2. Widening Access at the University Of Strathclyde
Dr Veena O’Halloran, Director of Student Experience and Enhancement Services
Dr Stephanie Mckendry, Widening Access Manager

3. Today’s event 11. 30 – 11.50 Registration and refreshments
12.00 – 12.30
Welcome and address from Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal and Vice Chancellor
12.30 – 12.45
Our approach to contextual admissions and our widening participation strategy by Dr Veena O’Halloran, Director of Student Experience and Enhancement Services and Dr Stephanie Mckendry, Widening Access Manager
12.45 – 1.10
Our students: presentations from current students on widening access activities and their experiences
1.10 – 1.20
Q&A session
1.20 – 2.00
Lunch
1.45 – 2.30
Optional UCAS reference writing workshop

4. Our widening participation strategy
The learner journey model
Activities shaped around four key stages
Getting ready; Getting in; Staying in; Getting on
Examples of activities in our booklet
Support for access students while they study with us
Harnessing the talent and expertise of our students
3rd year Business School students as part of their Management Development Programme; Sports & Physical Activity students…
Students Association activities
Using the model developed by Alan Milburn, Chair of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, in his 2012 report, our activities are divided into four distinct areas:

5. Our widening participation strategy
Broad view of under-representation
Carers; estranged students; asylum seekers & refugees, adult returners…
Harnessing technology to improve access
Award-winning, free online courses e.g. Caring for Vulnerable Children
Use of our Virtual Learning Environment, MyPlace, in access activities such as Young Strathclyders and Access to Careers in Teaching
Using the model developed by Alan Milburn, Chair of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, in his 2012 report, our activities are divided into four distinct areas:

6. Our widening participation strategy
Widening participation activities take place across the institution, in every Faculty and throughout Professional Services.
Two teams have particular responsibility in terms of schools outreach

7. The RIO Team Sally Nicholson (Recruitment Manager)
Debbie Duncan (Care Advisor)
Open Days & visiting opportunities
Talks & presentations
Higher education & careers conventions

8. The Widening Access Team
Dr Stephanie Mckendry – Widening Access Manager
Amanda Baldwin – Senior Widening Access Outreach Officer
Al Blackshaw – Senior Widening Access Support Officer
Iain Mitchell – Senior Widening Access Outreach Officer
Louise Martin – Widening Access Support Officer
Jan McGhie – Widening Access Outreach Officer
Louise Meenan – Widening Access Administrator
Matson Lawrence – Research Associate

9. Our approach to contextual admissions

10. Our approach to contextual admissions
Contextual admissions policy introduced in 2013 and refreshed annually
Potential to succeed based on more than grades
Educational attainment considered within an applicant’s wider context

11. COWA’s recommendations on fair access
[There is] increasingly compelling evidence that, within a certain range of attainment, disadvantaged learners consistently achieve the same, or even better, degree classifications than their more advantaged peers with higher grades.
Focusing purely on grades, in isolation from the context in which they are achieved, means that universities are often failing to identify and recruit the best talent. .. it also serves to replicate social inequalities manifesting earlier in the educational journey and unfairly discriminates against bright applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Scottish Government’s Commission on Widening Access reported in March 2016
All universities should use contextual information and set access thresholds at a lower rate than standard offers
Universities should be as open and transparent as possible about their contextual admissions policies

12. Who is eligible for a contextual offer?
Those who have spent 3 months or more in local authority care during their school education:
‘looked after’; ‘care experienced’ or ‘care leavers’; time in residential care, foster care or formal kinship care (e.g. cared for by family or relatives); or living at home under a home supervision order
NB vital that applicants indicate their care background by answering the relevant question on their UCAS application

13. Who is eligible for a contextual offer?
Applicants resident in one of the 40% most deprived areas of Scotland according to the SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation)
Information taken directly from UCAS so applicants do not need to do anything

14. Who is eligible for a contextual offer?
Prospective applicants can use the look-up facility on our website

15. Who is eligible for a contextual offer?
3. Those applying from our list of target schools
All schools within the Schools for Higher Education Programme (SHEP) excluding LEAPS group 2
Schools in Scotland which are not part of SHEP but which, over the four year period from 2011 until 2014, had a median progression rate of 30% or less
The list of target schools can be found on our website:

16. Will all applicants who meet contextual data criteria be given an offer?
Contextual information is used alongside other aspects of an application e.g. personal statements, references, named subjects.
If an applicant is deemed unsuitable, even with the flexibility that a contextual offer provides, an offer cannot be made
We can only make offers in line with constraints placed by the Scottish Funding Council on numbers of funded places and in the context of overall demand.
If an applicant is deemed suitable for an offer, this will be at the contextual offer rate

17. What will the contextual offer be?
Lower than the standard offer for that programme and that year
Published online annually:
Example for candidates applying for September 2016 entry
Course
Standard Entry Requirements* (SQA Highers)
Contextual Entry Requirements* (SQA Highers)
Engineering Academy
BBBB
BBBC
BSc (Hons) Mathematics
AABB or ABBBC
ABBB or ABBCC
BA (Hons) Psychology
AAAB
AABB

18. FOCUS West Top-Up
FOCUS West works in low progression schools in the West of Scotland and is delivered by staff and students from universities and colleges in the region. The Top-Up programme is the element of FOCUS West delivered to senior pupils who intend to progress directly to university.
If an applicant notes their participation on their UCAS application, and they're deemed eligible for an offer, this will be reduced by one grade in a non-named subject, conditional on their gaining a FOCUS West Top-Up profile of BBB or above.
If the applicant is also eligible for a contextual offer, the reduction will be one further grade on the published contextual offer for that course

19. Our widening participation activities
Admissions is just one small part of the work we do to improve access and remove barriers to those under-represented in higher education. Our students will now talk to you about the research they have undertaken into widening access, their work on our programmes or their own experiences

20. Our students Kieran Shellon, 3rd year Business
Declan McLean, 2nd year Law with Modern Languages
Elizabeth Collins, 4th year Mechanical Engineering
Amy Thompson, 4th year Accounting & Finance
Deborah McDonald, 3rd year Psychology

21. Questions?