The Access Platform partners with The Sutton Trust and Fulbright

We're really pleased to reveal we're deepening our partnership with The Sutton Trust, to support The Sutton Trust US Programme, delivered in partnership with The Fulbright Commission.

The Sutton Trust is the pre-eminent champion of social mobility through education in the UK, and the US Programme offers state school students the opportunity to explore what it is like to study in America.

It’s a fully-funded programme giving students from disadvantaged backgrounds a taste of being an international student to help see if the US could be the right fit for them for degree course study.

It is delivered in partnership with the US-UK Fulbright commission, part of the Education USA network. Over the last 70 years, Fulbright has helped thousands of UK students apply to hundreds of US universities.

As a result of the programme, 412 Sutton Trust students have been admitted to over 74 US universities since 2012, including Harvard and Princeton, with support of over $109 million. 80% of students are in the first generation of their family to study at university.

We will support the Sutton Trust US Programme by placing 73 mentors online including programme alumni, college counsellors and industry experts, to guide students through their way to college.

Nick Golding, our Strategic Development & Partnerships Director, commented: "We are delighted to extend our work with The Sutton Trust into the international arena to give students, who would not otherwise have the opportunity, access to degree course study in the US.

"The platform will act as a mentoring interface between UK state school pupils and alums of the programme who are now studying in the US, as well as counsellors and other experts, in order to encourage and support their aspirations to study in America. This builds on similar Widening Participation work we have been doing in the UK, not only with The Sutton Trust, but with 10 or so colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, as well as niche use cases, such as The Inns of Court.

"One of the great aspects of our platform is that it can be used to reach out to and engage very different types of student: from post-graduate career changers to learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those who are exploring whether study abroad is right for them, with access to some of the most prestigious universities in the world."