Writing your access agreement
Our aim is to make the process of writing and submitting access agreements as straightforward as possible. For 2012-13 access agreements we produced detailed guidance setting out our expectations. We will be issuing new guidance for 2013-14 access agreements in Spring 2012.
What an access agreement should cover
Your access agreement must include information on:
- fee limits
- the additional access and, where appropriate, student retention measures you are putting in place
- the estimated cost of these access and retention measures
- your targets and milestones
- how you are going to inform students about your bursaries and other financial support
- how you will monitor the effectiveness of your access measures.
See Find an Access Agreement for examples of current approved access agreements. If you are drawing up an access agreement for the first time, please contact us for advice.
How to submit an access agreement
We ask you to produce your access agreement as a Word document and upload it, together with a completed financial template to the HEFCE extranet. You can download our financial template (Annex B) here. Please also see the guidance note we issued on revising 2012-13 access agreements.
The approval process
We consider your access agreement against the requirements set out in our guidance. In particular, we look at whether your plans for access measures are satisfactory, the amounts you are investing are appropriate, and your targets and milestones suitably challenging. If there is anything we are unhappy with, we will discuss this with you and, if necessary, give you the opportunity to revise your access agreement before any question of a formal rejection arises. You have the right to take our decision to an independent review panel.