In the UK today, where you are born and your family income remain the strongest predictors of your career, earnings and future health. While more young people from the least advantaged backgrounds go to university than ever before, inequality in access – particularly to the most competitive universities – remains stark.
Higher education offers transformative benefits for individuals, communities and society. University graduates are more likely to be employed and will earn more over the long-term than those who do not access higher education.
While the effort to make access to higher education fairer has seen some successes over the last decade, stubborn challenges remain. The greatest economic returns from earning a degree remain with higher-tariff institutions, and positions of influence in the UK are still significantly more likely to be held by graduates of the most competitive institutions.
Yet access to the most competitive universities is often influenced by factors outside of a young person’s control.
When it comes to education, it should not matter where you grow up or your family circumstances. Every young person should have a fair chance at success.
We are backing brilliance, supporting young people to access and thrive at leading universities by working with schools, parents and the broader education sector.
We want every young person with the potential to progress to university to believe that university is for them. We want to make it easier for them to act on that belief, by removing educational barriers at a local and a sector level. We can’t do this alone – our partnerships with schools, universities, and funders are vital.
The Brilliant club was founded in 2011, when our first PhD tutor from the University of Oxford supported 14 students to develop the academic skills and confidence to progress to university.
Since then, we have supported almost 150,000 students across the UK to access and thrive at leading universities.
In pursuit of our mission, The Brilliant Club runs three programmes, The Scholars Programme, Parent Power and UniPrep. We also run bespoke access and success projects with our partners.
Our PhD tutors deliver The Scholars Programme in schools across the UK; raising attainment and sharing their subject knowledge and passion for learning with students aged 8-18.
Parent Power supports parents and carers to become partners in their child's education. Parents campaign against educational inequalities and create positive change in their communities.
UniPrep supports Year 12 and 13 students throughout sixth form as they prepare for university. Live webinars are conducted all year-round on a range of subjects.
Alongside our core programmes, we collaborate with other organisations to provide bespoke small and large scale access and success projects.
Brilliant Consulting specialises in research and evaluation, strategy development and digital transformation, and curriculum development and quality assurance.
Bringing together a range of specialisms, we now use our expertise to support other organisations who want to ensure better outcomes for future generations.
We want a society where every child has a fair chance to unlock their brilliance, regardless of where or how they grew up, and where positions of influence are open to everyone, not just the most advantaged.
If you’d like to get involved in our work, as a school, researcher, supporter, university, ambassador or Friend of the charity, please follow the link below.
It was like a dream to go to university, but just as much of a dream to be... a Disney Princess. You know, it wasn't going to actually happen because people like me, we don't get to go to university... we don't get to do that kind of stuff.
Find out more about The Brilliant Club’s team
Meet the Board of Trustees for the charity
Our latest vacancies are listed here