 | |
- Member Portal
- FACE Manifesto
A sector-wide call to action · 2025–2035
FACE Forward
A manifesto for fair opportunities and outcomes in higher education. Co-created by the FACE community, by the sector, for the sector.
Download the manifesto (PDF) See the six commitmentsA ten-year agenda for system change
Fair opportunities and outcomes underpin social mobility, economic resilience and stronger communities. Yet large gaps persist for the most disadvantaged learners and other underrepresented groups at every stage of education.
This manifesto sets out what higher education can do, working with partners across the system, to close those gaps so that learning genuinely expands life chances. It is built to last. The coming decade will bring new governments, new funding settlements and new pressures, and the case for fair opportunities and outcomes will outlast all of them. It is politically agnostic but not politically naive, designed to be useful to policy-makers, institutional leaders and practitioners across the four nations.
Talent is everywhere. Opportunity is not. This manifesto is about closing that gap, so learning expands life chances rather than reproducing inequality.
The vision for the sector in 2035
By 2035, fair opportunities and outcomes are built into the design of education. Learners experience clear pathways, fair support, and a system that recognises success in ways that reflect real lives, communities and places. This is not a promise that disadvantage disappears. It is a commitment that the system does not compound it.
Six commitments for change
FACE is asking institutions, government, regulators, employers and partners to act together. These six commitments describe the changes required.
Rethink the rules
Rules, funding and admissions practices shape what institutions prioritise. We make them clearer and fairer so learners are not left to navigate complexity alone.
Start earlier, stay longer
Support begins earlier and is sustained for longer, with joined-up help across the transitions where the system too often loses people.
Share power with students
Student partnership is ethical, resourced and genuine. Students share their circumstances once and never carry the burden of system failure.
Make practice count
Evaluation becomes a core capability, and the sector shares what works and what does not so practice improves faster.
Collaborate across boundaries
Collaboration is the default, bringing together higher education, colleges, schools, employers and the third sector to reduce duplication and strengthen pathways.
Shift the story
We replace deficit framing with language that builds agency and belonging, and tell richer stories of value and success.
Eight shared principles
These principles shape how the sector works together to deliver the commitments.
- By the sector, for the sector. Collective leadership and shared responsibility across roles, institutions and partners.
- Systems, not deficit. We change structures, cultures and processes rather than trying to fix individuals.
- Collaboration over competition. We act as one sector where possible, aligning effort so learners experience clarity.
- Learning beats certainty. We work with curiosity and humility. What does not work is as valuable as what does.
- Evidence with meaning. We use evidence to improve decisions without reducing lives to what is easiest to measure.
- Dignity and agency. We design support that respects dignity and removes unnecessary complexity.
- Many voices, one community. Everyone has a voice and expertise is recognised in all its forms.
- Clarity in language, honesty in intent. We communicate in ways learners, families and partners can understand.
Shaped by the sector itself
This manifesto is the product of collective work across the access and participation community. More than 150 people contributed, bringing lived experience and professional expertise. It began at the FACE Conference at the University of Bath, was refined through a sector roundtable and Advisory Group scrutiny, pressure-tested at the FACE Summit at the University of Warwick, and brought into focus by the FACE Management Group. We offer it as a living document: stable enough to guide action over the next decade, and open enough to be strengthened through continued engagement.
Read the full manifesto
Explore the full vision, the six commitments in detail, the enablers, and how we will measure progress together.
Download the manifesto (PDF)If you recognise these commitments, adopt them in your own context, challenge us where we fall short, and contribute to a collective movement. This is how we build a system that is fair by design, not fair by exception.