Bristol Baptist College is committed to widening participation and fair access.

We believe that God calls people of all ages and backgrounds into the Church and into leadership.

We believe that widening access to higher education makes a significant contribution to Church and community, and supports justice, mobility and human fulfilment.

We will work with our validating Universities and other partners to support and promote opportunities for all those who have the potential to benefit from the higher education we offer.

Our widening access strategic priorities include:

All-age recruitment

We welcome applications from students of all ages, considering life and work experience alongside academic qualifications. A high proportion of our students are returning to education after a number of years.

Improving progression pathways into Higher Education

We run a successful Saturday access course (Equipping Missional Disciples), which gives students a taste of theological study, and allows progression onto Higher Education programmes. Students often begin HE study at Certificate level and progress to Diploma and BA programmes.

Promoting fair admissions

Our Admissions policy ensures a process which is professional, transparent, explicit, courteous, fair, and consistently implemented. We review our interview processes regularly.

Prioritising retention and student achievement

Strong pastoral and academic support is provided by college tutors, who meet regularly with students to review progress. We provide study skills support for all students and targeted support for students with specific learning difficulties is also available. Our VLE, Moodle, provides guidance and support for students throughout their programmes.

Increasing flexible learning opportunities

We are continuing to develop our programmes to offer more opportunities for part-time study, placement-based learning and distance learning.

Working with our stakeholders

We are working in partnership with the Baptist Union of Great Britain and local Baptist Associations and churches and Durham University to develop programmes which widen access to the vocations for which students are being prepared.

Improving the evidence base

We are in the early days of gathering and analysing data related to our students’ backgrounds. Once we have sufficient statistics, we will use these to monitor our performance in widening access across a range of indicators.