Widening Participation/Contextual Admissions

[SometimesRavenSometimesParrot]

Hi all. I’ve seen quite a lot of posts lately where people seem a bit confused about different widening participation initiatives and contextual admissions, either how they work, why they work or why they’re even done... and some people asking questions about them and not getting anything resembling an accurate response.

I’ve worked in a WP team for seven years now (with a couple of short stints in admissions), so since I have often had excellent advice from Mumsnet and my questions answered, I thought I’d offer myself up to answer anything in this area someone might want to know.

I be name changed so I can be a bit more honest and I know there are several other posters who work or research in this area who might want to chip in!

Standard disclaimer of every uni works slightly different, so answers will be broad ranging - feel free to PM me if you’ve got a specific q!

@CinnamonJellyBeans (and anyone else interested in a bit of uni wonkery) - this gives a bit of background. Basically we have to ensure that everyone who is capable of a uni education is able to participate. There are many who could, but don't because of their background - so we aim to 'widen participation'.
(Note, although we are legally obliged to do so, we'd be doing it anyway because unis are generally decent institutions with a strong sense of social responsibility.)

There are many tools unis can use to achieve that aim. Contextual admissions is one of those tools. There are others such as Foundation Years, partnerships with colleges, guaranteed interviews etc.

@PresentingPercy

I googled the best schools in the uk and one near the top, St Mary's Ascot, had 51% of A levels awarded at A star and 87% at A star to A. The oxbridge entrance rate was 16% in 2020. So maybe there is evidence of a squeeze for elite unis from elite schools?

The evidence is going to be hard to get.. .

It makes you think about whether excessive selectivity at an early age is necessarily going to be advantage.

Wycombe Abbey is nearer 22%. However there are more than two elite universities!

The problematic area is whether there are truly enough great disadvantaged students of sufficient calibre to go round. Im not sure it’s sustainable for everyone deemed capable to have the opportunity to go to university. Why? We know 35% are not getting grad jobs. We know the DDC entry level isn’t really a good enough level of capability. We see universities offering second round lowering of grades - how does this Square with the everyone must go idea? Some DC are not good enough to go to the “elite” universities.

How do we know who should go? What subjects have they studied? Is there a difference between academic subjects offered by candidate from the best schools and others?

Is the proof of prior learning too low? How many of these students drop out? How many (or percentages) get the best jobs? Anecdotally they may not be supported and don’t get the best jobs. Does anyone know if all the students are happy or do they just leave?

I do not pretend to know any stats at all. But I do feel the race to get more good bums on seats might be occasionally questionable.

Gosh, didn’t realise this thread had been resurrected! Will answer posts now

@sarahpee
I think it’ll probably really depend on the type of job he’s applied for, but I’d say it’s really important to know to know what the university is doing WP wise! So a good look around their website and reading their APP. Some of the questions will probably be specific to the skills needed for the role - so if it’s school based demonstrating a good knowledge of competing priorities etc. Get him to have a good read of Wonkhe and NEON for background knowledge :)

@Usernamenotavailabletryanother Decreased grades and students are given a lot of extra consideration on results day if they’ve slipped a grade. They also have a dedicated contact, can get extra visits to the uni in advance to meet academics. Bursaries are available, as well as things like 52 week accommodation

@PresentingPercy using any widening participation criteria is a blunt tool (whether that’s school, postcode, POLAR, parental income) and there will always be some students like the ones you describe who might end up with a slight benefit, but at the moment there isn’t really anything we can do about it. As contextual admissions develops, it might be that multiple flags end up being needed to receive an offer...as a sector we’re always learning and refining what we do!

Thank you, that's really helpful. I'll pass all of this on to him.

He's moving from a university admin role, to hopefully this. So fingers crossed!

@mids2019 first of all, the targets universities set in their APPs are done by the unis, looking at their existing data, so they can be realistic in that sense. There are more than enough uni places for students who want to go each year, and looking at the data there are still far more students from more advantaged backgrounds going to university than from disadvantaged backgrounds, so they aren’t being ‘rejected’ in the way I think your question would imply.

There are some institutions who will give offers at the very top of their published range to students from high achieving schools with high previous attainment, yes. It’s not really reverse contextualisation though, just making offers in line with what they’d expect from that student with their circumstances

Is there such a thing as reverse contextualisation where higher grade offers are made to the more advantaged?

@PresentingPercy there are still many more students from advantaged backgrounds going into HE than students from disadvantaged backgrounds, so no evidence of them being squeezed out.

@PresentingPercy

I know 1/5 is still a significant proportion going to Oxbridge but what were thos figures in years gone by? I wonder how many at these schools apply given their predicted grades must mean virtually all the 6th form has potential?

Interesting point about there being elite universities other than oxbridge as I guess this is where a lot if the positioning of other universties comes from. The question is how you come to determine this expanded set of 'elite' universities? Will there be a moniker that sits with the public imagination?

I think that if newer university courses are shown to have consistently low employability then possibly regulators need to highlight this to prevent students spending money and time on degrees which may not be in their best interests.

As increasing the proportion of youngsters going to university has not had the social mobility success as possibly envisaged then the focus has now gone onto getting those from deprived backgrounds into higher tariff universities as these appear to have the best employment prospects.

@PresentingPercy

The other consequence of this is the scramble to meet targets. By further reduced grades as above. This widens the qualifying gap further and will be perceived as unfair. It’s also interesting how targets always lead to unintended actions. In this case: finding a way to ensure the student actually firms your university! Is this because good students in these categories are too few? So they are being induced and scrambled over?

Ah quoting is finally working. Excellent. Universities are essentially businesses at the end of the day, they need bums on seats to pay tuition fees. Now more than ever. So yes, there’s definitely a recruitment drive to get students in, sometimes with lower offers or lower if firmed offers, but that’s separate to contextual admissions.

@Daisysway

I think a lot of universities are after the cream of the crop of disadvantaged students... They tick the box of widening access and they also have high grades/ability.. Hence why these offers are given out first at a lot of universities with varying levels of reduced grades. Is it widening access though? I assume alot of the disadvantaged students at iffy schools/poor families are the DC who apply late (eg not the Oxbridge wannabes). Quite a few sharp elbowed parents manage to get their kids on schemes like Uniq but when you look at the parents they are from a professional background..so are these students disadvantaged.. probably not!

If student meet the widening access criteria, then yes it’s widening access. It’s the ‘iffy’ schools that are particularly targeted and if you meet the requirements for a contextual offer you have to be given one regardless of where in the admissions cycle you apply (before the equal consideration deadline). As for schemes like Uniq, as I mentioned to an earlier poster, all measures we use to define disadvantage are blunt tools and there are always going to be people who work around them.

@CinnamonJellyBeans

It is very kind of you to offer your time and expertise. I get confused very easily (and there may be others like me). I wonder if you could do a paragraph on each to summarise the key points and differences between "widening participation" and "contextualised offers" with maybe an example of what each looks like in practice?

This would may be really helpful for a parent who is just starting their research. Thank you

@CinnamonJellyBeans of course.

Widening participation is a broader term, for all the work that goes into trying to even the playing field for university access. It’ll include things like programmes or activities offered to disadvantaged students (campus visits, summer schools, 1-2-1 support etc), policy work to improve an institutions approach and contextual admissions.

Contextual admissions is a smaller part of widening participation, and usually focuses on making slightly lower offers to disadvantaged students, to recognise their experiences. Contextual admissions might also include extra consideration at interview or on results day.

@Antiqueanniesmagiclanternshow

Can i ask, if you receive a contextual offer, are you always told? My eldest son received one and was told so.

My younger son has received an offer that is considerably below the advertised requirements. There has been no mention of whether it is contextual or whether it is based on other factors. This a good russell group uni.
His only flag is postcode.

@Antiqueanniesmagiclanternshow you would usually be told in my experience, but it’s not always obvious! Has he looked on their website to see their contextual offer policy? If he meets postcode criteria it sounds like it’s definitely a contextual offer.

@PresentingPercy

The problematic area is whether there are truly enough great disadvantaged students of sufficient calibre to go round. Im not sure it’s sustainable for everyone deemed capable to have the opportunity to go to university. Why? We know 35% are not getting grad jobs. We know the DDC entry level isn’t really a good enough level of capability. We see universities offering second round lowering of grades - how does this Square with the everyone must go idea? Some DC are not good enough to go to the “elite” universities.

How do we know who should go? What subjects have they studied? Is there a difference between academic subjects offered by candidate from the best schools and others?

Is the proof of prior learning too low? How many of these students drop out? How many (or percentages) get the best jobs? Anecdotally they may not be supported and don’t get the best jobs. Does anyone know if all the students are happy or do they just leave?

I do not pretend to know any stats at all. But I do feel the race to get more good bums on seats might be occasionally questionable.

@PresentingPercy there absolutely are exactly as many disadvantaged students of great calibre as there are advantaged. They just might look a little different than what you think of as great calibre traditionally.

We’re not saying that everyone capable SHOULD go. For some students, it isn’t what’s best for them and that’s fine. But what we’re saying is everyone should have the opportunity - and the current opportunity isn’t fair across the board and we want it to be. It also isn’t necessarily about elite unis - not everyone can go but not everyone wants to.

The lack of students going into grad level jobs is a mixture of things - one, there just aren’t enough grad level jobs and two, it’s a misleading statistic because it doesn’t allow for nuance. My friend got married a month after uni, pregnant straight away and has been a stay at home mum since. So she’s not in a grad job, but it’s a personal choice and not a negative. Plus, i think some of the issues with students not getting jobs are a whole different issue that goes back to school!

Who should go? Anyone who’s capable and wants to. Subjects they should have studied are decided by admissions and academic staff with lots of experience in the area.

I’m not sure what you mean by is proof of prior learning too low?

There are issues with disadvantaged students dropping out at a slightly higher rate, and their employment afterwards. They’re also things widening participation teams and universities are working on.

[quote mids2019]@PresentingPercy

I know 1/5 is still a significant proportion going to Oxbridge but what were thos figures in years gone by? I wonder how many at these schools apply given their predicted grades must mean virtually all the 6th form has potential?

Interesting point about there being elite universities other than oxbridge as I guess this is where a lot if the positioning of other universties comes from. The question is how you come to determine this expanded set of 'elite' universities? Will there be a moniker that sits with the public imagination?

I think that if newer university courses are shown to have consistently low employability then possibly regulators need to highlight this to prevent students spending money and time on degrees which may not be in their best interests.

As increasing the proportion of youngsters going to university has not had the social mobility success as possibly envisaged then the focus has now gone onto getting those from deprived backgrounds into higher tariff universities as these appear to have the best employment prospects.[/quote]
@mids2019 data on employability is available for students to access if they’d like to.

Also, widening participation is a relatively new area and tackling these issues is hard - especially because so much of it is out of our control (finance, schools, parental attitudes). There is success but it’s slow going. As we evaluate more and collect more data we adapt what we do to become more efficient - like your example of pivoting focus to make sure disadvantaged students can access higher tariff institutions

What is the legal requirement under pinning all this?

@SometimesRavenSometimesParrot
Thanks for that.

So if the uni says a contextual offer will be two grades below the standard offer and the standard offer is AAB, what would it be?

@Empressofthemundane

What is the legal requirement under pinning all this?

To charge the full fee amount universities are required to have an access and participation plan (APP) detailing their widening participation work, which they register with the Office for Students, our regulatory body

[quote Antiqueanniesmagiclanternshow]@SometimesRavenSometimesParrot
Thanks for that.

So if the uni says a contextual offer will be two grades below the standard offer and the standard offer is AAB, what would it be?[/quote]
It’ll depend on the course - some will have a protected grade that they don’t drop! But it could be BBB, or ABC

@SometimesRavenSometimesParrot

Please can i pm you?

@SometimesRavenSometimesParrot, ditto, please may I pm you?

@ant