The first Fair Chance Foundation-funded project, a five-year study (2017-2021) entitled 'A Fair Chance for Education: Gendered Pathways to Educational Success in Haryana, IndiaLink opens in a new window' found that young people in rural areas and their families have little to no contact with higher education colleges in their vicinity before making higher education choices. This means that they are making choices about their futures without reliable information, which means that choices are being made on the basis of hearsay – and often reinforce stereotypes associated with gender, class and caste.

Following on from the first project, the Fair Chance Foundation has funded a follow-up project lasting four years which will launch in April 2022. The focus of the second project is to develop the capacity of state higher education institutions in rural and semi-urban areas of India so they can become ‘college knowledge hubs’ in their locations, and empower college principals and staff to become ambassadors for equity in access to higher education.

The research team for the new project is led by Dr Emily Henderson (Education Studies) and Professor Ann StewartLink opens in a new window (Law) from the University of Warwick, and Dr Nidhi Sabharwal from the Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration in India.

You can follow the progress of the project on TwitterLink opens in a new window.