Widening participation

The School of Dentistry is committed to increasing widening participation for its programmes in line with the Dental School Council’s Selecting for Excellence report. This aims to provide a body of evidence which dental schools can use to ensure that they are selecting candidates who will make excellent dentists – no matter their backgrounds.

Events and activities

Our regularly organised taster days and Year 10 summer schools offer informative talks about dentistry as a career, plus an insight into what it’s like to be a dental student.

Prospective Students also have the opportunity to practice placing a filling in a tooth cavity, demonstrate tooth brushing techniques and interpret dental X-rays with the help of dental students and staff. Feedback from both events is being used to help shape and further improve our future activities.

The Dental School is involved in other widening participation initiatives, including:

Destination Dentistry - Welcomes Year 12 students who are seriously considering making an application to study dentistry. Over three days of workshops, students learn interview and application techniques, practise clinical skills and visit a local clinical setting.

Into University (IU) which provides local learning centres where young people are inspired, plus mentoring and buddy opportunities. 

Other programmes

The University of Liverpool, in collaboration with local FE partners, has developed a Year Zero foundation programme for Home/EU students that leads to the Dentistry (A200) and Dental Therapy (B750) programmes.

The School of Dentistry also supports Liverpool’s Scholars Programme and Realising Opportunities Group, which aim to encourage and assist applications from students from disadvantaged backgrounds.