1. Widening Participation at UEA

2. Progression – Getting out
What do we mean by Widening Participation?
“Everyone with the potential and ambition to succeed in higher education should have equal opportunity to do so, whatever their income or background.” (Office for Fair Access)
Access - Getting in
awareness + aspiration + attainment
= successfully achieving a place in HE
Financial support
Bursaries
Hardship funding
Specific targeted funding
Success – Getting on
expectations + transition + engagement + sense of belonging + support + attainment
= successfully completing with a good degree
Progression – Getting out
attainment + social capital + cultural capital + confidence + employability skills + careers support
= successfully progressing to graduate level employment or further study
“Access without support is not opportunity.” (Dr Sue Timmis, University of Bristol)

3. What does that mean in practice?
Inclusive approaches
Tailored approaches

4. Which target groups are covered by UEA’s Widening Participation approach?
Home (UK) students on an undergraduate or PGCE course
Disadvantaged and underrepresented groups in Higher Education
Least likely to go to HE (defined in different ways including target high schools & postcode analysis (POLAR)
Low household income
Mature students (with focus on those with no previous HE experience)
Disabled students (including students with mental health issues, specific learning difficulties and/or who are on the autistic spectrum)
Looked-after children, care leavers and estranged students and young carers.
Specific black and minority ethnic groups
Young white males from LPN or low household income.
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) students
Refugees and asylum seekers

5. 84% YOUNG (16-20) (8,444) 16% MATURE (21+) (1,555)
Who is in your classroom?
Disability
84%
YOUNG (16-20) (8,444)
Age
Ethnicity
Likelihood to go to University – POLAR quintiles
Gender
16%
MATURE (21+) (1,555)

6. Where are the performance gaps at UEA?

7. Where are the performance gaps at UEA?

8. Examples of what UEA is doing in terms of Widening Participation 2018/19?
Success
Building increased understanding of managing expectations into Outreach activity
Pre-arrival events for targeted WP students
Expectations
Mature transitions day run by the Student Support Service
Working with HUM Transitions project
Transitions
Specific support for Do Something Different Festival to ensure that this is fully inclusive and effective for WP students
Engagement
Specific support for SU Buddy Scheme to ensure that this is fully inclusive and effective for WP students
Sense of belonging
Research fellowship into the experience of young, white, working class, male students
Dedicated wellbeing and mental health roles in Student Support Service
Dedicated academic WP roles with own advisees
Support
Collaborative research project into reasons for the attainment gap for UK Black students in HE
Research fellowship and piloting reassessment summer school for widening participation students in PHA
Attainment

9. Widening Participation in Pharmacy Dr Anja Mueller and Dr Rosemary Norton

10. Our study approach Measure 1 Entry grades and Performance Measure 2
Exam failures and reassessment
Measure 3
Attendance
Measure 4
NSS and UKES survey results
Measure 5
Interviews with students – what is success?
Measure 6
Engagement with teaching resources
Average of data from 2011-today

11. Our study approach Measure 2 Exam failures and reassessment Measure 3
Attendance
Measure 4
NSS and UKES survey results
Measure 5
Interviews with students – what is success?
Measure 6
Engagement with teaching resources

12. Our study approach Measure 2 Exam failures and reassessment Measure 3
Attendance
Measure 5
Interviews with students – what is success?

13. NSS and UKES survey results
Our study approach
Key point: there is a difference
Ethnicity: 100% White overall satisfied with course, Black 70%, Asian 85%
 Biggest areas of difference appear to be organisation of course and community within the school – exploring further
Gender: Female 97% satisfied, Male 80% satisfied
Measure 4
NSS and UKES survey results

14. Our study approach Measure 5 Measure 6
Interviews with students – what is success?
Measure 6
Engagement with teaching resources

15. Our gaps: success for BME, male, and mature students
Are they more likely to have lower entry grades? Are they more likely to go to reassessment? Are they more likely to not attend? Are they less likely to be satisfied with the course? Are they less likely to engage with teaching resources? ?
Success is not just a number, aspirations grow throughout the course, success is getting the pre-reg they want.

16. Dr Ben Jones & Dr Chris Jones School of History
Retaining Young White Male Humanities Students from Lower Participation Neighbourhoods
Dr Ben Jones & Dr Chris Jones
School of History

17. Working-class men in Higher Education
Motivations
Aims and Objectives
White Working class men are significantly less likely to attend university
Have higher drop out rates than female peers
Are less likely achieve an ‘upper’ degree
Are less likely to enter ‘graduate level’ employment
Regional context
To conduct 10 qualitative interviews
To review the literature on classed experiences of HE
To think about how working class students can be better supported in the context of a Widening Participation strategy
Working-class men in Higher Education

18. Findings from the Literature
Mis-recognising aspirations (Stahl, 2015)
Social mobility and meritocracy – individualising working class failure & perpetuating structural inequalities (Reay, 2017)
Universities and the reproduction of inequality – cycles of advantage
Findings from the Literature

19. Widening Participation provides an opportunity to improve access, success, and progression for white working class male students.
“Role Models”
Adviser System
Ideas
Sense of Belonging
Inclusive Teaching
Intersectionality?

20. What are the next steps and how can I get involved?
Raise WP issues in your schools - the WP team will be happy to help if you need information.
Use the reports on server to find out more about the cohorts of students you teach.
Next year we will be recruiting two more PhD students to work on WP projects, if you’ve got a good idea for a topic do let us know.
Read some of the most recent reports on Widening Participation – for example this HEPI report