LSE has made early progress on delivering its new Access and Participation Plan (APP), with a clear focus on improving equality of opportunity and outcomes for students across the full lifecycle – from access through to progression.
The first year of the 2025-2029 plan is already showing positive signs, with targeted interventions beginning to strengthen belonging, improve support, and address persistent gaps in attainment and outcomes.
Key targets for the APP
The APP sets ambitious targets to improve outcomes for underrepresented groups, including:
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Increasing access for students from low participation areas and lower-income households
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Reducing the Black/White degree awarding gap
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Narrowing completion gaps for disabled students
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Improving graduate outcomes for students from lower-income backgrounds
These targets are underpinned by a joined-up programme of activity across outreach, admissions, student support, and learning and teaching.
What this means for students
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More inclusive access to LSE: expanding support for widening participation students through targeted outreach programmes and contextual admissions
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Stronger sense of belonging: changes to Welcome Week have contributed to improved belonging scores for Black students
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Enhanced academic and wellbeing support: ongoing work to create a more inclusive learning environment, including curriculum development and strengthened support for disabled students
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Targeted support where it matters most:
interventions are focused on key gaps in the student experience, including ethnicity awarding gaps and completion rates for disabled students.
Progress and impact this year
The first year of the 2025–2029 plan is already showing positive signs, with targeted interventions beginning to strengthen belonging, improve support, and address persistent gaps in attainment and outcomes.
Progress includes:
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New APP (2025–2029) launched: with five headline targets addressing access, success and progression
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Navigate Programme introduced (September 2025): 205 students invited, over 80% have engaged with activities or events so far, Year two is being shaped by student feedback
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Expanded widening participation activity: including continued development of the LSE Governor’s Scheme and Network
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Improved insight into student experience: particularly around Ethnicity awarding gaps (including the Black/White First Class gap) and experiences of disabled students, especially during transition and early term.
What’s next
Three priority areas will shape the next phase of the APP work:
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Deepening understanding of awarding gaps: new dashboards (coming Summer 2026) will provide departments with clearer data and insight to support action
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Strengthening evidence on contextual admissions: a two-phase analysis will explore both the admissions pipeline and academic outcomes, with findings expected through 2026–2027
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Improving support for disabled students: ongoing evaluation will
inform future interventions, alongside new data tools and shared learning opportunities.
Actions for departments
Departments are invited to contribute to ongoing analysis and share what insights would be most useful for their work – particularly in relation to awarding gaps and contextual admissions.
If you'd like more information, please contact Senior APP Delivery Manager at M.Castro-De-Almeida-Hill@lse.ac.uk.
