Common use of Assessment of access and retention record Clause in Contracts

Assessment of access and retention record. The University of Bristol is a highly selective, research-intensive University. For entry in October 2010, we received an average of 10.2 home applications for every place (with some programmes receiving as many as 40 applications per place). The average UCAS tariff score of our 2010 entrants was 478.5 (the equivalent of 3.9 A grade ‘A’ Level passes). By contrast, average secondary attainment in the Bristol area is among the poorest in England, with an average QCA tariff score of 679.6 per student (the equivalent of 3.2 C grade ‘A’ Level passes), compared with the English average of 744.8 per student (NB the UCAS tariff and QCA tariffs are not calculated on the same basis so cannot be directly compared with each other4). Beyond the Bristol area, the University draws its students primarily from the south of England, where average income levels are relatively high. These characteristics create some very specific challenges when it comes to diversifying our own student intake (as opposed to playing our part in raising student aspirations and widening participation in Higher Education more generally). Given this context, the University of Bristol’s strategy for Widening Participation has been deliberately built around a combination of aspiration- and attainment-raising activity in local schools (often undertaken in collaboration with other local HE providers and designed primarily to widen participation in the Higher Education sector generally); more targeted activities, designed to attract the most able students to Bristol and a contextualised approach to admissions, which ensures that poor school performance is taken into account when selection decisions are made. Despite this very comprehensive and well-established approach, the University of Bristol has had only limited success in realising its ambitions in the area of widening participation. (Detailed data are provided at Appendix Two.) Over the three year period from 2008/09 to 2010/11, the proportion of applications from under-represented groups has increased in only three categories (mature students; disabled students and students from low participation neighbourhoods) with the proportion of applications from all other categories (students from low performing schools; socio-economic groups 4-7; minority ethnic groups and local postcodes) declining. Over the same period, progress in diversifying the University’s undergraduate intake has followed a similar pattern, with small improvements in only three categories (students from low participation neighbourhoods; disabled students and local students). The proportion of mature students; students from low performing schools; students from socio-economic groups 4-7 and from minority ethnic groups has fallen.