Meet Vanessa
Vanessa Worthington, Outreach Development Coordinator (BAME Programmes, UAO)
The Undergraduate Access and Outreach team work to ensure that every talented, academically motivated student, wherever they come from, sees Oxford as a place for them and has a fair chance of securing a place on a course. In 2022, almost 1,500 Year 12 students joined our flagship access programme UNIQ, and 188 students participated in Opportunity Oxford, a programme that helps prepare talented UK offer-holders from under-represented backgrounds for successful student careers. In 2023, the first offers were made to 35 UK state school students for the Astrophoria Foundation Year, a year-long foundation course for UK state school students who have high academic potential but have experienced severe personal disadvantage or a disrupted education.
Vanessa Worthington is part of the team supporting race equality in access and outreach programmes.
What is your role and how does it connect to the University’s Race Equality Strategy?
"I am widening access and outreach practitioner and work in Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach as the Outreach Development Coordinator (BAME Programmes). I have been at the University for nearly six years, and in this time, I have seen the steady statistical increase in the number of students from underrepresented ethnic groups in undergraduate admissions, and more importantly get to know the students behind the statistical figures. Good work has been done but there is much more that can be done – we have only just gotten started."
What does Race Equality Week mean to you?
"This Race Equality Week we are called to ‘ListenActChange’ and as part of this process, the University and society are all called to be (pro)active in having race equality in our work and educational spaces, active in how we enquire and listen to the experiences when they are shared, active in how we seek to understand those experiences, and active in ensuring that recommendations are taken."
As a Black woman working at Oxford, and specifically in the area of access, I recognise the duality of working within an institution at the same time as needing to be active in asking probing questions, listening to, and finding new ways as to how it can improve the way it supports and engages underrepresented groups.
This has included working on Target Oxbridge, supporting student societies such as Oxford Islamic Society and Oxford ACS with their access and outreach activities, developing the newly launched sustained outreach programme for Year 10 and 11 students from underrepresented backgrounds and regional areas ‘BeUNIQ’, and more recently working with the Centre for Teaching and Learning on the ‘Diversity of Student Experience’ research project. The project aims to enquire into and capture how students from diverse backgrounds participate in learning at Oxford, with their opinions and attitudes alongside contribution from staff, inputting into recommendations for the University’s Access and Participation Plan.
The opportunity to actively listen to the on-course student experience at the University, has depended my understanding of the lived experiences of students whilst they are at the University, which in turn has developed my outreach practice to better inform and support prospective students who are considering if Oxford is the best place for them.
Are there ways staff can get involved in bringing the Race Equality Strategy to life?
"Being an active professional service staff of the University, has also meant that I have pursued more visible and active roles supporting staff, though my membership of the BME Staff Network. The Network plays a key role for myself and other members of the University in finding a community to connect, share experiences, and address common challenges. One of the most visible events of the Network is the organisation of the annual Black History Month Lecture. The organisation of the lecture was led by volunteer Network members and has become a flagship event for the University.
In 2023, the Network received support from the Equality and Diversity Unit, Chief Diversity Officer and the Mathematical Institute to collaborate on this important observance. As part of the organising group, I saw and felt how this new model reduced the double burden that sometimes experienced by on Global Majority staff to coordinate important race equality observances.
With the start of Race Equality Week, let us also actively ‘ListenActChange’ to collectively address the specific needs and concerns of staff and students."
We’d love to hear your story too
If you would like to share your story and help showcase to work that brings the Race Equality Strategy to life, please contact us at equality@admin.ox.ac.uk
