The Northwest is the United Kingdom's 'academopolis', boasting the highest concentration of students in Europe. Harriet Swain and Alison Utley look at how institutions are working to give the region's economy a boost.

Reaching under-represented groups through college recruitment systems is often fraught with difficulties. But thanks to a project at a further education college in Manchester, selectors are able to encourage just these people to apply to a course with excellent employment prospects.

Hulme and Moss Side Community Trust invited tenders for a nursery-nursing course to be run in the community as part of an equal opportunities programme which had identified a clear need for more people from ethnic minorities to become involved in education and childcare in the local community.

The project also helped the college focus on its own equal opportunities provision. "The course helped us address issues around recruitment at the college," said Sheila Farrell, senior curriculum manager. "We started looking at our previous selection standards in a more critical way."

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An essay was previously the standard entry requirement but the college realised this method could be excluding people who could ultimately benefit from courses so a new strategy was devised. "The ethos now is that no one is rejected," Ms Farrell said. "We can now offer anyone a place at an appropriate entry level and then progress them."

Delivering the course in community buildings helps to draw in otherwise reluctant students. And Ms Farrell points out the financial incentive since travel costs may be crucial to the student's choice.

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Members of the first group through the programme have all found employment according to Ms Farrell and those who finished the course this summer, have high hopes for the future.

Trainee Annetta Martin said: "Being a single mother of four it was convenient for me to study in Moss Side. Doing the course in the community has enabled me to put something back in to the community."