Access Agreement 2018/19 1. Fee limits and fee income above 6,000 The tuition fees for all new entrants to full-time undergraduate and foundation degrees at Ruskin College in 2018/19 will be 9,000. The College offers undergraduate degrees validated by the Open University as follows: BA (Hons) International Labour and Trade Union Studies (part-time students only) BA (Hons) Social Work BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Work Foundation Degree in Writing for Performance The College will also offer (subject to validation) in from September 2017, degrees validated by Newman University: BA (Hons) Applied Social Science Foundation Degree in Health and Social Care The estimated total number of new full-time entrants paying tuition fees of 9,000 is 180. New entrants to the Foundation Degree in Writing for Performance are via internal progression from a Certificate of Higher Education. The full-time equivalent (FTE) tuition fees for new fee-regulated part-time entrants in 2018/19 will be 9,000. For part-time students progressing from Certificates of Higher Education the tuition fees will be 4,500 in an academic year. For the degrees in International Labour and Trade Union Studies, in Social Work and Community Development and Youth Work, which can be completed part-time over four years, the tuition fees will be 6,750 in an academic year. The College may apply annual increases for 2019/20 onward in line with the amount set by the Government each year in order to maintain the value of the fees in real terms. 1
2. Expenditure to support access and student success Ruskin College makes a distinctive contribution to widening participation and inclusion for adult students. The mission of the College is that of providing educational opportunities to excluded and disadvantaged learners to transform the individuals concerned and the communities, groups and societies from which they come. The College itself has the specific intention of encouraging and supporting students who are under-represented in HE. The College s size and mission enable a strategic, whole-institution approach to access and student success. A key strategic aim of the College is to assist adult learners to progress into and through further and higher education and/or employment. The strategy for access follows this whole student lifecycle approach of this strategic aim. The College will continue previous access agreement expenditure on outreach activities and incur expenditure on additional outreach and student success measures. The additional measures to support access and student success are aimed at disadvantaged adults from lower socio-economic classes. The additional outreach measures will build on the College s success in attracting students from lower socio-economic classes through publicity materials and activities which present positive images of disadvantaged adults and offer opportunities for raising aspiration. As well as seeking disadvantaged adults, the College will target disabled people, people from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups, care leavers and people wishing to study part-time. The College has a good record in meeting targets for disabled people and people from BME groups since its first access agreement was approved. In 2015/16 the target of 25% disabled students was exceeded, the actual being 46%. The target of 20% BME students was exceeded in 2015/16, the actual being 26%. In order to attract and support part-time students the College will continue to develop more flexible learning approaches, including offering part-time degrees over four years. The College s assessment of its access and student success record is that it has a very high proportion of under-represented students, but retention needs to be improved from the current rate of 86. The assessment of our access record is based on our performance with disadvantaged adults from lower socio-economic classes. The number of new full-time entrants on full state support, from SLC data, has been as follows: Number of entrants on full state support 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 32 33 38 38 40 The College has assumed 180 new full-time entrants a year. We aim to at least maintain the proportion of new entrants on full state support and to increase the numbers by 2019/20 to 240. 2
The assessment of our retention record is based on the College s ILR data submitted to the Skills Funding Agency. We aim to improve the retention rate to 90% by 2018/2019. We propose to spend 30% of the fee we are charging above 6,000, i.e. 900 per fee. The total expenditure in 2018/19 will be 180,000. The level of total OFFA accountable expenditure set out in our current access agreement has been maintained in order to protect access measures. The expenditure for subsequent years is set out in the resource plan. We recognise that longterm co-ordinated outreach and student success measures have been a more effective use of access funds than the precise amount of financial support available to students on entering HE. Therefore we have continued to prioritise expenditure to outreach and student success. 3. Additional access and student success measures 3.1 Outreach The College s outreach activities involve raising aspirations and achievement among potential applicants from under-represented groups and encouraging them to apply to higher education. The QAA review held in May 2011 commended the College for the support that is given, especially at the preentry stage which effectively encourages students from non-traditional backgrounds to commit themselves to higher education. In the March 2016 review the indicative report commended the College for the quality of its student learning opportunities, in addition the 2016 review acknowledges the good practice in the personalised support provided by the Learning Development team, which enables student achievement. The 2016 report highlights the effective arrangements to monitor and review the early student experience which support retention and achievement. Most of the expenditure on outreach in 2018/19 will be on activities which have already been shown to work well in raising aspiration and attainment. These include the cost of Open Days, Information and Guidance Days, taster days and individual support sessions. We will continue to support and strengthen targeted, long-term outreach aimed at mature students. We are aiming to increase our development work with local community centres; schools; colleges and third sector organisations. The College has a long history of outreach work with community and voluntary organisations and trade unions. The outreach work with trade unions has been, and continues to be, on a national basis. The work with community organisations, especially those involved in Social Work, Youth and Community Work and Education is based mainly in Oxfordshire. The College s original access agreement for 2006/07 outlined plans to extend outreach work with community organisations, trade unions, BME groups and organisations of disabled people to encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply to HE. This work has been extended, year-onyear, since 2006/07. The College will continue to extend its work with these organisations and groups, to encourage adults from under-represented groups to apply to HE, especially those from lower socio-economic classes. 3
The College s outreach work produces Access to Higher Education Diploma and Certificate of Higher Education students, who can internally progress to degrees in the way described in section 1, as well as direct full-time entrants to degrees. Our outreach activity includes encouraging progression from Access to Higher Education programmes to our Certificate of Higher Education Diploma programmes, as well as to our degrees. Students completing a Certificate of Higher Education programme can also progress to a university if they meet admissions requirements. The student success measures relate to those students who have progressed internally from Certificate of Higher Education programmes to degrees as well as to direct entrants. The College will build on and strengthen collaborative outreach arrangements where beneficial and appropriate. This will include strengthening arrangements with the two HEIs in Oxford, the FE providers in Oxfordshire and surrounding areas such as Swindon, with the WEA, third sector organisations and training providers. Ruskin has been a member of the Oxford Brookes University Associate College Partnership since 2006. The College will continue to develop progression accords with Oxford Brookes University in appropriate subjects, building on existing links. Ruskin is part of the HEFCE Collaborative Outreach Network, co-ordinated by Oxford Brookes, covering the following: Universities: Buckinghamshire New University Oxford Brookes University University of Oxford University of Reading Colleges: Abingdon and Witney College Activate Learning Amersham & Wycombe College Aylesbury College Ruskin College Swindon College The Study Higher Network Coordinator, based at Oxford Brookes University, will act as a single point of contact in order to promote widening participation in higher education and to ensure a co-ordinated, evidencebased approach to the planning and delivering of activities. The network will target schools in the following local authorities: Bracknell Forest Oxfordshire West Berkshire Buckinghamshire Reading Wokingham Milton Keynes Swindon We have plans to develop long term outreach with schools. We have had initial conversations with St Gregory s and Spires Academy based in Oxford 4
City. We are not in a position to formally enter into a sponsorship scheme with a school. An existing progression accord with the University of Oxford s Department of Continuing Education, enabling students to progress from a Certificate in Higher Education at the University of Oxford to a degree at Ruskin, will be strengthened. The College will continue to develop its long-term outreach work with schools. This will build upon our current work with a number of schools and a children s centre in Oxford to deliver English and Maths qualifications to parents. There is a strategic agenda in Oxford to increase attainment in English and Maths in schools. The College will work with schools and parents in wards of Oxford that have low rates of participation in post-compulsory education to increase their confidence and aspirations, and in turn enable them to improve their children s achievement and raise their aspirations. The current involvement with area forums in deprived areas of Oxford will be sustained, including the Voices of Oxford Youth at Oxford Spires Academy. Annually, we complete a college wide self assessment process. This process involves input from a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to make judgements against the Ofsted Common Inspection Framework [CIF]. During this process key strengths and weaknesses are identified. Raising attainment in schools will be specially analysed against the Outcome for Learners CIF. Following production of the self-assessment report, the quality improvement plan [QIP] is developed and agreed. This document contains specific and measurable targets and actions of improvement, with specific actions related to raising attainment in schools. Progress made against the QIP is reviewed termly by senior college leaders to identify distance travelled and impact of improvement. The QIP is then formally reviewed as part of the self assessment process at the end of the academic year forming the continuous cycle of quality improvement. There is an action plan which is updated and reviewed by the college management team monthly The college remains firmly committed to raising participation in schools and continues to invest in outreach and engagement activities in this area. By 2019-20 the college will publicise this commitment based upon specific outcomes, agreed with the input of both internal and external stakeholders. The College has appointed a full time Recruitment and Outreach Officer who is tasked with developing links with schools across the county. We plan to attend careers events and will be taking part in UCAS exhibitions to reach schools for 18/19 entry. We will be able to review where our applicants have come from, in terms of their previous education data. The College will build upon its current practice of offering Open Days and Taster Events for new entrants. There are a range of short bridging courses 5
that are offered to prospective students and applicants and these are being expanded into further bridging programmes that will provide a more coherent and comprehensive induction into studying at the College and preparing for higher education. This will result in higher levels of retention. The cost of outreach activity in 2018 /19 and in subsequent years is set out in the resource plan. 3.2 Student success The key focus of the College s additional access measures will be on student success. The College will invest in measures to improve student retention towards the sector average. The main measures which will continue in 2018/19 will be the personal tutoring system and learning development. The QAA review held in May 2011 commended the College for a tutorial system that is specifically focussed on the early stages of programmes to support and nurture students from non-traditional backgrounds. This tutorial system will be continued in 2018/19 and in subsequent years. Learning development provision will support the tutorial system through providing support to individual students on study skills. These measures to improve retention and success will be targeted towards disadvantaged adults from lower socio-economic classes, especially those on full state support. Much of the work we will do to improve student success will be embedded within our learning and teaching practices and therefore within staff costs. We will arrange workshops on progressing to postgraduate study and sessions on employability skills for final year students. The cost of the additional student success measures in 2018/19 and for subsequent years is set out in the resource plan. All degree programmes now contain placement/employability opportunities to give leaners the skills and aspirations needed to progress into employment. 3.3 Financial support The College has continued to rebalance its expenditure from financial support to support access and student success. However we continue to recognise the need to provide additional hardship support for target groups within our access agreement. Our resource plan includes 10,000 for hardship support from the student opportunity fund. This will include support for travelling expenses for students on placement within the vocational degrees, where this causes hardship. The College has a hardship fund that is available to HE students. It is publicised on the intranet. The Hardship Fund Committee meet on a regular basis. We have seen an increase in requests for support to help with childcare. Anecdotally this is thought to be because of the removal of parttime maintenance support. This puts pressure on the remaining pot of money in terms of availability for other students. The hardship fund is monitored by the Finance Director and Student Money Advisor on a regular basis, and particularly prior to each meeting. We currently do not receive formal feedback from students and staff, however, anecdotally we know that 6
the additional support that we can provide, particularly in relation to childcare helps students to stay on course. 4. Targets and milestones The College has a good track record in meeting the access targets set in its original access agreement. We attract high proportions of students from under-represented groups and aim to maintain this across our higher education provision. We aim to continue to recruit mature students in line with our mission. Our statistical targets in relation to our student body are as follows: Disabled students 15/16 16/17 17/118 18/19 19/20 25% 34% 35% 36% 36% Black and ethnic minority students 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20% 30% 31% 32% 32% The source of the data for targets for disabled students and black and ethnic minority students is the College s ILR data submitted to the Skills Funding Agency. Our statistical target for new entrants from disadvantaged adults from lower socio-economic classes, measured by the number of new entrants on full state support, from SLC data, is as follows: Number of entrants on full state support 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 38 40 42 44 44 Our statistical target for student success across our HE provision is as follows: Student retention 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 87% 88% 90% 90% 90% The source of the data for student retention targets is the College s ILR data submitted to the Skills Funding Agency. The College is still undertaking sustained co-ordinated outreach, engaging with potential students over a number of years, and there will not be an immediate effect on the statistical targets for additional new entrants on full state support or for improved retention rates. The College has since August 2016 a dedicated Outreach and Engagement Officer. The student numbers involved are relatively small. We have therefore provided milestones around our outreach and student success work to illustrate our progress towards increasing access and improving retention. 7
Outreach activity milestone Extend outreach activity to a further 20 community and voluntary organisations a year. Extend school and College based activity to all secondary schools, academies and sixth forms in Oxford, and adult centres in Oxfordshire. Pre-entry activity: raise participation in the Ruskin College Community Day from disadvantaged wards in Oxford by 25%. Post entry activity to maximise employment and progression onto higher degrees. To raise attendance on undergraduate Bridging Programmes by 50%. Student success milestones Continue the personal tutoring system in 2018/19 Continue the learning development provision in 2018/19 Continue to develop progression accords with Oxford Brookes University in appropriate subjects, including from Access to Higher Education Diploma programmes 5. Monitoring and evaluation arrangements Widening participation is central to the College s mission and the measures set out in this agreement, including progress against targets and milestones, will be monitored through the committee structure. The Outreach and Recruitment activities report back into the College wide marketing strategy which is then reviewed by the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and the Governing Executive (GE). The SLT and GE will monitor the effectiveness of the outreach activities, including the milestones for these activities. Reports will also feed into the Academic Quality and Standards Committee (AQSC), which is the senior academic committee, and the Programme Boards. The SLT/GE/AQSC will monitor the statistical targets, in relation to the student body and student retention and success, and the overall effectiveness of the access measures. The Finance Committee will monitor the tuition fee income and expenditure on additional access and student success measures. There is student representation the GE, AQSC and at the Programme Boards. The College recognises that robust evaluation is critical to ensuring long-term value for money in relation to access measures. We will continue with the well-established evaluation methods for outreach activities, in order to prioritise those activities that have the greatest impact. 6. Provision of information to prospective students The QAA review held in May 2011 commended the College on the range of clear and comprehensive information, which is distributed in a timely way, starting at the pre-entry stage, which provides reassurance and guidance for students. The College will publish clear, accessible and timely information on tuition fees and financial support for applicants and students. We will include information on costs of studying in Oxford. We will also seek to improve the information on part-time courses and financial support for part-time students. 8
The information for prospective students for 2018/19 will be published on the website in September 2017. Since January 2017 the College has had a Student Money Advisor who ensures all students are aware of the financial commitments needed to study and the relevant support available, and that they apply for their funding in a timely manner. Information for new entrants will be published on the internet and in the College Handbook, which is being given an overhaul for 2018/19 entry. We will continue to test the clarity of the information for prospective students at Open Days. We will provide such timely information to UCAS and SLC as they reasonably require to populate their applicant-facing web services. To ensure accuracy of public information, since November 2016 the college has a Communications Officer. The College will provide information, advice and guidance to prospective students, new entrants and organisations about tuition fees and financial support. This will happen through Open Days, Information Advice and Guidance Days and induction sessions. Information, advice and guidance provided will address any concerns prospective students might have around the costs of studying in Oxford. We will run progression week for new Certificate of Higher Education students in the Autumn term of 2018/19. We will also provide additional IAG support, through the National Careers Service, in relation to progression beyond higher education to enable greater social mobility into professions where this is low, e.g. Law. We will provide additional financial guidance workshops. 7. Consulting with students The Programme Board, AWSC and GE includes student representatives enabling students to be involved in discussing plans for outreach activities. Students will be involved in monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the outreach activities, including the milestones for these activities, through their participation in that committee. The College has consulted with students on the access agreement measures for 2018/19 through the GE. 8. Equality and diversity The College has taken equality issues into account in designing access plans for 2018/19. The widening participation strategy targets disabled people and people from BME groups and the College has a good record in meeting targets for disabled and BME students since its first access agreement was approved. The College s equality objectives, with a clear steer from governors and management, are to: - Retain open access in order to offer educational opportunities to adults who have been excluded and disadvantaged - Promote social mobility by fostering progression through study, encompassing flexible opportunities underpinned by high levels of learning development and a unique model of academic tutorials - Increase the representativeness of the student body on all courses, particularly on trade union short courses 9
- Monitor and tackle any retention and achievement gaps between different groups of students, for example in respect of categories of disadvantage - Promote and embed equality and diversity in learning and teaching and assessment by identifying and sharing good practices identified in lesson observations - Increase the contribution of the student voice by including equality and diversity issues in surveys, course reviews and meetings with students. The additional access measures, incorporating outreach activities and the key focus on student retention and success, will help the College meet its equality objectives. The College s strategic action plan includes action points on its access agreement measures and on equality and diversity measures arising from its equality objectives. 10
Table 7 - Targets and milestones Institution name: Ruskin College Institution UKPRN: 10005583 Table 7a - Statistical targets and milestones relating to your applicants, entrants or student body Reference number Stage of the lifecycle (drop-down menu) Main target type (drop-down menu) Target type (drop-down menu) Description (500 characters maximum) Is this a collaborative target? (dropdown menu) Baseline year (drop-down menu) Baseline data Yearly milestones (numeric where possible, however you may use text) 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 Commentary on your milestones/targets or textual description where numerical description is not appropriate (500 characters maximum) T16a_01 Access Disabled Other statistic - Disabled (please give details in the next Disabled Students No 2013-14 33% 35% 36% 36% 36% 36 ILR DATA T16a_02 Access Ethnicity Other statistic - Ethnicity (please give details in the next Black & minority ethnic students No 2013-14 29% 31% 32% 32% 32% 32 ILR DATA T16a_03 Access Low income background Other statistic - Low-income backgrounds (please give details in the next Number of entrants on full state support No 2013-14 38 42 44 45 45 45 SLC DATA T16a_04 Student success Other statistic - Other (please give details in the next Retention between 1st & 2nd year after enrolment at degree level No 2013-14 73% 90% 91% 92% 92% 92 ILR DATA Table 7b - Other milestones and targets. Reference Number Select stage of the lifecycle Main target type (drop-down menu) Target type (drop-down menu) Description (500 characters maximum) Is this a collaborative target? Baseline year Baseline data Yearly milestones (numeric where possible, however you may use text) 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 Commentary on your milestones/targets or textual description where numerical description is not appropriate (500 characters maximum) T16b_01 Access Outreach / WP activity (other - please give details in the next Extend activity to a further 10 community and voluntary orgainisations a year No 2013-14 60% 62% 63% 63% 63% 63% We have established informal progression and referral services with organisations such as Oxford Homeless Pathways, The Virtual School, DWP - Troubled Family Unit and Young Carers T16b_02 Access Strategic partnerships (eg formal relationships with schools/colleges/employers) Develop progression accords with two local FE colleges. City of Oxford and Abingdon & Witney college in relation to Access programmes Yes 2013-14 25% 52% 54% 54% 54% 54% Working with Study Higher T16b_03 Progression Strategic partnerships (eg formal relationships with schools/colleges/employers) Strengthen the existing progression accord with the University's of Oxford's department of continuing education, enabling students to progress from their Certificate of Higher Education. Yes 2013-14 20% 22% 23% 23% 23% 23% T16b_04 Access Strategic partnerships (eg formal relationships with schools/colleges/employers) Develop a progression accord with Oxford Brooks University in approperiate subjects, starting with Law Yes 2013-14 20% 26% 27% 27% 27% 27% Progessing formal agreement T16b_05 Student success Student support services Continue witht the extended the personal tutoring system No 2013-14 80% 83% 84% 84% 84% 84% T16b_06 Student success Student support services Progress the student mentoring programme for new entrants No 2013-14 80% 83% 84% 84% 84% 84% Working with young carers and forming a buddy system T16b_07 Access Outreach / WP activity (collaborative - please give details in the next Develop long term outreach work with schools identifying 2 local schools in the vacinity during the year Yes 2016-17 20% 25% 30% 30% 30% 30% Initial conversations with St Gregory's and Spires Academy both based in Oxford City. Have also made recent links with John Newman Optional commentary on milestones. This box is character-limited to 1000 characters; however, we are happy for you to upload additional supporting information as a separate Word/pdf document.