how do we further embed widening participation and fair access across the university?
TRANSCRIPT
How do we further embed Widening Participation and Fair Access across the
University?
What will we cover?What will we cover?
• Introduction
• The current environment
• Group exercise and feedback
• Widening Participation
• Access Agreements
• Fair Access and Contextual Data
• Group exercise and feedback
• A period of rapid growth
• Public sector spending cuts
• 2012 fees regime
• OFFA and Access Agreements
• Increased competition
The times they are a changin’…
Growth
Widening Participation – Group Activity
In your groups, discuss what you understand by the term
‘Widening Participation’.
What is Widening Participation?
“Our aim is to promote and provide the opportunity of successful participation in higher education to everyone who can benefit from it.”
Widening participation addresses the large discrepancies in the take-up of higher education opportunities, between different social groups. Under-representation is closely connected with broader issues of equity and social inclusion, so we are concerned with ensuring equality of opportunity for disabled students, mature students, women and men and all ethnic groups.”
HEFCE
Year 13*
Year 12*
Year 11
Year 10
Year 9
Year 8
Year 6STEM
ASC
Star Student
West Side Story Project
School Conventions
AH Student Associates
HE Journey
School Conventions Parents/Carers Evenings
ACE Days Masterclasses
Students into Schools; HE Awareness Talks for Parents
Presentations in Schools
Campus Tours Open Day HE Conventions Out of Region Activity
Evolve@Northumbria Student Shadowing Summer School
Presentations in Schools & Colleges Northern Ireland Tour
Lunchtime Roadshow
Open Day Presentations in Schools & Colleges
Campus Tours Post Application Open Days
Student Recruitment
What do we do?C
hoic
es T
oget
her (
Year
s 9
-11)
Scho
ol a
nd C
olle
ge V
isits
-in (Y
ears
9-1
3)
Pare
nts
Act
iviti
es (A
ll ye
ars)
Stud
ents
into
Sch
ools
Act
iviti
es (A
ll Ye
ars)
Pass
port
(Yea
r 12
and
13)
Aim
high
er A
ssoc
iate
s (Y
ear 1
0 an
d Ye
ar 1
2)
Stud
ent A
ssoc
iate
s (A
ll ye
ars)
DIS
cove
r Con
fere
nce
(All
year
s)
360°
Cam
pus
Pano
ram
as
Student Shadowing Taster Courses Information Advice and Guidance
Mature Students Induction Mature Students Study Skills Adult Learners’ Week
* Year 12 and 13 activities are also available to 1st and 2nd
year college students respectively
Adult (19+)
Total Events 1980Total Contacts 48400
Our Activity
University Young Entrants (FT – 1st Degree)
Mature Entrants (FT – 1st Degree)
State Schools/Colleges
NS-SEC 4-7 Low Participation Neighbourhoods
Low Participation Neighbourhoods
Teesside 98.1 41.5 27.0 19.8
Sunderland 97.4 41.9 25.1 20.9
Sheff. Hallam 97.1 33.0 17.4 19.2
Man. Met. 95.4 35.9 15.3 16.8
Leeds Met. 93.3 32.7 14.6 14.6
Northumbria 91.3 32.0 14.0 19.7
Manchester 78.1 21.3 7.5 15.0
Leeds 73.1 18.8 5.8 16.8
Ox. Brookes 72.4 41.2 4.5 7.4
Newcastle 71.5 20.1 7.9 13.0
Durham 59.2 12.8 4.7 19.3
Recruitment
University Young Entrants (% Non Continuation)
Mature Entrants (% Non Continuation)
Durham 1.6 9.0
Newcastle 2.5 9.3
Leeds 3.8 10.1
Manchester 4.5 9.8
Ox. Brookes 4.5 8.0
Sheff. Hallam 6.3 9.3
Northumbria 6.7 13.7
Leeds Met. 8.1 10.6
Teesside 8.3 11.0
Man. Met. 9.8 17.3
Sunderland 10.9 18.4
Retention
Group Activity
In your groups, discuss what you can do in your school/service to
encourage Widening Participation.
Access Agreements
• A greater focus on outcomes and targets• A greater focus on outreach, including
collaborative working• A focus on retention for those with relatively
low retention rates• Higher expectations of those with furthest to
go on access, particularly in terms of outcomes
“We are now entering uncharted territory and none of us can predict exactly how the new higher fees will affect student behaviour. There is a real risk that disadvantaged students in particular will start to feel they cannot afford to go to university.”
Sir Martin HarrisDirector of Fair Access
Access Agreements
Fair Access
A system “that provides equal opportunity for all individuals, regardless of background, to gain admission to courses suited to their ability and aspirations.”
Schwartz Report 2004
Schwartz Principles
• A fair admissions system should be transparent• A fair admissions system should enable institutions to select
students who are able to complete the course as judged by their achievements and potential
• A fair admissions system should strive to use assessment methods that are reliable and valid
• A fair admissions system should seek to minimise barriers for applicants
• A fair admission system should be professional in every respect and underpinned by appropriate institutional structures and processes.
Ten precepts covering :
•Recruitment and selection•Information to applicants•Complaints and appeals
QAA Code of Practice
Encouraged by the Schwartz Report through two mechanisms contributing to transparency:
•Centralising the Admissions Service.•Transparency in relation to entry requirements and any contextual factors which may be taken into account.
Linking WP and Fair Access/Admissions
If a university has 28,000 applications, makes 17,000 offers for 5,000 places, and wishes to support national policy initiatives in HE including widening inclusion and fair access, meet the institution strategy and mission as well as external agreements with OFFA, the funding councils etc, ensure excellent standards and potential on entry, meet targets to avoid financial penalties and have fair admissions and provide a good applicant experience…
…how does it do it?
Contextual Data in Admissions
“data or information which may be part of, or additional to, that provided by the applicant…that sets the application in its educational or socio-economic context.”
What is Contextual Data?
• For Widening Participation – to target aspiration raising and WP and fair access activities
• To inform the decision as to who to interview• To inform admissions decision making• To identify applicants who need additional learner support
or practical advice during their application, transition or when registered as a student
• To help assess applicants eligible for bursaries or other financial support
• For statistical and qualitative monitoring and report purposes.
How is Contextual Data used?
• Disability• In care/looked after• Disrupted schooling• Interviews• Auditions• Portfolio review• Written tests
What Contextual Data is already used?
• School performance – average GCSE for 5 A* - C• Average school ‘Best 8’ GCSE performance• Average of QCA points per qualification• In receipt of/entitled to free school meals• In receipt of/entitled to EMA• Activities in preparation for HE• Ethnic origin (after offer)• Occupational background (after offer)• Socio- economic class IIIM – VII (not available)
What else is available?
Contextual Data for Fair Access
“We want you to encourage universities to collect and monitor a range of information on their applications as well as their admissions. This could usefully include the number of applications to different courses; the offers made to applicants, including the grades and subjects required; and how many applicants are actually admitted. This will help direct and focus access activities, and increase understanding of the patterns of application and admission which best support wider participation.”
Vince Cable and David Willets
The Contextual Debate
Only a small number of institutions currently use contextual data to inform admissions decision making…
University of Manchester(Contextual data is) “simply additional information provided to admissions decision makers alongside applicants’ UCAS forms. No decisions will be made on the basis of this information alone
and all undergraduate applicants must meet our standard academic criteria to be considered for entry.”
The Contextual Debate
• Data is dispersed across several agencies• Not all qualifications are included in ‘average
scores’• Inconsistencies across data sets• Issues of data quality• Inconsistent reporting of contextual data by schools• Difficulty of verifying some data collected by UCAS• GCSE results ‘self-declared’• Individual disadvantage not identified• Charging for data sources
The Contextual Debate
Thanks for getting involved……and we look forward to working with you!
Student Services1st Floor, Trinity Building
City Campus West
[email protected] [email protected]
Widening Participation and Fair Access