Student Success. Our Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning Strategy states “we seek to ensure that those from groups under-represented in HE are encouraged to progress to the University and that we meet individual needs to enable them to succeed”. We aim to maintain a high level of student retention and to improve employability for all students, with a particular focus on those from under-represented or disadvantaged groups. Drawing on our Assessment of Progress in section 2.1 above, key areas of focus for 2018-19 are: • Continuous improvement in continuation of young full-time first degree entrants from low participation neighbourhoods • Continuous improvement in continuation of BME students and white working class male students • Improvement in degree outcomes for BME students as compared with white students (narrowing the gap in achievement of 1st and 2(i) degrees) • Continuous improvement in employability and progression to further study for all our students from under-represented groups, especially BME and white working class male students We will therefore engage students in a suite of initiatives which support these aims, including those outlined below. We will monitor uptake by, and impacts on, students from postcodes with low HE participation rates, disabled students, BME students, male students, care leavers, young adult carers, and mature students. • The University offers a broad academic skills programme. This includes approximately 70 generic workshops and 350 one-to-one appointments each year. Our SkillsNet pages on Canvas and the Intranet provides online support and regularly updated academic skills resources. Academic skills advisers work with programme leaders and course tutors on early intervention methods to encourage greater numbers of failing students to access support, particularly those from under- represented groups. Trained Student Peer Mentors (SMART Buddies) will continue to support students with their academic skills. • In the academic year 2016/17, the university ran Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) schemes on three programmes, with 29 second and third year students facilitating weekly PAL sessions for their first year peers. Results from this have provided a strong rationale for rolling out the scheme to more programmes in 2018/19. We will continue to evaluate the impact on retention and progression, targeting programmes for PAL interventions that have lower retention rates for under-represented groups. • Academic Skills staff liaise regula...
Student Success. UCLan’s student support mechanisms are wide ranging and impressive and, given the profile of our student body, we commit considerable resources to initiatives designed to smooth the transition of our students into HE; support them and maximise engagement during their critical first year of study; develop strong communities of learning and cohort identity to strengthen academic performance from under-represented groups; re-engage those students who have withdrawn or who are at risk of withdrawing; and provide specialist support for students with specific needs associated with, for example, disability or family hardship. Increasingly, however, we are also placing much more emphasis on working proactively with students to encourage and help them to make the most of the opportunities available to them, both as part of and in addition to their academic programmes and to build networks to support their future success. We believe that this is essential if we are to address the challenges to “social mobility” likely to be experienced by many of our students, and in particular those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. We have been encouraged by early signs of improvement in student retention and progression, but this, together with the overall success of our students, remains a key institutional priority. As reported in our 2014-15 Access Agreement one of the ways we are addressing the challenges is to bring a number of disparate initiatives together in a more integrated approach to the management of the “student journey”, focussing on interventions through the full student lifecycle and on student engagement and the development of leadership skills. A series of focussed student engagement activities and high energy ‘student engagement weeks’ are being delivered and further ones are planned across the University to ensure that all students are engaged with their learning journey throughout their time at UCLan and with all the opportunities that are available to them grow and develop. These activities specifically relate to the more vulnerable periods for student engagement (for example after vacations, before or after assessment periods) and to students who are returning to education in terms of identifying opportunities for buddying, volunteering and additional study opportunities (such as languages). Additionally two new ‘Future Leaders Programmes’ have been developed. In their first year of operation 60% of students attending were from low participation or ...
Student Success. Retention and achievement are seen as key indicators in Higher and Further Education particularly in the context of widening participation. The College seeks to maintain or improve its retention and achievement while setting improvement milestones in widening participation. Curriculum development seeks to ensure that the following mechanisms are available on all courses to support student success:
Student Success. The underlying principle of our approach to retention and student success is to engender, from the very outset, a sense of belonging both within the institution and within the relevant subject area. We will further embed our pre-entry mentoring scheme in order to better support potentially vulnerable students from the outset. We will continue to actively monitor the concerns of these students, even before they commence their studies, to provide the support they require. This will further inform our future mainstream communications strategies with applicants and students and will help inform our early proactive student support strategies. Our activities remain evidence-based and we have undertaken extensive research into the student experience in the very early days of their attendance. We will use the outcomes of this research to further enhance the early student experience to ensure we effectively engage students during their enrolment, at Welcome Sunday, Freshers’ Week and throughout their induction. In doing so, we recognise the importance of taking a whole institutional approach across central support services such as Academic Registry and Student Services as well as the primary focus at Departmental and Programme level. Working in partnership with the SU is also vital as they make an invaluable contribution to creating an early sense of belonging through their investment in Freshers’ Week and in engaging students in a broad range of groups and societies. Recognising the impact concerns about money can have on student success, we have recently invested in Blackbullion, a tailored online Student Financial Education Service designed to give students the crucial money management know-how that will serve them prior to starting university, whilst at University, and also assist them into transitioning into their working life. Financial education can make a real difference by equipping students with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to make sound financial decisions, to weigh up risk and reward, and understand how personal finances affect other areas of their lives. Through empowering students to take control of their finances we can positively impact on the student experience as well as retention, attainment and employability. Success of this online tool will be gauged through monitoring the retention and success of students who engage with the service. Student ‘money-buddies’ have also been employed in supportive roles to work with their peers ...
Student Success. Current activity in the area of employability is evaluated by a variety of stakeholders, including students, staff, graduates and employers. A range of short and medium term measures are summarised in Table 6.0 (Appendix 1). The evaluation strategy will be built on to include the impact and outcomes of more targeted activities, including the development of a suite of medium-term student success ‘health indicators’ that go beyond simply measuring graduate employment.
Student Success. How does a statewide, uniform online education platform impact student outcomes at the course and program level? How does it impact degree completion and transfer, including both changes in completion/transfer rates and the efficiency with which students are able to achieve these goals?
Student Success. The University’s widening participation activity is closely linked to the HEFCE student life-cycle model and we recognise that graduate employability and progression can be best improved by taking action throughout a programme of study, rather than just towards graduation.15 We aim to help all students to develop their career potential and to achieve successful career outcomes, particularly those from non-traditional backgrounds. This entails a range of activities, within and outside the curriculum, both to raise students’ career aspirations and confidence, and to help them develop a good understanding of their personal and professional skills and competencies in the context of the graduate labour market. Employability and enterprise is built into the curriculum and delivered through a programme of co-curricular activity through Bath Spa Plus. Support for students extends beyond graduation. See xxx.xxxxxxx.xx.xx/xxxx and xxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/ for further details. The HESA DLHE survey in Table 2.3 (Appendix 1) shows that in January 2010, 37.5% of the 2009 Bath Spa University graduate respondents were in graduate level employment. We aim to make significant improvements in this area.
Student Success. The targets and milestones to measure student success are based on provision of employability and enterprise support activity and participation in Bath Spa Plus/extra-curricular award and business/alumni mentoring schemes. As additional new activity is developed, further targets and milestones will be added.
Student Success. We have made good progress in relation to the student success targets we have set in previous Access Agreements but we recognise that we still have significant work to do in relation to closing the continuation rate gap between A Level and BTEC entrants where, in some areas, A Level students perform significantly better than BTEC entrants. This is in spite of BTEC candidates generally entering the University with higher UCAS tariff scores. Given the relatively high correlation between BTEC students and those from disadvantaged background, we have this as a priority area. We are also committed to making further progress on the attainment rate for BME students in comparison to the attainment for white students. Lifecycle Stage Target Description 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 Student Success Continuation rate for Yr1 BTEC/A level Entrants 79.7%/89.4% 78.7%/90.8% 79.1%/91.4% Attainment rate for BME/White Students 43.7%/67.8% 50.2%/70.6% 53.5%/70.7%
Student Success. Align continuation rates for Yr1 A’ Level and BTEC Entrants. Align attainment rates for BME and White students.
