The Burgess recommendations: background and progress with

implementation

Rob Ward

The Centre for Recording Achievementrob@recordingachievement.org

Steering Group Report (2007)Honours Degree Classification No Longer Fit for PurposeCase for Change (Why Develop a HEAR?)• Summative System at Odds with Lifelong

Learning.• Wider Recognition of Achievement.• Recognising Achievement at all Levels.• Employability Skills.• Employers have clearly defined qualities they are

looking for in graduates. • Greater financial investment than ever before.

Students require more than just a certificate. All stakeholders should have detailed information on

what is behind a particular class of degree.

The wider context…

• ‘a need to do justice to the full range of student experience by allowing a wider recognition of achievement.’

• ‘the present system cannot capture achievement in some key areas of interest to students and employers.’

The HEAR Proposals…• By …2010/11… a Higher Education Achievement

Report (HEAR) will be the central vehicle for recording all university-level undergraduate higher education student achievement in all UK higher education institutions.

• The HEAR will be a single document, based on, and developed from, the current academic transcript, and incorporating the European Diploma Supplement (so first and foremost an academic record...)

• The HEAR will contain information which the institution is prepared to verify. Further work should be done on how to measure and record skills and achievements gained through non-formal learning…

The story so far…

• A varied range of initial trial institutions, purposefully chosen to reflect diversity…

• An unfinished account, practice still evolving but much clarified…

• Second wave of institutions about to become involved…

What is the HEAR?

• Core template framework reflecting a more detailed and rounded view of a student’s experience and achievements.

• Key building blocks (sections):1. Information identifying the holder of the qualification

2. Information identifying the qualification

3. Information on the level of qualification

4. Information on the contents and results gained

5. Information on the function of the qualification

6. Additional information

7. Certification

8. Information on the national HE System

HEAR Components =• Academic Transcript (module marks and grades).• Diploma Supplement.• Additional information esp. section 6.1 - a ‘richer picture’

of student achievement, verified additional achievements recorded under one of three headings: – University, Professional and Departmental Prizes; – measured or assessed performance in non-academic

contexts accredited by, or with external accreditation recognised by the University, e.g. awards concerned with employability;

– Additional recognised activities undertaken by students which demonstrate achievement but for which no recognition is provided in terms of academic credit, e.g. Course Representatives or Students’ Union Officers.

‘Going with the grain’…• Transcripts… 64% (45 out of 70 institutions)

were achieving the objective of providing a transcript meeting the minimum data set requirements for undergraduate students. (Brennan and Shah, CHERI, 2003).

• Diploma Supplement…60% of respondents reported issuing the Diploma Supplement - over twice as many HEIs as in 2005 when only 28% of respondents issued the Diploma Supplement (60% response rate, UUK Europe Unit survey, 2007/8).

Wider learning: survey evidence from the sector…

62 responses (from 44 institutions). Key points:

– 22 responses related to nationally recognised schemes; 40 to Institutional provision;

– 29 formally Assessed; – 24 Credit Bearing; – 21 included within the current Transcript.

The direction of travel…

• A shift from ‘why should we’ to ‘how can we’…

• Broad agreement on the framework and Guidelines for implementation approach…

• Significant visibility for the initiative within trial institutions…

• Emphasis on value in supporting learning and employability…

More than a record…Evolving HEAR’s provide • A basis for discussion with student bodies about wider

achievements and how these might be recognised • a context for recognising learning and informing

choices…– ‘As part of the HEAR pilot The University of Manchester is

exploring formative HEARs to be produced annually for students in order to inform their academic and extra-curricular choices. The ‘HEARing voices’ project will focus on the formative, development aspects of the HEAR initiative and will run alongside the development of graduate HEARs.’

• a (re)source for students to draw upon in articulating and evidencing their achievements to employers and postgraduate tutors.

Work in progress…Technical challenges for some… ‘the next useful stage is a technical stage, to develop a viable and sustainable system to capture and store the information.’ Alongside…•‘We have now produced a trial HEAR.  The exercise proved less painful than we expected. We expect to be

able to allow students to see on the intranet how their HEAR is developing during the course of their

studies.’  (Feb 2009) • ‘By the end of July 2010 we are intending to attempt to

produce a HEAR for all our completing graduates. This should have section 6.1 material in it. We have not decided whether this will ‘go live’ but probably will

provided we can do this effectively.’ (December 2009) More than half the institutions in the ‘first wave’ report they could provide a ‘near HEAR’ document for all this academic year.

Key Issues Emerging

Sections of the HEAR that have involved the

greatest discussion and testing have been:

section 4.3: the amount of information available about programme structures (modules) andassessment;

section 6.1: information about other activities and skills that can be verified by institutions.

Further work necessary in terms of costing.

General wish of triallists to retain an institutional

perspective and flavour in both respects, not too

prescriptive from the centre.

Wider achievements and the HEAR (6.1)…

• Within a clear guidance framework…‘authorised statements of student achievement not included elsewhere, whether:– assessed and/or accredited by the University;– verified by appropriate and authorised University

personnel; – approved by the University for inclusion on the basis

of criteria confirmed under the relevant quality assurance procedures of the institution.’

• Emphasis upon approaches which seek to maximise student inclusion…

Context for employer stakeholdersThe Graduate Market:Graduate numbers:

335,000 students graduated in 2008260,000 graduated in 1999175,000 in 1994

Graduate vacancies (top 100 graduate employers)19,900 vacancies in 200814,300 in 2009

Why we might think HEARs are important to employers:We know the current system is flawedGreater transparency = fairer

recruitmentThe HEAR could give:

Enhanced diversity of informationRisk reduction / Efficiency gains

Key employer messages so far:• Simplicity of format and concise content, though not at

the extent of removing the individual and personal focus.• Primary value in enabling students to be ‘more

choiceful’; highlighting the importance of thinking and acting to develop a range of experiences and achievements beyond academic programmes, and in providing a richer record they could use to articulate and evidence achievements.

• Substantial preference for an electronic HEAR, and for this to be available for scrutiny in respect of applications for internships or - in the final year of undergraduate study - for employment opportunities.

• Institutional verification of wider achievements seen as a new and welcome development .

And not just large employers…

‘We have found that the CVs of applicants who have applied for jobs we have advertised are very formulaic and standardised and contain little actual information about the people themselves.

The expanded sections in 4.3 and 6.1 would be most helpful as this personalised “soft facts” content gives the prospective employer a much more rounded picture of a potential employees abilities.’

Some key issues

• ‘Institutional vision/fit’

• Institutional readiness.

• Institutional support.

The Student Experience

Student as anActive Learner

Student as anActive Partner

Student as anActive Citizen

HEAR and the Student Experience

Graduate as manifesting

graduate attributes

Institutional readiness: stakeholder views…

• Senior staff Generally positive, importance of ‘mission fit’ (fear being left behind?)

• Registries professionally engaged - but see challenges (additional data,

processes, procedures)• Faculties Sceptical, yet see opportunities.

Need to ensure programme information is up-to-date and appropriately

archived.• Student unions enthusiastic welcome, new

responsibilities for conceptualising and recording.

• Students enthusiastic welcome, a new view on “their” record.

Institutional Support…• Technical discussion Forum

– HEAR-TECHNICAL@JISCMAIL.AC.UK by visiting https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=HEAR-TECHNICAL

• Technical architecture considerations for implementing the HEAR– http://wiki.cetis.ac.uk/

Technical_architecture_considerations_for_implementing_the_HEAR

•   HEAR Technical Specification – Nov 09 (final version March 10)

• ‘HEAR Readiness Self-assessment framework.’

Timetable for implementation…

• The Implementation Steering Group has agreed that the default position is that there should be sector-wide rollout with incoming students at the beginning of the academic year 2011-2012. 

• Voluntary take up could occur from 2010-11 if all continues to go well with the current trial.