Did the awareness of Widening Participation in Higher Education actually influence the decision of potential students to pursue a law degree with full time foundation year?

For over a decade the State has attempted to increase not only the numbers of young people entering HE, but also the proportion from so-called "under-represented or non – traditional groups". These groups included students from lower income families, people with disabilities and some ethnic minorities. The main aim of this study was to examine whether the awareness of Widening Participation (WP) in HE actually influenced the decision of potential students to pursue a law degree with a full time foundation year. This paper is based around the results of a small scale research project designed to look at the impact of WP on Level 3 Foundation Year students (2012 – 2013) at the Staffordshire University School of Law.