Flexible Education and Widening Participation

Creating pathways. Enabling skills. Driving progress.

Flexible Education and Widening Participation (FEWP) leads Ulster University’s work to widen access and deliver flexible and online learning. We create high-quality pathways that support learners, employers, and communities across the region.

Who We Are

FEWP brings together two impact-focused teams:

Widening Access and Participation

Innovative and impactful engagements to promote fair access, progression and success at Ulster.

Centre for Apprenticeship, Skills & Flexible Education

Delivering inclusive, industry-aligned learning through innovative partnerships and flexible skills pathways.

Together, we work with widening-access schools, colleges, employers, and community organisations to expand opportunities for learners of all ages and backgrounds.

We design pathways that open routes into higher education and strengthen the region’s skills base.

What We Do

We support learning that fits around real lives.
Our work includes:

Apprenticeships
Micro-credentials and short courses
Community outreach
Targeted support for learners who face barriers to higher education
By connecting individuals with the skills, confidence, and guidance they need, we help them take their next step in education or employment.

Our Approach

We create meaningful impact through:

People – empowering learners to realise their potential
Place – investing in communities and supporting regional growth
Partnership – collaborating to create sustainable change

Our Commitment

FEWP is committed to opportunity for all.
From inspiring outreach events to tailored transition programmes and innovative skills-based learning, we help learners progress with confidence.

Explore Our Work

Widening Access and Participation (WAP)

Centre for Apprenticeships, Skills and Flexible Education (CASFE)

Flexible Education and Widening Participation Annual Reviews

Flexible Education & Widening Participation Annual Review (opens in new window) (1.9 MB)

Professor Ruth Fee

Dean of Flexible Education & Widening Participation

Dean's Office

Belfast

Room: BD-04-036

+44 28 9536 5153

r.fee@ulster.ac.uk

View Profile

Professor Ruth Fee

Dean of Flexible Education & Widening Participation

Professor Ruth Fee is Professor of Public Services Education and Dean of Flexible Education and Widening Participation at Ulster University (UU). She began her career at UU in 1992, working with a range of UU collaborative partners including the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the NI Prison Service and Health and Social Care Trusts, to develop a range of tailored professional, work-based accredited courses. She was appointed to the Head of School of Criminology, Politics and Social Policy in 2010 and continues to develop and expand effective learning partnerships in her leadership roles at UU.

Ruth was appointed as Associate Dean for Education for AHSS from 2017-2021 and takes an active role in creating innovative programmes that enhance capability and capacity in work-based settings, driving key partnerships that are critical to service delivery and transforming practice. She has led innovative partnerships as Director for Policing at UU, with a team that makes significant, evidence-based contributions to the wider policing environment. In her role as Dean, she promotes the growth of MaSN and non-MaSN numbers at Ulster through a range of initiatives in partnership with internal and external stakeholders, including schools, FE colleges on the island of Ireland, community and widening access engagement, apprenticeships, skills, and DfE funded activities. She is leading a refreshed and modernised approach to supporting widening access and participation at UU to grow applicant pipelines and enhance graduate outcomes, and champions educational pathways with flexible learning opportunities for personal and professional skills development.

Ruth is a member of the UK Higher Education Forum in Policing and the associated Research Hub. She was appointed as a member of the QAA Advisory Group for the Subject Benchmark Statement for Policing (2021), continuing to promote and develop the distinctive learning environment for policing in NI. Her main teaching and research interests are police education and training, public procurement policy, governance and law, and she was a former independent member of the NI Procurement Board.

Ruth has a worked on a series of European Commission projects within the security domain contributing to the development of social, ethical, legal and privacy framework across a diverse portfolio of projects encompassing policing, counterterrorism, cyber security and digital forensics. Projects within the H2020 portfolio include ASGARD and GAP. She is a member of H2020 Ethics Boards within SAFE-CITIES, ITFLOWS, APPRAISE and RESCUER. Internationally, she has designed programmes with a range of providers and has established relationships with several US and Canadian institutions including Rider University and the University of Guelph-Humber. She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a National Teaching Fellow, and a Governance Associate for Advance HE. She was awarded the MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List in 2023 for Services to Public Services Education.