Monitoring and evaluation arrangements Monitoring of the targets and milestones identified within this Access Agreement is addressed on an on-going basis through the use of the University’s management information system, which is updated as new data becomes available (overnight in some cases) and presents key performance data for use by the University Board, Academic Board and its sub-committees, the Senior Leadership Team, Colleges, Schools and Services. In addition, as part of our new strategy, we are enhancing our ability to monitor impacts at the more detailed level, through arrangements to track the progress of students involved in specific initiatives or in receipt of financial support and overall monitoring of any differentials in levels of access, retention, attainment and progression by equality characteristics and other factors known to impact on these aspects of the student lifecycle. As we have referenced throughout this agreement, we regularly collect feedback on the impact of individual initiatives and programmes of activity and take soundings from students on the appropriateness and effectiveness of the support arrangements we have established. We are in the process of purchasing the HEAT database, which will provide longitudinal tracking and enable us to assess the effectiveness and impact of our access and student success initiatives, and we are hoping for this to be in place by September 2016. We monitor annually the progression of students from HE courses offered through partner organisations to ‘top-up’ courses at UCLan and progression of students from the foundation year programmes and are working to identify any particular groups which may require intervention and support. The University is exploring its institutional data in more detail to identify different aspects of under-representation within the access, success and progression remits to inform our approaches moving forward. As referenced earlier in the document, we also draw on findings from national research and evaluation to ensure we are able to maximise the impact of our activities and resources and support our students effectively in fulfilling their full potential. Our Access Agreements are monitored through reports to the university’s Student Experience Committee, which is a sub-committee of Academic Board and is chaired by the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience). The Students’ Union is represented on this Committee. Overall responsibility for the Access Agreement resides with our Pro Vice-Chancellor, who is also a member of Student Experience Committee. The detailed work to develop our Access Agreements and coordinate evaluation of the impact of work in this area is undertaken by a working group, which is chaired by our Pro Vice-Chancellor. This group includes representatives of university services responsible for the operational delivery of the activities described and the Students’ Union. Operational management and delivery of outreach activity is delegated to the Director of Marketing & Communications; responsibility for student support and careers services is delegated to the Director of LIS; and responsibility for meeting course-level retention targets lies with the Heads of School and Executive Deans, each reporting in to their Executive Team lead. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY In designing this access agreement, the university has paid due regard to equality and diversity. UCLan is strongly committed to its equality and diversity responsibilities across the full range of its activities as a provider of higher education. Throughout the student lifecycle we actively promote equality, diversity and inclusion by providing diverse entry routes to our degree courses and a suite of interventions and support tailored to ensure students achieve their full potential regardless of prior attainment. Our access agreement is closely linked to our equality and diversity work. For example we have expanded the suite of foundation entry year courses to provide non-standard access to all our undergraduate degrees. The study skills and learning support to smooth the transition to higher education embedded within the curriculum are designed to further strengthen, and ensure, student success. Our access agreement and equality and diversity focus are both intended to fulfil our key commitment of providing equality of opportunity to all, supporting the rights and freedoms of our diverse community and fostering good relations and understanding between groups. We are meeting the specific duties of the Equality Act 2010 and Public Sector Equality Duty (2011) and publishing a breadth of student and staff equality and diversity information at: xxx.xxxxx.xx.xx/xxxxxxxxxxx0000 Our vision is strongly focused on achieving equality of outcomes. Our strategic equality and diversity plan and objectives are in the process of being reviewed and updated, but are currently: Monitoring the staff and student diversity profiles. Ensuring that student applications, enrolments, retention, satisfaction, attainment and employability outcomes for students from diverse groups are on a par with or outperform the wider student body. Ensuring that staff applications, appointments, satisfaction, retention, progression and training for staff from diverse groups are on a par with or outperform the wider staff body. Ensuring that we inspire inclusive learning communities and develop curricula which are accessible, challenging, engaging and meet the needs of diverse groups of students, in terms of design, delivery, content, mode of learning, assessment and achievement. Ensuring that our approach to developing and implementing interventions is evidence- based, research informed, monitored and evaluated. Ensuring that all our staff are equipped with skills, training and development programmes to ensure they have the confidence, knowledge and skills to deal with diversity issues on a daily basis. We celebrate, through multi layered activities and rewards, our diversity and discuss and debate key institutional and sector diversity issues. In support of this, we continue to lead, participate and engage in a range of internal and external equality networks, activities and events to promote equality, diversity and inclusion. We also strive to achieve a range of external equality awards and accreditations, such as the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU)’s Xxxxxx XXXX and Race Equality Charter Marks. We currently hold an Institutional Xxxxxx XXXX Bronze Award and are working towards several other awards. We also hold Stonewall Champions, Two Ticks and Mindful Employer accreditations. This work allows us to focus our attentions to specific protected groups, benefiting both students and staff. We further participate in ECU projects such as our pending “Increasing Diversity: Recruiting students from under- representative groups” project. Our Students’ Union is active in its support for equality, diversity and inclusion, with dedicated Officers focusing on the needs of BME, trans, lesbian and gay, disabled and women students. We undertake regular monitoring, produce meaningful student equality and diversity information across the range of student lifecycle stages and make this available to staff to interrogate and inform their approaches. E&D Leads in Academic areas monitor performance, benchmark it and identify areas of under-representation or disparities in satisfaction, retention or attainment locally between groups of students due to protected characteristics and socio-economic background. Reports feed into Committee structures and periodic course reviews evaluate trends and discuss actions planned. As noted above, institutionally we have identified that we have an ethnicity attainment gap between our UK-domiciled White and BME students, which we are committed to reducing. A University-wide working group is enabling us to take this work forward. By engaging closely with the sector and other HEIs we keep abreast of latest research and findings and share best practice with other HEIs in steps taken to address attainment differences. We are pleased to have been selected to participate in the ECU’s Increasing diversity: recruiting students from underrepresented groups project, through which we will be exploring opportunities to transfer methodologies used to increase Muslim student participation to other underrepresented groups. We will continue to closely monitor and evaluate activities to consider the impact on protected equality groups, which will help inform our work and provide an evidence-base to set future actions. PROVISION OF INFORMATION TO PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS UCLan is committed to publishing clear and accessible information to existing and prospective students on the fees we intend to charge and the financial support we offer. We do this through the following channels: ‘Student life’ and ‘Money’ pages on our website Talks and publications at Open and Applicant Days Pre-entry information mailings and electronic communications to applicants Public engagement events Displaying leaflets and guidance information in public places Staff advising students at recruitment fairs and open days or working with under-represented groups through a wide range of outreach activities. We are also committed to providing timely, accurate information to UCAS and the Student Loans Company so they can populate their course databases in good time to inform applicants. CONSULTING WITH STUDENTS Student views are highly valued within UCLan and are sought on a wide variety of matters, through a range of mechanisms including representation on all senior committees, including Academic Board and University Board, feedback at course and School level, and meetings between the SU and the Senior Management Team. In compiling this Access Agreement the University has, as with all previous Agreements, consulted with the Students’ Union (SU), but this year the SU has joined the University’s working group and taken an active role in developing the Agreement from the beginning of the process. The University has valued this level of input and intends to follow this approach in future years.
