Fair Access and Widening Participation

At Durham we welcome students from all backgrounds. We focus on encouraging everyone who has the merit and potential to succeed to take a look at what Durham has to offer. We are committed to providing the very best education, built on the principles of innovative teaching, a research-led curriculum and a vibrant wider student experience. It’s this combination which we believe helps you to thrive personally, intellectually and professionally and provides you with the skills you need to go out and make a difference in the world. We want to ensure that, regardless of background, every applicant who has the ability and desire to study with us is given this opportunity.

From the work of our Widening Access and Participation Team in helping to raise aspirations, to the information and advice sessions delivered to pupils in schools and colleges across the country, to providing travel bursaries for our open days and visits, to the contextual offers being led by our Admissions Office, Durham is committed to fair access and widening participation.    

We added to our current 2020-21 to 2024-25 Access and Participation Plan Durham University, approved by the Office for Students (OfS) in 2022. This reaffirms our commitment to widening participation in higher education. We are proud to be investing significantly in outreach, student success, progression and evaluation activities over the year. The plan outlines a number of current initiatives - such as offering summer schools and developing partnerships with regional schools and academies - as well as new initiatives aimed at enrolling students from under-represented backgrounds and supporting them while they are here. A summary of the plan is also available 2020-21 to 2024-25 Latest Durham APP Summary

The Student Fees 2024-25 Summary can be viewed here: Student Fees 2024 -25 Summary

The previous Access and Participation plan with Impact report (2019-20) and Access Agreements (from 2006 to 2019) can be found here.