A defining feature essential to the success of Aimhigher is the centrality of ‘partnership working’ and relationships. Partnerships play a major brokerage and co-ordinating role in their area and across their region in the delivery of widening participation activities, the existence of which role enables co-ordinated, fair, representative, inclusive and non-duplicating programmes. It enables the co-ordination of approaches and the pooling of experience, ideas and knowledge to help learners learn about and be motivated to progress to higher education.



Aimhigher plays a key role in bringing together practitioners from across education sectors to widen participation, and Aimhigher partnerships work with the following groups to deliver Aimhigher activity:

• teachers/tutors in schools, further education colleges, 14-19 partnerships
• admissions, widening participation and other outreach staff in HE institutions
• local authorities, and children’s services
• communities
• Connexions / IAG personal advisers and careers advisers
• local learning partnerships
• employers and training providers
• parents and other family members (particularly of young people from under-represented groups)
• Aimhigher ambassadors and Associates in schools, colleges and universities.

In a wider strategic context Aimhigher partnerships work with the above partners plus

• Lifelong Learning Networks
• Health Care trusts
• initiatives such as Excellence Hubs, Train to Gain
• Regional Government Offices, Regional Development Agencies, Strategic Health Authorities and other similarly constituted regional bodies
• national bodies such as the Department of Health.

All these partners are represented on Aimhigher Area Partnership Committees.

A key strength of the partnerships is the ability to rationalise and build joint activity utilizing various and complementary funding streams available to the area or region.

Another crucial outcome is strong collaborative and complementary work which promotes well-advised and fair access and participation, e.g. by enabling all  the higher education institutions, colleges and schools within and across their areas to work closely together giving learners more opportunities to access further and higher education, to maximise their life chances and opportunities to enter the most appropriate higher education option for them.