Guest of Honour: Sarah Howls, Head of Student Opportunity, HEFCE
With the Government having set two widening participation targets - doubling the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds from 14% to 28%, and to increase by 20% the numbers of students from BME backgrounds, both by 2020 - this seminar will be a timely opportunity to assess existing best practice, remaining practical challenges and next steps for policy in order achieve these goals.
The seminar also comes as HEFCE prepares to oversee the launch of a new Collaborative Outreach Program which will see consortia of universities and other groups leading efforts to realise the Government's targets and with considerable change planned to post-16 vocational qualifications.
Delegates will discuss the impact of the reform of post-16 technical education and the opportunities presented by Degree Apprenticeships for widening participation, the distinct challenges for improving participation among students who are mature, BAME, disabled or from disadvantaged communities, and evidence of what works in outreach and how lessons might be drawn from this to inform policy and practice more widely.
The role of the admissions system in widening participation will also be discussed, including the proposal for UCAS applications to be ‘name-blind’ which is currently being trialled and consulted upon, as well the likely impact of new requirements for universities to report admissions data, the growing use of contextual data to inform offers and the merits of wider reform of the system such as moving to a Post-Qualification Application model.
Sarah Howls, Head of Student Opportunity, HEFCE; Dr Graeme Atherton, Director, National Educational Opportunities Network and Adrian Anderson, Chief Executive, University Vocational Awards Council have agreed to deliver keynote addresses at this seminar.
Sam Baars, Director of Research, LKMco; Annette Hayton, Head of Widening Participation, University of Bath; Omar Khan, Director, Runnymede Trust and Member, Social Mobility Advisory Group; Angela Nartay, Policy Officer, UCU; Eliza Selley, Associate Adviser and PhD Fellow, Behavioural Insights Team and Dan Shaffer, Head of Professionalism in Admissions, SPA (Supporting Professionalism in Admissions) have also agreed to speak.
Rt Hon David Lammy MP, former Minister (Higher Education and Intellectual Property) has kindly agreed to chair a session at this seminar.
With the Government having set two widening participation targets - doubling the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds from 14% to 28%, and to increase by 20% the numbers of students from BME backgrounds, both by 2020 - this seminar will be a timely opportunity to assess existing best practice, remaining practical challenges and next steps for policy in order achieve these goals.
The seminar also comes as HEFCE prepares to oversee the launch of a new Collaborative Outreach Program which will see consortia of universities and other groups leading efforts to realise the Government's targets and with considerable change planned to post-16 vocational qualifications.
Delegates will discuss the impact of the reform of post-16 technical education and the opportunities presented by Degree Apprenticeships for widening participation, the distinct challenges for improving participation among students who are mature, BAME, disabled or from disadvantaged communities, and evidence of what works in outreach and how lessons might be drawn from this to inform policy and practice more widely.
The role of the admissions system in widening participation will also be discussed, including the proposal for UCAS applications to be ‘name-blind’ which is currently being trialled and consulted upon, as well the likely impact of new requirements for universities to report admissions data, the growing use of contextual data to inform offers and the merits of wider reform of the system such as moving to a Post-Qualification Application model.
Sarah Howls, Head of Student Opportunity, HEFCE; Dr Graeme Atherton, Director, National Educational Opportunities Network and Adrian Anderson, Chief Executive, University Vocational Awards Council have agreed to deliver keynote addresses at this seminar.
Sam Baars, Director of Research, LKMco; Annette Hayton, Head of Widening Participation, University of Bath; Omar Khan, Director, Runnymede Trust and Member, Social Mobility Advisory Group; Angela Nartay, Policy Officer, UCU; Eliza Selley, Associate Adviser and PhD Fellow, Behavioural Insights Team and Dan Shaffer, Head of Professionalism in Admissions, SPA (Supporting Professionalism in Admissions) have also agreed to speak.
Rt Hon David Lammy MP, former Minister (Higher Education and Intellectual Property) has kindly agreed to chair a session at this seminar.
