Widening Access to Higher Education in India: Institutional Approaches (WAHEI) is a 4-year research project (2022-26) that draws on and furthers the reach and impact of the first Fair Chance Foundation (FCF) project ‘A Fair Chance for Education: Gendered Pathways to Educational Success in HaryanaLink opens in a new window’ (2017-21). This new project takes a key finding from the first project which has significant potential for impact. This is the vital but currently under-utilised potential of faculty members in rural and semi-urban Higher Education (HE) institutions to have a positive effect on young peoples’ HE participation and their life chances. This project recognises the potential role of rural-serving state universities and government colleges based in rural and semi-urban areas as HE knowledge hubs and strengthening their efforts in delivering on the equity and social justice agenda for HE in India.

The project focuses on six states from the different regions of India, to provide a representative picture and field of influence for the project. The study will be based on case studies of HEIs which will include state universities and affiliated undergraduate colleges across six geographical zones (North, West, Central, East, South and North-East).

This project aims to explore, consolidate and maximise the role of HEIs through state university and college faculty members and college principals in providing guidance on HE access/choice in the communities they serve, to ensure that young people entering HE for the first time in their families and communities are making informed choices about their futures.