Widening participation in nursing through progression agreements between a university and two further education colleges: A case study

Abstract

The School of Nursing, part of the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences within Kingston University/St George's, University of London, has undertaken a number of initiatives to address the widening participation agenda. The student life‐cycle underpins the framework for the university's widening participation strategy and activities. This article provides a case study of the development and implementation of one such initiative, a Progression Agreement project between the School of Nursing and two colleges of further education (FE). The FE colleges provide Access to Nursing/Access to Health and Social Care Professions courses and the university, in partnership with these colleges, has drawn up Progression Agreements to enable successful completers of these access courses to be admitted onto nursing programmes at the university. The article explores the policy issues and literature related to widening participation, how these influenced the development of Progression Agreements, the evaluation of these initiatives and how Progression Agreements have contributed to changes in admission processes for nursing programmes in the university. © 2006 UCU.