Examples of good practice in recruitment and retention

These examples of good practice are taken from Recruitment and retention in legal education, a report commissioned by CALE, the Consortium for Access to Legal Education, and published in 2002.

Several institutions have introduced initiatives to address the issues of recruitment and retention. The University of Kent has given associate status to three further education colleges in Kent and is establishing progression routes by developing higher education provision in the colleges, making it easier to move from HNCs and HNDs to degrees. Research run jointly by the Universities of Kent and Leeds on students studying computing concluded that once students have won a place those with weak entry qualifications, as measured by exam success, have as good a chance of doing well as those with good entry qualifications. The researchers examined the progress of 149 students with A level entry qualifications and 61 who had qualifications such as GNVQ, foundation or Access courses. They found no difference between the performance of the two groups of students at first or third year level, and the non-A level students did as well as those with good A levels at the end of their third year (as reported in The Guardian on 8 October 2002).

The University of Bristol will make lower offers to students who admissions tutors feel have the potential to succeed (The Guardian, 8 October 2002).

The University of Wolverhampton has implemented a community entry programme initially piloted in two subject areas, one being law The programme involves negotiating a personal learning programme taking into account a student’s previous background. It is particularly targeted at young unemployed males. For further information on the programme see the article by Peter Handley in Directions.

The University of Central Lancashire has found that students with non-traditional qualifications are far more likely to drop out of their studies than other students – in 1998 the first year drop-out rate was 36% for those with advanced GNVQs in comparison with an overall drop-out rate of 26%. The university set up a ‘flying start’ project to support students with GNVQs. Students with a conditional offer were offered a place on a residential summer school, consisting of a series of workshops, seminars and lectures to develop study skills and an understanding of academic life, while giving students information on the support services available at the university. Food and accommodation was provided free, together with an evening social programme that included outings. The university also offered a first year module on effective learning, with a mentoring elective open to students who had completed the module. At the end of the first year of the programme 11% of the ‘flying start’ students had dropped out compared with 22% in the control group. The students passed with a higher than average mark and more of them went into the second year without changing course. Only 8% of these students failed their exams, compared with 16% in the control group (in The Guardian, 28 June 2002).

In 2001 the University of Westminster implemented an intensive summer school for students scoring between 30 and 39 on their final assessment (the pass mark is 40). Students have two weeks intensive study with 15 hours of study skills tuition before re-taking their assessment in August. 78% of the 40 students offered this help in the first year passed – it was felt that in previous years these students would simply have dropped out. The scheme has now been extended to second and third year students, with about 100 students taking part.

The following examples come from the report Social class and participation: good practice in widening access to higher education _(the follow-up report to _From elitism to inclusion (Universities UK, 2002). The first report identified what some institutions were doing to open their doors more widely to students from social classes IIIm, IV and V. This follow-up tried to find case studies in areas where “recruitment was buoyant and entry standards were high” – medicine, creative arts and law, although no case study from law matched the selection criteria. These examples have been selected as those most likely to be useful to law schools.

West Wales Summer University

This is a partnership between the University of Wales Aberystwyth and the University of Wales Lampeter. It is a Celtic model imported from the University of Dundee model in the first From Elitism to inclusion report customised to suit a rural, west Wales environment. It involves six weeks residential preparation for higher education, with the promise of guaranteed admission to either of the two universities for successful students. Much of the curriculum is delivered in Welsh. There is a strong commitment to the local area, especially in terms of language, but both recruit from all over the UK, with strong links with the West Midlands. There is a strong connection with the local further eudcation provider, Coleg Ceredigion.

The Summer University targets pupils in year 12 from social classes IV and V. It is designed to facilitate progression to higher education for pupils whose prospects of entry are weakened by under-achievement for reasons relating to low family income, the absence of parental experience of higher education or disability. It is also concerned to attract those who dropped out of school early but have the potential to go into higher education – these are often found through the local further education college. The criteria for selection are:

• low family income (defined as less than £20,000)
• no parental experience of higher education
• disability or long term illness
• ethnic minority background

Schools and colleges identify pupils meeting the criteria and provide assurances that in their view the pupils have the potential to succeed in higher education but are unlikely to achieve the necessary grades without additional support. The pupils must have the motivation and commitment to study an intensive six week programme. Pupils can also nominate themselves. Teaching is by staff from both universities and graduate students who relate well to the participants and gain useful work experience. There is also close involvement with parents.

The course has two components – key skills and specific disciplines. The core key skills modules are communication, research, improving performance and IT. Students choose three academic subject modules from a wide range including law. The course is residential – it is the first time some students have been away from home. Extra-curricula activities and the social programme are seen as essential to the retention of students and in helping with confidence, motivation and assertiveness.

If they pass the course students are guaranteed a university place. They apply through UCAS as normal but are ‘flagged’. Close attention is also given to retention once they get to university. Each module is assessed with a range of assessment methods and a 40% pass rate. One re-submission is allowed. Regular tutorials and feedback are an important part of the course. There are some time constrained assessments to provide additional practice for students bothered about exams. There is an awards ceremony for those completing the Summer University, attended by family and friends. In the first year, 2000, there were 29 students, in 2001 45 without any advertising.

The Summer University is funded by:

• project funding from HEFCW
• additional student numbers
• premium funding from HEFCW for recruiting students from disadvantaged backgrounds
• additional resources from Aberystwyth
• sponsorship from Scottish Power

There is a particular concern about funding in Wales, with a belief that levels of support for widening access in Wales is lower than in England and Scotland. The use of postcode data to distribute premium funding is not felt by the universities to be sufficiently sensitive – it is claimed that 50% of Aberystwyth’s students come from low income backgrounds and 32% from classes IIIm and V but only 8% qualify under the postcode formula for premium funding. In particular the formula does not recognise rural disadvantage. The current system of student funding is perceived to be a real barrier for the type of students this scheme is targeting. One of the most significant barriers to participation in the Summer University is the absence of adequate student support – it is often necessary for students to undertake paid vacation work in part preparation for funding their higher education course, producing a ‘Catch 22’ situation which reduces opportunities to participate in the Summer University and thence in higher education. The issue of the impact of professional bodies was not considered important, although law was one of the first programmes to be included in the Summer University.

Access to Birmingham

This scheme is designed to provide an alternative entry route into university. Birmingham had an over-representation of social classes I and II and under-representation of IIIm, IV and V in an area where the decline in manufacturing has resulted in drastic alterations to the employment profile and where there is a high ethnic minority population – in one school 98% of pupils are Muslim.

The scheme involves partnerships with local schools, colleges and the local education authority. Initially they identify social and educational disadvantage, in terms of disadvantaged school populations with clear indicators of social exclusion, for example:

• low GCSE grade averages
• low A level and GNVQ grades
• high levels of free school meals
• large % of families on income support
• relatively high school absence rates

These criteria are felt to be better indicators of social exclusion than postcodes.

All students accepted into the scheme have a personal tutor – professors, postgraduate students, admissions tutors etc. Great care is taken to ensure a subject match and suitability to establish a useful working relationship. Support comes from face-to-face meetings, Internet resources and the use of e-mail.

An Access to Birmingham supplementary application form is completed before or during the period of UCAS application. It enables applicants and their teachers to provide additional information to the university, including an indication of the student’s potential and the social context of their environment. Some teachers find it difficult to complete the forms and describe pupils’ circumstances in writing but this needs to be done by schools – pupils would not be aware that their home circumstances, in comparison with those of other groups of students, were deprived or difficult. The purpose of the form is to set the applicant’s past and projected grades against the context of the economic and social environment in which they have been gained. Useful information for admissions tutors might be, for example, the length of time a student had been learning English, which might be reflected in poor GCSE grades, or those applicants – usually girls from ethnic minority backgrounds – whose parents insist on their attending a local institution and who may have no choice but to include more than one course at the same institution on their application form, which may be misinterpreted by admissions tutors.

After completion of their A levels participants take an accredited 10 credit foundation learning and information skills module, which includes a skills element (the responsibility of the School of Education) and an assignment, completed with the support of personal tutors. The module description states that the “course will equip students for study at higher education level, encouraging them to reflect on their study and learning within their subject area. Students will be encouraged to explore a wide range of information sources and be aware of issues of quality, originality and variety in the resources available to them”.

Participation in the scheme does not guarantee a place at Birmingham, but if a student is accepted on to the scheme and is working with the university to earn foundation credit, a conditional offer is made. Success in the foundation module plus a supplementary application form with evidence of relative social disadvantage enables an offer to be made on average with a reduction of 40 points on the UCAS tariff (this varies according to programme of study etc).

Part of the idea of the scheme is to send a message to all admissions tutors that applicants’ achievements need to be set against their home and school environment. The admissions manager said “in order to treat everyone equitably you have to take into account all the information you have available”. All rejected applicants are monitored and checked to ensure that a student has not been mistakenly rejected. The admissions officers also provide e-mail help for the students with completing their UCAS forms.

The drop-out rate at Birmingham is less than 10% – the counselling service is seen as a particular strength. Study support is seen as vital for the retention and motivation of students admitted as a result of access strategies:

If you take our youngsters out of their familiar environment, they lose confidence very quickly. If, for example, you’re used to being in the majority and then you are suddenly plunged into a situation where you are the only Asian face, then all of a sudden the courage that you’ve enjoyed and the ability to communicate with people easily and without any problems is gone. So of course a lot of them do fear leaving their own communities.

And:

In their own environment, the confidence of these youngsters oozes from every pore, but take them away from it, out of that context, into the strange and unfamiliar climate of the university, and we know they’ll freeze up.

There is a determination that none of these students will be “coming into the university for a miserable experience for three to six months and then leaving” with a wide ranging package of measures put together including:

• ‘Head Start’ tutorial support before entry in the summer
• self assessment induction and initial needs assessment
• diagnostic approach to first assessed work
• performance review
• monitoring in tutorials
• a formal review each semester
• access to support programmes such as individual mentoring, key skills courses, special needs arrangements

The effect on retention is not yet measurable due to the recent development of the scheme. Staff at Birmingham have commented on the difficulties they have experienced with professional bodies, particularly engineering, in relation to widening participation activities.

Access to Medicine Programme (AMP): Guy’s, King’s, St Thomas’s (GKT) Schools of Medicine

Medicine is a subject area renowned for its elite intake, and there is clear evidence of inequality of access to a medical career for students from socially disadvantaged groups. Competition for places at medical schools is fierce and the recruitment of students from less affluent backgrounds is rare. Part of the scheme is a parallel outreach programme with local education providers, which attempts to identify students with the potential to study medicine, as well as work experience and parental involvement.

The criteria for selection to AMP include A level grades, the assessment of performance on science reasoning tests, interview performance and ‘non-academic’ qualities.

The School of Education recognises that the use of A levels as the primary indicator of academic quality suffers from the fact that A level grades are strongly influenced by the quality of students’ ‘opportunity to learn’ and by the levels of attainment of their classmates. Hence grades achieved by candidates studying in schools and colleges with few high-attaining students may not adequately reflect their ability or their potential. Applicants for the AMP are therefore not required to achieve the high grades normally required of entrants to the medical degree.

The science reasoning tests take half a day as part of the selection process. The performance of 1st and 2nd year undergraduates on the tests has been correlated with end of year exam marks to provide evidence of validity and to indicate the level of performance necessary to succeed on the first two years of the undergraduate programme, although questions remain about whether the tests will contribute to the exclusion of capable applicants, or the inclusion of these unable to cope. It was felt that non- academic entry qualities are seldom culture-free, especially those such as headboy/girl/prefect status, prowess in team sports, playing musical instruments and Duke of Edinburgh awards. The School of Medicine recognises the importance of non- academic qualities, but also the irrelevance for access entrants of these conventional criteria – there is on-going debate as to whether these are really indicators of what makes a good doctor.

As well as recruitment and selection activities there is a four week pre-joining course in the summer to provide an induction to the university environment, including library and IT skills, numeracy in medicine, literacy in science writing and core biological sciences. AMP students take the same course as the other students and integrate with them at all stages but the course stretches over six years to allow for additional mentoring and support. With the addition of access modules the first two years extends to three. In years 4-6 the AMP students are integrated with standard students for the clinical part of the course.

The first year combines 300 hours of the standard year 1 course (usually 550 hours) with 150 hours on support module. Relatively gentle, this allows time for tutoring, problem solving and support and also ‘white space’so students can digest the material in their standard MBBS modules and complete their coursework on campus (because there is recognition that they may have less favourable circumstances for study at home). The practice of medicine is included in all three years of the access programme, so students have contact with patients from the beginning. Years 2 and 3 have 400 hours of MBBS modules and 100 hours support module. Support includes tutorial groups of five or six students to identify study skills problems etc. There is also a professional skills programme. Only experienced, specially trained tutors are allocated to the AMP.

The access modules each year are formatively assessed with no formal exam. In the standard MBSS modules assessment is the same as for other students – part in-course assessment and end of course exams with a pass rate of 50%. Access student failures are offered the same re-sit as other students, with progression to the subsequent year dependent on passing the modules.

Retention rates across the School of Medicine are exceptionally good, with a drop-out rate of below 2%, which is consistent with national patterns showing that retention rates are often above average in small institutions, in medicine, and in courses requiring high entry qualifications. There is no retention information available for the AMP. Student drop-out is not perceived as a necessary consequence of failure to progress and there are arrangements for any programme entrants or other students who fail to progress to be advised on the feasibility of transfer to the related biomedical science BSc programme.

Last Modified: 4 June 2010