NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY
ACCESS AGREEMENT FOR 2013/14
1.
Introduction
1.1
Nottingham Trent University (NTU) will be charging a fee in excess of
£6,000 for all new entrants to full-time undergraduate degree
programmes for the academic year 2013/14.
1.2
This Access Agreement document provides information about expected
fee income from home/EU students and about the University‟s plans for
using a proportion of that Additional Fee Income (AFI) above £6,000 to:
1.2.1 provide financial support to UK students from lower income
households, including the National Scholarship Programme;
1.2.2 provide clear financial information and guidance to potential and
enrolled students;
1.2.3 develop further programmes of targeted outreach, some involving
collaborations with other HEIs;
1.2.4 further refine strategies to support retention and successful
outcomes for identified groups of students;
1.2.5 Monitor, evaluate
strategies.
2.
and
maximise
the
effectiveness
of
these
Principles and Assumptions
2.1
This Access Agreement is based on a
assumptions, including the following:
number of principles and
2.1.1 It has been assumed that HEFCE funding allocations to institutions
for Widening Participation (WP) and for Teaching Enhancement and
Student Success (TESS) will continue in 2013/14 – 2015/16 and at
similar levels to those advised in March 2012 for 2012/13. Should
this not be the case, changes to AFI supported outreach and
retention activities would need to be made;
2.1.2 Plans for implementing the National Scholarship Programme (NSP)
at NTU (i.e. the University‟s contribution matching the confirmed
NSP allocation announced in 2012) are incorporated into financial
forecasts for the three year period beginning 2012/13.
2.1.3 It is presumed that variation from forecasts of student numbers
and fee income will be reflected in changes to expenditure on
access and retention measures.
2.1.4
3.
All expenditure detailed in this Access Agreement, including
institutional spend on outreach, retention and financial support,
meets OFFA guidance on „countable expenditure‟. (See Annex B,
Table 4).
Fees, student numbers, fee income and fee rises in subsequent years
3.1
The fee for all Home/EU students beginning a full-time undergraduate
Bachelors degree programme at Nottingham Trent University in the
academic year 2013/14 will be £8,750 per annum.
3.2
The fee for all Home/EU students beginning a full-time undergraduate
Foundation Degree programme at Nottingham Trent University in the
academic year 2013/14 will be £6,500 per annum.
3.3
The fee for all Home/EU students beginning a full-time post graduate
Teacher Training programme at Nottingham Trent University in the
academic year 2013/14 will be £9,000 per annum.
3.4
The full-time equivalent (FTE) fee for all Home/EU students beginning a
part-time undergraduate Bachelors degree programme at Nottingham
Trent University in the academic year 2013/14 will be £8,750 per annum.
3.5
The FTE fee for all Home/EU students beginning a part-time
undergraduate Foundation Degree programme at Nottingham Trent
University in the academic year 2013/14 will be £6,500 per annum.
3.6
The FTE fee for all Home/EU students beginning a part-time post graduate
Teacher Training programme at Nottingham Trent University in the
academic year 2013/14 will be £9,000 per annum.
3.7
The fee for all students beginning a part-time course at Nottingham Trent
University in the academic year 2013/14 will not exceed £6,750 per
annum.
3.8
The level of the tuition fee for the second and subsequent years of the
course may vary, within the limitations imposed by UK government policy.
3.9
The University will not charge a fee for students within the 2013/14
cohort for sandwich year placements or year of study abroad.
3.10
The University‟s forecast of enrolment to full-time undergraduate
programmes for 2013/14 is 6,144. Within this total number, 240 are
expected to enrol on Foundation Degrees. Information provided in
Annex B is based on this forecast.
4.
5.
Additional access measures
4.1
The University recruits a diverse undergraduate population. While the
majority of our UK undergraduate students have homes outside the East
Midlands, around a third of our intake comes from the region, a region
with historically low, but improving attainment and HE progression rates.
Over half of these regional entrants are from Nottinghamshire, the county
with the highest concentration of deprivation and, consequently, lowest
rates of HE participation in the region.
4.2
NTU‟s full-time undergraduate population has consistently been ahead of
English national averages in the proportions of young students recruited
from state sector schools, from lower socio-economic groups (NS-SEC 4-7)
and from low participation neighbourhoods (POLAR 2), and exceeds or
meets HESA benchmarks (Appendix 1: table 1). Mature student entrants
to full-time first degree programmes routinely include a high proportion
with no previous HE experience and from low participation
neighbourhoods, when compared with national averages and NTU
benchmarks (Appendix 1: table 2).
Almost a quarter of our home
undergraduate entrants are Black and Minority Ethnic (BME), which is
slightly higher than the average for the sector as a whole. NTU students
drawing DSA is the only nationally benchmarked indicator on which we do
not currently reach benchmark. This has been targeted for improvement
(e.g. see 5.14 below).
4.3
HESA „non-continuation‟ data continue to reflect the University‟s good
continuation rates for full-time first degree entrants, with performance
exceeding HESA benchmarks in most recent years. (Appendix 1: Table 3)
Internal data provide more detailed analyses of progression and academic
achievement by subject, programme and demographic factors. These
analyses will inform priorities for additional targeted strategies to further
improve continuation and achievement.
4.4
Overall, in relation to the major HESA Performance Indicators for
participation by under-represented groups and for „non-continuation‟, the
University performs well in comparison to the sector as a whole and, for
most indicators over a consistent basis, well ahead of national averages.
4.5
Informed by HESA data, comparative information and by OFFA guidance,
the University proposes to commit 27.5% of additional undergraduate fee
income to support access and retention measures in 2013/14. These
include the continuation of plans already in progress under current access
agreements. For Postgraduate Initial Teacher Training (ITT), the
University expects to spend 10% of fee income over £6,000 on additional
access and retention measures.
Outreach
5.1
The University‟s plans for outreach for 2013/14 reflect the University‟s
Widening Participation Strategic Assessment (WPSA), current and recent
Access Agreements and the critical need to support the social mobility
agenda in view of the changes to the funding regime and fee structure.
5.2
Partnerships with Schools and Colleges.
We will build on the NTU
Partnership Scheme as the framework for delivery of a comprehensive
menu of outreach activity. We aim to increase the number of schools and
colleges signed up to the scheme from 60 to 90 over the next 5 years.
Recognising the gap in IAG provision created by the end of the Aimhigher
programme, we will expand the existing provision of generic HE
awareness-raising sessions (finance, the UCAS process, student life) to
pre- and post-16 students, increasing the level of engagement to over
30,000 learners. We will offer more subject-specific opportunities to
motivate and inspire students to progress.
5.3
Targeting. We will continue to target activity on students from the most
disadvantaged areas with the lowest rates of progression to higher
education, in accordance with published HEFCE (2007) targeting
guidelines. We have developed robust methodologies to identify schools
(from primary to 6th form) and colleges
where disadvantage is
concentrated. We will direct much of our effort and resources to such
partner institutions, particularly for group interventions. We recognise
that we also need to target at the individual learner level, particularly for
resource intensive activities such as our residential and mentoring
programmes. We are at an advanced stage of discussions with the two
Nottinghamshire local authorities regarding data sharing agreements.
Once received, the data will permit us to identify individual disadvantaged
learners with the potential to benefit from higher education, which will
assist schools in the identification of target learners for our intensive
interventions. Through the shared regional Monitoring and Evaluation
Database, jointly funded by 6 HEIs in the East Midlands, we will closely
monitor the effectiveness of our targeting procedures to ensure we meet
our internal and external obligations.
5.4
Attainment raising. We will deliver more initiatives that have a specific
focus on raising attainment, building on the highly successful „Raising the
Grade’
maths
conference,
previously
delivered
by
Aimhigher
Nottinghamshire but now organised and implemented by our outreach
team. The intervention engages targeted „borderline‟ students with the
aim of helping them to achieve maths GCSE at grade C. We plan to
extend this model to deliver similar events for English, modern foreign
languages and science. We will develop additional opportunities to support
successful transition from FE to HE: taster sessions, study skills
workshops and a reciprocal shadowing scheme for teachers and lecturers.
5.5
Collaborative activity with other HEIs. We recognise the importance of
sustaining collaborative arrangements, established through Aimhigher
with other HEIs, in order to avoid duplication and reduce unnecessary
approaches to schools and colleges.
5.5.1 NTU is the lead institution for the regional Routes into Languages
consortium; through close working with the outreach teams of our
partner institutions, we have ensured that the projects are
targeted on communities and cohorts in most need of support. We
will continue to offer language-focused widening participation
interventions through our Bespoke Language Programme, delivery
of Languages and You presentations and our International Student
workshops, supported by our student language ambassadors.
5.5.2 Students in Classrooms. We have a well-established partnership
with The University of Nottingham for the delivery of the Inspire
Mentoring Scheme, using the experience and expertise developed
through the Aimhigher Associates programme. This enables
students from both institutions to work on a one-to-one and small
group basis, providing advice, guidance and personal direction to
pupils aged 13-17 who come from the most disadvantaged areas.
We have made a commitment to expand the scheme, to jointly
recruit 120 students to engage with up to 500 school and college
pupils.
5.5.3 We also collaborate with The University of Nottingham on the
Teacher Associates Scheme, which engages over 100 students with
approximately 30 schools and colleges to provide subject-specific
support in secondary schools and cross-curricular support in
primary/junior schools.
5.5.4 Through the Primary Literacy Scheme, students act as positive role
models and help raise pupil literacy levels through a range of
activities.
5.5.5 All of the above opportunities not only benefit learners from underrepresented groups by helping to improve attainment and raise
their aspirations, but also give our students an insight into the
classroom environment and the chance to explore teaching as a
possible career. We provide information on routes into teaching,
support and development opportunities to give students the
experience, skills and confidence to make a successful application
to ITT.
5.5.6 On a practical level, these paid schemes provide an important
source of additional finance to our students, many of whom are
from a low income background. We receive overwhelmingly
positive feedback from our students in terms of their personal
development, and how the placements in schools have enhanced
their university experience. We intend to undertake more detailed
analysis as to whether participation in these schemes impacts
positively on the retention and graduate destinations of students
from under-represented groups.
5.5.7 We have an agreed framework for quality assurance of the scheme
and joint targets for this collaborative outreach initiative. We are
exploring ways of extending our activities to engage more Year 8
pupils, including the development of a new peer mentoring scheme,
along with literacy and numeracy support delivered through our
Students in Classrooms programme.
5.5.8 Other collaborative work includes NTU‟s key role in establishing
the East Midlands Care Leaver Activities and Student Support
(EMCLASS) network. This is a network for collaborative liaison
between care leaver workers in HEIs across the East Midlands to
encourage sharing of good practice and collaborative activities in
outreach work with care leavers and regional agencies. In
conjunction with the University of Nottingham, we are also
carrying forward joint working with looked after children in
Nottinghamshire under the Growing Lives initiative established by
Aimhigher Nottinghamshire.
5.5.9 In addition to collaborative interventions, NTU is one of the six
institutions which jointly fund the regional Monitoring and
Evaluation Database - a legacy of the Aimhigher programme. The
recently formed East Midlands Widening Participation Research and
Evaluation Partnership (EMWPREP) Steering Group, which has
representation from all six partner institutions, meets regularly to
discuss our collective widening participation objectives, providing a
foundation for further enhancing our access strategies. This
Steering Group provides a key opportunity for the partnership to
share best practices and contribute to the regional and national
understanding of the impact of outreach programmes on the young
people taking part.
5.6
Student volunteering. In partnership with our Students‟ Union, we aim to
maximise the resource of our student body by increasing opportunities to
deliver outreach activities on a voluntary basis. Our student volunteering
programmes not only provide students with valuable experiences that
enhance their employability, but also support our widening participation
aims through the work they do in local schools and the wider community.
5.6.1 We intend to enhance the support available through our core
volunteering team in order to better align volunteering
opportunities to our internal structures, providing students with
the opportunity to gain practical experience in their subject area or
chosen career. This will enable us to extend the outreach support
we provide to targeted schools through after-school clubs, literacy
and numeracy support and specific student-led projects.
5.6.2 Participation in sporting activity can help to inspire and motivate
young people at risk of disengagement from academic study. It
also gives them an insight into the extra-curricular sporting and
cultural aspects of higher education. Working with our Sports and
Lifestyle team we will develop and facilitate specific sports-related
volunteering opportunities.
5.7
Working with parents and carers. We recognise the need to work closely
with those who influence young people as they consider decisions about
their futures. In partnership with The University of Nottingham and local
FE colleges, we will continue to organise family supper events to engage
parents and carers of pre- and post-16 pupils. Our „family fun‟ events are
highly successful in giving primary school pupils and their families a first
experience of a university campus.
5.8
Children’s University. NTU is now the host organisation for the Children‟s
University, an initiative previously run by the local authority to engage
children and their families in out-of-school learning. The scheme is open
to children aged 7 to 14 and aims to promote social mobility by
supporting high quality extra-curricular activities to children and engaging
the wider communities as learning partners in this process. Each child has
a Passport To Learning where s/he can collect the credits for learning
which can lead to graduation at a Nottingham Trent University graduation
ceremony. An important principle of the Children's University is that
participation is voluntary with a different feel, different activities and often
a different location, involving groups of children and adults. It aims to
raise aspirations, boost achievement and encourage a love of learning. It
enables young people to make the most of their abilities and interests,
regardless of the background into which they were born.
5.9
Sorrell Foundation National Art and Design Saturday Club. Nottingham
Trent‟s School of Art & Design is one of 20 colleges and universities
participating in the Sorrell Foundation National Art and Design Saturday
Club. Through this initiative, targeted widening participation students in
Years 9 to 11 from a range of schools across Nottinghamshire take part in
a 30-week intensive art programme. The initiative is designed to
encourage learners to celebrate their creativity whilst building confidence
and developing their self-esteem. Students have the chance to try a range
of exciting media, including ceramics, photography, animation and
moving image, attend masterclasses and visit London art galleries. The
club‟s tutors set out to motivate, challenge and raise students aspirations.
5.10
Work experience. NTU is not only an education provider, but also a major
employer. We are in a unique position to offer a combination of
experiences in the workplace with the opportunity to inspire and motivate
young people to succeed, whatever career path they choose. We are
committed to providing high quality work experience opportunities, across
a wide range of disciplines, some of which could not be easily accessed
outside of a university environment, such as forensics and astronomy. We
will increase the number of students who will undertake placements from
our current baseline of 20 to more than 50 by 2016/17.
5.11
We will continue to develop and embed outreach and transition support
initiatives for specific disadvantaged groups:
5.12
Adults and young people with mental health difficulties. Through NTU‟s
Well AHead initiative, our mental health team has established liaison with
13 partner agencies to strengthen liaison and transition support links for
adults with mental health difficulties who may be considering entering
higher education. We will strengthen this network through partnership
events, undertake further work with potential applicants in this target
group, including young people, and share good practice in encouraging
and supporting potential students with other HEIs in the region.
5.13
Students with autistic spectrum conditions. We have worked successfully
with the National Autistic Society and other agencies to strengthen our
approaches to supporting students with autistic spectrum conditions
(ASC). We now intend to embed this provision as a dedicated service for
students and move forward with our previously confirmed intention of
introducing information events for prospective students with ASC and
their families.
5.14
Disabled students. We have introduced pre-entry transition support
events for disabled students, building on our successful models of our
transition support for mature students and care leavers. We intend to
embed these events and extend this activity by contributing to a
programme of events supporting young people with disabilities to learn
more about university and college. We aim to increase the percentage of
our full-time undergraduate students who are reported as being in receipt
of DSA, to meet or exceed HESA benchmark.
5.15
Care leavers. The University has now fully embedded a supportive
infrastructure for outreach and transition support for young students
entering HE/NTU from local authority care and/or Foyer projects, which
meets the Buttle Trust Quality Mark standards and plays an active role in
delivering a regional activity programme for young people in local
authority care in Nottingham/Nottinghamshire. Our intentions are to
maintain and develop these activities, including working with the
Nottingham Trent Students‟ Union to enhance our information resources
to support this work, develop further resources aimed specifically at care
leavers and their workers/carers and work more closely with the Students‟
Union to identify and provide safe social opportunities for students.
6.
Student Retention and Success
6.1
NTU‟s track record on undergraduate student continuation from year one
is strong, exceeding HESA benchmarks in most recent years. In 2007,
NTU was featured as one of the ten case study institutions used to
structure the NAO Report: Staying the Course, with specific
commendation for the effective management of student data to inform
developments.
6.2
Between 2008-2011, NTU led the HERE Project (Higher Education:
Retention and Engagement) - one of seven comprising the „What Works?
Student Retention and Success‟ programme funded by HEFCE and the
Paul Hamlyn Foundation. The HERE Project used data analysis to explore
the experience of first-year students who considered withdrawing, and
drew upon the experiences of course teams supporting students. The
project produced a number of outputs including a toolkit designed for
course teams to use at staff development events and team meetings. The
toolkit is designed to encourage teams to reflect upon their own practices
and explore HERE Project recommendations for improving retention and
engagement. In 2012/13, NTU was asked by the Higher Education
Academy to lead the „What Works?‟ dissemination workshops, and
contributed to publications on best practice in student retention.
6.3
We have invested in significant additional resource to enhance our
research and data analysis relating to the student journey. This will
increase our understanding of our student profile in terms of identifying
groups that are less likely to succeed at each stage of the student lifecycle and who will potentially benefit from additional support. During
2012/13 we will undertake in-depth research relating to retention and
success mapped against student characteristics including social class,
geographical deprivation, family income, gender, ethnicity, age, disability,
care background, home region, and NTU partner school/college. This will
further inform our future strategies for enhancing student retention and
success
6.4
The underlying rationale for NTU‟s approach to retention and success is
drawn from:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Current literature on student retention, engagement and transition
Our own primary research into retention and success
Data from our annual course and school reporting processes
Systematic data analysis, particularly for the retention and success
of widening participation groups who are attaining less well
Existing institutional strategies including the WPSA and NTU‟s
Equality Objectives (2012-15)
6.
6.5
Expertise of colleagues in a range of specialised fields (including
learning and teaching, student support, equality and diversity)
There are two overarching themes to our approach:
6.5.1 Creating an environment conducive to enhancing student
retention and success– Findings from the summary report of
the ‘What Works? Student Retention and Success’ programme
(2012)1 indicate that there are common factors associated with
student decisions to progress or withdraw. These include a
sense of belonging, student-student and student-staff
relationships, developing a sense of academic confidence and
supporting the transition to learning in higher education. NTU‟s
HERE Project research also noted the importance of the
academic environment and of friendships formed at University
on the decision to consider leaving or staying. In 2013/14, NTU
will continue to develop the institutional environment,
particularly the first year, with these factors in mind (see
6.5.3.2)
6.5.2 Supporting students at risk of withdrawing or failing to succeed.
Our first strategy is to reduce the risk of students
(disproportionately from widening participation backgrounds)
withdrawing, by focusing on the institutional environment.
However, we will also provide resources and support to help
students who may be at risk of leaving, or failing to succeed
(see 6.6). For example, we will continue to provide on-going
pastoral and academic support (both pre- and post-entry) to
care leavers and mature students, who may be particularly
susceptible to early disengagement.
6.6
Creating an environment conducive to enhancing student retention
and success
6.6.1 Disseminating existing knowledge and best practice – NTU has
developed expertise in student retention and success through a
range of research activities. By 2013/14, we will have
disseminated the findings of the HERE Project across the
institution using a combination of educational development
events and staff resources. The retention and success of our
widening participation cohort will be built into staff
development programmes for new academics. Workshops for
more experienced practitioners will be offered at events such
as the Annual Learning and Teaching, and Students‟ Writing in
Transition, conferences.
6.6.2 Identifying and supporting groups with lower levels of
attainment - In our 2012/13 OFFA agreement, we reported
that we have set up systems for more effective data capture
and will be conducting more detailed analysis of student
groups with lower levels of retention and success. These data
1
THOMAS, L., 2012. Building student engagement and belonging in Higher Education at a time of change: a
summary of findings and recommendations from the What Works? Student Retention & Success programme.
UK: Paul Hamlyn Foundation, HEFCE, HEA & Action on Access.
will also be reviewed in the context of our Equality Plan (201215) with appropriate objectives set to address identified areas
for improvement. This statistical analysis will be supported by
research directly with these groups of students, seeking to
identify factors associated with progression and attainment. In
2013/14, our research efforts will focus on ways that university
services and processes - for example the library - might be
best configured to meet the needs of these student groups. We
will focus particularly on the following groups (although we
expect these results to be refined based upon the 2012/13
analysis):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Male students
Students from specific BME backgrounds
Students from disadvantaged neighbourhoods (e.g.
identified using MOSAIC, IMD & POLAR data) and/or
backgrounds (e.g. using NS-SEC data)
Mature students
Students with lower or „non-traditional‟ pre-entry
qualifications
6.6.3 Improving the learning experience – In 2011/12, NTU
implemented three major improvements to the academic
experience that have potential benefits for enhancing student
retention and success.
6.6.3.1
Curriculum review – In 2012/13, the academic
curriculum was redeveloped to provide students with a
more integrated learning experience. Informed by research
showing that under-represented groups are less likely to be
academically prepared for the transition to HE, all courses
were redeveloped to ensure that undergraduates have a
substantial and coherent core curriculum based around a
first year that strongly supports their transition to HE and
acts as a foundation for subsequent years. There is an
increasing emphasis on cohort cohesion and developing a
stronger sense of belonging drawn from research findings
such as ‘What Works? Student Retention and Success’.
Furthermore, students will have a more coherent timetable,
as NTU research has identified timetabling as a factor that
contributes to anxiety amongst students. In 2013/14, the
University will review the experience of students in this new
framework, with a particular interest on retention and
success of our widening participation cohort.
6.6.3.2
Increased academic and social engagement through
academic tutorials – In 2013/14, all undergraduate
students will participate in academic tutorial groups (unless
there are practical reasons why this form of support is not
appropriate - for example, on some work-based or distance
learning courses - in these instances, other forms of
support will be provided). The design of these tutorials has
been strongly influenced by retention and success literature
and research conducted by the HERE Project. Our research
suggests that this strategy will be effective at helping male
students to develop support mechanisms. The tutorials
provide students with the opportunity to develop a sense of
belonging, form stronger bonds with both peers and tutors,
acclimatise to learning in higher education and develop a
more integrated understanding of their whole curriculum.
Such factors are critical for students from widening
participation backgrounds, who may lack the social and
cultural capital enjoyed by their more advantaged
counterparts.
6.6.3.3
Improvements to new student induction – Since
2005, NTU has allocated resources to supporting students‟
early transition into higher education by providing an
extensive Welcome Week programme and developing
resources for staff to use in course inductions. During
Welcome Week, we provide a series of interventions
targeted at the needs of widening participation students.
These interventions include additional opportunities for
mature students and local students to socialise and develop
support networks, information sessions and workshops for
mature students, students living outside halls, students
with disabilities and care leavers. This programme of early
transition support will be continued with a greater emphasis
placed on:
1. Pre-arrival activities – students will be provided with
more information on-line and opportunities to begin
engaging with their course prior to arrival, thereby
easing the transition into HE. In 2013/14, we will
offer facilitated pre-arrival
social
networking
opportunities for mature students and students
living locally. Based on evaluation from 2012/13, we
will also explore pre-arrival activities for other WP
groups such as students with disabilities.
2. Extended induction – rather than induction ending
after the initial induction week, staff will be
encouraged through training and resources to treat
key stages of the first year as opportunities to induct
students to practices appropriate for independent
learning. This activity will be more beneficial for
students with no family tradition of higher education.
3. Induction to each academic level after the first year
– course teams will offer short inductions to each
successive year to re-establish relationships with
students and help raise awareness about differences
between each level.
These improvements to our induction programmes are aimed at
our students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who, our
preliminary data suggest, are less likely to successfully progress
through their course than their more advantaged counterparts.
6.6.3.4
Continuing to improve the learning experience – NTU
will continue the work conducted for the HERE Project and
research issues associated with student retention and
success. We will focus upon the experiences of groups with
poorer rates of progression (6.5.2.), we will investigate
actions that can help ameliorate problems and accentuate
success. NTU will also conduct short, action-oriented
research into processes (e.g. exam resits) or pressure times
(e.g. coursework deadlines) and investigate ways to learn
from existing best practices. We expect to improve the
timeliness of communication strategies and targeting at
specific groups of students, for example students from low
participation backgrounds.
6.7
Supporting students at risk of withdrawing or failing to succeed
6.7.1 Whilst the primary focus of our retention effort is to be on
creating an environment conducive to enhancing retention,
NTU will also ensure that students at risk are supported. We
define „at risk‟ as those students who are in danger of
withdrawing, or those who are not achieving their academic
potential. In 2013/14, we will provide three strategies to
support these students:
6.7.2 Study support – NTU will continue to provide a range of study
support to students. Students who are struggling with their course
work, or would like to find ways of being more successful will be
supported by study skills workshops, one-to-one support and study
support resources. In 2013/14, we will work with students from
priority groups to identify ways of improving engagement with
these services. For example, work between the University's
Libraries and Learning Resources and Equality & Diversity teams
will identify which BME groups have used the library and study
support resources and research ways of overcoming barriers to
accessing these services.
6.7.3 Academic tutorials – Although the academic tutorials are
primarily intended to enhance students‟ transition to becoming
effective learners on their course, another important outcome
is improved relationships between staff and students. Evidence
from the HERE Project suggests that where staff/student
relationships are good, students feel more comfortable asking
for help. Academic tutorials are therefore also part of our
strategy of supporting students at risk
6.7.4 Student doubters/wrong course service – The UK retention
literature clearly indicates that the „wrong course‟ is a commonly
cited reason for withdrawing early. In 2012/13, the University will
have implemented a new initiative providing an in-house service to
support students who are unsure about their course choice postenrolment and who may require further advice about their options
to transfer between courses. In 2013/14, this service will
concentrate on developing referral systems with academic
guidance structures and raising staff awareness of these processes.
This is a particularly important service for non-traditional entrants,
such as „first generation‟ HE students, who may have had limited
access to appropriate pre-entry information, advice and guidance.
7.
Financial Support for Students
7.1
National Scholarship Programme (NSP). The University has received
a confirmed allocation of £1,683k to support 561 scholarships of £3k for
2013/14 entrants. The University plans to match this allocation.
7.1.1 NSP selection. On the basis of current student profiles, we predict
that well in excess of 2,000 (37.5%) 2013/14 full-time
undergraduate entrants will meet the residual household income
criterion for eligibility for a National Scholarship. Through
consultation with the University‟s Students‟ Union, it has been
agreed that the University will allocate awards entirely on an
income-assessment basis (as confirmed by SFE) to students from
the lowest household incomes within this group who meet all other
required criteria* for consideration for NSP awards.
7.1.2
* NSP awards will not be available to:
NHS-funded students
students undertaking a postgraduate initial teacher training
course leading to qualified teacher status
students directly continuing from one course to another (for
example, from foundation degree or HND on to the final
year of an honours degree)
students transferring in from another institution
students undertaking a postgraduate qualification
part-time students studying at less than 25 per cent
intensity of the full-time equivalent
any other students whose fees are paid or part-paid through
a sponsorship arrangement.
7.1.3 Fee component. The allocation of each NSP will be in the form of a
fee reduction of £3k available in the first year of study only.
7.2
NTU Scholarships. The University will provide financial support towards
tuition fees through the NTU Scholarship Scheme to new, eligible fulltime undergraduate students paying the maximum home tuition fee, who
have a residual household income of £25,000 or below in their year of
entry (as confirmed by their national student finance service) and who are
not in receipt of National Scholarship awards.
7.2.1 Value of NTU Scholarships The value of each NTU Scholarship will
be £1,400 for each year of study, up to a maximum of three years,
provided recipients are eligible in their year of entry on the basis of
assessment of household income and other criteria*. For those
students studying a four year taught programme, this award will
be available for a maximum of four years. (NTU Scholarship
payments will not apply during sandwich or placement years, or for
repeat years of study.)
7.2.2 *In order to be eligible for an NTU Scholarship a student must
have a household income level in their year of entry (as assessed
by their national student finance service) of £25,000 or less and
must be:
enrolled as a new entrant in 2013/14 on a full-time
undergraduate degree or full-time Foundation degree
course at NTU; and
paying, whether directly or by Fee Loan, the full 2013/14
tuition fee for their course (£8,750 for full degree or £6,500
for Foundation degree); and
in receipt of either a means-tested maintenance grant from
their national Student Finance Service or a Special Support
Grant.
7.2.3 Continued eligibility for an NTU Scholarship for subsequent years
will be dependent on the student remaining fully enrolled on their
full-time undergraduate degree or full-time Foundation degree
course at NTU and paying, whether directly or by Fee Loan, the
maximum full tuition fee for their course;
7.2.4 Students in receipt of a National Scholarship award will not be
eligible to receive an NTU Scholarship in that same academic year.
7.2.5 Students whose tuition fees are being paid (in part or in full) by
their employer, other formal sponsoring organisation or through a
fee grant from a national student finance service will not eligible to
receive an NTU Scholarship.
7.2.6 Students who are assessed as not being eligible to receive an NTU
Scholarship in the first year of their course will not be eligible to
receive an NTU Scholarship in any subsequent year of study on
that course, irrespective of any subsequent change in
circumstances which might then be perceived as satisfying the
eligibility assessment criteria.
7.2.7 Students who began their full-time undergraduate programme at
NTU before September 2012 will not be eligible for scholarship
assistance, but will be subject to the bursary arrangements
detailed in our Access Agreement applying to their year of entry.
7.3
Discretionary Financial Support Fund. The University will increase the
allocation to a discretionary financial support fund managed by Student
Support Services from £150,000 in 2012/13 to £300,000 in 2013/14. It is
intended that this fund will provide on-course financial assistance to
students who may be at high risk of withdrawing from their studies for
financial reasons, including students who are unable, perhaps for reasons
relating to disability, mental health difficulties or family commitments, to
supplement their financial support through part-time or vacation
employment. Eligibility for this assistance will be means-tested and key
criteria for awards will be developed in partnership with the Nottingham
Trent Students‟ Union.
7.4
Students on full-time postgraduate ITT courses will not be eligible for
financial support towards tuition fees from the University. These students
will, however, be eligible to be considered for assistance through the
University‟s Discretionary Financial Support Fund, if they meet the
qualifying criteria.
7.5
These scholarships, bursaries and allocations may be adjusted in line with
other inflation-linked changes in fees and other national student support
provision.
7.6
8.
9.
The operation and impact of NSP allocations, NTU scholarships, bursaries
and financial support funds will be monitored to evaluate impact and
inform their future development within the overall monitoring and
evaluation procedures.
Targets and milestones
8.1
We aim to maintain our position in relation to the proportions of young
and mature students recruited from under-represented groups, as
reflected in performance against HESA benchmarks. Latest HESA
performance indicators (for 2010/11 entry – see Table 1, Appendix 1)
show that there has been a fall in the proportion of our young full-time
first-degree entrants from state schools, NS-SEC 4-7 and low participation
neighbourhoods (LPNs). However, analysis of our internal data for
2011/12 entry (based on LPN data) suggest that there has since been an
increase back to 2009/10 levels. We will continue to closely monitor our
student intake and take appropriate action where necessary to help
maintain and indeed increase our diverse student population.
8.2
We aim to secure incremental improvements in our already good
continuation rates, as reflected in HESA data and benchmarks. Latest
HESA performance indicators (for 2010/11 entry – see Table 3,
Appendix 1) show that there has been an increase in non-continuation
rates of our young full-time first degree entrants following year of entry.
We will be investigating potential reasons for this by scrutinising our
internal data, taking account of a broad range of socio-economic,
educational and demographic indicators, and will continue to monitor our
progress.
8.3
We aim to increase the proportion of our new students in receipt of DSA
to at least meet HESA benchmark supported by increased effort in
outreach activity targeted at potential applicants with disabilities. The
apparent decrease in our students in receipt of DSA between 2008/09 and
2010/11, as reported in the HESA performance indicators, somewhat
contradicts our internal data, which shows that there has been a steady
increase in the proportion of our entrants with a declared disability. We
will continue to monitor our progress by further scrutinising our internal
data.
8.4
We will continue to work for progress against institutional milestones
already set within our Access Agreements for 2009/10 – 2012/13. In
addition to the HESA PI measures, we will also monitor our access and
retention progress using alternative proxies for disadvantage. This may
include Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), MOSAIC and financial data.
8.5
Our Milestones from 2013/14 are set out in Table 6 of Annex C.
Monitoring and evaluation arrangements
9.1
Our outreach activity has historically been aligned with the targeting
approach adopted by Aimhigher, in line with HEFCE guidance. We have
used a broad range of data, including Indices of Multiple Deprivation
(IMD), Participation of Local Area (POLAR2), Free School Meals (FSM) and
student/school achievement data to implement our targeting strategy.
The more intense interventions - such as summer schools and mentoring
- are targeted at individual students from lower socio-economic
backgrounds and other groups that are underrepresented in higher
education, such as care leavers.
9.2
As noted above (5.5.9.), we have adopted a collaborative approach to
targeting, monitoring and evaluation in partnership with five other HEIs
across the East Midlands and we part-fund a regional on-line system to
collect data on WP activity and participant data.
9.3
We will monitor the number, type and intensity level of all outreach
activities, and the profile of participants in intense interventions. Subject
to agreement with the local authorities, we will seek to establish any
association between participation in our outreach activity and participants‟
subsequent attainment.
9.4
When our participants have reached „HE-ready‟ status and data become
available from UCAS, we will track our outreach participants into higher
education and ascertain any relationship between participation in our
activities and any deviation from expected HE participation trends. Much
of our outreach work benefits disadvantaged students in terms of raising
their aspirations to enter higher education per se, not necessarily our own
institution. Therefore, we will monitor and evaluate our interventions
taking account of broader participation. Nevertheless, evidence from an
East Midlands Widening Participation Research and Evaluation Partnership
(EMWPREP) pilot research project using participant data from the
Aimhigher programme suggested that taking part in an activity at a host
institution increased the likelihood of participants applying for, and
accepting places on, courses at the same „host‟ institution. Therefore we
will be closely monitoring our participants‟ progression into our own
institution, in addition to broader participation trends.
9.5
We will use a range of quantitative and qualitative measures –
questionnaires, focus groups, teacher feedback - to monitor and evaluate
specific programmes. We will implement a standardised approach to
monitoring and evaluation for collaborative initiatives and hold regular
review meetings with all stakeholders. We recognise that monitoring and
evaluation is an iterative process, and we will endeavour to improve our
outreach activities based on the results of our evaluations.
9.6
We will use a combination of national datasets, such as HESA PIs and
internal data to monitor student recruitment, retention and success
against standard variables, including socio-economic status, gender,
ethnicity and disability, but also in relation to participation in outreach
programmes and progression through our NTU Schools and Colleges
Partnership scheme. Historically, NTU has a strong record of recruiting
and retaining students from disadvantaged backgrounds, although there
is no room for complacency. We will scrutinise our internal data to take an
holistic view of the student life cycle in terms of the outcomes of
advantaged and disadvantaged groups. For example, we will analyse our
student achievement data in terms of contextual factors, such as
comparing final degree classifications of advantaged and disadvantaged
groups, taking account of prior attainment.
9.7
We have recently recruited a Data and Intelligence Manager to support
analyses through the five stages of the student journey informing our
WPSA and to interrogate data and produce reports to inform improvement
strategies. This additional resource will enable the impact of targeted
outreach and retention intervention strategies to be assessed through use
of quantitative data. The same data sets will continue to be employed to
monitor the impact of the University‟s financial support arrangements.
9.8
The
Widening
Participation
Strategy
Group,
chaired
by
Professor Chris Pole, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and a member of the
Senior Management Team, has specific responsibility for the delivery of
NTU‟s Access Agreement and oversees progress against targets and
milestones. Through its membership - which includes Head of Student
Support Services; Director of Finance; Head of Schools, Colleges and
Community Outreach; Head of Integrated Marketing and Admissions;
Strategic Data Manager; Head of the Centre for Academic Quality and
Development; and Head of Equality and Diversity - the group has a
broader remit to inform and influence strategy related to widening
participation and student retention. This group reports to the
Vice-Chancellor and the University‟s Senior Management Team via
Professor Pole and to Academic Board through its Academic Standards
and Quality sub-committee.
10. Provision of information to prospective and enrolled students
10.1
The University is committed to providing clear and accessible information
to all prospective and current students, detailing exactly what they will
have to pay and what financial support will be in place for the duration of
their programme of study. This will include arrangements for National
Scholarships, NTU Scholarships, and loans and grants provided by
national funding authorities. The University plans to publish confirmed
information for potential 2013/14 entrants immediately following formal
acceptance of this Access Agreement by the Office for Fair Access.
10.2
The University will also supply such complete and timely information to
UCAS and SLC as they may reasonably require to populate their
applicant-facing web services
10.3
Under current Access Agreement arrangements, we have extended our
financial advice services to provide a first rate information service to all
potential students and their parents/sponsors offering:
10.3.1 dedicated Fees and Funding web pages, with information on
tuition fees and related financial information, frequently asked
questions and key contacts;
10.3.2 continuation of a high volume of finance talks and workshops to
young people and their parents/carers. We will distribute hard copy
literature (guides and fact sheets) to targeted schools and colleges;
10.3.3 highly visible coverage of financial matters at university open
events, with Money Matters stands, staffed by financial support
advisers and a programme of comprehensive briefing talks for
prospective applicants and their parents/sponsors, detailing tuition
fees and the financial support and loan repayment arrangements;
10.3.4 on-line and telephone enquiry services for applicants and enrolled
students, to respond to individual queries on fees and funding
issues;
10.3.5 on-line enrolment and payment facilities through “Myntu”,
providing individualised notification of fee liability and payment
arrangements.
10.4
We have moved this work forward by introducing financial capability
workshops and education sessions for current and prospective local
students, using the Financial Services Authority Money Doctors
framework and we intend to extend this work further over the next period
to enhance the available resources to develop students‟ financial literacy
and address specific money management issues for target groups (e.g.
care leavers). As part of our Money Doctors work, we have also developed
comprehensive „Managing your Money‟ web pages which emphasise the
importance of financial capability amongst students. We plan to develop
this work further by exploring the effective use of available technologies
to improve the accessibility of our information, including pod casting,
video casting, e-learning and smart phone applications.
10.5
We will also support the Nottingham Trent Students‟ Union in the
development of its Student Employment Store. This development will
enhance the availability and awareness of opportunities for students to
supplement their personal funding while studying through relevant parttime employment with local employers and within the Students‟ Union and
University.
11. Consulting with students
11.1
We have consulted with the Nottingham Trent Students‟ Union (NTSU)
Executive on the overall structure of the Access Agreement, with more
detailed collaborative planning of the financial support elements of the
proposed expenditure. As a result of feedback from the Students‟ Union,
the University has increased the value of the discretionary financial
support fund, providing on-course financial assistance to students, by 100%
- from £150,000 expected spend in 2012/13 to £300,000 in 2013/14.
11.2
The University will continue to work in partnership with the Students‟
Union to ensure that the eligibility criteria for this assistance are
appropriately targeted, fair and responsive to student need. Further
partnership work between NTSU and NTU on the development of the NTSU
Student Employment Store will bring added benefits for students,
enhancing opportunities for paid part-time work.
11.3
The NTSU Executive has also provided key feedback to inform the
development of the academic tutoring system and will contribute to the
monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of this initiative through
the University‟s Student Executive Forum, which meets termly to consider
key issues arising from student fora in Schools and comprises Student
Union Executive members, members of the University‟s Senior
Management Team and heads of key university services.
12. Equality and diversity
12.1
The University has closely aligned its OFFA Access Agreement objectives
with the objectives of its Equality Scheme and will ensure that going
forward this coherence is maintained.
12.2
In order to meet its general and specific duties under the 2010 Equality
Act, NTU has identified overarching objectives for the period 2012-2015.
These include the intention to
“understand the student academic
experience for equality groups in order to enhance this experience where
appropriate and possible, focusing on application, to offer, acceptance,
progression, achievement and employability”.
12.3
This is an institution-wide objective, to which both academic and
professional services contribute in a contextually relevant way. A
consistent data set is used to monitor and identify priorities for
development in Equality and Access Agreement action plans.
12.4
Under the Equality Scheme 2012-15, it is intended that specific attention
will be given to progression and achievement for BME students, male
students and BME male students. However, the work undertaken within
the University‟s Access Agreement and Widening Participation Strategic
Assessment includes a wider focus on developments to ensure success for
a wider profile of students, including socio-economic status.
12.5
We will continue to assess the equalities impact on significant proposed
changes to the Access Agreement and to monitor and address any
significant differential impact of these changes on the equality groups.
July 2012
Appendix 1: Summary data for NTU against national means and benchmarks for participation of under-represented groups and non-continuation rates
following year of entry.
Table 1: Participation of under-represented groups: % young full-time first degree entrants (from HESA T1a)
2007-08
2008-09
NTU
Actual
NTU
B'mark
England
HEI
Mean
State Sector Schools
93.9
92.2
87.4
NS-SEC 4-7
LPN (Low
participation
neighbourhoods)
34.0
34.0
11.1
10.8
2010-11
2009-10
NTU
Actual
NTU
B'mark
England
HEI
Mean
NTU
Actual
NTU
B'mark
England
HEI
Mean
93.6
92.4
88.4
93.2
92.3
88.2
29.4
93.0
92.3
88.0
(nationally non-comparable
data)
32.0
32.6
30.1
31.0
33.2
30.7
9.9
12.1
12.2
11.2
10.5
11.1
11.2
10.5
NTU
Actual
NTU
B'mark
11.1
England
HEI
Mean
10.2
Table 2: Participation of under-represented groups: % mature full-time undergraduate entrants (from HESA T2a)
2007-08
No previous HE &
from LPN (POLAR2)
2008-09
2010-11
2009-10
NTU
Actual
NTU
B'mark
England
HEI
Mean
NTU
Actual
NTU
B'mark
England
HEI
Mean
NTU
Actual
NTU
B'mark
England
HEI
Mean
NTU
Actual
NTU
B'mark
England
HEI
Mean
15.4
10.8
11.6
18.5
14.5
11.8
18.1
13.0
11.9
19.5
14.3
11.9
Table 3: Non-continuation following year of entry: full-time first degree entrants (from HESA T3a)
2007-08
2008-09
2010-11
2009-10
NTU
Actual
NTU
B'mark
England
HEI
Mean
NTU
Actual
NTU
B'mark
England
HEI
Mean
NTU
Actual
NTU
B'mark
England
HEI
Mean
NTU
Actual
NTU
B'mark
England
HEI
Mean
Young students
8.7
8.6
7.1
6.1
8.4
6.9
6.6
7.4
12.9
7.7
7.9
7.1
Mature students
15.6
14.4
14.5
8.5
14.3
13.9
12.5
13.3
12.9
12.3
13.6
13.2
All students
9.8
9.5
8.7
6.4
9.2
8.4
7.3
8.1
7.8
8.2
8.5
8.4
OFFA Access Agreement 2013/14 - Annexes B & C
Institution name: Nottingham Trent University
Institution UKPRN: 10004797
Table 6 - Milestones and targets
Validation checks:
10. A reason for changing any prefilled data must be recorded in column L for both tables 6a and 6b.
Validation check passed.
Notes:
These tables have been pre-populated using the information you provided to us in your 2012-13 access agreement.
You will, however, need to consider whether you wish to amend or add targets to reflect:
 the inclusion of part-time and/or ITT courses within your access agreement
 any significant changes to the nature and size of your cohort, for example in response to changing student number controls
 more joint targets around collaborative outreach work
 targets to improve equality and diversity in your access agreement
Table 6a - Statistical milestones and targets relating to your applicants, entrants or student body (e.g. HESA, UCAS or internal targets)
Yearly milestones/targets (numeric where possible, however you may
use text)
Please select milestone/target type from the drop down Description (500 characters
menu
maximum) of under represented
Participation
groups: percentage young full-time
first degree entrants from state
State School (HESA Table T1a)
schools
Is this a
collaborative Baseline
target?
year
Baseline data 2012-13
2013-14
2014-15
2015-16
If you have made any changes to the
prefilled data around your
Commentary on your milestones/targets milestones/targets, or included
or textual description where numerical
additional milestones/targets, please
description is not appropriate (500
indicate why here.
characters maximium)
2016-17
We aim to maintain or exceed our position
93.6 in relation to our HESA benchmarks
2009-10
93.6
93.6
93.6
93.6
93.6
NS-SEC (HESA Table T1a)
Participation of under represented
groups: percentage young full-time
first degree entrants from low
participation neighbourhoods:
percentage from NS-SEC groups 4-7
2009-10
32
32.5
33
33.5
34
We aim to maintain or exceed our current
34.5 position
LPN (HESA Table T1a)
Participation of under represented
groups: percentage young full-time
first degree entrants from low
participation
Participation neighbourhoods
of under represented
2009-10
12.2
12.4
12.6
12.8
13
We aim to maintain or exceed our current
13.2 position
2009-10
18.1
18.1
18.1
18.1
18.1
We aim to maintain or exceed our position
18.1 in relation to our HESA benchmarks
2009-10
6.6
6.5
6.4
6.3
6.2
We aim to maintain or exceed our current
6.1 position
2009-10
12.5
12.4
12.3
12.2
12.1
2009-10
7.3
7.2
7.1
7
6.9
2009-10
3.6
3.9
4.2
4.5
4.8
Mature
Non continuation: Young (HESA Table T3a)
Non continuation: Mature (HESA Table T3a)
Non continuation: All (HESA Table T3a)
Disabled
groups: percentage mature full-time
first degree entrants with no previous
HE from low participation
neighbourhoods
% non continuation following year of
entry: young full-time first degree
entrants
% non continuation following year of
entry: mature full-time first degree
entrants
% non continuation following year of
entry: all full-time first degree entrants
% full-time first degree students in
receipt of DSA
We aim to maintain or exceed our current
12 position
We aim to maintain or exceed our position
6.8 in relation to our HESA benchmarks
We aim to improve on our current position
5.2 and achieve our HESA benchmark
Table 6b - Other milestones and targets
‐
Alongside applicant and entrant targets, we encourage you to provide targets around your outreach work (including collaborative outreach work where
appropriate) or other initiatives to illustrate your progress towards increasing access. These should be measurable outcomes based targets and should focus on
the number of pupils reached by a particular activity/programme, or number of schools worked with, and what the outcomes were, rather than simply recording
the nature/number of activities.
Yearly milestones/targets (numeric where possible, however you may
use text)
Please select milestone/target type from the drop down Description (500 characters
menu
maximum)
Number of schools and colleges
Strategic partnerships (eg formal relationships with
signed up as members of the NTU
schools/colleges/employers)
Partnership Scheme
Number of participants in Year 9
Outreach / WP activity (summer schools)
summer school
Number of participants in Year 12
Outreach / WP activity (summer schools)
summer school
Outreach / WP activity (other - please give details in the
Number of students accessing work
next column)
experience placements
Outreach / WP activity (other - please give details in the
Participants in subject-specific
next column)
activities
Outreach / WP activity (collaborative - please give details Number of pupils to benefit from
in the next column)
mentoring
Disability outreach: number of mental
health agencies maintaining support
Student support services
links
Number of students with mental health
support requirements accessing NTU
Student support services
service
Individuals with autistic spectrum
Student support services
disroders accessing NTU service
Disabled students engaged in NTU preStudent support services
entry leavers
activitiesin contact with NTU
Care
Student support services
service
Is this a
collaborqativ Baseline
e target?
year
Baseline data 2012-13
2013-14
2014-15
2015-16
2016-17
2009-10
60
70
75
80
85
90
2009-10
60
60
60
60
60
60
2009-10
70
70
70
70
70
70
2009-10
20
30
35
40
45
50
2009-10
2000
2500
2600
2700
2800
2900
2009-10
120
480
500
520
540
2009-10
10
14
16
17
18
18
2009-10
240
250
255
260
265
270
2009-10
30
40
45
48
52
55
2009-10
2009-10
90
40
100
50
110
55
120
58
130
60
140
65
If you have made any changes to the
prefilled data around your
Commentary on your milestones/targets milestones/targets, or included
or textual description where numerical
additional milestones/targets, please
description is not appropriate (500
indicate why here.
characters maximium)
Programme to be delivered in partnership
560 with University of Nottingham
Other (please give details in the next column)
Retention activity: Number of
interviews/focus groups with students
from WP backgrounds
2010-11
40
40
Full review of engagement of students from
WP backgrounds to inform strategies to
improve successful transition, retention and
success
Targets have been updated for 2013/14
Other (please give details in the next column)
Improvement in year 1 to 2
progression rates for identified groups
through the introduction of 'wrong
course' interventions: Number of
student beneficiaries
2010-11
60
60
Longer term targets to be set following
evaluation of pilot phase
Other (please give details in the next column)
Opportunity to engage with enhanced
academic tutorial system supporting
transition to learning in HE and
cohesion within course. Available to all
campus-based undergraduate courses
(see narrative)
80
The pilot study (2011-12) is due to end after
this commentary has been written (Summer
2012). Therefore, the current target is
continued for 2013/14 rather than develop
the target further. Findings from the pilot will
be embedded into future strategies.
Target is continued for 2013/14
2010-11
80
Targets have been updated for 2013/14