Disability as a Focus for Innovation in Women’s Studies and Access Strategies in Higher Education

In January, 1990, the Foundation Studies Programme at (the then) Lancashire Polytechnic was offered to mature students in the Preston and surrounding areas. This new, ‘second-generation’ access programme contained several experimental and radical approaches within its remit of Polytechnic ‘mass access’ student-provision for the 1990s. A key approach lay in the Programme’s emphasis on student-centred and student-managed provision, which is characterized by its mentor scheme. This enables ex-Programme students to act as role models, teachers and confidence-builders to each new intake of over 170 students annually, which was a principal reason for the Programme winning the 1991 British Gas Partnership Award for widening access to higher education.