1. 1 UCAS for new practitioners Matthew Harrison Schools and Colleges Liaison Officer

2. Session Outline The UCAS form Clearing, Adjustment, UCAS Extra, Apply and Track What happens after you click send Some topical issues The future is bright? Questions

3. Sunday, March 30, 20143 The UCAS Process UCAS (www.ucas.com)www.ucas.com Universities and Colleges Admissions Service Central applications agency for HE applications in England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland Handles over 600,000 applications per year

4. Sunday, March 30, 20144 UCAS – Key facts Invisibility Maximum of five choices (some exceptions) Simultaneous consideration Conditional offers – 2 can be held August – confirmation of offers £22 Registration Fee

5. Sunday, March 30, 20145

16. 16 What happens next? Once completed the application is sent to UCAS UCAS will send an acknowledgement Copies of the application are sent to the chosen universities

17. Sunday, March 30, 201417 UCAS Track Allows students to view their own record Gives 24/7 access Shows choices, offers & personal information Password protected –password is on acknowledgement letter Can be used by students to reply to offers

18. Sunday, March 30, 201418 UCAS Clearing Clearing is used by applicants who have not managed to secure a place at university or college for the current year It is the process where applicants are matched with vacancies Course vacancies in Clearing are published on www.ucas.com from mid-August until late-September

19. Sunday, March 30, 201419 UCAS Clearing 1.Applicant contacts HEI to discuss vacancies 2.Applicant enters choice details on Track 3.HEI will make a decision 4.If unsuccessful applicant can start again 5.If successful applicant will receive confirmation of their place

20. Sunday, March 30, 201420 UCAS Adjustment Each year some applicants pass their exams with better results than expected This may mean that some will have not only met the conditions of their firm choice, but will have exceeded them The Adjustment period provides an opportunity for them to reconsider where and what to study Around 400 applicants successfully were placed using Adjustment last year (under 10 at UoN)

21. Sunday, March 30, 201421 UCAS Extra Extra gives applicants an additional chance to gain an offer, subject to certain conditions Extra allows additional single choices, entered and considered one at a time Course vacancies for extra are listed on the UCAS website

22. Sunday, March 30, 201422 UCAS Extra Applicants eligible for Extra: Used all 5 choices Received all decisions Holds no offers or declined all offers

23. 3/30/2014Event Name and Venue23

24. Sunday, March 30, 201424 When the application reaches us! Universities receive applications in batches Sent to admissions office Applications are assessed Decisions are made Unconditional, conditional, interview, unsuccessful There are exceptions i.e. Medicine, Law, Veterinary Medicine…

25. Sunday, March 30, 201425 Additional admissions tests National tests i.e. LNAT, UKCAT, BMAT University / college questionnaires Oxbridge tests Used for competitive / vocational courses Taken into account when making offers www.lnat.ac.uk | www.bmat.org.uk | www.ukcat.ac.uk

26. Sunday, March 30, 201426 What are we looking for? Strong academic profile may include specific GCSEs and AS/A2 Levels Knowledge and interest in subject area students who have read outside of the curriculum texts! Career aspirations Relevant work experience/voluntary placements

27. Sunday, March 30, 201427 What are we looking for? Extra curricular activities Key skills teamwork, organisation, time management Other factors; Interviews Additional tests Additional information on questionnaires etc

28. Sunday, March 30, 201428 Some topical issues…. AAB policy Clearing stress! –The current Clearing process relies on people getting through on a phone which has become very difficult and therefore stressful for all involved. The boomerang effect –Around 42% of applicants hold a CI offer with equal requirements to one they hold as a CF offer. Many then reapply as a strategy. 75,000 reapplied in 2011 from the year before (2010). In 2011 more people were placed through Clearing than through insurance.

29. Sunday, March 30, 201429 The Future is bright? The proposed PQA (or post-results) system is not being taken forward. The reasons listed were: –pressures of a compressed timetable –access concerns for certain key groups –differing approaches to term and examination timetables across the four countries of the UK However…. –consultation responses broadly supported a series of significant enhancements and reforms

30. Sunday, March 30, 201430 The Future is bright? Clearing will be replaced with a fair and managed process (on-line, we believe) for applicants. There will be greater flexibilities in Extra that will enable more applicants to hold both a firm and insurance offer before Confirmation

31. Sunday, March 30, 201431 The Future is bright? Proposals that received strong support and are recommended for implementation The introduction of myUCAS© – a web portal to provide improved information to applicants to support their research, their choices and their applications Increasing and improving the use of mandatory fields and data validation in the online application form The facility to upload supporting documentation, including portfolios

32. Sunday, March 30, 201432 The Future is bright? Working with awarding bodies to extend the Awarding Body Linkage (ABL) service so that a wider range of verified examination results are uploaded to applicant profiles Improved terminology (eg replacing CF, UF) Improved guidance for completing references Work with HEIs to achieve further developments towards paperless processing and use of e-forms Improved facility to provide feedback on HEI decisions to applicants

33. Sunday, March 30, 201433 The Future is bright? At Confirmation, the facility for HEIs to view the conditions of the firm choice of their own insurance applicants Improving information capture and data quality to aid HEI decision-making Work with relevant bodies to secure the central capture of data and sharing with third parties, such as the Student Loans Company and UK Border Agency to streamline processes fee status assessments, visas and Criminal Records Bureau checks.

34. Sunday, March 30, 201434 Full copy of the report www.ucas.com

35. 35 Questions? @UniofNottingham The University of Nottingham www.youtube.com/user/NottmUniversity Want to know what its like to be a student? Find out at: http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/studentlife