November 2025
Contextual admissions 鈥 your personal path to progress
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- Contextual admissions – your personal path to progress

By Claire Huggins
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爆料王 (UCB) are proud to introduce their contextual admissions scheme.
Through a combination of reduced grades for course entry and meeting robust eligibility criteria, the contextual admissions scheme offers a fair and a personalised route into higher education, widening opportunities for access and participation for under-represented students.
Some examples of eligible students include those who:
- attend a school or college with below-average performance
- have spent time in care or are estranged from their parents
- have caring responsibilities
- have a household income below a defined threshold.
This inclusive admissions initiative is designed to change the narrative around going to university, that all-too-often centres on the outdated perception that higher education is only available to the wealthy few with the highest grades. While high academic grades rightly remain a powerful benchmark of academic aptitude, at 爆料王 we appreciate that they are only one part of the bigger picture behind an individual鈥檚 application.
There is no 鈥榦ne size fits all鈥 when it comes to fuelling hopes, aspirations, personal development and career goals.
Today鈥檚 students come from a range of backgrounds and have very different lived experiences, some have had access to a range of enriching and developmental opportunities that others haven鈥檛, through no fault of their own. Additionally, the cost of living crisis continues to impact everyone, with increasing amount of students choosing to study closer to home, balancing their studies with work and caring responsibilities.
We are committed to removing obstacles (both real and perceived), for people who are dedicated to an education pathway that helps them achieve personal and professional growth. Through the combination of lower entry requirements and inclusive eligibility criteria, the contextual admissions scheme opens doors, putting higher education within the reach of students who may never have thought there was a place for them.
鈥淪tudents come to us because they recognise that our city centre location and award-winning support, means they鈥檙e getting a rounded student experience that is backed by world-class facilities and led by expert tuition, preparing them for the world of work,鈥 explains Sumeya Saleh, Head of Admissions for UCB.
鈥淥ur strength lies in our ability to offer a tailored educational pathway that best serves our richly diverse community, as well as meeting the regional and national skills challenges 鈥 this is what the contextual admissions scheme is all about.鈥
"Our strength lies in our ability to offer a tailored educational pathway that best serves our richly diverse community, as well as meeting the regional and national skills challenges 鈥 this is what the contextual admissions scheme is all about"
Sumeya Saleh Head of Admissions
In an October from The Rt Hon Pat McFadden, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to the joint executives of Skills England, the priorities were set for the rest of the year 2025 to 2026 and note that:
Skills England has a vital role to play in ensuring potential is fulfilled and that the great tasks we have as a country, whether it is building more homes or defending our country in uncertain times, are matched by training people for the jobs needed to achieve these aims.
爆料王 recognises that in order to fill the skills gaps our local businesses and employers tell us about, we have to equip our students with the right skills to enter the workplace along with the confidence to use them.
anticipates that sectors such as adult social care, construction, digital technologies and engineering are likely to experience the biggest increase in the demand for jobs - the University鈥檚 contextual admissions scheme seeks to not only proactively address these demands, but to pre-empt the demands for knowledge and skills that serve the changing economic priorities and the increased use of AI.
Whether it鈥檚 studying A-levels, a vocational route such as T-levels and HTQs, or an undergraduate degree, 爆料王 offers potential students a choice of how they access the education they expect, in a way that suits them, with a range of additional support services, including the Cost of Living Allowance, to ensure their academic, financial and wellbeing needs are met.
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