About GOALS

GOALS was developed by the West of Scotland Wider Access Forum in 2000. It is now in its second phase and is funded by the The Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council and the participating local authorities until 2008.

Background

At the early stages of development, research on participation rates in HE by postcode area (SHEFC, 1998) indicated that rates for pupils from schools in the West of Scotland were generally below the national average.

Figures showed that although 49.3% of Scottish School Leavers came from West of Scotland schools, there were some schools where participation rates were as low as 4% (Glasgow Careers Service, 1998).  Some areas such as Glasgow City experienced concentrated disadvantage (Scottish Executive, 1999) and figures indicated very low rates of entry into university from schools in Glasgow, e.g. 16.0% in comparison with a national rate of 29.5%.

Following from this, Glasgow City Council (GCC) contacted the three Glasgow universities in the early part of 1999 inviting them to collaborate in co-ordinated access activities in schools which they identified as being in particular need of support. Other local authorities within the West of Scotland also identified schools with low participation rates, which would benefit from involvement in GOALS.

The largest project in Europe

GOALS now involves 6 HEIs, 11 local authorities, 43 secondary schools and 232 primary schools. It is, we believe, the largest project of its kind in Europe!