Is there a relationship between entry qualifications, widening participation status and degree outcome?

Dr Mary Jane Platt

Dr Judi Turner Gill

Mary Fletcher

Outline

• Background• Methods• Distribution of degrees by

– Classification of degree– SEC group

• UCAS tariff on admission– Relationship with SEC/WP– Final degree

Method

• Admission data relating to students graduating 2007-2009

• Data on– degree classification, – faculty/subject,– UCAS tariff score on entry, – gender, ethnicity, social economic group

( HESA) and WP indicator (only for 2009)

Inclusion criteria

• Graduated 07-09• Home student• With a classified degree• With UCAS tariff based on GCSE/ A level

qualifications• Those with Missing data excluded from

analysis• N=8597

Background

• “Extending widening participation” is a key priority in the University Strategic Plan with the aim of “Increasing the proportion of under-represented groups”

• Russell Group universities exploring use of ‘contextual data’

• The Fair Access Working Group raised the question as to whether students from disadvantaged backgrounds should be accepted onto undergraduate programmes with lower UCAS tariff scores than other students and if so, how much lower?

Distribution by Classification

First (12%) 2:1 (52%) 2:2 (22%) Third Pass Other0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

Degree classification by SEC group

SEC 1-3

First2:12:23rdother

SEC 4-7

First2:12:23rdOther

N=7,406, P=0.019

UCAS Tariff by SEC (2007-09)

n Mean tariff CI

SEC 1-3 5682 371 368-373

SEC 4-7 1724 353 348-357

p=<0.001)

n Mean tariff CI

WP 509 325 313-337

Not WP 2295 353 348-359

p=<0.001)

UCAS Tariff by WP (2009 only)

Average Tariff on admission of students awarded 2:1 or higher

Faculty/School SEC n Tariff CI p

Arts 1-3 1032 380 374-384 0.004

4-7 276 363 353-372

Engineering 1-3 128 318 313-380 0.08

4-7 50 346 302-333

Science 1-3 873 383 377-389 <0.001

4-7 321 350 338-362

SES 1-3 1227 373 369-378 0.25

4-7 371 367 359-377

Med: Sch HS 1-3 167 367 353-381 0.74

4-7 42 362 331-393

Med: Sciences 1-3 213 395 383-407 0.05

4-7 51 367 341-397

Average Tariff on admission of students with vocational degrees

Faculty/School

SEC n Mean Tariff CI p

Med: Med Ed 1-3 353 454 443-464 0.81

4-7 70 457 440-474

Dentistry 1-3 74 398 374-422 0.007

4-7 34 455 423-487

Veterinary 1-3 140 458 443-472 0.31

4-7 40 473 451-496

Summary

• Those from lower SEC manage to achieve good degree from lower UCAS Tariff

• Differences by faculty– Selection?– Achievement?– Classification

• Different picture for Vocational degrees

Discussion

• Lots of caveats to this work!– How is UCAS tariff calculated?– Doesn’t look at ‘other’ routes of admission– Other individual level factors not accounted

for• E.g. Age

– SEC may not be a robust indicator of social disadvantage

Next Steps

• Take this work forward exploring other contextual data

• Aim for a robust and fair system that allows students disadvantaged by their educational opportunities to access higher education on a ‘level playing field’

• WP a better indicator of ‘educational disadvantage’

• But only available for 09 graduation