Implementing the National Schools Programme Review

The 2024 National Schools Programme (NSP) Review set out 15 recommendations to support the future development of the programme and address issues identified through the review. The implementation of these recommendations will be overseen by a Strategic Advisory Group, consisting of experts drawn from across the sector, with consideration for coverage across the four NSP regions and a balance of stakeholder perspectives.

Strategic Advisory Group

A NSP Strategic Advisory Group of SFC and external members was established in spring 2025 to bring together relevant skills, knowledge, and understanding of the barriers to higher education and the widening access ecosystem in Scotland and to offer constructive challenge and insight into the implementation of the NSP Review recommendations.

As detailed in the Strategic Advisory Group’s established remit:

• The NSP Strategic Advisory Group will provide advice and guidance to SFC on the remit and prioritisation of the collaborative taskforce(s) which will address specific recommendations from the review.
• The NSP Strategic Advisory Group will receive and review progress reports and proposals from the collaborative taskforce(s), providing comment, feedback and where applicable, endorsement/approval for onward progress.
• The NSP Strategic Advisory Group will support engagement with the tertiary and school sectors and a wide range of stakeholders building on the work of the NSP review Steering Committee.

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to co-chair the National Schools Programme Strategic Advisory Group and, importantly, to provide some continuity as we move forward with implementing the recommendations from the recently completed National Schools Programme Review.

 

“These recommendations were based on the feedback and findings from an extensive and well-structured consultation which was inclusive and far reaching and which we believe will further improve access to Higher Education for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

 

Mhairi Harrington, co-chair of the Strategic Advisory Group

Collaborative Taskforces

The Strategic Advisory Group met in May 2025 to consider the 2024 NSP Review recommendations and identify priority areas to take forward with the creation of short-life collaborative taskforces (recommendation 6).

These taskforces will seek input from NSP practitioners and other on-the-ground stakeholders and report to the Strategic Advisory Group on targeted recommendations.

We are now welcoming expressions of interest to participate in the first taskforce, which will develop and propose a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework for the NSP. Please see the Terms of Reference for more information about the work of this group and the expertise we are seeking. If you would like to contribute to this work as one of our external taskforce members, please complete the Expression of Interest form (see privacy statement) to register your interest before 11.59pm, Monday 6 October 2025.

If you have any questions about the expertise we are seeking and whether you qualify, please contact the NSP Coordinator, Anthea Coleman-Chan (acolemanchan@sfc.ac.uk), or NSP Officer Mary Macgowan (mmacgowan@sfc.ac.uk).

Further opportunities to contribute to the work of NSP short-life taskforces will be posted on this web page and shared through SFC’s subscriber mailing list for Fair Access.