Assessment of Access Record. The University has a robust track record in Widening Participation which is a central plank of the University’s mission and which we intend to maintain. This has involved many years of deliberate activity, working with schools and colleges in the region to raise aspiration. Our success is borne out by all the HESA Performance Indicators where we perform above both the sector average and our benchmark on every indicator except for students in receipt of DSA where we show slightly below the national average despite providing support to an increasing number of students with specific learning needs. The University has made concerted efforts to improve information and support to students who may be entitled to DSA and internal statistics indicate that the next set of published data will show performance above benchmark for this group. A selection of other access indicators is given below: Category Characteristic Actual % Benchmark % National Average % Young FT NS SEC classes 4/5/6/7 42.2 40.0 32.3 Young FT Low participation neighbourhoods 21.8 14.4 10.9 All Mature FT No previous HE qualification and LPN 15.1 12.9 11.7 Data from HESA Performance Indicators published 2014 Whilst the University’s performance on Access measures is strong, the infrastructure support necessary to achieve this is high and will need to continue if our success in this area is to be maintained. The loss of the Aimhigher programme continues to be addressed through our work with schools and we believe this to be central to raising aspiration in low-participation and deprived neighbourhoods. Discussions are taking place with other NW universities in terms of collaborative approaches but these remain at an early stage. In addition, whilst we have improved the representation of black and minority ethnic students in recent years, we believe there is more we can do in this area. We are also concerned to address the growing under-representation of young men in higher education which is particularly apparent in the professional areas of teaching and pre-registration nursing but is also affecting many of the traditional arts and humanities subject disciplines. Tracking and monitoring the effectiveness of our activities in these areas is further discussed in the section on Outreach. Enrolling more than 20 new students this year, the University is proud of its record in raising aspiration amongst Care Leavers and our collaborative work with other universities through the Xxxxx Xxxxxx Trust to reach ...
Assessment of Access Record. The University has a robust track record in Widening Participation which is a central plank of the University’s mission and which we intend to maintain. This has involved many years of deliberate activity, working with schools and colleges in the region to raise aspiration. Our success is borne out by all the HESA Performance Indicators where we perform above both the sector average and our benchmark on every indicator except for part-time students in receipt of DSA where although we perform above benchmark, we are slightly below the national average. A selection of indicators is given below: Category Characteristic Actual % Benchmark % National Average % Young FT NS SEC classes 4/5/6/7 41.0 37.6 30.0 Young FT Low participation neighbourhoods 21.3 13.9 10.3 All Mature FT No previous HE qualification and LPN 18.6 13.3 12.0 All FT DSA 5.9 5.3 4.8 Whilst the University’s performance on Access measures is strong the infrastructure support necessary to achieve this is high and will need to continue if our success in this area is to be maintained. The loss of the Aim Higher programme will need to be addressed, including the work with younger children which we believe to be central to raising aspiration in low-participation and deprived neighbourhoods. In addition, whilst we have improved the representation of black and minority ethnic students in recent years, we believe there is more we can do in this area. We are also concerned to address the growing under-representation of young men in higher education which is particularly apparent in the professional areas of teaching and pre-registration nursing but is also affecting many of the traditional arts and humanities subject disciplines.
