contextualised admissions in the competitive environment applicant experience in wales spa event - 4...
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Contextualised admissions in the competitive environment
Applicant Experience in Wales SPA event - 4 June 2014
Janet Graham, Director of SPA
External policy drivers impacting admissions 1
New competitive market place - looking for efficiencies and new USPs for quality of offering and service, while enhancing access for disadvantaged students and ensuring fair admissions
Increasing competition between HEIs, and with HE in FE and new independent providers, UK plc: global competition, league tables
Changes and developments to the Pre-HE curriculum - GCSEs, A/AS level reform, Welsh Bac - other changes round the UK
QAA UK Quality Code - Chapter B2 covers admission
External policy drivers impacting admissions 2
UCAS changes - to admissions process and UCAS Tariff
Issues round advice and guidance for potential students
Student number controls deregulation in England - impact UK wide
Tuition fees and student finance - policy varies round UK
Push for fair access and widening access
Demographics - Fewer young applicants until 2020
HE providers recruit UK-wide, changing patterns of behaviour by HE
Institutional Challenges in Admissions
Meeting targets for both student numbers and under-represented groups – getting the right balance
Good record keeping, IT systems for admissions data analysis and market intelligence
Managing change - planning, admissions and student recruitment working together
Implementing policy -Tracking and Evaluating: in-house, UCAS Strobe
Quality of the applicant and student experience including pre-entry engagement, information and guidance and learning support
Promotion of academic success - access, transition, retention, employability
Fair admissions in a competitive landscape
Competition between HE providers is growing.
There is an increasing need to seek out students with potential from a wider
range of backgrounds.
What is contextualised admissions?
Contextualised admissions is defined as contextual information and contextual data used by HE providers to assess an applicant’s prior attainment and potential to succeed in higher education in the context of the circumstances in which their attainment has been obtained.
SPAs Report:http://www.spa.ac.uk/information/contextualdata/spasworkoncontextual/cdresearch2013/
Why is contextual data used?
Academic Excellence
Competition
Evidence-base
Increase applicant pool
External policy drivers
Diversity as pedagogical value
Fair admissions
“We are very aware of the differences out there, and it’s obvious when students come to study with us that the brightest sparks do not always come with the best grades.”
Contextualised admissions and holistic assessment
Fair admissions in a competitive landscape
So does this mean moving away from academic rigor and high standards? No.
It is about supporting the delivery of fair admissions and maintaining high academic standards.
It is about seeking excellence by identifying the ‘best’ applicants with the greatest potential and likelihood of a successful degree outcome.
Scientific ‘Gold standard’: good, individual-level data
Caveats:
Data availability
Expertise and cost
Limitations (often young, UK domiciled HE applicants)
Outreach or / and admissions
Area
School
Household
Individual
Evidence 1: What matters for measuring academic potential?
Evidence 2: Same grades same potential
Students from different types of school perform differently.
In the majority of research, those from state schools outperform independent school students or those from poorer performing schools outperform those from higher performing schools
(Oxford, Bristol, Cardiff, HEFCE, Scottish institution)
This is not confirmed in one case study where school did not affect degree results
(Cambridge)
Studies use different ways of thinking about and measuring disadvantage as well as attainment.
Evidence 3: Positive progress where students admitted using contextual data
Positive benefits for individual providers (recruitment, conversions, PIs)
“…can only work if you get the applicants…. to do that you have to change the perception that the university is ‘not for me’.”
Comparative research into performance of contextualised students supports the approach
Research into outcomes achieved by WP outreach groups confirms performance (e.g. PARTNERS, LEAPS)
Building commitment to those who enter
Evidence 4: Transferring evidence into practice
Case study providers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Methodology:
Application of data F F TA TA F F FA F
Approach:
Implications (beyond additional consideration)
AO I AO (some)
GO/I AO MO
‘Formal’ application of contextual data into holistic decision making
‘F’ – flagging; ‘T’ – triangulation; ‘‘A’ – adjusting scores (i.e. calculating adjusted grades to reflect relative performance as well as using actual grades).
‘I’ –highly likely or guaranteed interview; GO –guaranteed offer; AO/MO–adjusted offer on individual basis/ modified offer - at lower end of range
Contextual data indicators 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
School performance indicator for Level 2/age 16
School/college performance indicator for Level 3/age 18 School/college higher education progression indicator
Low Participation Neighbourhood indicator Area of relative deprivation
Other geo-demographic indicator (ACORN and OAC)
Outreach indicator (completion of agreed programme) Declaration of exceptional circumstance Higher education background indicator
‘In care’ indicator Other individual indicator (refugees)
Basket of Data
Educational Background
School performance: % of students achieving 5+ GCSEs A*-C including English and Maths (or equivalent in Scotland)
Average point score by school “best 8” GCSEs (or Standard grade SCQF level 4 equivalent performance)
mean QCA points per A level and per student (or equivalent in Scotland)
Socio-Economic Background
% of students entitled to free school meals by School (historical data only by Local Authority)
% of students entitled to EMA (not England)
Lives in a low progression to higher education neighbourhood (POLAR 2 and POLAR 3) derived from postcode
SIMD Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SFC version)
Supplied by UCAS, if universities and colleges sign up to take it.
Contextual data for HEPs, free, via UCAS for 2014
Useful practices
Using multiple datasets
Dealing with missing data (N.B. standardisation)
Using multiple indicators
Triangulation
Checking information - particularly self declared, e.g. follow up ‘in-care’
Using ranked data for decision making
Using additional information for marginal decisions
From the report to practice:
Use of contextual data and information aligned to strategic mission
Contextual data can be a helpful part of holistic admissions
Senior management buy-in and pro-active support
Good record keeping
Linked systems for widening participation, admission, planning, student progression, graduation and beyond – student lifecycle
Create / use HEI own ‘baseline’ evidence base
From the report to practice:
Know what data is out there and how to use it
Appropriately trained staff
Transparency about how and when contextual data is used
Integrated approach to outreach/WP and admissions
and ideally to support the student experience, retention, and graduation
‘Access without support is not opportunity’
If possible, sharing of expertise, creation of a comparative evidence-base
Strategic importance of contextualised admissions:
Facilitates reaching targets
Improves calibre of entrants
through identifying potential
Widens participation and
enhances diversity of the student body
Supports the applicant
experience
Could aid social mobility
Helps delivery of fair admissions
Helps assess applicants for financial support
Helps identify applicants who may benefit from
additional support
