university of brighton: access agreement 2013-14 · 2018. 7. 10. · university of brighton: access...
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University of Brighton: Access Agreement 2013-14
In considering its tuition fees for 2013-14 the University of Brighton has taken into consideration its
funding position, the costs of delivery for its full range of courses, its high level of student demand
and the quality of the student experience. We have also had to take into account the uncertainties
around the future funding of learning and teaching in HE and student number controls.
This fee and access agreement sets out our intention to deliver education of the highest possible
quality. We will ensure the accessibility of all our courses through a comprehensive programme of
support that starts in local primary schools and extends to assisting our graduates into their chosen
professional careers.
Full-time fees and fee income above £6,000 and part-time fees and fee
income above £4,500
We propose to charge the following fees for UK and EU entrants in 2013-14:
Course Fee
Full-time undergraduate courses (degree and
foundation degree)
£9,000
Full-time PGCE / PG ITT £9,000
Brighton and Sussex Medical School £9,000
Partner Colleges:
Sussex Downs College and Sussex Coast College
Hastings:
Full-time Foundation Degree
Full-time Degree top-up
City College Brighton and Hove:
Full-time Foundation Degree and Degree top-up
£7,000
£7,500
£7,500
We intend to charge part-time students on a pro rata basis, up to the maximum permitted
fee of £6,750.
We intend to charge any permitted real terms rises in the fee for 2014-15 onwards.
Students who commence their studies in 2013-14 and who later take a sandwich year out
will be charged £750 for that year.
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Expenditure on additional access measures
The University of Brighton has a long-standing and well evidenced commitment to widening
participation and fair access. On both absolute and benchmark measures against the key HESA
performance indicators we can be shown to be broadly mid-range in terms of both our number of
under-represented students and our performance on non-continuation, in relation to the sector as a
whole.
As the section on milestones and targets demonstrates we intend both to sustain our strongest
areas of performance, and to make progress on other indicators in the context of what will be a very
challenging period for recruitment. To this end we propose to spend approximately 25% of our
additional fee income above £6,000 on measures to support access and retention (10% of additional
fees for new full-time PGCE / PG ITT). This amounts to an estimated annual amount of £7,254,000
by 2016-17. Together with our NSP government allocation this means a total package of £9 million.
Additional access and retention measures
The University of Brighton has considered the advice from OFFA in relation to the balance of
expenditure on the range of access measures it will employ. In particular we welcome the new
emphasis on measures to support retention and student success, and the opportunity to support
some of the activity previously funded by the Aimhigher Sussex programme, hosted by Brighton. It
is our intention therefore to re-balance our expenditure in order to provide a more tightly focused
strand of financial support and a greater balance of expenditure on outreach and retention.
In “steady state” the university proposes to devote £1.5m of its total additional access expenditure
to outreach activity and £2m to additional retention activity – in total an expenditure of £3.5m on
both outreach and retention.
Expenditure on outreach and retention as set out in this agreement will all be “countable” – that is it
is either expenditure counted in our previous access agreement that we will be continuing to make,
or it will be expenditure on new measures.
Outreach
The University of Brighton will continue to build on the success of its well established outreach
programme. In particular, we will additionally develop the following strands:
Key partnerships with local schools, colleges and community groups
Ensuring the bulk of our provision is targeted at those who need it most
Contextual admissions
Embedding widening participation into the curriculum
Encouraging students to interact with their local community
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Summer and Spring School
Supporting care leavers
Links with outreach teams in other HEIs
The existing outreach programme is long established, and University of Brighton WP staff currently
make over 9,000 interventions per year. We intend to focus our provision further by dividing our
activities into four levels of intensity. The lower two categories, which require less resources, will be
delivered to large groups in schools and colleges with significant non-traditional learner populations.
The higher two categories will be primarily available to identified widening participation groups
through our Aimhigher Brighton Collaboration (ABC) and Compact Plus schemes. Higher level
activities will include summer schools, mentoring programmes and attainment raising programmes
chosen based on sector evidence of previous success. It is our intention that these activities, which
require significant resources and intensive staff time, should be targeted at those who need support
the most.
The ABC programme is open to pupils in Year 10 and 11 at local secondary schools who fall into non-
traditional categories. The overarching ethos of the programme is a responsive collaboration
between the University, schools, parents and the pupils. In 2013-14 we anticipate active
collaboration with 20 schools, working with a significant number of other schools at a less intensive
level.
Post-16 students who have participated in ABC will automatically be invited to join the Compact Plus
programme. Compact Plus will be a programme of enhanced support for students from non-
traditional backgrounds, and is complementary to the University of Brighton Compact (our county
wide educational liaison initiative), which is available to all colleges and sixth forms in Sussex.
Although our targeted support schemes are intended to support participants’ choices to apply to any
HEI, should students apply to the University of Brighton they will be eligible to apply for the Compact
Plus bursary and extra consideration for an offer based on their participation in the scheme. It is our
intention, pending satisfactory Criminal Record Bureau checks, to employ previous Compact Plus
participants as University of Brighton WP Ambassadors, specifically to work with their former
schools and colleges as positive role models.
As a result of our commitment to the local community, the University has a well established scheme
working with primary schools in low participation areas across Sussex. Previously franchised from
the University of Liverpool, we have developed our own project – Professor C. Gull – with generous
help from alumnus Chris Riddell. The main aim of the project is to introduce the language of HE to
participating children, and encourage them to view university as accessible and welcoming. We plan
to build on this deep rooted and widely respected project by delivering spin off sessions in ABC
schools for their incoming Year 7 cohorts, joining up our aims with the transitional objectives of the
schools.
The University has a commitment to the town of Hastings, an area of significant social and economic
deprivation, as part of its Economic and Social Engagement Strategy. Specifically, the University is
the lead sponsor of two academies in Hastings. Sponsorship commenced in 2008, and the
academies, which replaced three under-performing schools, opened in 2011. The University has
played a central role in the development of the curriculum in the academies, and now manages the
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Trust and assists the schools in the development of policy, innovative learning, teaching activities
and CPD strategy. The project has resulted in an improvement trajectory: GCSE achievement has
improved considerably, although significant challenges remain. The academies have ambitious
targets for GCSE attainment and, from that, progression to further study. Our Registry WP section
has a full time member of staff based at our campus in Hastings with a specific remit to respond to
the needs of the academies, and we plan for this to continue in the future.
Alongside our commitment to the Sussex community, we also plan to work with greater numbers of
schools in low participation neighbourhoods in London and Kent, with a long term objective of
extending our targeted support schemes in these areas.
Building on the considerable work already undertaken in our academic schools, such as the sports
tasters in the Chelsea School, mentoring in the School of Education and community outreach in the
Faculty of Arts, the academic faculties of the University will further develop outreach activities which
make the most of their subject based expertise and facilities. For example, we currently run a
successful fashion school across the academic year and we hope to replicate this type of subject
relevant activity in other academic schools across the University. We believe our rich and diverse
academic community has much to offer in exciting and innovative projects, delivered via the
framework of our ABC and Compact Plus schemes.
The University intends to embed widening participation further into the fabric of the institution. We
have a long tradition of serving our local community and we believe that our students should have
access to opportunities to understand and support local non-traditional learners in their attainment
and aspirations. The development of optional modules for University of Brighton students, in which
they mentor local young people in a subject related to their degree, will be a priority as we believe
this approach has great benefits for all participants.
The University has for the last few years been involved with a project to develop a Regional Strategy
to tackle the under-recruitment and under-representation of BME teacher trainees in the South East
Region, and the University’s ITE Co-ordinator chairs the Steering Group of this BME Recruitment and
Retention in ITE Project. It is intended to review work undertaken to date in terms of both outreach
and retention with a view to developing it further in the future. In general, our range of post-16
advice and guidance workshops are regularly delivered to BTEC and Access students in local colleges
who are interested in applying to Teaching related courses. We respond to a number of requests for
workshops on writing strong personal statements specifically for applicants to Teaching courses, and
we also deliver mock interviews and interview skills workshops for non-traditional students on
request, and personal statement surgeries to help strengthen applications. From 2012 students
identified as belonging to WP cohorts will be offered a student shadowing experience, which will
enable applicants to Teaching courses to understand more about how the course is taught.
The University is proud of achieving the Frank Buttle Kite mark for supporting care leavers, and for
recruiting increasing numbers of this particularly under represented group. We continue to work
closely with the Virtual School in East Sussex, offering one to one visits and support, as well as our
targeted Spring School. We hope to extend our enhanced support offer to Virtual Schools in
Brighton and Hove and West Sussex in 2013-14.
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Partnership and collaboration
One of the shared values of the University of Brighton’s Corporate Plan is collaboration – being a
good partner locally, regionally, nationally, internationally – being responsive as well as proactive.
The University of Brighton recognises the importance of sharing best practice in outreach and
collaborative activity. We are proactive members of a number of networks – chiefly the Southern
Widening Participation Practitioners Network – and work closely with local institutions such as the
University of Chichester and the University of Portsmouth in using the Higher Education Access
Tracker database to monitor the impact of our targeted outreach work. This is a significant
investment by the University and we believe data collaboration of this kind will be vital in the
understanding of activity impact on individual WP participants.
We also believe that participants in our outreach programme will benefit greatly by visiting different
universities to help inform them of the range of options to best suit their aspirations and choices. To
this end, we will be arranging for pupils in our ABC cohort to visit University College London and
Churchill College, Cambridge. We will also invite representatives from these institutions to speak at
the parental information evenings we will hold for entrants to the ABC programme to give a fuller
national picture of HE provision. We are currently working closely with our local FE partner colleges
– City College Brighton and Hove, Sussex Downs College, Plumpton College and Sussex Coast College
Hastings – many of whom have directly funded numbers of students for the first time, on outreach
and expect this will lead to significant collaborative activity in future years. We will also be seeking
out new local and national collaborative agreements that best fit our developing schemes.
The University shares a collaborative outreach project with the University of Sussex, based in the
Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). BrightMed, which is the outreach programme of BSMS
recruits 50 Year 8 pupils each year from local state schools and who have no family background in
higher education, and continues on to Year 13. The project aims to contribute towards increased
diversity in the medical profession.
Retention: Supporting student success
Our outreach work will be aligned with subsequent support for retention so that, for instance, work
done to guide students pre-entry will aim to give them a solid base on which to build on arrival at
university.
The University has chosen to allocate very substantial investment to additional retention measures.
Our aim is not only to recruit a wide range of students – building on our already good record in this
area – but to do everything we can to ensure they have a successful university experience and that
we support them into graduate employment. Our new programme of support for student success
will focus on targeted support for students from lower socio-economic groups, for mature students,
care leavers and students with disabilities, in the context of an overall approach to retention and
student success that is embedded in work across all our campuses. We will take a targeted
approach to the elements of expenditure on “embedded” measures to identify the proportions that
go in particular to support our target groups for the purpose of this access agreement.
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This additional investment will enable Brighton to develop new measures and expand current work
across the following strands:
Better pre-entry and transition support to complement our new “Student Charter”
Dedicated student support tutors and enhanced personal tutoring
Peer assisted study sessions (PASS)
Maths and Statistics support available to individual students
Study skills support
Learning support officers for students with disabilities
Enhanced career planning, employability and internship support with dedicated mentoring
and coaching for non-traditional students
Work to support students post-graduation
Partnership work with the Students’ Union to support retention, which might include for
example, work on pre-entry activities and advice and the development of subject focussed
student societies.
In particular we will be expanding and developing our current model of student support tutors.
These are embedded in academic schools and we will be targeting additional resource where
retention is weakest, and developing the role to include more support for pre-entry guidance and a
specific role in tracking and engaging with our Compact Plus students, care leavers and other
underrepresented groups. We also plan to expand significantly our Peer Assisted Study Sessions
which can be evidenced as improving achievement and developing confidence and leadership skills.
Financial support for students
The University of Brighton has been provisionally allocated £1,170,000 for the second year of the
National Scholarship Programme (NSP). We will not only match this, and subsequent year
allocations, but make additional contributions to the NSP programme. For the 2013-14 entry cohort
we intend to spend over all years of study, a total of £3.1m, of which 39% will be the Government
NSP contribution and 61%, c. £1.9m will be from the University.
By 2016 our overall commitment to financial support will be £3,704,000, which together with our
£1,755,000 allocation from the NSP will make a total of £5,459,000 available to support University of
Brighton students financially. In line with the OFFA advice, the emphasis on University of Brighton
bursaries will move away from general bursaries based primarily on income alone to a number of
targeted bursaries linked to the milestones that the University has set itself in this Access
Agreement.
Students at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) comprise equal numbers of students
registered at the Universities of Sussex and Brighton. It is intended that these students all have
access to the same financial support package, and therefore that University of Brighton students at
BSMS will be eligible for the University of Sussex National Scholarship Programme and any other
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financial support scheme operated by the University of Sussex, rather than for the Brighton
arrangements set out below.
National Scholarship Programme (NSP)
There will be two schemes using NSP funding – the Care Leaver’s Bursary and the Widening Access
Bursary. Eligibility criteria for these are set out below. Both of these will give recipients £1,000 in
cash bursary, £1,000 in fee waiver, and a further £1,000 either in fee waiver or in discount against
university accommodation or other services, dependent on recipient choice. These awards will be
made to new entrants in their first year. In their second and third years students will, subject to the
re-application of qualifying criteria, receive £2,000: £1,000 in fee waiver and a further £1,000 for
recipient choice (either an additional fee waiver or discounted university services). This means that
any student in receipt of our national scholarship bursaries for each of their three years of study will
receive a potential £1,000 in cash, £3,000 in fee waivers and £3,000 in other discounted University
accommodation or other services or additional fee waivers, (and commensurate amounts for those
students on four year programmes). Students on sandwich, or placement, years charged at £750 will
not be eligible for the NSP in that year.
University of Brighton Care Leavers’ Bursary
Eligibility criteria:
Care leavers – students who fit the eligibility criteria for the current care leavers study grant.
Students living in supported housing – currently eligible for the Foyer Bursary
University of Brighton Widening Access Bursary
This bursary will be allocated using a number of criteria, and allocation will proceed through a
number of stages. The criteria include:
Financial - a declared income up to £25,000
Low Participation Neighbourhood: Polar 1
In subsequent years we hope to introduce a further criterion based on contextual data on schools
performance, depending on its availability via UCAS, and we may wish to add additional criteria to
the Widening Access Bursary, to ensure expenditure targets are met (this may include a proportion
of students in LPN 2).
For EU students and part-time students it is proposed to offer the following under our NSP:
EU Widening Access Bursary
This bursary will be available to EU students only with a household income up to £25,000.
The bursary is a £3,000 fee reduction in Year 1.
Part-time Widening Access Bursary
This bursary is available to part-time students (studying a minimum of 25% intensity of FTE)
with a declared income of up to £25,000 and from a low participation neighbourhood (Polar
1). The bursary is a £3,000 pro-rata fee reduction in Year 1.
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Additional Bursaries and Financial Support
There will be three additional bursaries outside the requirements of the NSP, together with a
University of Brighton Student Support Fund. These will all have the same primary eligibility criteria,
a declared income of up to £25,000. Although we plan to extend the income threshold for eligibility
for support from the Student Support Fund to up to £42,600. The total amount available in 2013-14
will be approximately £500,000.
University of Brighton Access to the Professions Bursary – £1,000 cash bursary for each
year of study
This bursary is designed to support access to courses leading to the professions where
barriers such as length of course and degree of selectivity may militate against take up from
lower income students. Eligibility will be based on income threshold (up to £25,000) for new
entrants studying a 4 year course leading to a recognised qualification in teaching and
pharmacy and 5 year course in Architecture.
University of Brighton Compact Plus Bursary - £2,000 bursary for each year of study (£1,000
fee waiver and £1,000 in cash)
To underpin the new Compact Plus concept that will replace the basic Aimhigher concept,
local students identified as Compact Plus will have access to a specific bursary. These
bursaries will be specifically targeted at students who have been identified through, and
participated in, our local widening participation programme. We will be working with
schools previously identified by Aimhigher Sussex using a range of indices of deprivation. On
application to the university students will already know that they are “Compact Plus”. The
Compact Plus bursary is for those CP students who are not eligible for our NSP bursary, but
who fulfil one or more of the following: children in care, young parents, disabled students,
first in family, income threshold of up to £25,000.
University of Brighton Disabled Athletes Scholarship – £1,000 cash bursary for each year of
study
Maintaining the current bursary. These scholarships are already in existence and the
programme has been run successfully for some years. Applicants should have represented
their sport at national or regional level or be able to demonstrate that they have the
potential to compete at these levels.
University of Brighton Student Support Fund
Similar to the existing ALF (funding for which is expected to reduce over time), students will
be able to apply for means tested support funds during their studies. This will allow those
students who are in real need (who in the past may have been eligible for a general
University of Brighton bursary), to receive one off payments (or reductions to university
services, such as accommodation). Allocation criteria will be linked to our Access Agreement
targets and will allow us to support students who fall within our broad access target groups
but who may not meet our other bursary thresholds – the intention is to open it to students
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with family incomes up to £42,600. Full-time PGCE / PG ITT students who meet the income
criteria and who are not eligible for the NSP, will also be eligible to apply (subject to
individual financial circumstances).
Targets and milestones
Detailed targets and milestones are set out at the end of this Agreement.
The majority of the ten targets we have chosen to set are based on the HESA widening participation
performance indicators and benchmarks and include those on state schools, NS-SEC classes 4-7, low
participation neighbourhoods, non-continuation and disabled students. The remainder relate to
increased enrolments of other specific under-represented groups of students, including care leavers
and Compact Plus students. These will be monitored using internal University of Brighton data.
The University of Brighton has a strong track record in performance on a number of the widening
participation performance indicators and the targets and milestones set out in this Access
Agreement aim either to maintain good performance (entrants from state schools and students in
receipt of DSA - above benchmark and sector), improve absolute performance (LPN) or to improve
performance in both absolute and relative terms (NS-SEC and non-continuation).
Three targets have been set with regard to achieving improvements in non-continuation rates to
reflect the increased and additional efforts in this area. Two are based on the HESA performance
indicators (full-time first degree entrants and young full-time first degree entrants from low
participation neighbourhoods), the other will be based on internal data, which analyses non-
continuation rates by NS-SEC.
The University has set targets that it believes are stretching given the changes being imposed from
2012 onwards and the significant challenges the sector as a whole faces as a result of the significant
increases in contributions expected from students.
As a result of the recently implemented changes to the student number controls across the sector
and the successful outcomes of our Partner College bids to HEFCE in this regard it has been
necessary to revisit a number of our previously approved targets and milestones, due to the impact
this will have on our student profile. Our performance indicators have been reviewed and the effect
of the removal of these numbers from our student cohort has been assessed. As such it has been
necessary to adjust slightly a number of our targets and milestones to reflect the change in our
student body. See the summary targets and milestones section at the end of this Agreement and
Annex B. We recognise that we may wish to revisit our targets in the future in the light of any other
significant changes to the context within which we are operating.
Also included are a range of targets and milestones around our outreach work. These continue to
build on existing work and the Widening Participation Outreach Plan produced in 2010. Our targets
include modest increases in the number of schools and pupils we work with. One of the aims is to
increase the intensity of the work for schools in the need of the most support. Our partner schools –
which have been targeted through analysis of a range of indices of mass deprivation – will be offered
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access to high and significant intensity activities such as Summer Schools, subject mentoring, subject
specific taster events and attainment raising programmes. These targets will be monitored and
evaluated through HEAT – a collaborative database developed from the records kept by Aimhigher
South East. Although we intend to continue with certain strands of aspiration raising mentoring
(such as our Suitable Boy and Primary mentoring programmes), we are planning to shift the main
emphasis of our intensive and continuous support for pupils to centre around subject specific
modules, which will be available to University of Brighton students on some courses, as we believe
such projects are beneficial to attainment raising and help raise the profile of WP across the
University. We also propose to convert our residential Summer School to a non-residential event to
enable us to redistribute our resources into developing more non-residential subject specific
Schools.
Monitoring and evaluation
The University of Brighton is undertaking a number of initiatives to evaluate the impact of WP
activities, and additional funding will be allocated under both the outreach and retention strands of
this agreement to develop and expand this work.
Responsibility for monitoring and evaluation of the two strands of activity under the Access
Agreement lies with two University committees; the Recruitment and Admissions Committee (RAC)
for the admissions phase and the Student Retention and Improvement Team (SRIT) for the retention
phase. The University’s Fees and Access Working Group (FAWG), chaired by the Deputy Vice-
Chancellor, oversees the development of the Access Agreement itself. Membership of this Group
includes a representative from the Students’ Union.
Financial support monitoring and evaluation
The University will be participating in the research project being carried out by the Centre for
Economic Performance at the London School of Economics into the effectiveness of bursaries and
their impact on student progression, achievement and success. In addition our own Student Finance
Survey Group will be reviewing a range of possible initiatives in this area to better understand the
impact of our bursaries and will collaborate with our Students’ Union as a source of further
information.
Widening Participation outreach monitoring and evaluation
We have significantly developed our process for evaluating outreach activity. All activities are
divided into four categories of varying intensity, with each category having a different level of
evaluation. The highest intensity projects, such as Summer Schools or mentoring programmes, have
pre-entry and exit questionnaires designed to assess changes in the participants’ attitude,
motivation, understanding and – if appropriate – attainment. In addition to this participants in ABC
and Compact Plus programmes will be asked to complete yearly questionnaires to monitor changes
over the course of the programme.
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The Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT), a collaborative database we participate in with 12
other HEIs, will allow us to attach evaluations for each activity to individual participants which
should give us latitude to evaluate individual projects and across our schemes.
We expect to analyse and assess the impact our activities are having on participants across the span
of our new ABC and Compact Plus programmes. We hope to be able to use the qualitative and
quantitative data we collect to monitor the effectiveness of our outreach provision and allow us to
responsively improve our portfolio of activities. Using HEAT we will be able to track the eventual
destination of the participants of our programmes. We will be seeking ways to share our research
with other institutions to identify best practice and high impact activity.
Contextual Admissions
If universities encourage applicants with disadvantaged and therefore possibly unconventional
educational backgrounds, then they must be ready to respond positively and creatively to these
applicants when they enter the admissions phase. Universities are already attempting to use
contextual data to assess applications in the holistic way described in the Schwartz Review. This
data is now more readily available via UCAS. New admissions processes are being investigated
(particularly in light of recent advice by SPA on contextual admissions practices) and will be
established by the University of Brighton for all applicants, but with a particular emphasis on
Compact Plus applicants. The University will also establish better statistical monitoring of these
cohorts to ensure effective impact of policies during the key admissions phase.
Retention
It is intended that part of the role of embedded support tutors will be to track the progress of
Compact Plus students and care leavers and evaluate the success of relevant interventions. The
expansion of the Peer Assisted Study Sessions scheme will continue to incorporate on-going
evaluation of both quantitative and qualitative outcomes.
Provision of information to prospective students
The University of Brighton will publish clear, accessible and timely information for applicants and
students on the fees that we charge and the financial support we offer. We will do this both through
our own institutional information channels, most particularly our website, and also through the
provision of information to UCAS, GTTR and the SLC in order to help them populate their applicant
facing web services.
We have consulted with our Students’ Union in drawing up this Access Agreement. We will continue
this dialogue in order, amongst other things, to ensure that our information to prospective students
is clear and easy to understand. Our Students’ Union is already represented on all key University
committees and will therefore participate in the consideration of our widening participation policies
and practices as they develop, particularly in the light of future impact analysis.
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Equality and Diversity
The University of Brighton is committed to developing an inclusive environment for all students,
staff and visitors, with diversity as a core value within our Strategic Plan. Our fifth Equality Objective
relates specifically to students and to the enhancement of the student experience. In this, the
objective explicitly mentions the role of our Access Agreement targets and milestones as a way of
measuring our progress, as well as the links between admissions, retention and student support
processes. This reflects the University’s desire to embed, or mainstream, the principles of equality
and diversity within all areas of its work.
The University has evaluated this agreement to determine whether it pays due regard to the
principles of the Equality Act (2010), and has carried out an appropriate Equality Analysis, based on
internal and sector monitoring data and with reference to good practice guidance provided by
HEFCE, Action on Access and the Equality Challenge Unit. These have not suggested that the OFFA
strategy outlined will have a detrimental effect on any particular equality group. The document
describes an approach which aims to provide fair access to university for applicants from low
participation neighbourhoods and from lower socio-economic backgrounds. This may have greater
impact on certain racial, age and disability groups, but this impact is not expected to be adverse
since the strategy introduces additional targeted initiatives rather than any reduction in support for
other groups.
Nevertheless, the University recognises the need to analyse applicant and student demographic
information within the general monitoring processes of this Access Agreement, where we currently
collect data (for Age, Disability, Gender and Race). The University already undertakes annual
demographic analysis of student admissions, progression and achievement as well as core processes
such as student complaints, academic appeals and disciplinary procedures according to these
characteristics. This public document is published on our website at www.brighton.ac.uk/equality.
It is envisaged that this analysis will be reviewed in the same way as other aspects of the Agreement.
We will continue to review and enhance our analysis of this data in the future.
FINAL DRAFT
SUBMITTED TO OFFA FOR APPROVAL
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SUMMARY FOR ACCESS AGREEMENT: Targets and Milestones
1 State schools and colleges: young full-time undergraduate entrants (T1b) UoB performance on this indicator has remained stable over the last few years at around 93% and always above benchmark and sector. Target is to maintain our position and remain above benchmark.
Young FT UG entrants (T1b) 10/11 09/10 08/09 07/08 06/07
PI (%) 93.7% 93.5 93.1 93.2 93
N = 3110 2940 2665 2330 2135
Difference from LA
benchmark
+2.1% +2.7 +2.8 +4.7 +4
LA Benchmark 91.6 90.8 90.3 88.5 89
Sector England 88.8 89 88.6 87.9 87.7
ACCESS AGREEMENT TARGET:
TARGET BASELINE
09/10
10/11 11/12 ANNUAL
12/13
MILSETONES
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
Monitoring
Maintain position and
above benchmark
93.5% 93.7% 93.5% 93.5% 93.5% 93.5% 93.5% 93.5% RAC
Annual WP PI report
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2 NS-SEC 4-7: young full-time undergraduate entrants (T1b) Data for 08/09 not comparable with other years. UoB performance on this indicator has seen a gradual increase since 2002/03 but usually just below benchmark and sector. Current year shows the biggest gap below benchmark for 5 years. Target is to improve our
position and move closer to our benchmark.
Young FT UG entrants (T1b) 10/11 09/10 08/09 07/08 06/07 05/06
PI (%) 29.4% 28.5 36.2 30.3 29.4 28.8
N = 820 745 870 675 645 655
Difference from LA
benchmark
-3.2% -2.5 0.8 0.1 -0.9 -0.7
LA Benchmark 32.6% 31 35.4 30.2 30.3 29.5
Sector England 31.4 30.9 33.3 30 30.3 29.6
ACCESS AGREEMENT TARGET:
TARGET BASELINE
09/10
10/11 11/12 ANNUAL
12/13
MILESTONES
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
Monitoring
Improve/move closer to
benchmark
28.5% 29.4% 28.5% 28.0% 28.5% 28.5% 29.0% 29.5% RAC
Annual WP PI report
Page 15 of 20
3 LPN: young full-time undergraduates (T1b) UoB position has always been above benchmark, although performance dipped last year. Current data shows improvement, although not back to original level. Target is to sustain our position above benchmark and
improve performance.
Young FT UG entrants (T1b) 10/11 09/10 08/09 07/08 06/07
PI (%) 9.6% 10.2 9.1 11.2 10.9
N = 320 330 280 315 305
Difference from LA BM +0.4 +1.1 +0.2 +2.8 +2.8
LA Benchmark 9.2% 9.1 8.9 8.4 8.1
Sector England 11% 10.9 10.6 10.3 10.1
ACCESS AGREEMENT TARGET:
TARGET BASELINE
09/10
10/11
11/12
ANNUAL
12/13
MILESTONES
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
Monitoring
Sustain position above
benchmark and improve
10.2% 9.6% 9.5% 10.0% 10.5% 10.5% 11.0% 11.5% RAC
Annual WP PI report
Page 16 of 20
4 Non-continuation: all full-time first degree entrants UoB position: non-continuation for all entrants has shown a gradual increase over the last few years but the most recent data shows a larger increase and performance over (negative) our benchmark. Target is to improve
our position and regain our previous position below benchmark.
FT First (young and mature)
degree entrants (T3a)
09/10 entry 08/09 entry 07/08 entry 06/07 entry 05/06 entry
PI (%) 12.2% 11 9.3 8.6 8.1
N = 455 380 290 265 250
Difference from LA benchmark +2.7% +2 -0.2 -0.9 -1.0
LA Benchmark 9.5% 9 9.5 9.5 9.1
Sector England 8.4% 7.8 8.4 8.7 8.3
ACCESS AGREEMENT TARGET:
TARGET BASELINE
09/10
10/11
11/12
ANNUAL
12/13
MILESTONES
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
Monitoring
Improve and regain position
below benchmark
11% 12% 11% 10% 10% 9% 9% 8% SRIT/ASC
Annual Retention report
Page 17 of 20
5 Non-continuation – LPNs Summary UoB position: non-continuation for LPNs has shown a sharp increase in the most recent year (NB numbers are small) and is for the first time in 4 years above benchmark (negative). Target is to improve
performance and regain our position below benchmark.
(T3b) Young full-time first
degree entrants from LPNs
10/11 09/10 08/09 07/08 06/07
PI (%) 12.9% 12.1% 7.6% 8.8% 5.0%
N = 30 25 15 20 10
Difference from LA benchmark +2.5% +2.5 -1.8 -0.8 -4.2
LA Benchmark 10.4% 9.6% 9.4% 9.6% 9.2%
Sector England 9.9% 8.7% 9.4% 9.6% 9.3%
ACCESS AGREEMENT TARGET:
TARGET BASELINE
09/10
10/11
11/12
ANNUAL
12/13
MILESTONES
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
Monitoring
Improve/regain position
below benchmark
12% 12.9% 11% 11% 10% 9% 8% 8% SRIT/ASC
Annual Retention report
6 Non-continuation NS-SEC UoB data
UoB internal data analysis highlights a slightly higher rate of non-completion for students from lower socio-economic groups. The target is to close the gap between the groups. Progress will be monitored via our Academic Standards Committee and our Student Retention Improvement Team, and tracked via our internal Annual Retention Report.
Page 18 of 20
7 Disabled students: full-time Summary UoB position: performance has increased and remained steady above benchmark and sector for last two years. Target is to maintain position above benchmark and sector.
Participation of students in
receipt of DSA: full-time
undergraduates (T7)
10/11 09/10 08/09 07/08 06/07
PI (%) 6.4% 6.5% 6.1% 3% 3.6%
N = 805 780 730 350 420
Difference from LA benchmark +0.7% +1.3% +1.2% -1.8% -1.1%
LA Benchmark 5.7% 5.2% 4.9% 4.8% 4.7%
Sector England 5.4% 4.9% 4.8% 4.5% 4.3%
ACCESS AGREEMENT TARGET:
TARGET BASELINE
09/10
10/11
11/12
ANNUAL
12/13
MILESTONES
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
Monitoring
Maintain position and above
benchmark
6.5% 6.4% 6.5% 6.5% 6.5% 6.5% 6.5% 6.5% RAC
Page 19 of 20
8 Disabled students: part-time
Summary UoB position: performance has increased and remained steady above benchmark and sector for last two years. Target is to maintain position above benchmark and sector.
Participation of students in
receipt of DSA: part-time
undergraduates (T7)
10/11 09/10 08/09 07/08 06/07
PI (%) 5% 5.2% 3.9% 1.8% 1.2%
N = 90 85 70 30 15
Difference from LA benchmark +1.7% +2.1 +1.2% -0.4% -0.7%
LA Benchmark 3.3% 3.1% 2.7% 2.2% 1.9%
Sector England 3.5% 3% 2.7% 2.5% 2.3%
ACCESS AGREEMENT TARGET:
TARGET BASELINE
09/10
10/11
11/12
ANNUAL
12/13
MILESTONES
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
Monitoring
Maintain position and above
benchmark
5.2% 5.0% 5.0% 5.0% 5.0% 5.0% 5.0% 5.0% RAC
Page 20 of 20
9 Care leavers UoB position: Successful increase in enrolments over recent years. Target is to sustain and increase enrolments slightly with enhanced focus on retention, success and employability.
Enrolments 11/12 2010/11 2009/10 2008/09
N = 22 19 13 8
ACCESS AGREEMENT TARGET:
TARGET BASELINE
09/10
10/11
11/12
ANNUAL
12/13
MILESTONES
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
Monitoring
Enrolments of care leavers 22 26 28 30 32 34 RAC/SRIT
10 Compact Plus enrolments UoB position: successful increase in enrolments of Compact Plus students. Target is to sustain and increase enrolments post Aimhigher via introduction of Compact Plus scheme.
Enrolments 11/12 2010/11 2009/10 2008/09
N = 67 46 28 24
ACCESS AGREEMENT TARGET:
TARGET BASELINE
09/10
10/11
11/12
ANNUAL
12/13
MILESTONES
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
Monitoring
Enrolments of Compact Plus 67 65 75 85 95 105 RAC/SRIT
Table 6 - Milestones and targets
Notes:
Table 6a - Statistical milestones and targets relating to your applicants, entrants or student body (e.g. HESA, UCAS or internal targets)
Please select milestone/target type from the drop down
menu
Description (500 characters
maximum)
Is this a
collaborative
target?
Baseline
year Baseline data 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17
Commentary on your milestones/targets
or textual description where numerical
description is not appropriate (500
characters maximium)
State School (location adjusted) (HESA Table T1b)
Maintain position above LA
benchmark and sector 2009-10 93.5% 93.5% 93.5% 93.5% 93.5% 93.5%
NS-SEC (location adjusted) (HESA Table T1b)
Improve position and move closer to
LA benchmark 2009-10 28.5% 0.28 0.285 0.285 0.29 0.295
as a result of the recently implemented
changes to the student number controls
and the successful outcomes of our Partner
College bids to HEFCE in this regard it has
been necessary to revisit a number of our
targets and milestones due to the impact
this will have on our student profile. Our
PIs have been reviewed and the effect of
the removal of these numbers assessed.
As such a number of our T and Ms have
been adjusted slightly to reflect the change
in our student body.
LPN (location adjusted) (HESA Table T1b)
Sustain position above LA benchmark
and improve 2009-10 10.2% 0.1 0.105 0.105 0.11 0.115
as a result of the recently implemented
changes to the student number controls
and the successful outcomes of our Partner
College bids to HEFCE in this regard it has
been necessary to revisit a number of our
targets and milestones due to the impact
this will have on our student profile. Our
PIs have been reviewed and the effect of
the removal of these numbers assessed.
As such a number of our T and Ms have
been adjusted slightly to reflect the change
in our student body.
Non continuation: All (HESA Table T3a)
Improve position and regain position
below benchmark 2009-10 11% 10% 10% 9% 9% 8%
Non continuation: LPN (HESA Table T3b)
Improve position and regain position
below benchmark 2009-10 12% 11% 10% 9% 8% 8%
Completion/Non continuation (other - please give details in
the next column)
Non-continuation full-time first degree
home entrants by NS-SEC 2009-10
UoB internal data anlysis highlights a
slightly higher rate of non-continuation for
home full-time first degree entrants from NS-
SEC groups 4-7 than 1-3. Target is to
reduce the gap between the groups.
Validation checks:
10. A reason for changing any prefilled data must be recorded in column L for both tables 6a and 6b.
Validation check passed.
OFFA Access Agreement 2013/14 - Annexes B & C
Institution name: University of Brighton
Institution UKPRN: 10000886
If you have made any changes to the
prefilled data around your
milestones/targets, or included
additional milestones/targets, please
indicate why here.
Yearly milestones/targets (numeric where possible, however you may
use text)
These tables have been pre-populated using the information you provided to us in your 2012-13 access agreement.
You will, however, need to consider whether you wish to amend or add targets to reflect:
the inclusion of part-time and/or ITT courses within your access agreement
any significant changes to the nature and size of your cohort, for example in response to changing student number controls
more joint targets around collaborative outreach work
targets to improve equality and diversity in your access agreement
Disabled
(HESA Table T7) Participation of
students in receipt of DSA - full-time
undergraduates: maintain position and
above benchmark 2009-10 6.5% 6.5% 6.5% 6.5% 6.5% 6.5%
Disabled
(HESA Table T7) Participation of
students in receipt of DSA - part-time
undergraduates: maintain position and
above benchmark 2009-10 5.2% 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05
as a result of the recently implemented
changes to the student number controls
and the successful outcomes of our Partner
College bids to HEFCE in this regard it has
been necessary to revisit a number of our
targets and milestones due to the impact
this will have on our student profile. Our
PIs have been reviewed and the effect of
the removal of these numbers assessed.
As such a number of our T and Ms have
been adjusted slightly to reflect the change
in our student body.
Care-leavers
Sustain and increase enrolments of
care leavers 2010-11 19 26 28 30 32 34
as a result of the recently implemented
changes to the student number controls
and the successful outcomes of our Partner
College bids to HEFCE in this regard it has
been necessary to revisit a number of our
targets and milestones due to the impact
this will have on our student profile. The
effect of the removal of these numbers has
been assessed and as such this has been
adjusted slightly to reflect the change in our
student body.
Other (please give details in the next column)
Enrolments of Compact Plus students
- sustain and increase enrolments post
Aimhigher via introduction of Compact
Plus scheme 2010-11 45 65 75 85 95 105
as a result of the recently implemented
changes to the student number controls
and the successful outcomes of our Partner
College bids to HEFCE in this regard it has
been necessary to revisit a number of our
targets and milestones due to the impact
this will have on our student profile. The
effect of the removal of these numbers has
been assessed and as such this has been
adjusted slightly to reflect the change in our
student body.
Table 6b - Other milestones and targets
Please select milestone/target type from the drop down
menu
Description (500 characters
maximum)
Is this a
collaborqativ
e target?
Baseline
year Baseline data 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17
Commentary on your milestones/targets
or textual description where numerical
description is not appropriate (500
characters maximium)
Outreach / WP activity (summer schools)
Non residential summer school - aims
to help with transition from Y11 to Y12.
Non residential subject specific more
skills focused. Looked after children
aspiration raising. Key -
transitional/art based non
residential/LAC non res/sports non res
ADDITION: Media non-res 2010-2011 50/10/20/0/0
50/30/20/15/1
5
50/45/20/30/2
0
50/45/20/45/2
0
50/45/20/45/2
0
50/45/20/45/2
0
The summer school programme will be
tightly tied to the curriculum based
activities.
We propose to turn the residential Summer
School into a non-residential so we can
redistribute our resources into other
Summer, Spring and Saturday Schools.
Outreach / WP activity (other - please give details in the
next column)
Primary programme - visits to schools
and visits to university. Key - number
of schools/number of pupils 2010-2011
14 schools
510
participants
16 schools
570
participants
18 schools
630
participants
20 schools
690
participants
20 schools
690 pupils
20 schools
690
participants
Pupils understand the language and
concept of HE, are aware of the range of
university courses and associated careers.
Pupils have visited a university campus.
Outreach / WP activity (other - please give details in the
next column) Primary mentoring programme 2010-2011
One school,
16 pupils
4 schools, 64
pupils
6 schools, 96
pupils
8 schools, 128
pupils
8 schools/ 128
pupils
8 schools, 128
pupils
This programme is directed at primary
schools in areas of high deprivation. The
aim is to improve confidence particularly in
relation to the transition to secondary
schools. Pupils should gain greater
awareness of university courses and career
paths. As the programme progresses we
aim to include an attainment raising
element.
Outreach / WP activity (other - please give details in the
next column)
Accredited modules for UoB students
in which they work with WP groups
over a sustained period of time to
improve attainment, confidence and
knowledge in a subject. Aspiration
raising mentoring in smaller numbers. 2010-2011
No such
activity taking
place
6 schools / 30
students / 200
pupils
8 schools / 60
students /300
pupils
12 schools/80
students / 400
pupils
12 schools/80
students / 400
pupils
12 schools/80
students / 400
pupils
A number of accredited modules which will
combine aspects of mentoring and tutoring
will cover a range of age groups, but will be
primarily focused on Yrs 10 and above.
Rather than aspiration raising mentoring,
which has had limited success in our pilot
project, we propose to focus on innovative
subject specific projects which will be
linked to attainment raising. We plan to do
this by developing accredited modules for
our students designed to pass on their
knowledge and experience to pupils in local
schools and colleges. We hope to reach
similar numbers of pupils albeit across
fewer schools due to the complexities of
setting up such schemes. We will still
retain elements of aspiration raising
mentoring which have received good
feedback, such as our Suitable Boy
programme, but will focus most of our
resource on subject specific mentoring.
Outreach / WP activity (other - please give details in the
next column)
Secondary programme - includes work
in schools, visits to the university,
curriculum linked work 2010-2011
15 schools,
1600
participants
18 schools/
1900
participants
21 schools/
2200
participants
24
schools/2500
participants
24
schools/2700
participants
24
schools/3000
participants
Key stage 3 work will focus on support
through transition and will link with primary
programme. Pupil's knowledge and
understanding of university should increase
and they should be able to apply this to
GCSE subject choices. Key stage 4 work
will be linked with subject specific activity
and aim to increase understanding of
particular subject routes and support
attainment in these areas.
If you have made any changes to the
prefilled data around your
milestones/targets, or included
additional milestones/targets, please
indicate why here.
Alongside applicant and entrant targets, we encourage you to provide targets around your outreach work (including collaborative outreach work where
appropriate) or other initiatives to illustrate your progress towards increasing access. These should be measurable outcomes
‐
based targets and should focus on
the number of pupils reached by a particular activity/programme, or number of schools worked with, and what the outcomes were, rather than simply recording
the nature/number of activities.
Yearly milestones/targets (numeric where possible, however you may
use text)
Outreach / WP activity (other - please give details in the
next column) College programme 2010-2011
11 colleges/
1300 16-19
participants/
1000 Access
participants
11 colleges/
1200 16-19
participants/
1000 Access
participants
11
colleges/1300
16-19
participants/10
00 Access
participants
11 colleges/
1400 16-19
participants/
1000 Access
participants
11 colleges/
1500 16-19
participants/
1000 Access
11 colleges/
1600 16-19
participants/
100 0 Access
participants
The university already works with all bar
one local college and with large number of
students. The focus through the Accord
Plus programme will therefore be on
increasing the intensity of the work and in
particular on supporting students to make
appropriate course choices, to produce high
quality personal statements, provide
interview practice and to support students
make the transition to university. We will
monitor the retention of students who have
participated in this programme.
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