Improving the Transition to Higher Education | 2024 Internal About this Report This report summarises insights into the experiences of young people transitioning into higher education, offering recommendations for policymakers, higher education providers, schools and colleges and wider public services. It shares insights from three expert roundtables convened in August and September 2023 by Professor Edward Peck, the Government9s Higher Education Student Support Champion for England. It also draws extensively on evidence from: • Unite Students Applicant Index (2023): A weighted, representative survey of 2141 higher education applicants carried out by Unite Students in May 2023 via the Savanta student panel. • A nationwide survey of 219 teachers and two in-depth focus groups with teachers in Bristol, carried out by We Are Futures for Unite Students in 2022. • Research and analysis carried out by Dr Michelle Morgan, Dean of Students at UEL. Other sources cited are noted in footnotes throughout the report. The transition to higher education is a very broad topic and this report, by necessity, has a limited scope. It focuses exclusively on UK domiciled students transitioning to UK universities having recently left school, sixth form or further education. Within this, it tends to focus more strongly on schools and sixth forms than on further education. Acknowledgements We are grateful for the contributions of all those who attended the three roundtables, and would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals in particular: Sandra Binns; Jon Bentley; Polly Harrow; Ben Jordan; Michelle Morgan; Gladys Mugugu; Tony Moss; David Putwain; Charlotte Randomly; Wayne Templeman; Julie Walkling; and Ayaz Manji. 2