Contextual Admissions

At Durham we are committed to ensuring that applicants to undergraduate courses have their application considered using a contextualised admissions approach.

Many talented students do not experience excellence in their education; whilst others do not have access to opportunities for wider social experiences and support or diverse extra curriculum activities. To redress this imbalance our contextual offer scheme enables admissions selectors to vary our published grade offer by one or two points. This ensures students who are academically able to study with us receive an appropriate offer.

Research led by Durham University academic, Professor Vikki Boliver, provides an important contribution to national debates about how best to ensure fair access to higher education. This research highlights the correlation between socioeconomic background and school achievement and makes the case for considering an applicants’ qualifications in light of their socioeconomic circumstances to ensure that the potential of applicants is not overlooked.

Year on year we continue to work towards our institutional goals and towards targets set out within Durham’s Access and Participation Plan (formally the Access Agreement).

Our Targets and Progress

Our fair access and widening participation targets are set out within our published Access and Participation Plan.