Birmingham City University (BCU) is a large metropolitan institution. BCU is committed to providing higher educational opportunities to students from its local region, often the first in their families to go to university. BCU has been a key promoter of the notion of ‘students-as-partners’ in higher education, countering the dominant assumption of students as consumers. Dr James Williams brings twenty years’ research on vulnerable groups, young people and VET, quality in higher education and graduate employability as well as managing EU projects. Dr Xi Guo is an expert on the role of technology as a way of enhancing learning and teaching amongst young people. Andrew Dixon brings thirty years of research and experience of tackling exclusion because of social class, ethnicity and age, overseeing ‘professional practice’ placements for undergraduates in his department. The team implements two case studies in the UK, leads WP2 and contributes to all other WPs.