Does an Access Course Really Open Doors?

SUMMARY

This paper will focus on the progression of mature students from the Science Access Programme at University College Stockton (UCS). A brief contextual history of the development of this new college of the University of Durham on the Teesdale site, a former industrial wasteland site in Stockton‐on‐Tees, Cleveland, will be outlined. Its relevance to the mature student outcomes in terms of job opportunities is explored.

The paper reports the early quantitative student progression data for year cohorts from, and including, 1993. The project aims to maintain contact with the successive student year cohorts concentrating on the stated students aims on enrolment on the course and the ultimate outcomes. The paper explores the experiences gained during the Access year, and asks ‘What doors are really opened?’ for these students.