The University of Oxford has launched a new access programme entitled the ‘Astrophoria Foundation Year’, in which Lady Margaret Hall will be one of ten participating colleges. This forms part of the University's continuing drive to diversify its student body and ensure greater access for students from underrepresented backgrounds.
The fully funded one-year programme is open to UK state school pupils with significant academic potential, who have experienced severe personal disadvantage or disrupted education which has impacted their opportunity for direct applications to undergraduate places. The programme offers up to 50 places each year and aims to give motivated students the chance to reach their academic potential through a supportive and challenging academic course. If students complete the foundation year to the required level, they will progress onto an undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford without any need to re-apply. Students are now able to apply via the UCAS website, to be admitted in October 2023, and full details can be found on the University website.
This new programme builds on the pioneering pilot foundation year programme developed at LMH, which has just recruited its final cohort. LMH launched its Foundation Year in 2016, the first at Oxford or Cambridge, after recognising that many students had the potential to study at Oxford but had not been able to achieve the necessary grades due to their socio-economic circumstances. A total of 59 students have joined LMH on the Foundation Year and the majority of students have continued through to an undergraduate degree at Oxford.
Professor Christine Gerrard, Principal (Interim) of Lady Margaret Hall, said: "Since 2016, talented students have joined us through the LMH Foundation Year and contributed greatly to our community. I am delighted that the University will be running its own foundation year course, and that LMH will be a part of it."