Professional work experience during study is strongly evidenced to enhance graduate attainment. However, students most at risk, particularly those from underrepresented groups, often face barriers to participation. To tackle these challenges in practice, a consortium of 16 UK universities and Practera* are collaborating on a shared initiative: Horizons. Horizons aims to become the UK’s leading higher education programme providing students from widening participation backgrounds with introductory professional work experience. Our goal is to build a national platform for employers to engage with and change graduate DEI outcomes for the better. All attendees of the AccessHE 2026 conference are invited to access five FREE places for an upcoming Horizons cohort. Key benefits for your students: - Work on a 3-week, 30-hour online consulting project for a real industry client with structured, regular industry engagement - Collaborate in diverse, cross-institutional, multi-disciplinary teams - Access support through online training, professional facilitators, industry feedback, and a digital certificate via the Practera platform. 2025 cohorts have demonstrated consistently positive impact across 100 students, 3 cohorts & 14 universities - 93% completion rate - 87% of students felt they gained relevant work experience *Horizons is powered by Practera, providing authentic, digitally-enabled experiential learning solutions for 15 years to 130 universities and 200,000 learners and employers.