1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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.’

6. 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

7. 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)
Source:

8. 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)

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

10. 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

11. 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
Source: Proportion of graduates in highly skilled jobs - internal OfS(DFA) analysis of TEF metrics, English HEIs only

12. Regional differences in graduate employment
Sector wide
Proportion of employed graduates in high-skilled jobs
Source:

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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
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

16. 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

17. 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

20. Origins and Occupations
Source:

21. 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: