Common use of Monitoring and evaluation arrangements Clause in Contracts

Monitoring and evaluation arrangements. The widening participation agenda, retention rates and success across the student lifecycle are overseen by the University’s Student Access and Progress Committee. The Committee chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and with representation from the Guild of Students, receives and considers regular reports and analysis of institutional performance in a range of areas (such as continuation rates, student equality benchmarks, HESA performance Indicators, student experience surveys, outreach activity evaluation, etc.). In addition, the University Education Committee, also chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and with representation from the Guild, receives an annual progress report, approves WPSA and OFFA reporting and considers the annual report from the Academic Skills Centre. Within the University’s Outreach team there is a dedicated Officer with specific responsibility for evaluation; this post works closely with Outreach Officers and with Aimhigher on the evaluation of activities. The Outreach Evaluation Strategy for 2015-2018 supports our commitment to evidence-based practice in widening participation and outreach, and to facilitating a culture of learning and continuous improvement. We are committed to generating evidence-based information from timely and robust evaluations to inform and support our outreach work. The overall aim of the Evaluation Strategy is to provide a framework for producing high quality evidence-based monitoring and evaluation information to support learning, improvement, innovation, accountability and strategic decision-making. The key objectives of the strategy are to:  Support the generation of evaluation evidence to improve fair access to higher education by: o Understanding what we do; o Identifying what approaches work in promoting fair access and social mobility; o Identifying where we can improve to increase the effectiveness of our widening participation policies and interventions; and o Supporting strategic decision making and allocation of resources.  Provide direction on our approach to evaluation to ensure information generated is robust, relevant and useful  Provide a framework for future evaluations and linking them to strategic decision-making by setting out the key focus areas for evaluations and the main evaluation questions they will seek to address  Provide a plan for outreach evaluations over the next 3 years, which will be reviewed and updated annually. We have a comprehensive evaluation programme for our Access to Birmingham programme including monitoring of applications through to acceptance and tracking students through to graduation and employment. Aimhigher West Midlands undertakes comprehensive evaluation of the impact of its interventions via a PhD-linked research project including both control and experimental groups. Tracking suggests that engagement in Aimhigher intervention during Key Stage 3 and 4 generates increased aspiration towards higher education (+12.5% above non-participants) and improved KS4 attainment. The proportion of Aimhigher-engaged Pupil Premium learners attaining 5 GCSEs at A* - C including English and maths exceeded that of regional Pupil Premium learners over the three years 2011/12 to 2013/14. Research1 suggests that ongoing GCSE reform over the period of this Agreement (the introduction of a 9-point grade system and Progress / Attainment 8 measures) will reduce national attainment, and that this may have a disproportionate impact on outcomes for disadvantaged learners. We have re-framed our GCSE impact targets to reflect past performance and the likely impact of ongoing curriculum reform. Our tracking of beneficiaries into higher education has been delayed by the refusal of UCAS to release learner level data. This has necessitated the use of HESA data, allowing us to track our first cohort, who entered higher education in 2013 and were retained 1 xxxx://xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/live/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/education-in-england-web.pdf for 6 months. We have revised our targets accordingly and have also removed the NS –SEC measure for this target. The Realising Opportunities Pilot project has undergone extensive evaluation looking at the outcomes for learners and the wider impact of the partnership. This continues to inform the future of the scheme. Equality and Diversity Our students and staff are key to achieving excellence and to delivering the objectives outlined in our Strategic Framework 2015-2020. Our linked Equality Scheme recognises the need to encourage each and every student to flourish whilst removing barriers to success. Equality is central to our core mission to be a global force in teaching and research, and the creation of a new Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equalities to lead institutional development in this area reflects that commitment. The University’s Equality Scheme 2016-2020 has been developed around themes of inclusiveness, attainment, flexibility and embedding. As part of the development of the objectives we consulted with students to identify actions they felt the University should take to improve equality; and we have sought to address this feedback in our objectives. Progress against objectives will be reviewed annually as part of the Equality and Diversity Assurance Report to Council. The University has been taking action to address the 11.5% (2014) attainment gap between BME students and white students achieving a first or upper second class honours degree. We have delivered innovative mentoring and employability schemes for BME students, providing them with practical skills and role models for success in the workplace. The BME ambassador scheme, an initiative part-funded by the HEA, involves students engaging with staff in Schools and Departments to consider actions that can be taken to improve BME student inclusion, representation, engagement and to promote race equality. This project has been widely cited across the UK HE sector as an example of good practice in engaging and listening to BME students. A website dedicated to supporting the success of BME students was launched in 14/15, and a supporting online platform for staff will be launched in 2016 with the aim of capturing, monitoring and evaluating the impact of ambassador activity. In 2015, School Equality and Diversity Champions have been tasked with working with BME student ambassadors to identify the issues that impact on their experiences, and have been asked to develop an action plan that identifies activities to make a positive difference. There are over 200 BME students who are ambassadors and 10 College student leads. Ongoing institutional resource has been earmarked for the project and, following the launch of the online portal, the project will be evaluated in July 2017. The ethnicity attainment gap is a sector-wide issue and forms much of the focus of work with students on equality issues in universities today. This is an area of activity that we will continue to pursue in relation to our work towards the ECU’s Race Equality Mark. During 2016, we will evaluate current initiatives, such as the BME ambassador scheme, and deliver sessions for staff on understanding and developing race equality for students. We will, however, expand this work to identify and address differences in completion rates and attainment amongst other groups, such as LGBT and trans students, mature students, disabled students and those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Around 6% of all University of Birmingham students have dependents. The University is one of only a handful that collects this information at registration and we are therefore now able to monitor the progression and retention of student parents. Since 2010, the University has helped support student parents establish a Guild Association, produce a pregnancy, maternity and paternity policy, and work towards a more inclusive curriculum that recognizes the needs of students with caring responsibilities. From 2015/16 we have further enhanced the support offered to student carers. Students will be identified at the point of registration (through self-selection), and offered support from the Vulnerable Student Officer who will work with the student to develop a Carer’s Support Plan and will oversee implementation of the Plan within the student’s home School. This development has been informed by consultation with student carers and Welfare Tutors. LGBT students have been supported by a mentoring scheme that was launched in 2012 called ‘Come Out, Stay Out’. In 2015 there were around 25 professional mentors, most being University staff, supporting over 30 student mentees. Around 3% of students identified as LGB in 2015, whilst over 50% did not select the option to tell us their sexual identity at registration. Students are encouraged to disclose, and information is available at registration to explain the benefits of informing the University. In addition we are developing and promoting trans-inclusive practices, including gender- neutral facilities and developing activities to improve understanding amongst our wider community of trans issues. To support the development and promotion of religious literacy and integration on campus the University has worked with a number of community organisations including local mosques and religious schools. The University’s Good Campus Relations Group comprises of members from community groups and works towards the promotion of understanding and representation of different faith groups. The University has an excellent data collection and analysis system and, as part of its annual review of academic programmes, ensures that Schools consider the recruitment and performance data of students in the protected characteristics and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Schools report issues emanating from the data to the University’s Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee, chaired by the PVC (Education); the Committee then monitors how the Schools work towards making improvements. This process is supported through targeted Student Equality Reports, which are disseminated to Schools outlining any identified issues. We are fully committed to ensuring that anyone with the aspiration and ability can gain access, progress and achieve success at the University regardless of any disability. As a result of the proposals around the reduction in funding and support by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the form of the Disabled Students’ Allowances from 2016/17 onwards, a panel of specialist and senior staff, chaired by the Director of Student Services, was convened. This Group, launched initially in September 2014, has continued to meet during the 2015/16 academic year. The focus of the work is to review the government proposals to ensure that the University gives full consideration to how it will continue to support its disabled students in the light of reductions and amendments to the Disabled Students’ Allowance. The challenges of creating a physically accessible campus have been highlighted by students and staff in the Equality Scheme consultation as a key priority for the University, and we have undertaken significant work to improve accessibility across campus. During 2016 we will develop a forum for students and staff to raise accessibility issues and to comment on campus developments to ensure the diverse needs of our community are reflected. Provision of Information to Prospective Students The priorities for communications to prospective students are that we provide clear and timely advice and information which is enhanced by our extended programme of face-to-face communications with students in school and their advisors, including parents and teachers. Market research continues to be conducted with students, prospective students and their parents in the development and focus of our messages, our choice of information channels and to determine which information is of most importance to prospective students. Recruitment activities for the 17/18 cohort of students are already underway. The Guild contributes to the Undergraduate Prospectus for all potential students. Details of fees and funding arrangements are available on the University website; details are regularly updated as part of the Key Information Set initiative. Subscribers to our online customer relationship management system (CRM) are provided with personalised messages about fees and funding packages as well as the opportunity for online chat sessions with Funding Advisors. The University provides information to UCAS and the SLC in order to populate their information channels. Face-to-face contact is recognised as one of the most influential channels of information, providing opportunities for prospective students and their parents to understand the fees and funding regime. We ensure that University recruitment staff are experts in the current arrangements at Government and University level. Advisors on each of the outreach programmes are kept up-to-date on all aspects of student fees and support so that they can provide detailed and expert advice to students (and, wherever possible, their parents) participating in the A2B programme, as well as the other progressive programmes outlined in this document. We have provided authoritative information about the fees regime which has ensured that younger students have not been deterred from considering a university career in the future for fear of debt. Finally, at the point at which the OFFA Agreement is confirmed, the University will produce a ‘Money Matters’ booklet. The booklet provides information about the fee, the University’s financial package including sport and music scholarships and a link to our searchable funding database, alongside an explanation of the statutory support package offered by the Student Loans Company. It forms a key part of the communications to our WP students, and is distributed at all talks, visits and events, and made available online. The booklet is well received and is an essential part of our recruitment activity. Consultation with Students Representatives from the Guild of Students have been engaged in the drafting of this Agreement. This Access Agreement is considered at a number of senior University committees which include formal representation from the Guild of Students, including the Vice-President (Welfare). The initiatives and activities detailed in this document are formulated following extensive evaluation of student feedback. For instance, the University developed the “Students with Children” Welcome and Orientation event following feedback from the Student Parents and Carers’ Group. The “Student Survival Guide” was written by students for students, and many of our students are

Monitoring and evaluation arrangements. The widening participation agendaUniversity will seek to embed the monitoring of these measures within our existing governance, retention rates executive and deliberative structures, as well as developing specialised mechanisms for evaluating the success across the student lifecycle are overseen by of certain core activities (such as project delivery). The Board of Governors is already kept regularly informed regarding progress against the University’s Student Access key performance indicators (both at main Board meetings, and Progress within Policy and Resources Committee). The Audit Committee chaired by has oversight of monitoring mechanisms, in their totality, and will approve (and maintain) any such that are put into place for these measures. We aim to introduce additional performance measures (or to adapt existing ones) to ensure that the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and with representation from the Guild Board has oversight of Students, receives and considers regular reports and analysis of institutional our performance in a range achieving the commitments made within this Agreement, as well as reporting the outcomes of areas the various projects that we implement each year (such as continuation ratesthe Board already receives an Annual Report, student equality benchmarksfrom Academic Board, which covers performance against HESA performance Indicatorsindicators as well as reporting on developmental activity in the spheres of quality assurance and enhancement, student experience surveysand learning and teaching development, outreach activity evaluation, etc.across the University). In addition, the University Education Committee, also chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and with representation from the Guild, receives an annual progress report, approves WPSA and OFFA reporting and considers the annual report from the Academic Skills Centre. Within the University’s Outreach team there is a dedicated Officer with specific responsibility for evaluation; this post works closely with Outreach Officers executive, operational and with Aimhigher on the evaluation of activities. The Outreach Evaluation Strategy for 2015-2018 supports our commitment to evidence-based practice in widening participation and outreach, and to facilitating a culture of learning and continuous improvement. We are committed to generating evidence-based information from timely and robust evaluations to inform and support our outreach work. The overall aim deliberative spheres of the Evaluation Strategy is to provide a framework University, our existing management and committee structures allow for producing high quality evidence-based monitoring and evaluation information to support learning, improvement, innovation, accountability and strategic decision-making. The key objectives of the strategy are to:  Support the generation of evaluation evidence to improve fair access to higher education by: o Understanding what we do; o Identifying what approaches work in promoting fair access and social mobility; o Identifying where we can improve to increase the effectiveness of our widening participation policies and interventions; and o Supporting strategic decision making and allocation of resources.  Provide direction on our approach to evaluation to ensure information generated is robust, relevant and useful  Provide a framework for future evaluations and linking them to strategic decision-making by setting out the key focus areas for evaluations and the main evaluation questions they will seek to address  Provide a plan for outreach evaluations over the next 3 years, which will be reviewed and updated annually. We have a comprehensive evaluation programme for our Access to Birmingham programme including appropriate monitoring of applications through to acceptance and tracking students through to graduation and employment. Aimhigher West Midlands undertakes comprehensive evaluation of individual activities, with the impact of its interventions via a PhD-linked research project including both control and experimental groups. Tracking suggests that engagement in Aimhigher intervention during Key Stage 3 and 4 generates increased aspiration towards higher education (+12.5% above non-participants) and improved KS4 attainment. The proportion of Aimhigher-engaged Pupil Premium learners attaining 5 GCSEs at A* - C including English and maths exceeded that of regional Pupil Premium learners over the three years 2011/12 to 2013/14. Research1 suggests that ongoing GCSE reform over the period of this Agreement (the introduction of a 9-point grade system and Progress / Attainment 8 measures) will reduce national attainment, and that this may have a disproportionate impact on outcomes for disadvantaged learners. We have re-framed our GCSE impact targets to reflect past performance and the likely impact of ongoing curriculum reform. Our tracking of beneficiaries into higher education has been delayed by the refusal of UCAS to release learner level data. This has necessitated the use of HESA data, allowing us to track our first cohort, who entered higher education in 2013 and were retained 1 xxxx://xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/live/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/education-in-england-web.pdf for 6 months. We have revised our targets accordingly and have also removed the NS –SEC measure for this target. The Realising Opportunities Pilot project has undergone extensive evaluation looking at the outcomes for learners and the wider impact of the partnership. This continues to inform the future of the scheme. Equality and Diversity Our students and staff are key to achieving excellence and to delivering the objectives outlined in our Strategic Framework 2015-2020. Our linked Equality Scheme recognises the need to encourage each and every student to flourish whilst removing barriers to success. Equality is central to our core mission to be a global force in teaching and researchUniversity Executive, and the creation of a new Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equalities to lead institutional development in this area reflects that commitment. The University’s Equality Scheme 2016-2020 has been developed around themes of inclusivenessAcademic Board, attainment, flexibility and embedding. As part of the development of the objectives we consulted with students to identify actions they felt the University should take to improve equality; and we have sought to address this feedback in our objectives. Progress against objectives will be reviewed annually as part of the Equality and Diversity Assurance Report to Councilmaintaining strategic oversight. The University has been taking action to address developed regular faculty and departmental planning meetings, which scrutinise budgetary expenditure as well as operational goals, and which use the 11.5% (2014) attainment gap between BME students and white students achieving a first or upper second class honours degreesame forms of performance measure against which we evaluate ourselves institutionally. We also have delivered innovative mentoring and employability schemes for BME students, providing them with practical skills and role models for success in the workplace. The BME ambassador scheme, an initiative part-funded by the HEA, involves students engaging with staff in Schools and Departments to consider actions that can be taken to improve BME student inclusion, representation, engagement and to promote race equality. This project has been widely cited across the UK HE sector as an example of good practice in engaging and listening to BME students. A website dedicated to supporting the success of BME students was launched in 14/15a developed, and uniform, process of project development and delivery, which includes the operation of a supporting online platform for staff will be launched in 2016 project board and the regular reporting of progress up to Executive level. Students are an important part of our committee structure, with student membership of the aim Board of capturingGovernors (and its key sub-committees), monitoring Academic Board, Quality and evaluating the impact of ambassador activityStandards Committee and Learning and Teaching Committee. Students are also actively involved at faculty and course level, and within some project groups. In 2015, School Equality and Diversity Champions have been tasked line with working with BME our proposal to maintain current participation levels (within benchmark) whilst improving student ambassadors to identify the issues that impact on their experiences, and have been asked to develop an action plan that identifies activities to make a positive difference. There are over 200 BME students who are ambassadors and 10 College student leads. Ongoing institutional resource has been earmarked for the project and, following the launch of the online portal, the project will be evaluated in July 2017. The ethnicity attainment gap is a sector-wide issue and forms much of the focus of work with students on equality issues in universities today. This is an area of activity that we will continue to pursue in relation to our work towards the ECU’s Race Equality Mark. During 2016, we will evaluate current initiatives, such as the BME ambassador scheme, and deliver sessions for staff on understanding and developing race equality for students. We will, however, expand this work to identify and address differences in completion rates and attainment amongst other groups, such as LGBT and trans students, mature students, disabled students and those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Around 6% of all University of Birmingham students have dependents. The University is one of only a handful that collects this information at registration and we are therefore now able to monitor the progression and retention (above and beyond benchmark) the emphasis of student parents. Since 2010, the University has helped support student parents establish a Guild Association, produce a pregnancy, maternity our monitoring processes is on tracking and paternity policy, and work towards a more inclusive curriculum that recognizes the needs of students with caring responsibilities. From 2015/16 we have further enhanced the support offered to student carers. Students will be identified at the point of registration (through self-selection), and offered support from the Vulnerable Student Officer who will work with the student to develop a Carer’s Support Plan and will oversee implementation of the Plan within the student’s home School. This development has been informed by consultation with student carers and Welfare Tutors. LGBT students have been supported by a mentoring scheme that was launched in 2012 called ‘Come Out, Stay Out’. In 2015 there were around 25 professional mentors, most being University staff, supporting over 30 student mentees. Around 3% of students identified as LGB in 2015, whilst over 50% did not select the option to tell us their sexual identity at registration. Students are encouraged to disclose, and information is available at registration to explain the benefits of informing the University. In addition we are developing and promoting trans-inclusive practices, including gender- neutral facilities and developing activities to improve understanding amongst our wider community of trans issues. To support the development and promotion of religious literacy and integration on campus the University has worked with a number of community organisations including local mosques and religious schools. The University’s Good Campus Relations Group comprises of members from community groups and works towards the promotion of understanding and representation of different faith groupsimproving retention. The University has an excellent data collection established a number of means of monitoring student progression and analysis system and, as part of its annual review of academic programmes, ensures that Schools consider the recruitment and performance data of students in the protected characteristics and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Schools report issues emanating from the data to the University’s Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee, chaired by the PVC (Education); the Committee then monitors how the Schools work towards making improvements. This process is supported through targeted Student Equality Reportsengagement, which are disseminated to Schools outlining any identified issues. We are fully committed to ensuring that anyone with the aspiration and ability can gain access, progress and achieve success at the University regardless of any disability. As drawn within a result of the proposals around the reduction in funding and support by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the form of the Disabled Students’ Allowances from 2016/17 onwards, a panel of specialist and senior staff, chaired by the Director of Student Services, was convened. This Group, launched initially in September 2014, has continued to meet during the 2015/16 academic year. The focus of the work is to review the government proposals to ensure that the University gives full consideration to how it will continue to support its disabled students in the light of reductions and amendments to the Disabled Students’ Allowance. The challenges of creating a physically accessible campus have been highlighted by students and staff in the Equality Scheme consultation as a key priority for the University, and we have undertaken significant work to improve accessibility across campus. During 2016 we will develop a forum for students and staff to raise accessibility issues and to comment on campus developments to ensure the diverse needs of our community are reflected. Provision of Information to Prospective Students The priorities for communications to prospective students are that we provide clear and timely advice and information which is enhanced by our extended wider-ranging programme of face-to-face communications with students in school projects titled ‘Student Progression and their advisors, including parents and teachers. Market research continues to be conducted with students, prospective students and their parents in the development and focus of our messages, our choice of information channels and to determine which information is of most importance to prospective students. Recruitment activities for the 17/18 cohort of students are already underway. The Guild contributes to the Undergraduate Prospectus for all potential students. Details of fees and funding arrangements are available on the University website; details are regularly updated as part of the Key Information Set initiative. Subscribers to our online customer relationship management system Transition’ (CRM) are provided with personalised messages about fees and funding packages as well as the opportunity for online chat sessions with Funding Advisors. The University provides information to UCAS and the SLC in order to populate their information channels. Face-to-face contact is recognised as one of the most influential channels of information, providing opportunities for prospective students and their parents to understand the fees and funding regime. We ensure that University recruitment staff are experts in the current arrangements at Government and University level. Advisors on each of the outreach programmes are kept up-to-date on all aspects of student fees and support so that they can provide detailed and expert advice to students (and, wherever possible, their parents) participating in the A2B programme, as well as the other progressive programmes outlined in this document. We have provided authoritative information about the fees regime which has ensured that younger students have not been deterred from considering a university career in the future for fear of debt. Finally, at the point at which the OFFA Agreement is confirmed, the University will produce a ‘Money Matters’ booklet. The booklet provides information about the fee, the University’s financial package including sport and music scholarships and a link to our searchable funding database, alongside an explanation of the statutory support package offered by the Student Loans Company. It forms a key part of the communications to our WP students, and is distributed at all talks, visits and events, and made available online. The booklet is well received and is an essential part of our recruitment activity. Consultation with Students Representatives from the Guild of Students have been engaged in the drafting of this Agreement. This Access Agreement is considered at a number of senior University committees which include formal representation from the Guild of Students, including the Vice-President (WelfareSTAR). The initiatives and activities detailed in this document aims of STAR are formulated following extensive evaluation of student feedback. For instance, the University developed the “Students with Children” Welcome and Orientation event following feedback from the Student Parents and Carers’ Group. The “Student Survival Guide” was written by students for students, and many of our students areto:

Monitoring and evaluation arrangements. The widening participation agenda, retention rates and success across the student lifecycle are overseen by the University’s Student Access and Progress Committee. The Committee Committee, chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and with representation from the Guild of Students, receives and considers regular reports and analysis of institutional performance in a range of areas (such as continuation rates, student equality benchmarks, HESA performance Performance Indicators, student experience surveys, outreach activity evaluation, etc.). In addition, the University Education Committee, also chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and with representation from the Guild, receives an annual progress report, approves WPSA and OFFA reporting and considers the annual report from the Academic Skills Centre. Within the University’s Outreach team there is a dedicated Officer with specific responsibility for evaluation; this post works closely with Outreach Officers and with Aimhigher on the evaluation of activities. The Outreach Evaluation Strategy for 2015-2018 supports our commitment to evidence-based practice in widening participation and outreach, and outreach as well as to facilitating a culture of learning and continuous improvement. We are committed to generating evidence-based information from timely and robust evaluations to inform and support our outreach work. The overall aim of the Evaluation Strategy is to provide a framework for producing high quality evidence-based monitoring and evaluation information to support learning, improvement, innovation, accountability and strategic decision-making. The key objectives of the strategy are to: as detailed below.  Support the generation of evaluation evidence to improve fair access to higher education by: o Understanding understanding what we do; o Identifying identifying what approaches work in promoting fair access and social mobility; o Identifying identifying where we can improve to increase the effectiveness of our widening participation policies and interventions; and and, o Supporting supporting strategic decision making and allocation of resources.  Provide direction on our approach to evaluation to ensure information generated is robust, relevant and useful useful.  Provide a framework for future evaluations and linking link them to strategic decision-making by setting out the key focus areas for evaluations and the main evaluation questions they will seek to address address.  Provide a plan for outreach evaluations over the next 3 years, which will be reviewed and updated annually. We have a comprehensive evaluation programme for our Access to Birmingham programme programme, including monitoring of applications through to from acceptance and tracking students through to graduation and employment. Aimhigher West Midlands undertakes comprehensive evaluation of the impact of its interventions via a PhD-linked research project including both interventions, with reference to control and experimental groups. Tracking suggests that engagement in Aimhigher intervention during Key Stage 3 and 4 generates increased aspiration towards higher education, improved KS4 attainment and increased progress to higher education (+12.5% above non-participants) and improved KS4 attainmentHE). The proportion of Aimhigher-engaged Pupil Premium learners attaining 5 GCSEs at A* - C C, including English and maths Maths, exceeded that of regional Pupil Premium learners over the three four years 2011/12 to 2013/142014/15. Research1 suggests that ongoing GCSE reform over the period The progression of this Agreement Aimhigher beneficiaries into HE is tracked via HESA data. Aimhigher learners formerly receiving Free School Meals (the introduction FSM) are more likely to enter HE than non-Aimhigher FSM students (31.6% in 2014 and 36.7% in 2015). By comparison, regionally 22% of a 9-point grade system and Progress / Attainment 8 measures) will reduce national attainmentformer FSM students entered HE in 2014. Aimhigher learners from POLAR3 Quintile 1 postcodes also enter HE in greater proportions than their peers (40.0% in 2014, compared to 12.4% regionally, and that this may have a disproportionate 32.40% in 2015, compared to 13.4% regionally). There is evidence of increased volatility in national GCSE attainment and progression to HE trends. National research1 suggest Key Stage 4 curriculum reform will disproportionately impact on outcomes the attainment for disadvantaged learners, and January 2017 UCAS data showing a marked (2/3rd) reduction in the year-on-year growth in application rates of 18 year olds witnessed since 2012. We have re-framed As a result we intend to maintain our current ambitious milestones for both the GCSE impact targets to reflect past performance attainment and the likely impact HE progression of ongoing curriculum reform. Our tracking of beneficiaries into higher education has been delayed by the refusal of UCAS to release learner level data. This has necessitated the use of HESA data, allowing us to track our first cohort, who entered higher education in 2013 and were retained 1 xxxx://xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/live/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/education-in-england-web.pdf for 6 months. We have revised our targets accordingly and have also removed the NS –SEC measure for this targetAimhigher beneficiaries. The Realising Opportunities Pilot project has undergone extensive evaluation looking at the outcomes for learners and the wider impact of the partnership. This continues to inform the future of the scheme. We continue to develop our Evaluation Strategy with respect to the range of financial support we provide. This is focused on two main areas: work to understand patterns of spend and how the money is used, along with work to understand the impact of the money provided on retention and success. The work will draw on the OFFA toolkit. Equality and Diversity Our students and staff are key to achieving excellence and to delivering the objectives outlined in our Strategic Framework 2015-2020. Our linked Equality Scheme recognises the need to encourage each and every student to flourish whilst removing barriers to success. Equality is central to our core mission to be a global force in teaching and research, and the creation of a new our Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equalities to lead leads our institutional development in this area reflects this, reflecting that commitment. The University’s Equality Scheme 2016-2020 has been developed around themes of inclusiveness, attainment, flexibility and embedding. As part of the development of the objectives we consulted with students to identify actions they felt the University should take to improve equality; , and we have sought to address this feedback in our objectives. Progress against objectives will be is reviewed annually as part of the Equality and Diversity Assurance Report to Council. The University has been taking action to address the 11.5% (2014) attainment gap between BME students and white students achieving a first or upper second class honours degree. We have delivered innovative mentoring and employability schemes for BME students, providing them with practical skills and role models for success in the workplace. The BME ambassador scheme, an initiative part-funded by the HEA, involves students engaging with staff in Schools and Departments to consider actions that can be taken to improve BME student inclusion, representation, engagement and to promote race equality. This project has been widely cited across the UK HE sector as an example of good practice in engaging and listening to BME students. We will continue to focus on developing this area of work and will be partners with Manchester University and Manchester Metropolitan University in a HEFCE Catalyst funded project as part of this. A website dedicated to supporting the success of BME students was launched in 14/152014/15, and a supporting online platform for staff will be launched in 2016 with that captures the aim of capturing, monitoring and evaluating evaluation of the impact of ambassador activity. In 2015, School Equality and Diversity Champions have been tasked with working with The BME student ambassadors continue to work with School Equality co-ordinators to identify the issues that impact on their experiences, and have been asked to develop an developed action plan plans for activities that identifies activities to make a positive difference. There are over 200 BME students who are ambassadors and 10 College student leads. Ongoing institutional resource has been earmarked for the project and, following Following the launch of the online portal, the project will be evaluated in July 2017. The ethnicity attainment gap is a sector-wide issue and forms much of the focus of work with students on equality issues in universities today. This is an area of activity that we will continue to pursue in relation to our work towards the ECU’s Race Equality Mark. During 2016, we will evaluate current initiatives, such as the BME ambassador scheme, and deliver sessions for staff on understanding and developing race equality for students. We will, however, expand are expanding this work to identify and address differences in completion rates and attainment amongst other groups, such as LGBT and trans students, mature students, disabled students and those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, and identify equivalent interventions. Around 6% of all University of Birmingham students have dependents. The University is one of only a handful that collects this information at registration and we are therefore now able to monitor the progression and retention of student parents. Since 2010, the University has helped support student parents establish a Guild Association, produce a pregnancy, maternity and paternity policy, and work towards a more inclusive curriculum that recognizes the needs of students with caring responsibilities. From 2015/16 we have further enhanced the support offered to student carers. Students will be carers identified above at the point of registration (through self-selectiond), and offered support developed a new University Policy for Student Parents, Guardians and Carers (effective from the Vulnerable Student Officer who will work with the student to develop a Carer’s Support Plan and will oversee implementation of the Plan within the student’s home School. This development has been informed by consultation with student carers and Welfare Tutors2017/18). LGBT students have been supported by a mentoring scheme that was launched in 2012 called ‘Come Out, Stay Out’. In 2015 2016 there were around 25 60 professional mentors, most being University staff, supporting over 30 28 student mentees. Around 3% of students identified as LGB LGBT in 20152016, whilst over 5030% did not select the option to tell us their sexual identity at registration. Students are encouraged to disclose, and information is available at registration to explain the benefits of informing the University. In addition we are developing and promoting We have developed trans-inclusive practices, including gender- the provision of gender neutral facilities facilities, the recording of personal information and through the publication of transgender guidance, and we are developing activities to improve understanding amongst our wider community of trans issues. To support the development and promotion of religious literacy and integration on campus the University has worked with a number of community organisations including local mosques and religious schools. The University’s Good Campus Relations Group comprises of members from community groups and works towards the promotion of understanding and representation of different faith groups. The University has an excellent data collection and analysis system and, as part of its annual review of academic programmes, ensures that Schools consider the recruitment and performance data of students in the protected characteristics and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Schools report issues emanating from the data to the University’s Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee, chaired by the PVC (Education); the Committee then monitors how the Schools work towards making improvements. This process is supported through targeted Student Equality Reports, which are disseminated to Schools outlining any identified issues. We are fully committed to ensuring that anyone with the aspiration and ability can gain accessaccess to the University, as well as progress and achieve success at the University regardless of any disability. As a result of the proposals around the reduction in funding and support by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the form of the Disabled Students’ Allowances from 2016/17 onwards, a panel of specialist and senior staff, chaired by the Director of Student Services, was convened. This Group, launched initially in September 2014, has continued to meet during the 2015/16 academic year. The focus of the Following this work is to review the government proposals to ensure that the University gives full consideration continues to how it will continue develop its approach to deliver a more inclusive education environment and also identified an additional £500k to support its disabled students in the light of reductions and amendments to the where that support now falls outside Disabled Students’ Students Allowance. The challenges of creating a physically accessible campus have been highlighted by students and staff in the Equality Scheme consultation as a key priority for the University, and we have undertaken significant work to improve accessibility across campus. During 2016 we will develop developed a forum for students and staff to raise accessibility issues and to comment on campus developments to ensure the diverse needs of our community are reflected. Provision of Information We have worked closely with the Guild’s liberation associations and Guild officers via the Equality Executive Group to Prospective Students The priorities for communications to prospective students are that ensure we provide clear and timely advice and information which is enhanced by our extended programme of face-to-face communications with students in school and their advisors, including parents and teachers. Market research continues to be conducted with students, prospective students and their parents in the development and focus of our messages, our choice of information channels and to determine which information is of most importance to prospective students. Recruitment activities for the 17/18 cohort of students are already underway. The Guild contributes to the Undergraduate Prospectus for all potential students. Details of fees and funding arrangements are available have student input on the University website; details are regularly updated as part of the Key Information Set initiative. Subscribers to our online customer relationship management system (CRM) are provided with personalised messages about fees and funding packages as well as the opportunity for online chat sessions with Funding Advisors. The University provides information to UCAS and the SLC in order to populate their information channels. Face-to-face contact is recognised as one of the most influential channels of information, providing opportunities for prospective students and their parents to understand the fees and funding regime. We ensure that University recruitment staff are experts in the current arrangements at Government and University level. Advisors on each of the outreach programmes are kept up-to-date on all aspects of student fees and support so that they can provide detailed and expert advice to students (and, wherever possible, their parents) participating in the A2B programme, as well as the other progressive programmes outlined in this documentequality issues. We have provided authoritative information about worked to embed the fees regime which has ensured that younger students have not been deterred from considering a university career in the future for fear principles of debt. Finally, at the point at which the OFFA Agreement is confirmed, the University will produce a ‘Money Matters’ booklet. The booklet provides information about the fee, the University’s financial package including sport and music scholarships and a link to our searchable funding database, alongside an explanation of the statutory support package offered by the Student Loans Company. It forms a key part of the communications to our WP studentsXxxxxx XXXX, and is distributed at all talks, visits we outperform the sector for female representation in Maths and events, Engineering (37.2% and made available online. The booklet is well received 20.6% respectively against sector figures of 34.1% and is an essential part of our recruitment activity. Consultation with Students Representatives from the Guild of Students have been engaged in the drafting of this Agreement. This Access Agreement is considered at a number of senior University committees which include formal representation from the Guild of Students, including the Vice-President (Welfare16.4%). The initiatives In 2015, we took the next step in developing our equality principles and activities detailed in this document are formulated following extensive evaluation of student feedback. For instance, practices by embarking upon the University developed work required to achieve the “Students with Children” Welcome and Orientation event following feedback from the Student Parents and Carers’ Group. The “Student Survival Guide” was written by students for students, and many of our students areECU’s Race Equality Charter.

Monitoring and evaluation arrangements. Our SASS (Strategy for Access and Student Success) Committee continues to be the central point for monitoring and evaluating the access and student success interventions at the University. Their work will be enhanced by monitoring the impact of the measures described above on all students and also the specific groups of students identified. Access, retention, completion, outcomes and employment data will be used to interrogate work at Faculty, Directorate and University level. Student evaluation data derived from internal and external surveys will also be used. The widening participation agenda, retention rates SASS Committee is representative of the whole University (including all Directors of Student Experience and success across the student lifecycle are overseen by Students’ Union) and will receive reports from each section on progress with interventions and their impact and action plans. The SASS Committee is a sub-committee of the University’s Student Experience Committee which in turn reports to Academic Council through to University Court of Governors where the Access Agreement and Progress Committeeupdates are received and scrutinised. The Committee chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and SASS group also has strong links with representation from the Guild of Studentsother University committees, receives and considers regular reports and analysis of institutional performance in a range of areas (such as continuation ratesfor example, student equality benchmarks, HESA performance Indicators, student experience surveys, outreach activity evaluation, etc.). In addition, the University Education Committee, also chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and with representation from the Guild, receives an annual progress report, approves WPSA and OFFA reporting and considers the annual report from the Academic Skills Centre. Within the University’s Outreach team there is a dedicated Officer with specific responsibility for evaluation; this post works closely with Outreach Officers and with Aimhigher on the evaluation of activities. The Outreach Evaluation Strategy for 2015-2018 supports our commitment to evidence-based practice in widening participation and outreach, and to facilitating a culture of learning and continuous improvement. We are committed to generating evidence-based information from timely and robust evaluations to inform and support our outreach work. The overall aim of the Evaluation Strategy is to provide a framework for producing high quality evidence-based monitoring and evaluation information to support learning, improvement, innovation, accountability and strategic decision-making. The key objectives of the strategy are to:  Support the generation of evaluation evidence to improve fair access to higher education by: o Understanding what we do; o Identifying what approaches work in promoting fair access and social mobility; o Identifying where we can improve to increase the effectiveness of our widening participation policies and interventions; and o Supporting strategic decision making and allocation of resources.  Provide direction on our approach to evaluation to ensure information generated is robust, relevant and useful  Provide a framework for future evaluations and linking them to strategic decision-making by setting out the key focus areas for evaluations and the main evaluation questions they will seek to address  Provide a plan for outreach evaluations over the next 3 years, which will be reviewed and updated annually. We have a comprehensive evaluation programme for our Access to Birmingham programme including monitoring of applications through to acceptance and tracking students through to graduation and employment. Aimhigher West Midlands undertakes comprehensive evaluation of the impact of its interventions via a PhD-linked research project including both control and experimental groups. Tracking suggests that engagement in Aimhigher intervention during Key Stage 3 and 4 generates increased aspiration towards higher education (+12.5% above non-participants) and improved KS4 attainment. The proportion of Aimhigher-engaged Pupil Premium learners attaining 5 GCSEs at A* - C including English and maths exceeded that of regional Pupil Premium learners over the three years 2011/12 to 2013/14. Research1 suggests that ongoing GCSE reform over the period of this Agreement (the introduction of a 9-point grade system and Progress / Attainment 8 measures) will reduce national attainment, and that this may have a disproportionate impact on outcomes for disadvantaged learners. We have re-framed our GCSE impact targets to reflect past performance and the likely impact of ongoing curriculum reform. Our tracking of beneficiaries into higher education has been delayed by the refusal of UCAS to release learner level data. This has necessitated the use of HESA data, allowing us to track our first cohort, who entered higher education in 2013 and were retained 1 xxxx://xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/live/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/education-in-england-web.pdf for 6 months. We have revised our targets accordingly and have also removed the NS –SEC measure for this target. The Realising Opportunities Pilot project has undergone extensive evaluation looking at the outcomes for learners and the wider impact of the partnership. This continues to inform the future of the scheme. Equality and Diversity Our students and staff are key to achieving excellence and to delivering the objectives outlined in our Strategic Framework 2015-2020. Our linked Equality Scheme recognises the need to encourage each and every student to flourish whilst removing barriers to success. Equality is central to our core mission to be a global force in teaching and research, and the creation of a new Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equalities to lead institutional development in this area reflects that commitment. The University’s Equality Scheme 2016-2020 has been developed around themes of inclusiveness, attainment, flexibility and embedding. As part of the development of the objectives we consulted with students to identify actions they felt the University should take to improve equality; and we have sought to address this feedback in our objectives. Progress against objectives will be reviewed annually as part of the Equality and Diversity Assurance Report to CouncilCommittee where targets associated with BME students are monitored. These are reported into the SASS committee for information and action. The University has been taking action to address Equality and Diversity Committee evaluates the 11.5% (2014) attainment gap between BME students and white students achieving a first or upper second class honours degree. We have delivered innovative mentoring and employability schemes for BME students, providing them with practical skills and role models for success performance of groups identified in the workplaceEquality Act 2010 and promotes inclusion across the institution. Chaired by the Director of Human Resources, this committee also reports into the University Student Experience Committee and Academic Council ensuring that senior managers have oversight and strategic management of equality and diversity. The BME ambassador scheme, increased use of data has enabled the SASS committee to use an initiative partevidence-funded by based approach to evaluate the HEA, involves students engaging with staff in Schools performance of specific groups across the University and Departments to consider actions that can be taken to improve BME student inclusion, representation, engagement and to promote race equalitywithin each Faculty. This project has been widely cited across led to the UK HE sector as an example generation of good practice new targets for this Access Agreement that identify the under-performance of specific groups that are classified with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. In relation to outreach the University is a member of the collaborative Higher Education Access Tracker Service (HEAT) which assists members in engaging and listening to BME students. A website dedicated to supporting the success of BME students was launched in 14/15, and a supporting online platform for staff will be launched in 2016 with the aim of capturingtargeting, monitoring and evaluating the impact of ambassador activityboth their individual and their collaborative fair access activities. In 2015, School Equality and Diversity Champions have been tasked with working with BME student ambassadors It allows us to identify the issues that impact on their experiences, and have been asked to develop an action plan that identifies activities to make a positive difference. There are over 200 BME students who are ambassadors and 10 College student leads. Ongoing institutional resource has been earmarked for the project and, following the launch of the online portal, the project will be evaluated in July 2017. The ethnicity attainment gap is a sector-wide issue and forms much of the focus of work with students on equality issues in universities today. This is an area of activity that we will continue to pursue demonstrate outreach participation in relation to success at key transition points, collectively exploring best practice in combining qualitative and quantitative research on outreach facilitating the development of our collaborative work towards in this area. Membership of the ECU’s Race Equality Mark. During 2016HEAT service assists us to fully understand the patterns of participation in outreach and the effectiveness of different types and combinations of outreach, we will evaluate current initiatives, such as something which is made possible by the BME ambassador scheme, and deliver sessions for staff on understanding and developing race equality for studentscollaborative nature of the service. We will, however, expand this work use the HEAT database to identify record outreach activity and address differences in completion rates and attainment amongst other groups, such as LGBT and trans students, mature students, disabled students and those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Around 6% of all University of Birmingham students can see where individuals have dependents. The University is one of only a handful that collects this information at registration and we are therefore now able to monitor the progression and retention of student parents. Since 2010, the University has helped support student parents establish a Guild Association, produce a pregnancy, maternity and paternity policy, and work towards a more inclusive curriculum that recognizes the needs of students with caring responsibilities. From 2015/16 we have further enhanced the support offered to student carers. Students will be identified at the point of registration (through self-selection), and offered support from the Vulnerable Student Officer who will work with the student to develop a Carer’s Support Plan and will oversee implementation of the Plan within the student’s home School. This development has been informed by consultation with student carers and Welfare Tutors. LGBT students have been supported by a mentoring scheme that was launched in 2012 called ‘Come Out, Stay Out’. In 2015 there were around 25 professional mentors, most being University staff, supporting over 30 student mentees. Around 3% of students identified as LGB in 2015, whilst over 50% did not select the option to tell us their sexual identity at registration. Students are encouraged to disclose, and information is available at registration to explain the benefits of informing the University. In addition we are developing and promoting trans-inclusive practices, including gender- neutral facilities and developing activities to improve understanding amongst our wider community of trans issues. To support the development and promotion of religious literacy and integration on campus the University has worked with a number of community organisations including local mosques and religious schools. The University’s Good Campus Relations Group comprises of members from community groups and works towards the promotion of understanding and representation of different faith groups. The University has an excellent data collection and analysis system and, as part of its annual review of academic programmes, ensures that Schools consider the recruitment and performance data of students in the protected characteristics and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Schools report issues emanating from the data to the University’s Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee, chaired by the PVC (Education); the Committee then monitors how the Schools work towards making improvements. This process is supported through targeted Student Equality Reports, which are disseminated to Schools outlining any identified issues. We are fully committed to ensuring that anyone with the aspiration and ability can gain access, progress and achieve success at the University regardless of any disability. As a result of the proposals around the reduction in funding and support by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the form of the Disabled Students’ Allowances from 2016/17 onwards, a panel of specialist and senior staff, chaired by the Director of Student Services, was convened. This Group, launched initially in September 2014, has continued to meet during the 2015/16 academic year. The focus of the work is to review the government proposals to ensure that the University gives full consideration to how it will continue to support its disabled students in the light of reductions and amendments to the Disabled Students’ Allowance. The challenges of creating a physically accessible campus have been highlighted by students and staff in the Equality Scheme consultation as a key priority for the University, and we have undertaken significant work to improve accessibility across campus. During 2016 we will develop a forum for students and staff to raise accessibility issues and to comment on campus developments to ensure the diverse needs of our community are reflected. Provision of Information to Prospective Students The priorities for communications to prospective students are that we provide clear and timely advice and information which is enhanced by our extended programme of face-to-face communications with students in school and their advisors, including parents and teachers. Market research continues to be conducted with students, prospective students and their parents in the development and focus of our messages, our choice of information channels and to determine which information is of most importance to prospective students. Recruitment activities for the 17/18 cohort of students are already underway. The Guild contributes to the Undergraduate Prospectus for all potential students. Details of fees and funding arrangements are available on the University website; details are regularly updated as part of the Key Information Set initiative. Subscribers to our online customer relationship management system (CRM) are provided with personalised messages about fees and funding packages as well as the opportunity for online chat sessions with Funding Advisors. The University provides information to UCAS and the SLC in order to populate their information channels. Face-to-face contact is recognised as one of the most influential channels of information, providing opportunities for prospective students and their parents to understand the fees and funding regime. We ensure that University recruitment staff are experts in the current arrangements at Government and University level. Advisors on each of the outreach programmes are kept up-to-date on all aspects of student fees and support so that they can provide detailed and expert advice to students (and, wherever possible, their parents) participating in the A2B programme, as well as the other progressive programmes outlined in this document. We have provided authoritative information about the fees regime which has ensured that younger students have not been deterred from considering a university career in the future for fear of debt. Finally, at the point at which the OFFA Agreement is confirmed, the University will produce a ‘Money Matters’ booklet. The booklet provides information about the fee, the University’s financial package including sport and music scholarships and a link to our searchable funding database, alongside an explanation of the statutory support package offered by the Student Loans Company. It forms a key part of the communications to our WP students, and is distributed at all talks, visits and events, and made available online. The booklet is well received and is an essential part of our recruitment activity. Consultation with Students Representatives from the Guild of Students have been engaged in activities with more than one HEAT university. Collectively this allows the drafting central HEAT service to analyse the timing and combinations of this Agreement. This Access Agreement is considered at a number of senior University committees which include formal representation from the Guild of Students, including the Vice-President (Welfare). The initiatives and activities detailed that show most impact on enrolment in this document are formulated following extensive evaluation of student feedback. For instance, the University developed the “Students with Children” Welcome and Orientation event following feedback from the Student Parents and Carers’ Group. The “Student Survival Guide” was written by students for students, and many of our students areHE.

Monitoring and evaluation arrangements. The Strategic development of widening participation agendais a whole University responsibility led by the University Executive Board through the Pro-Vice Chancellor (PVC) for Learning and Teaching. The PVC chairs the Learning and Teaching Committee and its three sub-committees on behalf of Senate, retention rates including the Admissions and success across Outreach Sub-Committee. As a member of the student lifecycle are overseen by University Executive Board, the PVC for Learning and Teaching ensures that strategic thinking about widening participation is at the heart of University strategic developments and reflections. This Board also includes the PVCs with responsibility for driving forward University strategies in each of the University’s Student Access five faculties (Arts and Progress CommitteeHumanities; Engineering; Medicine, Dentistry and Health; Science and Social Sciences). This strategic leadership structure ensures that widening participation is articulated within the Faculty learning and teaching strategies and practices. The Committee chaired University will monitor activity and evidence of impact in a number of ways. To date, Student Services teams have worked alongside Learning & Teaching Services (LeTS) staff to implement robust procedures for monitoring the activity that is delivered both by central teams and by individual faculties and academic departments. This will continue and will be strengthened by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and with representation from recent integration of LeTS into the Guild of Students, receives and considers regular reports and analysis of institutional performance in a range of areas (such as continuation rates, student equality benchmarks, HESA performance Indicators, student experience surveys, outreach activity evaluation, etc.)Student Services structure. In addition, in developing its Access Agreement for 2012 and beyond, the University Education Committee, also chaired has committed resource to the development of an academic Widening Participation Research Unit. This will allow for quantitative and qualitative research into the long term impact of our widening participation initiatives to be undertaken by research experts. Results of such research will be published as a way of sharing good practice within the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and with representation from the Guild, receives an annual progress report, approves WPSA and OFFA reporting and considers the annual report from the Academic Skills Centre. Within the University’s Outreach team there is a dedicated Officer with specific responsibility for evaluation; this post works closely with Outreach Officers and with Aimhigher on the evaluation of activitiessector. The Outreach Evaluation Strategy for 2015-2018 supports our commitment evidence will also feed into continuous improvement of the activities and programmes we deliver. The unit will contribute and oversee short term research and evaluation activity, to evidence-based practice in widening participation provide a more consistent and outreach, and formal approach to facilitating a culture of learning impact assessment and continuous improvement. On an ongoing basis, quantitative data will be used to measure outputs (e.g. number of participants, number of activities, number of schools and colleges involved) to assess the level of activity undertaken against the numerical targets we set. We are committed to generating evidence-based information from timely and robust evaluations to inform and support our outreach work. The overall aim of the Evaluation Strategy is to provide will also use a framework for producing high quality evidence-based monitoring and evaluation information to support learning, improvement, innovation, accountability and strategic decision-making. The key objectives of the strategy are to:  Support the generation range of evaluation evidence techniques to improve fair access to higher education by: o Understanding what we do; o Identifying what approaches work in promoting fair access and social mobility; o Identifying where we can improve to increase measure the effectiveness of our individual activities and longer term widening participation policies and interventions; and o Supporting strategic decision making and allocation programmes as a way of resources.  Provide direction on our approach to evaluation to ensure information generated is robust, relevant and useful  Provide a framework for future evaluations and linking them to strategic decision-making by setting out the key focus areas for evaluations and the main evaluation questions they will seek to address  Provide a plan for outreach evaluations over the next 3 years, which will be reviewed and updated annually. We have a comprehensive evaluation programme for our Access to Birmingham programme including monitoring of applications through to acceptance and tracking students through to graduation and employment. Aimhigher West Midlands undertakes comprehensive evaluation of measuring the impact of its interventions via a PhD-linked research project including both control the work we undertake. This will include paper and experimental groupselectronic surveys of participants and attitudinal surveys of participants on intensive programmes. Tracking suggests that engagement Data will be monitored and tracked to longitudinally assess the long term progression and success of students who participate in Aimhigher intervention during Key Stage 3 outreach programmes and/or progress to the University, using admissions and 4 generates increased aspiration towards higher education (+12.5% above non-participants) progression data from the University’s internal student records system. Progress will be monitored through our own internal governance structures and improved KS4 attainmentreported to the Office for Fair Access on an annual basis. The proportion Monitoring of Aimhigher-engaged Pupil Premium learners attaining 5 GCSEs at A* - C including English progress against targets and maths exceeded that of regional Pupil Premium learners over milestones set out in the three years 2011/12 to 2013/14. Research1 suggests that ongoing GCSE reform over the period of this Access Agreement (the introduction of a 9-point grade system and Progress / Attainment 8 measures) will reduce national attainment, and that this may have a disproportionate impact on outcomes for disadvantaged learners. We have re-framed our GCSE impact targets to reflect past performance and the likely impact of ongoing curriculum reform. Our tracking of beneficiaries into higher education has been delayed be undertaken by the refusal Admissions and Outreach Sub-Committee of UCAS to release learner level data. This has necessitated the use of HESA dataLearning & Teaching Committee, allowing us to track our first cohort, who entered higher education in 2013 and were retained 1 xxxx://xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/live/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/education-in-england-web.pdf for 6 months. We have revised our targets accordingly and have also removed the NS –SEC measure for this target. The Realising Opportunities Pilot project has undergone extensive evaluation looking at the outcomes for learners and the wider impact of the partnership. This continues to inform the future of the scheme. Equality and Diversity Our students and staff are key to achieving excellence and to delivering the objectives outlined in our Strategic Framework 2015-2020. Our linked Equality Scheme recognises the need to encourage each and every student to flourish whilst removing barriers to success. Equality is central to our core mission to be a global force in teaching and research, and the creation of a new Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equalities to lead institutional development in this area reflects that commitment. The University’s Equality Scheme 2016-2020 has been developed around themes of inclusiveness, attainment, flexibility and embedding. As part of the development of the objectives we consulted with students to identify actions they felt the University should take to improve equality; and we have sought to address this feedback in our objectives. Progress against objectives will be reviewed annually as part of the Equality and Diversity Assurance Report to Council. The University has been taking action to address the 11.5% (2014) attainment gap between BME students and white students achieving a first or upper second class honours degree. We have delivered innovative mentoring and employability schemes for BME students, providing them with practical skills and role models for success in the workplace. The BME ambassador scheme, an initiative part-funded by the HEA, involves students engaging with staff in Schools and Departments to consider actions that can be taken to improve BME student inclusion, representation, engagement and to promote race equality. This project has been widely cited across the UK HE sector as an example of good practice in engaging and listening to BME students. A website dedicated to supporting the success of BME students was launched in 14/15, and a supporting online platform for staff will be launched in 2016 with the aim of capturing, monitoring and evaluating the impact of ambassador activity. In 2015, School Equality and Diversity Champions have been tasked with working with BME student ambassadors to identify the issues that impact on their experiences, and have been asked to develop an action plan that identifies activities to make a positive difference. There are over 200 BME students who are ambassadors and 10 College student leads. Ongoing institutional resource has been earmarked for the project and, following the launch of the online portal, the project will be evaluated in July 2017. The ethnicity attainment gap is a sector-wide issue and forms much of the focus of work with students on equality issues in universities today. This is an area of activity that we will continue to pursue in relation to our work towards the ECU’s Race Equality Mark. During 2016, we will evaluate current initiatives, such as the BME ambassador scheme, and deliver sessions for staff on understanding and developing race equality for students. We will, however, expand this work to identify and address differences in completion rates and attainment amongst other groups, such as LGBT and trans students, mature students, disabled students and those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Around 6% of all University of Birmingham students have dependents. The University is one of only a handful that collects this information at registration and we are therefore now able to monitor the progression and retention of student parents. Since 2010, the University has helped support student parents establish a Guild Association, produce a pregnancy, maternity and paternity policy, and work towards a more inclusive curriculum that recognizes the needs of students with caring responsibilities. From 2015/16 we have further enhanced the support offered to student carers. Students will be identified at the point of registration (through self-selection), and offered support from the Vulnerable Student Officer who will work with the student to develop a Carer’s Support Plan and will oversee implementation of the Plan within the student’s home School. This development has been informed by consultation with student carers and Welfare Tutors. LGBT students have been supported by a mentoring scheme that was launched in 2012 called ‘Come Out, Stay Out’. In 2015 there were around 25 professional mentors, most being University staff, supporting over 30 student mentees. Around 3% of students identified as LGB in 2015, whilst over 50% did not select the option to tell us their sexual identity at registration. Students are encouraged to disclose, and information is available at registration to explain the benefits of informing the University. In addition we are developing and promoting trans-inclusive practices, including gender- neutral facilities and developing activities to improve understanding amongst our wider community of trans issues. To support the development and promotion of religious literacy and integration on campus the University has worked with a number of community organisations including local mosques and religious schools. The University’s Good Campus Relations Group comprises of members from community groups and works towards the promotion of understanding and representation of different faith groups. The University has an excellent data collection and analysis system and, as part of its annual review of academic programmes, ensures that Schools consider the recruitment and performance data of students in the protected characteristics and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Schools report issues emanating from the data which formally reports to the University’s Quality Assurance Senate. Appendices Appendix 1: Further Details of Our Additional Access Measure Activities OUTREACH ACTIVITY FOCUS ADDITIONALITY DESCRIPTION RATIONALE Primary EXPANDED Interactive web-based resources for all primary schools across South Yorkshire. Professor Xxxxxx sessions on and Enhancement Committee, chaired by the PVC (Education); the Committee then monitors how the Schools work towards making improvementsoff campus targeting pupils and parents. This process is supported through targeted Student Equality Reports, which are disseminated to Schools outlining any identified issuesClassroom mentoring for literacy and numeracy. We are fully committed to ensuring that anyone with the aspiration and ability can gain access, progress and achieve success at the University regardless of any disability. As a result of the proposals around the reduction in funding and support by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the form of the Disabled Students’ Allowances from 2016/17 onwards, a panel of specialist and senior staff, chaired by the Director of Student Services, was convened. This Group, launched initially in September 2014, has continued to meet during the 2015/16 academic year. The focus of the work is to review the government proposals to ensure that the University gives full consideration to how it will continue to support its disabled students in the light of reductions and amendments to the Disabled Students’ Allowance. The challenges of creating a physically accessible campus Primary teachers have been highlighted by students and staff involved in developing the Equality Scheme consultation as a key priority for the University, and we have undertaken significant resources that will be rolled out across South Yorkshire. Their expertise with regard to what will work to improve accessibility across campus. During 2016 we will develop a forum for students and staff to raise accessibility issues and to comment on campus developments to ensure the diverse needs of our community are reflected. Provision of Information to Prospective Students The priorities for communications to prospective students are that we provide clear and timely advice and information which is enhanced by our extended programme of face-to-face communications with students in school and their advisors, including parents and teachers. Market research continues to be conducted with students, prospective students and their parents in the development and focus of our messages, our choice of information channels and to determine which information is of most importance to prospective students. Recruitment activities for the 17/18 cohort of students are already underway. The Guild contributes to the Undergraduate Prospectus for all potential students. Details of fees and funding arrangements are available on the University website; details are regularly updated as part of the Key Information Set initiative. Subscribers to our online customer relationship management system (CRM) are provided with personalised messages about fees and funding packages as well as the opportunity for online chat sessions with Funding Advisors. The University provides information to UCAS and the SLC in order to populate their information channels. Face-to-face contact is recognised as one of the most influential channels of information, providing opportunities for prospective students and their parents to understand the fees and funding regime. We ensure that University recruitment staff are experts in the current arrangements at Government and University level. Advisors on each of the outreach programmes are kept up-to-date on all aspects of student fees and support so that they can provide detailed and expert advice to students (and, wherever possible, their parents) participating in the A2B programme, as well as the other progressive programmes outlined in this document. We have provided authoritative information about the fees regime which particular target group has ensured that younger students have not been deterred from considering a university career in the future for fear of debt. Finally, at the point at which the OFFA Agreement is confirmed, the University will produce a ‘Money Matters’ booklet. The booklet provides information about the fee, the University’s financial package including sport and music scholarships and a link to our searchable funding database, alongside an explanation of the statutory support package offered by the Student Loans Company. It forms a key part of the communications to our WP students, and is distributed at all talks, visits and events, and made available online. The booklet is well received and is an essential part of our recruitment activity. Consultation with Students Representatives from the Guild of Students have been engaged in the drafting of this Agreement. This Access Agreement is considered at a number of senior University committees which include formal representation from the Guild of Students, including the Vice-President (Welfare). The initiatives and activities detailed in this document are formulated following extensive evaluation of student feedback. For instance, the University developed the “Students with Children” Welcome and Orientation event following feedback from the Student Parents and Carers’ Group. The “Student Survival Guide” was written by students for students, and many of our students areinvaluable.

Monitoring and evaluation arrangements. The Strategic development of widening participation agenda, retention rates and success across the student lifecycle are overseen is a whole University responsibility led by the University’s Student Access and Progress Committee. The Committee chaired by University Executive Board through the Pro-Vice-Vice Chancellor (EducationPVC) for Learning and Teaching. The PVC chairs the Learning and Teaching Committee and its three sub-committees on behalf of Senate, including the Admissions and Outreach Sub-Committee. As a member of the University Executive Board, the PVC for Learning and Teaching ensures that strategic thinking about widening participation is at the heart of University strategic developments and reflections. This Board also includes the PVCs with representation from responsibility for driving forward University strategies in each of the Guild University‟s five faculties (Arts and Humanities; Engineering; Medicine, Dentistry and Health; Science and Social Sciences). This strategic leadership structure ensures that widening participation is articulated within the Faculty learning and teaching strategies and practices. The University will monitor activity and evidence of Students, receives and considers regular reports and analysis of institutional performance impact in a range number of areas ways. To date, Student Services teams have worked alongside Learning & Teaching Services (such as continuation rates, student equality benchmarks, HESA performance Indicators, student experience surveys, outreach LeTS) staff to implement robust procedures for monitoring the activity evaluation, etc.)that is delivered both by central teams and by individual faculties and academic departments. This will continue and will be strengthened by the recent integration of LeTS into the Student Services structure. In addition, in developing its Access Agreement for 2012 and beyond, the University Education Committee, also chaired has committed resource to the development of an academic Widening Participation Research Unit. This will allow for quantitative and qualitative research into the long term impact of our widening participation initiatives to be undertaken by research experts. Results of such research will be published as a way of sharing good practice within the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and with representation from the Guild, receives an annual progress report, approves WPSA and OFFA reporting and considers the annual report from the Academic Skills Centre. Within the University’s Outreach team there is a dedicated Officer with specific responsibility for evaluation; this post works closely with Outreach Officers and with Aimhigher on the evaluation of activitiessector. The Outreach Evaluation Strategy for 2015-2018 supports our commitment evidence will also feed into continuous improvement of the activities and programmes we deliver. The unit will contribute and oversee short term research and evaluation activity, to evidence-based practice in widening participation provide a more consistent and outreach, and formal approach to facilitating a culture of learning impact assessment and continuous improvement. On an ongoing basis, quantitative data will be used to measure outputs (e.g. number of participants, number of activities, number of schools and colleges involved) to assess the level of activity undertaken against the numerical targets we set. We are committed to generating evidence-based information from timely and robust evaluations to inform and support our outreach work. The overall aim of the Evaluation Strategy is to provide will also use a framework for producing high quality evidence-based monitoring and evaluation information to support learning, improvement, innovation, accountability and strategic decision-making. The key objectives of the strategy are to:  Support the generation range of evaluation evidence techniques to improve fair access to higher education by: o Understanding what we do; o Identifying what approaches work in promoting fair access and social mobility; o Identifying where we can improve to increase measure the effectiveness of our individual activities and longer term widening participation policies and interventions; and o Supporting strategic decision making and allocation programmes as a way of resources.  Provide direction on our approach to evaluation to ensure information generated is robust, relevant and useful  Provide a framework for future evaluations and linking them to strategic decision-making by setting out the key focus areas for evaluations and the main evaluation questions they will seek to address  Provide a plan for outreach evaluations over the next 3 years, which will be reviewed and updated annually. We have a comprehensive evaluation programme for our Access to Birmingham programme including monitoring of applications through to acceptance and tracking students through to graduation and employment. Aimhigher West Midlands undertakes comprehensive evaluation of measuring the impact of its interventions via a PhD-linked research project including both control the work we undertake. This will include paper and experimental groupselectronic surveys of participants and attitudinal surveys of participants on intensive programmes. Tracking suggests that engagement Data will be monitored and tracked to longitudinally assess the long term progression and success of students who participate in Aimhigher intervention during Key Stage 3 outreach programmes and/or progress to the University, using admissions and 4 generates increased aspiration towards higher education (+12.5% above non-participants) progression data from the University‟s internal student records system. Progress will be monitored through our own internal governance structures and improved KS4 attainmentreported to the Office for Fair Access on an annual basis. The proportion Monitoring of Aimhigher-engaged Pupil Premium learners attaining 5 GCSEs at A* - C including English progress against targets and maths exceeded that of regional Pupil Premium learners over milestones set out in the three years 2011/12 to 2013/14. Research1 suggests that ongoing GCSE reform over the period of this Access Agreement (the introduction of a 9-point grade system and Progress / Attainment 8 measures) will reduce national attainment, and that this may have a disproportionate impact on outcomes for disadvantaged learners. We have re-framed our GCSE impact targets to reflect past performance and the likely impact of ongoing curriculum reform. Our tracking of beneficiaries into higher education has been delayed be undertaken by the refusal Admissions and Outreach Sub- Committee of UCAS Learning & Teaching Committee, which formally reports to release learner level datathe University‟s Senate. This has necessitated Appendices Appendix 1: Further Details of Our Additional Access Measure Activities OUTREACH ACTIVITY FOCUS ADDITIONALITY DESCRIPTION RATIONALE Primary EXPANDED  Interactive web-based resources for all primary schools across South Yorkshire.  Professor Fluffy sessions on and off campus targeting pupils and parents.  Classroom mentoring for literacy and numeracy. Primary teachers have been involved in developing the use of HESA data, allowing us to track our first cohort, who entered higher education in 2013 and were retained 1 xxxx://xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/live/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/education-in-england-web.pdf for 6 months. We have revised our targets accordingly and have also removed the NS –SEC measure for this target. The Realising Opportunities Pilot project has undergone extensive evaluation looking at the outcomes for learners and the wider impact of the partnership. This continues to inform the future of the scheme. Equality and Diversity Our students and staff are key to achieving excellence and to delivering the objectives outlined in our Strategic Framework 2015-2020. Our linked Equality Scheme recognises the need to encourage each and every student to flourish whilst removing barriers to success. Equality is central to our core mission to be a global force in teaching and research, and the creation of a new Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equalities to lead institutional development in this area reflects resources that commitment. The University’s Equality Scheme 2016-2020 has been developed around themes of inclusiveness, attainment, flexibility and embedding. As part of the development of the objectives we consulted with students to identify actions they felt the University should take to improve equality; and we have sought to address this feedback in our objectives. Progress against objectives will be reviewed annually as part of the Equality and Diversity Assurance Report rolled out across South Yorkshire. Their expertise with regard to Council. The University has been taking action to address the 11.5% (2014) attainment gap between BME students and white students achieving a first or upper second class honours degree. We have delivered innovative mentoring and employability schemes for BME students, providing them with practical skills and role models for success in the workplace. The BME ambassador scheme, an initiative part-funded by the HEA, involves students engaging with staff in Schools and Departments to consider actions that can be taken to improve BME student inclusion, representation, engagement and to promote race equality. This project has been widely cited across the UK HE sector as an example of good practice in engaging and listening to BME students. A website dedicated to supporting the success of BME students was launched in 14/15, and a supporting online platform for staff will be launched in 2016 with the aim of capturing, monitoring and evaluating the impact of ambassador activity. In 2015, School Equality and Diversity Champions have been tasked with working with BME student ambassadors to identify the issues that impact on their experiences, and have been asked to develop an action plan that identifies activities to make a positive difference. There are over 200 BME students who are ambassadors and 10 College student leads. Ongoing institutional resource has been earmarked for the project and, following the launch of the online portal, the project will be evaluated in July 2017. The ethnicity attainment gap is a sector-wide issue and forms much of the focus of work with students on equality issues in universities today. This is an area of activity that we will continue to pursue in relation to our work towards the ECU’s Race Equality Mark. During 2016, we will evaluate current initiatives, such as the BME ambassador scheme, and deliver sessions for staff on understanding and developing race equality for students. We will, however, expand this work to identify and address differences in completion rates and attainment amongst other groups, such as LGBT and trans students, mature students, disabled students and those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Around 6% of all University of Birmingham students have dependents. The University is one of only a handful that collects this information at registration and we are therefore now able to monitor the progression and retention of student parents. Since 2010, the University has helped support student parents establish a Guild Association, produce a pregnancy, maternity and paternity policy, and work towards a more inclusive curriculum that recognizes the needs of students with caring responsibilities. From 2015/16 we have further enhanced the support offered to student carers. Students will be identified at the point of registration (through self-selection), and offered support from the Vulnerable Student Officer who what will work with the student to develop a Carer’s Support Plan and will oversee implementation of the Plan within the student’s home School. This development this particular target group has been informed by consultation with student carers and Welfare Tutors. LGBT students have been supported by a mentoring scheme that was launched in 2012 called ‘Come Out, Stay Out’. In 2015 there were around 25 professional mentors, most being University staff, supporting over 30 student mentees. Around 3% of students identified as LGB in 2015, whilst over 50% did not select the option to tell us their sexual identity at registration. Students are encouraged to disclose, and information is available at registration to explain the benefits of informing the University. In addition we are developing and promoting trans-inclusive practices, including gender- neutral facilities and developing activities to improve understanding amongst our wider community of trans issues. To support the development and promotion of religious literacy and integration on campus the University has worked with a number of community organisations including local mosques and religious schools. The University’s Good Campus Relations Group comprises of members from community groups and works towards the promotion of understanding and representation of different faith groups. The University has an excellent data collection and analysis system and, as part of its annual review of academic programmes, ensures that Schools consider the recruitment and performance data of students in the protected characteristics and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Schools report issues emanating from the data to the University’s Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee, chaired by the PVC (Education); the Committee then monitors how the Schools work towards making improvements. This process is supported through targeted Student Equality Reports, which are disseminated to Schools outlining any identified issues. We are fully committed to ensuring that anyone with the aspiration and ability can gain access, progress and achieve success at the University regardless of any disability. As a result of the proposals around the reduction in funding and support by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the form of the Disabled Students’ Allowances from 2016/17 onwards, a panel of specialist and senior staff, chaired by the Director of Student Services, was convened. This Group, launched initially in September 2014, has continued to meet during the 2015/16 academic year. The focus of the work is to review the government proposals to ensure that the University gives full consideration to how it will continue to support its disabled students in the light of reductions and amendments to the Disabled Students’ Allowance. The challenges of creating a physically accessible campus have been highlighted by students and staff in the Equality Scheme consultation as a key priority for the University, and we have undertaken significant work to improve accessibility across campus. During 2016 we will develop a forum for students and staff to raise accessibility issues and to comment on campus developments to ensure the diverse needs of our community are reflected. Provision of Information to Prospective Students The priorities for communications to prospective students are that we provide clear and timely advice and information which is enhanced by our extended programme of face-to-face communications with students in school and their advisors, including parents and teachers. Market research continues to be conducted with students, prospective students and their parents in the development and focus of our messages, our choice of information channels and to determine which information is of most importance to prospective students. Recruitment activities for the 17/18 cohort of students are already underway. The Guild contributes to the Undergraduate Prospectus for all potential students. Details of fees and funding arrangements are available on the University website; details are regularly updated as part of the Key Information Set initiative. Subscribers to our online customer relationship management system (CRM) are provided with personalised messages about fees and funding packages as well as the opportunity for online chat sessions with Funding Advisors. The University provides information to UCAS and the SLC in order to populate their information channels. Face-to-face contact is recognised as one of the most influential channels of information, providing opportunities for prospective students and their parents to understand the fees and funding regime. We ensure that University recruitment staff are experts in the current arrangements at Government and University level. Advisors on each of the outreach programmes are kept up-to-date on all aspects of student fees and support so that they can provide detailed and expert advice to students (and, wherever possible, their parents) participating in the A2B programme, as well as the other progressive programmes outlined in this document. We have provided authoritative information about the fees regime which has ensured that younger students have not been deterred from considering a university career in the future for fear of debt. Finally, at the point at which the OFFA Agreement is confirmed, the University will produce a ‘Money Matters’ booklet. The booklet provides information about the fee, the University’s financial package including sport and music scholarships and a link to our searchable funding database, alongside an explanation of the statutory support package offered by the Student Loans Company. It forms a key part of the communications to our WP students, and is distributed at all talks, visits and events, and made available online. The booklet is well received and is an essential part of our recruitment activity. Consultation with Students Representatives from the Guild of Students have been engaged in the drafting of this Agreement. This Access Agreement is considered at a number of senior University committees which include formal representation from the Guild of Students, including the Vice-President (Welfare). The initiatives and activities detailed in this document are formulated following extensive evaluation of student feedback. For instance, the University developed the “Students with Children” Welcome and Orientation event following feedback from the Student Parents and Carers’ Group. The “Student Survival Guide” was written by students for students, and many of our students areinvaluable.