Contextualised Admissions. 3. We are proud of our leadership of work on contextualised admissions over the last decade, our generous scholarship provision and our outreach programmes. Under the University’s widening participation pledge we welcome applications from students with diverse backgrounds. We are committed to admitting the very best students who demonstrate the potential to benefit from, and contribute to, the academic experience we offer. Equality of opportunity is entrenched in our selection process and we recognise that applicants have different backgrounds and experiences and that not everyone has an equal opportunity to demonstrate their potential with their school or college qualifications alone. It is for this reason that we consider certain data and information in our selection process to help us identify applicants whose academic grades may not be a true reflection of their potential to succeed at university.
Contextualised Admissions. We publish our standard and minimum entry requirements for undergraduate programmes in our University prospectus and on our website. The prospectus includes information presented in simple, clear language and developed in accordance with the ‘Common Language’ guidelines produced by Universities Scotland: xxxxx://xxxxxx.xxxxxx.xxx/qmu-2022-ug- prospectus/06431 89001620143847?short We commit to making offers at the published minimum entry requirements to identified groups where we recognise that a range of factors has influenced attainment. These groups include: • Living in an area of deprivation, as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), and in particular, SIMD 20 and SIMD 40. • Care experienced. • Eligible for the Lothian Equal Access Programme for Schools (LEAPS). The following groups are also identified, but as the contextual information is not currently captured in the UCAS application process, we rely on applicants disclosing the information through the personal or referee statement. • Caring responsibilities • Estranged from their family • Armed forces/ex-military veteran. QMU has a very similar percentage of males to females to the national picture (differences of 1%). The data on mature students shows that the gender split is far less pronounced, and the conversion rates are much higher, which may be evidence of the work QMU staff are doing with applicants entering QMU through alternative routes. We will continue to address this issue as part of outcomes set out in our Mainstreaming Report and Equality Outcomes. Sections 6 and 8 of this Agreement describe progress in and our continued commitment to advancing the position of women in Research and through our governance structures.
Contextualised Admissions. The University has employed the use of contextualised admissions for a number of years, with minimum entry requirements published for all degree programmes. However, over the course of 2017/18 significant steps are being taken to enhance the provision of contextualised offers, with immediate impact in 2018, but more substantially, in relation to applicant knowledge, in 2019. Work will shortly be finalised on updating the information, to be published in the 2019 Prospectus, and in turn, published online. New access thresholds are also being developed, which will allow two sets of minimum offers to be published. This will specifically allow easy identification of the offer that those who meet eligible widening access criteria need to meet, setting it aside from standard minimum requirements.
Contextualised Admissions. The University adjusted its contextualised undergraduate admissions policy in 2016 following evaluation that showed previous practice, based on school performance, was not sufficiently effective in improving access for students from lower participation neighbourhoods. As a result, we amended our policy ahead of confirmation and clearing, to take account of an applicant’s neighbourhood in addition to the performance of their school/college to allow a more considered assessment of each application now that this information is available through UCAS. Although introduced late in the cycle, amending our approach has resulted in a very significant improvement in the recruitment of students from low participation neighbourhoods, with a 20% improvement from 4.4% to 5.3% in 16/17. This has enabled us to meet our target. This change in approach has been rolled out to the 2017 cycle and is used as part of our contextualised offer-making strategy which takes into consideration an applicant’s neighbourhood, carer status, extenuating circumstances and if they have attend an access programme. We anticipate the proportion of LPN Q1 students will increase further in 17/18. We are keen to refine our approach in 18/19 to take account of a range of indicators of disadvantage. We have been working with UCAS to define multiple equality measures on which to base a more sophisticated contextualised admissions process going forward, but progress has been slower than expected due to issues relating to access to data. We will continue to work on this approach with the aim of revising our admissions policy for future recruitment cycles.
Contextualised Admissions. 8.2.1 Access is not always about socio-economic deprivation as described by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Barriers to higher education are found in many other forms. This is why the contextual admissions process in place at St Xxxxxxx is not reliant on a single measure but uses multiple access markers to enable us to put into context the achievements of all applicants and assess potential. This contextual admissions process is research-based14 and seeks to ensure that the University employs a more comprehensive and sophisticated understanding of deprivation than SIMD measures alone. Access Codes used for 2016-17 entry applications A1 Student who have been out of education for more than 3 years without ever attending university A2A SWAP access applicant A3 Xxxxxx Trust Summer School applicant A4 Applicant from low progression school X0X Xx Xxxxxxx specific access initiative A6ARC Applicant from an ARC region. Rural Access Project A6 Applicant from SHEP programmes A6R REACH applicants A720 Applicant identified disadvantaged (SIMD20) A740 Applicant identified disadvantaged (SIMD20/40) A7C Applicant has spent time in care
Contextualised Admissions. Our recruitment and admissions strategy is an important element of our commitment to increase applicants and entrants from non-traditional groups. Our Contextual Admissions Policy was developed in 2014, and takes into account the context of an applicant’s academic achievement, giving consideration to a range of factors that may have impacted on attainment. Data from a range of sources informs decision making, including wider contextual data provided by the Scottish Government, UCAS and partner widening participation programmes, and information provided by the applicant. Our contextualised admissions policy is based on the following key principles: • Fairness – we will strive to use admission assessment methods that are reliable and valid. • Transparency – details of our entry requirements will be published in our prospectus and on our website and will be clear and transparent to applicants and their advisers. • Reflect our community – we are committed to admitting as wide a range of applicants as possible to reflect our community. • Encourage participation – we will minimise barriers to applicants and encourage student persistence, progression and retention through our targeted pre-entry and transition support services. The policy ensures that each application received by the University is considered carefully on its own merits, taking into account educational, professional and personal experience. We will continue to identify and share best practice in the use of contextual admissions in a way that supports our aspirations, informs decision-making and encourages more applications from all backgrounds. As noted in Section
Contextualised Admissions. The University welcomes the SFC’s recognition of the importance of using contextual data in admissions. The University of Edinburgh was one of the first in the UK, and the first in Scotland, to use contextual data in admissions, having done so since 2004. We remain at the forefront of developments in contextualised admissions. The University is represented on the National Contextual Data Group chaired by Supporting Professionalism in Admissions (SPA) and is one of 11 case studies in the SPA research report ‘Fair Admissions to Higher Education: the use of contextual data in admissions at a sample of universities and colleges in the UK’ (2012). We recognise that not all applicants have had an equal opportunity to evidence their academic potential. Through our use of contextual data in admissions, we seek to identify those from different social, economic, cultural and educational backgrounds who have the potential to succeed at Edinburgh. The University regularly refines its use of contextual data in admissions on the basis of internal evidence and the findings of UK research. We are currently investigating the potential use in admissions of geodemographic data relating to socio-economic status indicators, including the ACORN, POLAR2 and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) classifications. This analysis is being carried out in order to inform the potential use of geodemographic data alongside other contextual data already used in the admissions processes at the University of Edinburgh. The timeline for the work is therefore dictated by the admissions cycle. The initial work regarding SIMD will be completed by September 2012, in time for the start of the 2013/14 admissions cycle. Further work on SIMD and ACORN will be done by September 2013, ahead of the 2014/15 admissions cycle. We also work collaboratively to share good practice in this area. For example, the LEAPS partners signed up voluntarily to an admissions pledge in 1995. The LEAPS admissions pledge can be found here: xxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/admissions- pledge.html. We highlight our admissions principles on our website and in our prospectus here xxxx://xxx.xx.xx.xx/studying/undergraduate/applications-admissions/principles and here xxxx://xxx.xx.xx.xx/studying/undergraduate/applications- admissions/selection/select Target groups SIMD20 We are analysing the reasons for SIMD 20 applicants that do not convert. We will develop an evidence base of the reasons behind this (e.g. declining our offe...
Contextualised Admissions. The University has a new contextualised admissions policy (available here) to underpin efforts in this area. It has employed the use of contextualised admissions for a number of years, with minimum entry requirements published for all degree programmes. However, over the course of 2017/18 significant steps are being taken to enhance the provision of contextualised offers, with immediate impact in 2018, but more substantially, in relation to applicant knowledge, in 2019. Work will shortly be finalised on updating the information, to be published in the 2019 Prospectus, and in turn, published online. New access thresholds are also being developed, which will allow two sets of minimum offers to be published. This will specifically allow easy identification of the offer that those who meet eligible widening access criteria need to meet, setting it aside from standard minimum requirements.
