Employability and graduate careers A fair and equal opportunity for all students? Chris Millward Director of Fair Access and Participation AGCAS Annual Conference 04 September 2019 @OFS

What has happened since AGCAS Jan 18? Now Jan 18 THEN NOW OFS Launched A&P consultation outcomes APP review announced First providers registered New A&P approach announced First insight event Regulatory Powers come into force

OfS Regulatory Framework objectives All students, from all backgrounds, and with the ability and desire to undertake higher education: are supported to access, succeed in, and progress from, higher education; receive a high quality academic experience, and their interests are protected while they study or in the event of provider, campus or course closure; are able to progress into employment or further study, and their qualifications hold their value over time; receive value for money

How is this relevant to the work of GCAs? Condition A1: An Approved (fee cap) provider intending to charge fees above the basic amount to qualifying persons on qualifying course must have in force an access and participation plan approved by the OfS in accordance with HERA Condition E1: Public interest governance The provider’s governing documents must uphold the public interest governance principles that are applicable to the provider. Condition B3: The provider must deliver successful outcomes for all of its students, which are recognised and valued by employers and/or enable further study.

Social mobility through fair access and participation ‘Our regulatory framework enables the Director for Fair Access and Participation to develop a bold new approach to supporting social mobility, and equality and diversity, through higher education. We will be radical and ambitious to make sure we deliver on the promise of higher education as an engine for social mobility, and a gateway to a better life for those who undertake it.’

Origins, education and destination The OED triangle: requirements for education to create greater social fluidity E D O strengthening association weakening association Source: Social Mobility and Education in Britain: Research, Politics and Policy by Erzsébet Bukodi, John H. Goldthorpe

Prior attainment and university admissions ‘In England there is a closer link between prior attainment and university admission…it is clear that universities are more academically selective and students are admitted more on the basis of their prior achievement than on the basis of other factors, such as their social background…the socio-economic gap in prior achievement is very large in England…so social background matters more for university admission’. What has happened to the disadvantage gap? Also refer to figure 7.2 on p114 (drop out, complete degree and top degree) And figure 8.1 on p132 (top job and salary) Source: Crawford, Dearden, Micklewright and Vignoles (2017) https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/Presentations/Family%20Background%20and%20University%20Success.pdf Source: https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/EPI-Annual-Report-2019-infographic.pdf

POLAR4 Access to Higher Education from the Most and Least Represented Groups (POLAR 4) Progression to Highly Skilled Employment or Further Study at a Higher Level from Most and Least Represented Groups (POLAR 4) Access – Entrants, Young (under 21 in year of entry) Progression – Qualifiers, Young (under 21 in year of entry)

Access to Higher Education by Ethnicity Progression to Highly Skilled Employment or Further Study at a Higher Level by Ethnicity Access – Entrants Progression - Qualifiers

Access to Higher Education by Disability Progression to Highly Skilled Employment or Further Study at a Higher Level by Disability Access – Entrants, self-assessed disability Progression – Qualifiers, self-assessed disability

English institutional distribution of students from under-represented groups and progressing to highly skilled jobs Source: Under-represented groups (low participation neighbourhoods - internal OfS(DFA) analysis of HESA Performance Indicators 2016-17 Source: Proportion of graduates in highly skilled jobs - internal OfS(DFA) analysis of TEF metrics, English HEIs only

Regional differences in graduate employment Sector wide Proportion of employed graduates in high-skilled jobs Source: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/6281f37e-6e67-48b1-b790-dc18b35a5f1f/tefyearfour_datamap_highskill.pdf

Origins, education and destination The OED triangle: typical results from sociological research E D O strengthening association weakening association Source: Social Mobility and Education in Britain: Research, Politics and Policy by Erzsébet Bukodi, John H. Goldthorpe

HERA 2017 Power to approve an access and participation plan The governing body of an institution may apply to the OfS for approval of a proposed access and participation plan relating to the promotion of equality of opportunity for the purposes of satisfying an access and participation plan condition. Advice on good practice The OfS may identify good practice relating to the promotion of equality of opportunity, and give advice about such practice to registered higher education providers. The Director for Fair Access and Participation The Director of Fair Access and Participation is responsible for: overseeing the performance of the OfS’s access and participation functions; performing any of those functions; and reporting to the other members of the OfS on the performance of the access and participation functions.

Access and Participation plans: a whole institution approach Honest, rigorous and public analysis of gaps across the student lifecycle New objectives towards reducing gaps and improving practice by 2024-25 Credible plans to deliver the objectives Theory of change Evidence-based measures Investment underpinning the measures Evaluation and continuous improvement Impact reports and integrated financial reporting Risk-based monitoring and intervention

Promoting good practice sector-wide Help the sector, OfS and individual providers to deliver the objectives we set for ourselves. For OfS, this is delivering the functions set out in the Act, aims set out in Business Plan and KPMs Support providers to adopt evidence-based measures in order to meet their ambitions. Identify and explore the outliers; providers that are bucking national trends and succeeding where the majority are not. Be a source of reliable expertise and information Enable providers to discover and select effective strategic measures In context - what may work for one group of students in one type of provider may be different from another.  Build up capability on the newer participation element of A+P. Drive and influence provider behaviour Sector support follows our priorities eg. Funding, tools Improve sector wide evaluation practice Improve the quality of evidence available to the sector. We want to amplify the student voice And also encourage partnerships and collaboration Encourage a whole provider approach to A+P Deliver what we know in transformative and engaging ways

Staged approach to development – Discovery phase to establish the need, landscape mapping etc. – Alpha for prototyping – Beta for development Approach based on extensive user research. Past research used to identify groups to speak to Depth and breadth – mature, WP backgrounds, FiF, care leavers, students with additional needs Workshops organised through NCOPS, IntoUniversity, UK funding bodies Also research extended to those who influence students - parents, teachers, advisers and practitioners Design is user centred and developed on the basis of research -> design -> testing in usability labs (constant feedback and iteration) Content and design are inclusive – site reflects the diversity of the HE sector and the student body across the UK Connects or signposts to other trustworthy resources to help navigate the information landscape (principle of non duplication) Lots of information out there but often difficult to know where to start. Our approach has been to link to good content where this exists and to explain what students can expect to find e.g. on university and college websites Dispels myths and misunderstandings: About what higher education is like About whether HE is for me for those who might have ruled it out About student finance Site has two main areas: guidance content and course records Content mapped on to stages in decision making journey: Haven’t decided whether to go Ready to choose what and where to study Finance of interest throughout. We want to ensure we make it easy for students to find what the are looking for regardless of where they are in the decision making process

Origins and Occupations Source: http://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/Events-Assets/PDF/2019/01-LT/20190128-Class-Ceiling-Book-Launch-to-share.pdf

The Class Ceiling Measure and monitor class background Find out whether your organisation has a class ceiling Start a conversation about talent Take intersectionality seriously Publish social mobility data Ban unpaid and unadvertised internships Senior champions are necessary but not sufficient Formalise the informal Support those who want it Lobby for legal protection Source: https://policypress.wordpress.com/2019/01/28/10-ways-to-break-the-class-ceiling/