnic backgrounds (over double the sector average of 24.7%);
- 84% of our student cohort are mature students (almost double the sector average of 43%)
- 86% of our undergraduate students live at home (32% in the parental home and 54% at their own residence);
- and we also have a high number of students who are care experienced and estranged students (117 and 118 respectively in 2022/23).
Our Mission & Strategic Aim
As a values-led institution, our core values define us and provide a framework for the way that we work to deliver our vision and mission. We are Ambitious; Inclusive; Collaborative and Creative. The values are tangible at London Met, and vital to providing a culture that gives students and staff the opportunity to unlock their full potential whilst building a cohesive and harmonious community united by education being a catalyst for social equality, justice and equity.
At London Met, providing an environment that is focused on student success is key. Building on our many strengths and distinctive features, our overarching strategic aim to deliver equality of opportunity for students is simple; to provide the best possible experience for our diverse student body.
This means taking a whole institution approach to student success, identifying, understanding and addressing the institutional barriers that result in inequalities at all stages of the lifecycle. The key vehicles for accelerating progress towards this strategic aim are:
• A greater focus on systemic changes which improve our institutional processes, enhance the knowledge and skills of our staff whilst also better supporting our students
• The alignment and cohesiveness of our institutional strategies, specifically the Student Success, the People; Digital Transformation and Estates strategies, all underpinned by our Education for Social Justice Framework.
Access and Participation Plan documents
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Read London Met's Access and Participation Plan 2025/26 - 2028/29
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Read a summary of London Met's Access and Participation Plan 2025/26 - 2028/29
Contact us
Please email the Centre for Equity and Inclusion team at equity@londonmet.ac.uk for further information.
APP Glossary
Our APP Glossary provides explanations for key terms and abbreviations used in our Access and Participation Plan
Key sections from our APP
By analysing internal and external data and gathering insights from staff and students, we identified the main risks to equality of opportunity by student life cycle at London Met. This plan will address in total eight risks to equality of opportunity for the disadvantaged and underrepresented student groups at London Met.
The identified risk factors align with the OfS’s sector-wide risks and span across the student life cycle – Access, Success, and Progression. The overview below details how each risk manifests in the data, which student group may experience the greatest barriers, and an indication as to which impact relate to which risk.
Access lifecycle stage
| Indication of risk at London Met | OfS Risk Code | Equality Of Opportunity Risk Register (EORR) |
|---|---|---|
There are fewer students with known disabilities accessing London Met. |
Risk 1 | The risk register identified that students with disabilities may have insufficient knowledge and skills required to be accepted on to a course. This aligns with our own institutional research on barriers to enrolment. This could have an impact on access rates. |
| Risk 2 | The risk register identified that for students with a declared disability, greater information and guidance that enables students to develop ambition and expectations, or to make informed choice about their HE options is needed. This could have an impact on access rates. |
Success (Continuation, Completion, Degree Outcomes)
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Low continuation rates for Asian, Black, mature and students with a declared disability.
Low completion rates for IMD 1&2 and Black students
Low degree outcomes for IMD 1&2, BAME, and students with a declared disability |
Risk 6 | The risk register identified that there may be insufficient academic support for students from IMD 1&2, BAME students, mature students and students with a declared disability - students may not receive sufficient personalised academic support to achieve a positive outcome. This could have an impact on continuation, completion and degree outcomes for these students. |
| Risk 7 | The risk register identified that there may be insufficient personal support for students IMD 1&2, BAME students, mature students and students with a declared disability - students may not receive sufficient personalised non-academic support or have sufficient access to extracurricular activities to achieve a positive outcome. This could have an impact on continuation, completion and degree outcomes for these students. | |
| Risk 8 | The risk register identified that students from IMD 1&2, BAME students, mature students and students with a declared disability may experience mental Health issues – students may not experience an environment that is conducive to good mental health and wellbeing. This could have an impact on continuation, completion and degree outcomes for these students. | |
| Risk 10 | Cost pressures - Increases in cost pressures may affect a student’s ability to complete their course or obtain a good grade | |
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Risk 11 |
Capacity issues - Students may not have equal opportunity to access the limited resources related to higher education, such as suitable accommodation – This could have an impact on continuation, completion and degree outcomes for these students. |
Progression
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Low progression rates for students from IMD 1&2, BAME and declared disability |
Risk 12 | Progression from higher education - students may not have equal opportunity to progress to a positive outcome. This could have an impact on progression rates for these students. |
The objectives and targets set out in the table below outline London Met’s commitment to addressing the indications of risks to equality of opportunity based on the detailed performance assessment. Our objectives relate to ensuring students who experience the greatest risks to equality of opportunity are above OfS thresholds for continuation, completion and progression.
This also aligns with the commitments outlined in our Student Success Strategy 2023/24-2025/26 as our key vehicle for change. Targets are monitored internally using our APP PowerBI dashboards, and externally, the OfS A&P data dashboard.
Legend/key to indicator update column in table below
- The arrows facing "upwards/downwards" show a positive/negative indicator trend
- The colour "green/red" indicates if the annual milestone was achieved/not achieved
| APP Objectives and targets & student lifecycle stages | Baseline year | Threshold (if available) | Year 1: 2025/26 indicator update |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | 2021/22 | n/a | 2023/24 |
| • To improve the access rate of disabled students to 17% by 2028/29 | 12.7% ⇑ | ||
| Continuation | 2020/21 | 80% | 2022/23 |
| • To improve the continuation rate for full-time students from IMD 1&2 to 83% by 2028/29 | 78.5% ⇑ | ||
| • To improve the continuation rates for Asian & Black full-time students to 80% and 81% respectively by 2028/29 | 78.3% / 75.5% ⇑ | ||
| • To improve the continuation rate for full-time Mature full-time students to 83% by 2028/29 | 78.8% ⇑ | ||
| • To improve the continuation rate for full-time students with a declared disability to 84% by 2028/29 | 80.2% ⇑ | ||
| Completion | 2017/18 | 75% | 2019/20 |
| • To improve the completion rate for full-time students from IMD 1&2 to 81% by 2028/29 | 71.1% ⇓ | ||
| • To improve the completion rate for all full-time Black students to 81% by 2028/29 | 68.7% ⇓ | ||
| Degree Outcomes | 2021/22 | sector average | 2023/24 |
| • To improve degree outcomes rate for full-time students from IMD1&2 to 76% by 2028/29 | 71.1% ⇑ | ||
| • To improve degree outcomes rate for full-time Black students to 72% by 2028/29 | 68.7% ⇑ | ||
| • To improve the degree outcomes rate for full-time students with a declared disability to 78% by 2028/29 | 76.6% ⇑ | ||
| Progression | 2020/21 | 60% | 2022/23 |
| • To improve the progression rate for full-time students from IMD 1&2 to 70% by 2028/29 | 56.9% ⇓ | ||
| • To improve the progression rate for full-time students from Black to 70% by 2028/29 | 58.9% ⇓ | ||
| • To improve the progression rate for full-time students with a declared disability to 70% by 2028/29 | 56.9% ⇓ |
Intervention Strategies
The following intervention strategies are designed to address our main objectives framed through risks identified for each student group. Strategies 1 to 3 focus on student lifecycle stages; from Access through to Success and Progression. Strategy 4 is intented to span across the whole student lifecycle in support of students’ mental health and wellbeing.
Access & Transition - Interventions
The overview underneath displays all main interventions and activities which make up our Access & Transition intervention strategy.
| Interventions | Activities |
|---|---|
| Widening Participation (WP) pre-16 Outreach programmes prioritised for range of WP groups |
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| Upward Bound: A 2-year attainment-raising Saturday programme for secondary School students (KS3-4 students) |
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| Priority group activities |
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Intervention Strategies
The following intervention strategies are designed to address our main objectives framed through risks identified for each student group. Strategies 1 to 3 focus on student lifecycle stages; from Access through to Success and Progression. Strategy 4 is intented to span across the whole student lifecycle in support of students’ mental health and wellbeing.
Success - Intervention Strategy 2
The overview underneath displays all main interventions and activities included which make up our Success intervention strategy.
| Intervention | Activities |
|---|---|
| A range of tailored programmes of proactive support to groups of students with similar academic needs. |
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| Enhanced Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) scheme for level 3 & 4 students |
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| Met-CEP course enhancement programme |
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| Comprehensive programme of Transition activities. |
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| ESJF Inclusive Curriculum Toolkit |
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Intervention Strategies
The following intervention strategies are designed to address our main objectives framed through risks identified for each student group. Strategies 1 to 3 focus on student lifecycle stages; from Access through to Success and Progression. Strategy 4 is intented to span across the whole student lifecycle in support of students’ mental health and wellbeing.
Progression - Intervention Strategy 3
The overview underneath displays all main interventions which make up our Progression intervention strategy.
| Intervention | Activities |
|---|---|
| Embed 80% of employability skills development into the curriculum to enhance the employability skills of the target groups |
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| Provide tailored Careers Mentoring Scheme for students to raise confidence, provide role models and help students career planning |
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| Deliver an enhanced Met Grad Programme to recent graduates to support them to be successful in the graduate labour market |
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Intervention Strategies
The following intervention strategies are designed to address our main objectives framed through risks identified for each student group. Strategies 1 to 3 focus on student lifecycle stages; from Access through to Success and Progression. Strategy 4 is intented to span across the whole student lifecycle in support of students’ mental health and wellbeing.
Health & Wellbeing - Intervention Strategy 4
The overview underneath displays all main interventions which make up our Health & Wellbeing intervention strategy.
| Interventions | Activities |
|---|---|
| Disabled Students Buddy Scheme to support first year students with settling into university life and accessing all areas of support that they require. |
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| Deliver a range of bespoke workshops for students with registered disabilities |
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| Provide enhanced tailored workshops around financial wellbeing for groups of students including Care leavers and estranged students and those accessing the Hardship Fund |
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Deliver enhanced support workshops for specific groups of students such as:
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