St Anne’s is the home of choice for the brightest and most ambitious students, including those from underrepresented groups.
St Anne’s is one of Oxford’s largest colleges, with over 800 students. Our Fellows’ world leading research ranges across the arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics, and physical, life and medical sciences.
Our diverse, inclusive community extends around the globe through our alumnae, who build on their experiences here to change the world for the better.
Situated within 5 acres of tranquil leafy grounds, St Anne’s enjoys a unique atmosphere in which to hold any conference, dinner or special event.
St Anne’s Outreach Team was delighted to organise and host the first of what we hope will now be an annual Oxford Outreach and Access Conference, arranged on behalf of the Outreach Community of Practice.
With many Colleges and Departments employing one or more Access Officer, alongside the work done by the teams in central UAO, we identified that this can at times feel quite isolating, whilst also risking duplication of workload across the collegiate university.
Helen King QPM (St Anne’s College Principal) and Dr Anna Caughey (Interim Head of Policy at UAO) led the keynote address, emphasising themes of collaboration, communication and a solid grounding in college and department access and outreach work in the University’s wider access and outreach strategy.
The day was supported by an incredible 25 panellists sharing various expertise, representing a range of job roles. Sessions included working with Student Ambassadors, to building teacher relationships, exploring new IT skills and discussion of collaborative projects. There were also sessions aimed at Access Officers who were new to the University, where they could access essential information about the role and know where to go for support.
Feedback from the event shows that attendees really appreciate the breadth of experiences that were shared during the day, as well as opportunities to build their own networks and contacts. When asked what their main takeaway was for the day, one participant wrote “That there are lots of people in outreach in Oxford with wide ranging expertise who are happy to share information and help each other!”
We hope the event promotes collaboration and communication across the community and that this will be further developed and improved on in coming years.