The Mohn Westlake Foundation is working in partnership with Kingston University on a three-year programme of work to address a national problem; that students who come from disadvantaged, marginalised and minority groups benefit less from their degrees than students from more affluent backgrounds.

Kingston University is recognised in the sector for its access and participation work. The University has a strong track record in successfully delivering programmes to support disadvantaged students and the partnership with The Mohn Westlake Foundation has been instrumental in achieving this success.

The new programme, called the Centre for Graduate Success, will develop a sector-leading approach to tackling inequality in employability outcomes – focusing on outreach, targeted programmes and personal development – that can be shared across the Higher Education sector, impacting disadvantaged young people nationally. It will also develop a series of smart, tailored interventions to address the specific employability challenges faced by particular groups of young people, for example those leaving care, or estranged from their families.

With The Mohn Westlake Foundation’s support, Kingston University will work with over 100 Schools locally to deliver the outreach programme, which will target children from primary school age to 16+. 30,000 students will benefit from targeted employability interventions that address the specific needs of their personal situation, giving them the confidence and personal skills to succeed.

While this programme is still in the planning stages, ELEVATE, a project to support Black students at Kingston, already stands as a model for the smart programmes The Mohn Westlake Foundation is helping Kingston University to roll out.

To learn more about this project, please visit the grantees website: Kingston University and The Mohn Westlake Foundation establish new graduate success centre