The LMH Foundation Year created a new route into an Oxford education for talented students whose circumstances had made it difficult to achieve the grades normally required for undergraduate entry. Living and learning at LMH for a year, with additional coaching and support, gave students the opportunity to experience university life and develop the skills and confidence needed to continue to undergraduate study at Oxford or at other selective universities.
Students on the Foundation Year quickly became part of life at LMH, and continued to contribute to the College and the University throughout their undergraduate degrees. Two went on to become JCR President, while another was elected President of the Oxford University Student Union (OUSU). Many of them have achieved remarkable things by any standards, and all of them grew and developed in ways that the Foundation Year enabled.
The LMH Foundation Year in Numbers
- 64 students completed the Foundation Year
- 77% progressed to undergraduate study at Oxford
- 46 former Foundation Year students have graduated
- 87% achieved a First or 2:1
Of those who did not progress to undergraduate study at Oxford, many went on to take up places at Russell Group universities. A number of former Foundation Year students have continued into further graduate study, including three who were awarded fully funded PhD places in the UK; one who studied for a Master’s and later a PhD at top American universities; and two others who won funded places for Masters study at the University of Cambridge. Others have undertaken Law qualifications and are in the process of training both in the UK and abroad.
The LMH Foundation Year was initially launched as a four-year pilot and drew on the experience of Trinity College Dublin’s ‘Trinity Access Programme’. It was the first programme of its kind at Oxford or Cambridge, and its success helped show the potential of foundation year provision as a route into selective universities. Both Oxford and Cambridge have since established university-wide programmes.
The LMH Foundation Year was made possible through the generosity of our donors, whose support provided the funding needed to establish and sustain the programme. It was also the result of a huge collective effort across the College, with tutors and college staff dedicating themselves to an initiative that had never previously been undertaken – an experiment that required faith and confidence in the programme’s values. Former LMH Principal Alan Rusbridger was a driving force in establishing the programme, working alongside Programme Director Dr Jo Begbie and an incredibly dedicated wider team of tutors and support staff who worked hard to develop, deliver and sustain it over the years.
The final cohort of LMH Foundation Year students completed the programme in 2023, and the University of Oxford’s Astrophoria Foundation Year is now carrying this work forward across the University, with students based at ten colleges including LMH.
The experience and lessons learned from the Foundation Year continue to feed into LMH’s approach to outreach and our work to widen access to Oxford. In 2026, the College launched The Wayfinder Programme, a sustained contact programme for selected Year 10 and 11 students from schools in our link regions. This year-long programme will give students more opportunities to engage with Oxford over time as they consider their post-16 choices.
In partnership with the Department of Economics, LMH co-funds the Centre for Research on Outreach and Access (CROA), which will evaluate The Wayfinder Programme and help strengthen our understanding of the impact of our access and outreach work on the outcomes of the students we work with.
LMH was founded on a vision that Oxford’s doors should be open to an increasingly wide range of students, and this remains central to the College’s mission as we look ahead to the celebration of our 150th anniversary in 2028-9.
We’ll be marking the LMH Foundation Year’s tenth anniversary throughout the 2026-27 academic year, with more stories to come in the months ahead.
