Common use of Outreach and Access Clause in Contracts

Outreach and Access. Our formative evaluation is well established and considers the quality of the activities and outcomes of sessions we provide. A variety of standardised questionnaires are used before and after events with students and staff establishing not only that the content is suitable and relevant but also that activities raise aspirations and increased motivation to study. During 2013-14 significant progress has been made in developing more robust systems for gathering data and summative evaluation of the longer term impact of our access activities. Key to this work has been the new Student Experience Data Officer who works closely with the Widening Participation team to use relevant data regarding pupil attainment and progression to HE. This is enabling us to establish patterns between engagement in our outreach activities and application and entry to St Mary’s. We will also use the Toolkits and the Higher Education Academy Archive to develop our practice. St Mary’s membership of collaborative organisations also affords opportunities to develop and apply evaluation and monitoring methods to illustrate long term impact. For example, Aimhigher London South Ltd use contacts to develop a range of data sharing protocols with several Local Authorities to map the progression and destinations of students who participate in activities and a centralised database provides AHLS member institutions with a consistent evaluative process to measure both the quality and impact of events. AccessHE are also developing methods of tracking destinations across London for those who have taken part in collaborative activities and have purchased data from UCAS on progression to HE by POLAR quintile to assist in this. The Student Experience Data Officer also monitors and analyses the HESA data on the benchmarks set in our Access Agreement for targets and milestones for access and success. It is expected that this work will be even more fully developed during 2015-16 and we are particularly keen to extend our monitoring and evaluation activity to include employability levels amongst under-represented groups. The work of our Learning Advice team was outlined in section 3 and they will be key in monitoring the progress being made for those students in under-represented groups, some of whom may have been identified pre-entry and progress to St Mary’s. The scholarships officer monitors and evaluates the take up of financial support. Furthermore, the University is currently participating in the Student Retention and Success Change Programme (HE Academy and ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ Foundation funded initiative on “What Works”).This project is providing clear direction on evaluation of the student experience and has informed the content of a new institutional strategy for ‘Student Engagement, Retention and Success’, implemented during 2013-14. At an institutional level, the Access Agreement Group, which directly reports to the Planning and Resources Committee (and ultimately to Academic Board) and is chaired by the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students and External Relations), oversees the overall strategy and performance for widening participation in the institution. The group meets to monitor the annual timetable of access and success activities and to receive data relevant to monitoring and evaluation (including financial updates). The Student Union General Manager is a member of the Access Agreement Group. Students are also represented on other committees that consider aspects of the Access Agreement, such as the Equality and Diversity Sub-committee, Student Experience Committee (chaired by a member of the Board of Governors) and Academic Board. The Students’ Union and the Pro Vice-Chancellor (S&ER) are developing a stronger student representation system across all University committees to ensure that the student voice is heard.

Outreach and Access. Our formative evaluation is well established and considers the quality of the activities and outcomes of sessions we provide. A variety of standardised questionnaires are used before and after events with students and staff establishing not only that the content is suitable and relevant but also that activities raise aspirations and increased motivation to study. During 2013-14 significant progress has been made we will put in developing place more robust systems for gathering data and summative evaluation of the longer term impact of our access activities. Key to this work has been will be the new Student Experience Data Officer who works Analyst. The post holder will work closely with the Widening Participation team to use relevant data from schools and colleges regarding pupil attainment and progression to HE. This is enabling HE and will help to enable us to establish patterns between engagement in our outreach activities and application and entry to St Mary’s. We will also use the Toolkits and the Higher Education Academy Archive to develop our practice. St Mary’s membership of collaborative organisations also affords opportunities to develop and apply evaluation and monitoring methods to illustrate long term impact. For example, Aimhigher London South Ltd use contacts to develop a range of data sharing protocols with several Local Authorities to map the progression and destinations of students who participate in activities and a centralised database provides AHLS member institutions with a consistent evaluative process to measure both the quality and impact of events. AccessHE are also developing methods of tracking destinations across London for those who have taken part in collaborative activities and have purchased data from UCAS on progression to HE by POLAR quintile to assist in this. The Student Experience Data Officer Analyst will also monitors monitor and analyses analyse the HESA data on the benchmarks set in our Access Agreement for targets and milestones miles stones for access and success. It is expected that this work will be even more fully developed during 20152014-16 15 and we are particularly keen to extend our monitoring and evaluation activity to include employability levels amongst under-represented groups. The work of our Learning Advice team was outlined in section 3 and they will be key in monitoring the progress being made for those students in under-represented groups, some of whom may have been identified pre-entry and progress to St Mary’s. The NSP scholarships officer monitors and evaluates the take up of financial support. Furthermore, the University College is currently participating in the Student Retention and Success Change Programme (HE Academy and ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ Foundation funded initiative on “What Works”).This project is providing will give clear direction on evaluation of the student experience and has informed will inform the content of a new institutional strategy for ‘Student Engagement, Retention and Success’, implemented during 2013-14. At an institutional level, the Access Agreement Group, which directly reports to the Planning and Resources Committee (and ultimately to Academic Board) and is chaired by the Pro Vice-Chancellor Vice- Principal (Students and External Relations), oversees the overall strategy and performance for widening participation in the institution. The group meets at least six times a year to monitor the annual timetable of access and success activities and to receive data relevant to monitoring and evaluation (including financial updates). The Student Union General Manager is and a member of the Student Union Executive Committee are full members of the Access Agreement Group. Students are also represented on other committees that consider aspects of the Access Agreement, such as the Equality and Diversity Sub-committee, Student Experience Committee (chaired by a member of the Board of Governors) and Academic Board. The Students’ Union and the Pro Vice-Chancellor Principal (S&ER) are developing a stronger student representation system across all University College committees to ensure that the student voice is heard. The Vice-Principal (S&ER) consults with the Students’ Union President and Executive every year on the content of the Access Agreement as part of the monitoring process. This Access Agreement will be approved by the Academic Board, following approval by the Board of Governors on the fee charging regime.