About Us

Access to higher education, particularly to elite institutions such as the University of Oxford, has long been seen as a driver of increasing social mobility in the UK and beyond. Still, the causal effects of the many initiatives to improve access for students from disadvantaged backgrounds remain unclear. We aim to improve our knowledge on exactly this in the setting of Oxford and the UK more broadly: Do access initiatives actually succeed in attracting students to Oxford who would otherwise not have applied or been admitted? And how do access initiatives then affect the outcomes of students both in the short and long run?

Mathias Jensen

The Centre for Research on Outreach and Access is a pioneering research hub based in the Department of Economics at the University of Oxford. Our mission is to deepen understanding of how access and outreach initiatives influence who applies to and succeeds at elite universities like Oxford, and how these experiences shape students' lives long after graduation.

We exist to answer pressing questions:

• Do outreach and financial support initiatives reach the students they’re intended for?
• Do they shift application patterns or long-term outcomes like university success and future earnings?
• How can institutions design more impactful, evidence-based access programmes?

What We Do

Our Centre draws on world-class expertise in applied microeconometrics and causal inference to evaluate access initiatives at every level - from targeted College programmes to national funding models. Our work spans:

• Experimental impact evaluations of new outreach programmes at Lady Margaret Hall and other Colleges.
• Operationalising and analysing Oxford’s administrative data to uncover patterns in admissions and student performance.
• Quasi-experimental studies using national data to measure the long-term effects of financial support and university access on earnings and life outcomes.
• Fostering a vibrant research community, supporting new projects, and sharing insights across Oxford and beyond.

Who We Are

Led by Research Fellow Dr Mathias Jensen, the Centre brings together leading researchers in economics, education, and social policy. Our affiliated scholars and advisory board include national experts on inequality, access, and policy evaluation.

We are committed to working collaboratively with Colleges, central University teams, policymakers, fellow researchers, and students to ensure that access efforts are not only well-meaning but genuinely effective.

Our Vision

We aim to build an evidence base that informs smarter, fairer access policies. By translating robust research into actionable insights, we seek to create pathways into higher education that are truly open to talent from all backgrounds.