Common use of Expenditure on Additional Access and Retention Measures Clause in Contracts

Expenditure on Additional Access and Retention 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 40% of each cohort comes from the region, a region with improving, but still low, HE participation rates. Half of these students are from Nottinghamshire, the county with the lowest regional HE progression rate. 4.2 NTU‟s full-time undergraduate population is consistently well 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). While our undergraduate ethnicity profile closely mirrors the national means, the proportion of NTU students drawing DSA is the only nationally benchmarked indicator on which we do not reach benchmark. This is to be targeted for improvement. 4.3 HESA „non-continuation‟ data continue to reflect the University‟s good continuation rates for full-time first degree entrants, with performance well ahead of benchmark in most recent years. (Appendix 1: Table 3) Analysis by sub-groups broadly reflects this, although with more variation. Internal data provide for more fine-grained analyses of progression and academic achievement, by subject, programme and demographic factors, and support the development and trails of 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 at levels high within the third quartiles of all HEIs and well ahead of national averages. 4.5 Informed by this data, comparative information and by OFFA guidance, the University proposes to commit 27% of additional fee income to „additional access and retention measures‟ in 2012/13. These include the continuation of plans already in progress under current Access Agreements as well as increased and additional measures from 2012/13.