Widening Access Success

Foundation courses seem to be the latest string to the widening access bow. Figures out last week reveal that universities are on course to surpass the Government's target of 100,000 students on foundation courses by 2010.

There are currently 72,000 students on foundation courses and trends show that more than half of these will continue to take a honours degree.

Not only are foundation courses a successful route to higher education, they are also an excellent way of attracting new groups of students to university. Less than a third of foundation students have A levels on entry and many are from less well off backgrounds, which means these courses are an effective tool for widening participation.

How successful are your foundation courses? If you have any observations form your university, please post them on the forum.