UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
STRATEGY FOR WIDENING PARTICIPATION 2001-04
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
UCL was founded with an aim to widen participation and it has remained committed to that
principle. It is one of four objectives included in its Mission Statement and reflected in the
Academic Strategy.
Today, UCL is an internationally renowned institution offering high-quality teaching in a
research-intensive environment. The competition for places in many departments is high and,
while open to applicants from a wide range of academic backgrounds, UCL’s entry
requirements are demanding.
The focus of this widening participation strategy document is on groups currently underrepresented nationally: state school/college students; students from socio-economic groups
IIIM, IV and V; students from low-participation neighbourhoods; students with disabilities;
mature students; ethnic minority students; it also addresses the gender imbalance in subject
disciplines.
UCL’s widening participation strategy has three main aims:

to raise awareness of higher education among under-represented groups. Activities aimed
at achieving this will include inter alia better exploitation of existing theatre and other
community links, using UCL’s teaching collections to greater effect, introducing a
student ambassador scheme to build upon the existing student tutoring and mentoring
networks, and offering Summer Schools and masterclasses

to increase the number of students from under-represented groups attending programmes
at UCL. Activities will include staff training, school and student-based guidance work on
the selection process, targeting these groups for special consideration at the application
stage and supplementing the financial support provided by the Opportunity Bursaries
scheme

to maintain and, if possible, increase the excellent progression and retention rates of
under-represented groups at UCL.
The activities will be aimed at a range of audiences including pupils of all ages, teachers and
parents. They will be focused in the main, but not exclusively, on nine local Excellence in
Cities local authorities and, in particular, the “gifted and talented” strand of students,
“beacon” schools and specialist schools. The strategy will extend across the full range of
programmes offered by UCL.
UCL’s Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning) will lead the strategy. Its development,
implementation and monitoring will be the responsibility of the Committee for the
Recruitment of Students drawing upon the work of other UCL committees and groups and, in
particular, the newly-appointed Widening Participation Officer. The strategy will be subject
to review on an annual basis.
UCL has serious reservations about the robustness of the HEFCE performance indicators for
state schools and colleges, social class and low-participation neighbourhoods. However, as
one of a number of means of gauging the success of its activities, UCL has set itself explicit
targets. From 2002 onwards, UCL will move towards modified and realistic benchmarks at
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the rate of 1 to 2% points per year for state schools and colleges, and 0.5% points per year for
students from social classes IIIM, IV and V and from low-participation neighbourhoods.
In striving to achieve these targets UCL will seek to ensure equality of treatment of all
candidates. UCL will maintain its academic standards, will not introduce policies and
procedures that systematically disadvantage particular constituencies and will not
compromise its generally good record in the progression and retention of students. Indeed, in
accordance with its Teaching and Learning Strategy, UCL will be working to improve student
progression and retention.
While UCL is confident that it can achieve the targets indicated, its work and that of other
universities must be set in a wider context. If the national widening participation goals are to
be achieved, educational standards in many state sector schools and colleges must be raised
and the value placed upon education by all groups in British society enhanced.
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UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
STRATEGY FOR WIDENING PARTICIPATION 2001-4
1.
Introduction
1.1 UCL’s Mission Statement is:
The vision:
Famous for Excellence – in Education and Research
UCL is committed to being as outstanding, liberal, innovative and welcoming in its
teaching, and as internationally renowned for its research, in the 21st century as it has
been in the 19th and 20th.
UCL intends:




To be, and to be acknowledged as, one of the greatest metropolitan universities in the
world, serving local, national and international needs.
To be, and to be recognised as, a world leader in teaching, scholarship and research
across the sciences and arts.
To be at the forefront in tackling environmental, communication and healthcare
problems.
To continue its founders’ pioneering vision by providing educational opportunities of
the highest quality to all regardless of background.
Widening participation is, therefore, one of the major goals UCL is striving to achieve.
1.2 UCL’s commitment to widening participation goes back to its foundation in 1826. It was
the first university in England to widen the social class (to ‘the middling rich’) from
which students were admitted and the first to admit those denied access on religious
grounds. Although relatively modest by modern standards, this pioneering attitude
eventually led in 1878 to UCL being the first university in England to admit women
students on equal terms with men. These, and other, actions (notably the expansion of the
range of subjects studied) had a seminal influence on the development of university
education in England in the nineteenth century.
1.3 This pioneering attitude of openness, built on the Benthamite philosophy of
‘emancipation and enlightenment’, is still a central tenet at UCL. The 2002
Undergraduate Prospectus emphasises this, stating:
‘In line with its cosmopolitan nature and its tradition of widening access to all who can
benefit from higher education, UCL is keen to attract applicants from as diverse a range
of backgrounds as possible. At UCL, our major interest is in selecting students who will
be able to benefit from the academic nature of our degree programmes and the way they
are taught and examined, no matter what their background’.
1.4 UCL has welcomed, therefore, the discussion surrounding the under-representation in
higher education of certain groups in society today and the ways in which this imbalance
can be tackled. It is our belief not only that it is important for each individual that their
talents are given the opportunity to develop fully, but also that it is essential if the United
Kingdom is to be a successful, modern and inclusive society.
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1.5 Recent funding initiatives from HEFCE have been directed towards encouraging
universities to recruit more students from certain under-represented groups, namely:


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the state sector
socio-economic groups IIIM, IV and V
low-participation neighbourhoods.
UCL’s own strategic commitment to widen participation as outlined in this document,
and the accompanying Action Plan, extends also to:
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students with disabilities
mature students
ethnic minority students
gender imbalances in different disciplines.
1.6 We are confident that our planned activities based on this strategic document, together
with others from similar institutions, will have some impact on the participation rate of
students from these under-represented groups in society. It is our belief that the
partnerships we have established, and are continuing to establish, with schools and
education authorities in the Excellence in Cities (EiC) areas and beyond, will have an
impact on the student profile at UCL, through the admission both of students who might
have applied to higher education before but not to UCL, and of those who might not have
applied to higher education at all. UCL does not, however, operate in a vacuum and at the
national level we would like to see more progress on:


raising educational expectations and attainment in all schools and colleges that serve
more deprived areas to the level achieved at the best state and independent sector
institutions;
persuading all sections of society that a good education is one of the most important
assets an individual can possess.
We feel it is important in maximising the return on the investment being made, that future
initiatives by government and its agencies be introduced in a more coherent manner and
with a timescale which allows schools and universities enough time to respond properly.
Short-term funding especially has serious drawbacks, most notably in the difficulty
caused to universities in sustaining initiatives after the termination of funding.
Despite these concerns, we are convinced that the overall aim of bringing state schools
and colleges and universities closer together will yield positive results in the medium to
long term.
2.
Background
2.1 The latest (2000-01) UCL student profile is as follows:
10,897 undergraduates
5,953 graduates
The profile of UK-domiciled first-degree undergraduate new entrants at UCL over the last
five years is given below:
4
Number of Entrants
% Female
% 21 or over on entry
% Ethnic Minority+
% Students with Disability+
% State Sector+
1996/97
2,380
50
14
29
3
N/A
1997/98
2,397
51
12
27
3
62
1998/99
2,483
50
10
29
4
60
1999/00
2,410
51
10
31
3
60
Notes * includes students at SSEES
+ “unknowns” are excluded from percentage calculation
The figures show little change during the five-year period, although some significance
may be attached to the growth in female students (continuing a long-term trend) and
ethnic minority students, and a decrease in the late nineties, now apparently stabilised, in
mature student entry.
2.2 UCL is a high-quality institution, able to hold its own in scholarship with the best in the
world. It has scored in the very top group of universities in all four Research Assessment
Exercises so far undertaken (1986,1989,1992,1996). In the ongoing programme of
teaching assessment through the QAA’s Subject Review, it has performed well and again
is in the top group of institutions. Indeed in two areas within the Subject Review, Student
Support and Guidance and Student Progression and Achievement, UCL has an impressive
record with average scores of 3.96 (out of 4) for Student Support and Guidance and
3.81(out of 4) for Student Progression and Achievement in the 22 subject areas so far
assessed. 95% of all subject areas at UCL, for which comparative information is
available, have achieved a score higher than the national average for Student Support and
Guidance with the corresponding figure for Student Progression and Achievement
standing at 77%.
2.3 UCL is a popular institution for undergraduate applicants and for many departments there
are many more well-qualified applicants than available places. Competition for places is
keen and this is reflected in the high level of entry standards for school-leavers – for 2000
entry, an average A-level points score of 25.3. However, a wide range of qualifications is
accepted and these include ACCESS qualifications, BTEC, HNDs and the various
baccalaureates. In line with our widening participation strategy, UCL was keen to
provide early and achievable guidance for schools with regard to Curriculum 2000. Our
position of asking for good grades in three A-levels plus a pass in a further subject at ASlevel was formulated to encourage broadening of the curriculum and pitched so that most
state schools would not be put in a disadvantageous position; it has been widely
welcomed by schools of all types.
2.4 UCL undergraduate students are offered an experience which reflects its outstanding
research and scholarship and includes intensive, small-group teaching, with all degree
programmes designed to offer opportunities for project-based activities. As stated in the
Undergraduate Prospectus:
UCL therefore seeks students who ‘have a commitment to their discipline, who are openminded and possess a questioning attitude to knowledge, and who are challenging (and
fun!) to teach’.
2.5 For many years UCL has pursued a policy of admitting students only after interview, and
although different weight is placed on the interview by different academic departments,
5
2000/01
2,793*
52
11
34
3
61
for many the interview plays a crucial role in the selection of students. Departments use
the interview to identify qualities, such as motivation and potential, not readily apparent
from the application form alone. The commitment of UCL to this time-consuming and
labour-intensive process demonstrates the care and seriousness with which UCL views
the admission process. There is interview training provided as part of UCL’s staff
development and training programme. We recognise that many students from the underrepresented groups may lack the self-confidence to do themselves justice at the interview
and UCL is working with admissions tutors, schoolteachers and the pupils themselves to
overcome this. New methods of selection are also being tried alongside the traditional
ones to try to create a more level playing field, for example, where students are given a
lecture and asked to write a brief essay as part of the selection process.
2.6 UCL takes an holistic approach to student selection, much appreciated by schools and
colleges. Together with the small-group teaching and the personal tutorial support
available this contributes to the low dropout rates for undergraduates, including those
from under-represented groups (see Section 3.2).
3. The Way Forward
3.1 UCL is, however, not complacent and recognises the intrinsic importance of the widening
participation agenda. UCL intends to build on what it is already doing by entering into a
co-ordinated and planned series of activities which will lead not only to the raising of
awareness of higher education among under-represented groups, but also to an increase in
the number of students from such groups attending degree programmes at UCL. In all
this, however, it is important both to the applicants themselves and to UCL, that students
recruited from such backgrounds have an equal chance of succeeding on the degree
programmes they enter. UCL’s ethos of ‘teaching in an atmosphere of research’ will not
alter nor will we lower academic standards or fundamentally change what we are doing
to accommodate any particular constituency. As the Learning and Teaching Strategy
states:
‘ The UCL Learning and Teaching Strategy reflects the fact that students who come here
to study are offered an experience which reflects the outstanding research quality at
UCL. The courses which they follow are developed within a departmental culture based
upon leading-edge research; this characterises UCL’s strategic approach to learning
and teaching. The strategy is designed to ensure that students benefit to the full from
studying at UCL: that is; that they broaden and deepen their knowledge of their chosen
subject, acquire research, subject-specific and key skills and gain experience which will
equip them for further study or for entry to employment.’
3.2 UCL is a cosmopolitan institution attracting students from all over the UK and from
140 other countries besides, and from as wide a range of backgrounds as one will find
in any UK institution. There is strong evidence that those from under-represented
groups, as exemplified in the latest HEFCE Performance Indicators*, do as well as
others. 92% of such students progress to the second year, the same percentage exactly
as students from all neighbourhoods; this is better than the HEFCE benchmark.
Similarly, despite the fact that, along with some other institutions, UCL’s continuation
figures are depressed by the lack of a summer retake examination (see Section 5.3), they
are still generally better than the benchmark, the efficiency rate of 91% is again better
than the benchmark of 88%**.
It is UCL’s intention that the good progression and retention of students as evidenced in
these figures be maintained, and if possible improved upon, with increased widening
participation.
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* TableT3 b: Non-continuation following the year of entry of young full-time first-degree
entrants from low-participation neighbourhoods.
** Table T5: Projected learning outcomes and efficiencies.
3.3 It is also UCL’s intention to move towards the HEFCE Performance Indicator Targets for
participation from students, as given in the HEFCE Circular letter 08/01:
Percent from group
HEFCE PI Target
State schools or colleges
58
75
Social classes IIIM, IV and V
14
18
6
9
Low-participation neighbourhoods.
UCL admits around 2,100 young UK undergraduates each year. If UCL were to meet the
benchmarks as currently indicated, in student number terms this would mean recruiting
an additional 360 state-school students, 85 from the lower socio-economic groups and
about 60 from low-participation neighbourhoods. UCL strives for equity of treatment of
candidates and our policy is to look at the innate potential of each individual, and not to
institute procedures which could be detrimental to applicants from any particular
constituency. UCL is aware, for example, of the sacrifices that some parents from underrepresented groups make to send their children to fee-paying schools, and it would
indeed be unfortunate if we were to implement policies that disadvantaged these
applicants and their families.
3.4 UCL is using both its own data and the statistics available from HEFCE and UCAS to
assist in the formulation of its widening participation strategy. From analysis of our own
preliminary data, there is some evidence, for example, that students from the state sector,
with broadly equivalent entry qualifications as those from the independent sector, achieve
a higher proportion of first and upper-second class Honours degrees, and we will subject
this and other findings to rigorous statistical analysis before proceeding further. Should
the case be proved, however, it is likely to inform further departmental admissions
policies. Similarly, the percentage of state sector students applying for different degree
programmes varies considerably and our strategy will need to address these differential
rates of application and acceptance.
3.5 Another internally monitored set of statistics is the percentage of undergraduate students
who come from ethnic minorities. Although on the surface the figure of 34% in 2000
entrants presented in Section 2.1 looks relatively healthy and is on an upward trend,
further examination of the figures show a poor representation from students from AfroCaribbean origin. This is informing the activities we are undertaking, for example,
targeting Afro-Caribbean pupils through a mentoring scheme being run by the UCL
Union Afro-Caribbean Society (see Section 7.1).
3.6 UCL's Committee for Equal Opportunities receives and monitors data prepared by the
Registrar's Division on an annual basis, which covers Student Profile, Student
Progression, Student Achievement and the Application Statistics. The data are broken
down into student ethnicity, student gender, student age on entry, student disability status
and previous institution attended and relate solely to UK-domiciled undergraduate firstdegree students. The data and accompanying papers are also received by Academic
Committee, and extracts are also presented at individual Faculty Teaching Committees.
Where anomalies are perceived in the data, these may also be referred to the Committee
for the Recruitment of Students for attention. It is possible that the above analysis may be
extended to include additional student characteristics such as social class.
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3.7 More generally, UCL is, however, extremely concerned about the robustness and
accuracy of the HEFCE Performance Indicators, particularly that for the state schools or
colleges where we believe there is prima facie evidence that other factors are involved,
particularly geographical factors (and in particular the ‘London Factor’) which have been
ignored. We wrote to the HEFCE on the matter on 8 January 2001, but have yet to
receive a satisfactory reply. We are also aware of the concern of other London
institutions about this matter. This particular Performance Indicator also suffers from the
incorrect grading of students with baccalaureate examinations as having the equivalent of
two E grades at A-level. As UCL has a relatively large group of such students, this
palpable nonsense also raises the benchmark unjustifiably.
3.8 UCL is also interested in the overall gender imbalance of entrants, with female students
increasingly in the majority (see Section 2.1). At individual subject level, there are even
more striking differences. While some of UCL’s activities are aimed specifically at
potential female applicants in engineering and the physical sciences, we will monitor
closely whether our generic widening participation activities leads to a gradual increase
in the number of male students admitted. A future version of the strategy may well need
to address the issue of how male students from disadvantaged backgrounds can be
specifically targeted.
3.9 There may also be a bias in degree subject choice from within the under-represented
groups – we can see this when we look at the very different percentage of applicants from
state-schools, for example, who apply to the different faculties at UCL. It is important to
remember that UCL does not offer subjects such as business studies, communications and
media, which might also skew the picture. Despite this, we intend to address the issue of
widening participation across the whole range of degree programmes offered at UCL.
4. Formulation, Management and Monitoring of the Strategy
4.1 Widening Participation at UCL is spearheaded by the Vice-Provost for Teaching and
Learning who also chairs the Academic Committee where the various strands of the
strategy and other relevant strategies, e.g. the Academic Strategy, the Learning and
Teaching Strategy are discussed. He is supported by the Director of Educational Liaison
who is based in the Registrar’s Division. The development and implementation of the
Widening Participation Strategy is the responsibility of the Committee for the
Recruitment of Students. A broader Consultative Group on Widening Participation,
consisting of the Dean of Students, academic staff, the UCL Union, staff from UCL’s
museums and collections, and the Director, Education and Professional Development,
informs this work. The Committee for the Recruitment of Students reports to the
Academic Committee. The Committee for Equal Opportunities, also chaired by the ViceProvost (Teaching and Learning), makes recommendations to the Committee for the
Recruitment of Students on any perceived anomalies from the data it receives (see
Section 3.6), and both it and the Committee for People with Disabilities are consulted on
other relevant issues.
4.2 UCL has recently appointed a full-time Widening Participation Officer, who reports to
the Director of Educational Liaison, to provide a link with schools and colleges, to
organise, coordinate and monitor the planned activities and to provide feedback as a basis
for the future direction of the strategy and activities. It is planned to expand this into a
Unit during the first year of operation both to administer the increased range and number
of planned activities and also to undertake centralised activities itself.
4.3 UCL’s original submission on Widening Participation, The Initial Statement of Plans,
was circulated to all academic departments. Since then, there have been meetings with
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staff in all departments on the issue. A survey has been undertaken to establish the sorts
of activities which departments feel they can undertake to assist the whole UCL effort and
as an audit of what is already being done. The results of this survey have been used to
inform the current strategy and associated Action Plan. Much effort has been made to
involve academic staff in the Widening Participation debate, especially faculty tutors,
admissions tutors and departmental tutors.
4.4 The strategy has been drafted by a group of the Committee for the Recruitment of
Students consisting of the Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning), the Director of
Educational Liaison, senior faculty tutors, the Head of the College Admissions Office and
the Director of Education and Professional Development, and approved by Academic
Committee. Both the Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning) and the Director of
Education and Professional Development were also heavily involved in writing UCL’s
Learning and Teaching Strategy, and the Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning) was one
of the team of four responsible for drafting the Academic Strategy.
4.5 Regular monitoring of the strategy and Action Plan activities is to be undertaken by the
Committee for the Recruitment of Students reporting to Academic Committee. It is
anticipated that the strategy may well be revised along with the activities and their
associated targets as this venture progresses.
5. Targets
5.1 We believe that targets have a role to play in testing strategies and activities. The whole
admissions ethos of UCL, however, centres on the individual; consequently UCL has no
plans to reserve student places for any particular groups of students. To admit students
from a particular constituency simply to achieve targets is a disservice both to the
institution and to the students involved. This does make the estimation of targets more
difficult and it becomes more of an educated guess than anything more scientific. We
may well need to revise targets in the future.
5.2 UCL, therefore, would wish to be cautious in its approach and in the first instance and
until it can evaluate the effect of its planned activities, will put in place modest but
realistic targets. From 2002 onwards UCL intends to move towards a modified and
realistic benchmark* for the percentage of state-school and college students admitted at
the rate of 1 to 2% per year, involving a shift in student numbers of about 20 to 40.
Similarly we plan to move towards the other two Performance Indicators at a rate of
0.5% per year, involving a shift in student numbers of about 10-15. We take the view that
numbers may well shift in line with this for the first few years but then remain constant as
the pool of potential applicants shrinks to include those with more entrenched attitudes.
[* current HEFCE benchmark is 75%]
5.3 As stated in paragraph 3.2 we intend to maintain, and if possible, improve on the
progression performance indicator. In this respect, UCL is to reconsider the introduction
of resit examinations in September across the board, rather than making students take a
year out and resit the following year. This is a move which many consider would
improve the progression rates for all students.
6. Geographical Reach
6.1 Given the current financial situation of students and the high cost of studying in the
capital city, it will be more difficult for UCL to recruit students from under-represented
groups living outside the London region. UCL can build on its long-term relationships
and see more substantive gains by concentrating resources in more local regions. In
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particular, building on the government’s Excellence Challenge paper, UCL has already
been involved in Strand 1 discussions with Excellence in Cities (EiC) partnerships in the
London area and has agreed to be a partnership member with the following nine EiC local
authorities:
Brent
Haringey
Camden
Islington
Chelsea and Kensington
Tower Hamlets
Ealing
Westminster.
Hackney
These areas, therefore, will form the focus for UCL’s activity and all the activities
outlined in the Action Plan will be offered to schools in these areas. UCL will wish to
involve schools and colleges in other parts of London and the South-East in many of its
activities, and has plans, for example, in its proposed Student Ambassador programme
(see Section 7.1), to include other EiC and Education Action Zones (EAZs).
6.2 UCL will work with EiC co-ordinators both centrally and in schools to offer a series of
co-ordinated activities aimed at a variety of audiences, pupils, teachers and parents, under
both the banners of widening participation and raising awareness and aspirations. The
nature of UCL dictates that we should focus our efforts within these EiC areas on the
‘gifted and talented’ strand, ‘beacon’ schools and specialist schools.
6.3 As a significant way of developing its widening participation strategy, UCL is involved in
a joint bid to the DfES to fund a pilot Partnership for Excellence scheme with City and
Islington College for a new Sixth Form Centre to be located at a new site at the Angel,
Islington to begin in 2002. The scheme will also play a role in the implementation of our
Learning and Teaching strategy. The scheme is a pilot aimed at eventually creating
centres of excellence in each community, supported by strong links with a prestigious
institution. Initially focusing on the areas of science, engineering and medicine, modern
languages, mathematics, and the historical and social sciences, the scheme will consist of
a series of activities designed to cover: student motivation and aspiration; curriculum
development and pedagogy; professional development; collaboration on research
projects; and institutional governance.
7. The Student Life Cycle
It is UCL’s strategy, in close partnership with the UCL Union, to raise awareness and
aspiration, encourage confidence and application, ease entry and maximise progress,
retention and employment for under-represented groups.
7.1 Raising Awareness and Aspiration
UCL has planned a series of activities, described in more detail in the accompanying
Action Plan, designed to raise awareness of higher education in pupils from the age of
about 10 or 11 to age 16, and also to raise expectations of older pupils of aiming at a
prestigious university. UCL believes strongly that it is important to get pupils from these
under-represented groups physically into the institution. UCL will:

build on its links with the local community through the use of its theatre, the
Bloomsbury Theatre, and its sport facilities
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use its teaching collections (the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, the Grant
Museum of Zoology, the Strang Print Room and the Geology collection), for outreach
work including the development of a number of loan collection boxes
organise visits to UCL, for pupils to meet students and to attend lectures given by
leaders in their fields
use student tutors and mentors as part of the UCL Student Ambassadors programme.
This builds on the already substantial involvement of students, (whether it be the
members of the UCL Union Afro-Caribbean Society acting as role-models in schools,
student tutoring or student mentoring), as a major plank in our strategy by sending a
significant number of student ambassadors into schools and colleges, to give positive
images of students as role models. The HEFCE-funded project – the Focus
Mentoring Scheme - run out of the UCL Union, is a collaborative scheme with three
post-1992 universities in London. It has been operational since Spring 2000 and has
involved a total of 33 UCL students going into schools and colleges in Camden,
Westminster and Haringey to raise awareness of higher education among year 10-13
pupils who have been identified as having the potential to go on to university.
expand the number of Summer Schools for students in Year 11 and above, including
women into mathematics, science and engineering. UCL’s experience of the
HEFCE-funded Higher Education Summer School has been positive. The 2000
Summer School for 69 Year 11 and 12 pupils from Haringey produced 8 UCAS
applications, 5 offers and 3 firm acceptances. These applicants received special
consideration and were given lower offers. We are also aware that all the 75 Year 11
pupils allocated places on the 2001 UCL Higher Education Summer School had put
UCL as their first choice and, therefore, this gives us some encouragement to expand
the number of places offered for 2002
visit schools to talk to pupils and their parents.
7.2 The Pre-Entry Stage
UCL recognises that many pupils with whom we will come into contact through our
activities will not, in the end, become students at UCL. We hope that these activities will
lead to an increase in the proportion of under-represented groups entering some form of
higher education. Given the effort UCL is putting into this area, however, we would be
disappointed if the outcome of all our activities did not lead to more students from the
targeted groups applying to, and being accepted by, UCL. To raise their expectations,
therefore, UCL will:
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provide masterclasses at UCL in particular subjects for Years 12 and 13 to enrich the
A-level syllabus and to stretch pupils
encourage student shadowing
use student mentoring to encourage applications in high-demand subjects such as
medicine, English and architecture. This is embedding and extending one of the two
HEFCE-funded Widening Participation projects in which UCL is involved. The
Health Sciences Scheme is a collaborative venture involving a number of London
institutions to encourage Year 12 and 13 students from inner city schools and colleges
in Camden, Islington, Hammersmith and Brent to apply for medicine and related
programmes. Six medical students were involved in the first year and the scheme
appears to have been very successful. It is UCL’s intention at the end of both these
projects to embed the activities as one aspect of the Student Ambassador programme
and to raise the expectations of school pupils that they can achieve the necessary
qualifications to enter UCL
use the opportunities provided by the web including exploring the feasibility of
establishing an e-mail buddies scheme between pupils and UCL students
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
encourage departments to provide work placements with particular schemes being set
up in the London Foot Hospital for potential Podiatry students and in curatorship in
the UCL’s collections
counsel pupils on how to maximise their success in an interview situation.
Although most of this activity is aimed at pupils themselves, it is important that at all
stages, close relationships are maintained with teachers. UCL has already established a
Local Links network with schools where current issues in education are discussed.
7.3 Application
UCL is confident that its widening participation activities will lead to an increase in the
number of applications from the under-represented groups. In order to ensure that the
maximum number of those from these groups with the innate potential actually to enrol at
UCL, we will:




offer school and college-based workshops aimed at demystifying (and demything) the
selection process
implement a training programme (including that for cultural awareness) for staff
involved in student selection
target under-represented groups for special consideration at the application stage
provide admissions staff with the information necessary to enable them to adapt
grade-based offers of admission while at the same time aiming for equality of
treatment for all candidates.
7.4 Progression and Retention
There is evidence from HEFCE data that the progression and retention of all students at
UCL are good, and as far as restricted data show, the evidence is currently that underrepresented groups (in this case – low-participation neighbourhoods) do as well as the
norm (see Section 3.2). Indeed, as stated in Section 3.4, there is prima facie evidence that
state-school students perform better than those from the independent sector. In the QAA
Subject Review (see Section 3.2), UCL also does particularly well in two significant areas
related to progression and retention: Student Support and Guidance and Student
Progression and Achievement.
However, if UCL is to improve further, it is important to us that the Widening
Participation Strategy and the Strategy for Learning and Teaching have a synergy, one
with the other. The Learning and Teaching Strategy addresses issues of particular
significance to under-represented groups by:



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

addressing the needs of part-time and mature students, with particular reference to
working patterns and the resource implications of off-campus study
developing skills-based courses such as ‘English and Academic Literacy’ and
‘Electronic Literacy’, and entrepreneurship
supporting overall skills development
encouraging interdiciplinarity
appointment of a Tutor for Academic Literacy
maintenance of a well-developed tutorial system.
In addition, UCL has appointed a dedicated Training Tutor for Information Technology
skills.
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These initiatives are augmented by other less formal, but no less important, mechanisms
such as:


the Peer-Assisted Learning scheme operated in some departments
the two-week pre-sessional Mathematics course available for all new students taking
Mathematics at degree level to ensure that all students start with a common base of
knowledge.
One major cause of interrupted progression or even termination is student finance and
UCL is seeking to use the funding it receives through HEFCE and to raise private funds
(see Sections 10.1 and 10.2) to minimise wastage through student hardship.
7.5 Employability
It is extremely important, perhaps more so than for any other group, that students from
non-traditional backgrounds can see the benefit in terms of employability of going to
university and, that indeed, they maximise their job ambitions on graduation. The
benefits of a university degree are clearly spelt out in the new Undergraduate Prospectus.
In addition, all students are encouraged to use the Careers Service from Year 1 and there
are many opportunities at UCL throughout the degree programme for students to form
relationships with employers. Even before students come here, UCL supports, through a
small award to students, the Year in Industry scheme, which also has the additional
benefit of countering student debt. UCL can also point to its serious and continuing
involvement with the employability of students from ethnic minority backgrounds
through participation in the National Mentoring Scheme.
As might be expected from UCL’s ethos, at least a quarter of UCL graduates choose not
to enter directly into employment but to proceed to further study in vocational training
such as law or teacher training, or for a taught Master’s degree or by undertaking research
leading to a PhD. We encourage any UCL student, no matter what their background, to
consider this as a feasible option.
Finally, to form a complete circle and gain valuable feedback, UCL writes to all schools
and colleges every year to inform them how their students have performed at degree
level.
8. Students with Disabilities
8.1 Students with disabilities constitute about 3% of the undergraduate student body at UCL,
a figure which has remained constant during the past five years (see Section 2.1). The
figures do need to be treated with some caution as not all students declare their disability,
although the availability of the Student Disability Allowance (DSA) may encourage more
students to do so.
8.2 Students with disabilities are considered using the same admissions criteria as all other
applicants. They are encouraged to make contact with the UCL Disability Co-ordinator
before applying, and receive the UCL booklet Information for Students with Disabilities.
The UCL Friends Access Centre has, since 1997, operated in close co-operation with the
regional access centre based at the University of Westminster. UCL provides a free
diagnostic service for students with dyslexia and assists students with the DSA
application form by providing them with a written assessment outlining any special
equipment and/or non-medical assistance required. The UCL Friends Access Centre also
provides students with disabilities with IT training.
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8.3 It is not UCL’s strategy to increase the number of students with disabilities per se but to
ensure that those who do decide to attend UCL are treated with equity and with respect to
their needs. UCL’s strategy therefore includes improving:

Access to the UCL Estate
In addition to the proposed computer cluster room for students with disabilities due to
be completed in 2001, the UCL Committee for People with Disabilities has been
liaising with the Estates and Facilities Division in a bid to improve access to the UCL
estate as part of the UCL Estates Strategy. Given the location and age of buildings on
the UCL main campus and in other departments in the vicinity, ensuring access for
students with physical disabilities - in particular wheel-chair users - has proved
problematic and expensive. Following an audit of all centrally timetabled teaching
space between 1998 and 2000, the subsequent reports produced by the Centre for
Accessible Environments outlined a number of prioritised modifications to ensure
access to lecture theatres and computer cluster rooms. The Committee for People
with Disabilities and the Estates and Facilities Division will liaise to prepare UCL’s
bid to HEFCE under the capital allocation scheme, in the light of the recently enacted
Special Educational Needs and Disability Rights Bill, which provides for the estate to
be accessible by 2005.

Web Access for the Visually Impaired
UCL is at present engaged in an accessibility audit of its web material, following
which a project will be undertaken to ensure that it is in a form accessible to people
with disabilities. It is planned that a majority of the material will be accessible within
12 months of the audit.

The Support Structure
A number of changes are in the process of being implemented or will be implemented
in the course of the next academic year to improve the support structure for students
with disabilities. These include:
- the appointment of a full-time Dyslexia Support Tutor
- consolidation of staff development to include a resource pack for academic staff
outlining good practice in dealing with, and teaching, students with disabilities,
and an annual seminar on Disability Awareness
- strengthening the customer/client interface focus within the UCL Friends Access
Centre.
8.4 Through the Committee for People with Disabilities UCL intends:
-
to monitor the applications and progression rates of students with disabilities
by means of student questionnaires, both to evaluate current policy and
procedure, and to assess the effectiveness of enabling technology recommended
for UCL students as part of a bid to improve the assessment of need service
across the higher education sector.
9. Mature Students
9.1 As shown in Section 2.1, the current proportion of mature (21 or over) on entry
undergraduate students at UCL stands at 11%. This figure takes no account of current
medical students who register for the intercalated BSc degree and students transferring
from other institutions, but in our opinion is a truer reflection of the present position.
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Although mature students are to be found across all disciplines at UCL, there are higher
concentrations in certain subjects (e.g. anthropology, archaeology, and classics).
9.2 Traditionally, mature undergraduate students registered for University of London degrees
have attended Birkbeck College as the evening classes provided have offered a route for
many mature students in employment who have sought a degree by part-time study. UCL
has, therefore, in the past, encouraged such students to make use of the Birkbeck option,
although flexibility of modes of teaching is an issue addressed in the Learning and
Teaching Strategy (see Section 7.4). Although part-time undergraduate study is available
in many departments, it is of relatively little significance, accounting for only 2% of the
current student population, and is only of note where there are formal links with other
institutions, e.g. the Open University for classics.
9.3 Mature student numbers declined in the mid-to-late nineties for a number of reasons - the
greater participation rate for school leavers for the past 10 years; the government’s new
funding support arrangements for students; and a trend towards less rigorous ACCESS
programmes offered by FE - but have now plateaued.
9.4 We recognise the strengths that mature students bring to UCL, especially in small
discussion groups, for example, and we maintain a flexible approach towards entry
qualifications for mature students. Although evidence of recent academic study is of
importance, motivation and commitment are sought with the interview often playing a
greater role in the selection process than in the case of school leavers.
9.5 Progression of mature students at UCL is better than the HEFCE benchmark. In the latest
set of HEFCE figures, only 9% of UCL’s mature students were not in higher education
compared with a benchmark of 12%.
9.6 Currently UCL is undertaking a three-year TQEF study investigating the admission,
progression and retention of mature (and part-time) students, the results of which will
inform College policy further on mature students.
10. Student Support
10.1 Studying in London is a more expensive option for students than studying in any other
city in the UK. The abolition of the student grant and the prospect of accumulating
substantial debt have acted as a disincentive to many applicants. This is especially the
case for some ethnic and religious minorities and the lower socio-economic groups where
debt is a major obstacle to widening participation. The government’s Opportunity
Bursaries Scheme has provided some welcome encouragement, and as some 40% of
students at UCL are on four-year programmes and one of UCL’s main objectives in the
Corporate Plan is to give more of our students the opportunity of studying abroad as
fourth-year option, UCL has committed itself to matching the scheme beyond the three
years’ duration of the awards. UCL has been active in informing schools of the scheme,
and we have received over 250 applications for the 47 bursaries allocated for 2001 entry.
This is an indication of the real financial need among students applying to UCL. Seeking
to relieve student debt and hardship is, therefore, a part of UCL’s Widening Participation
strategy: we are actively seeking private sponsors and have committed some of our own
funds to encourage students from under-represented groups to apply. Some of these
initiatives are listed below:

for students living in certain London boroughs - the John Lyon Entry Scholarships,
five awards of £1,000 per annum to students at state-sector schools in Camden. An
application is to be made to extend the scheme to other EiC boroughs.
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

For Chemistry students - the Bader awards – seven awards of £1,000 per annum for
students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
For History students from disadvantaged backgrounds for 2002 entry. Funded by
History alumni. Number and amount still being negotiated.
10.2 The HEFCE Hardship Fund and Access Bursary Funds have also played, and will
continue to play a part in our strategy. Almost 1,000 students were helped last year
alone, and there is documented evidence that many students would have had to interrupt
or, indeed, terminate their studies at UCL, had they not received this financial assistance.
UCL, itself, has also raised money from its friends and alumni to supplement these
schemes, for example, the UCL Friends scheme regularly raises substantial amounts of
money to assist students in hardship, and therefore acts as an aid to both progression and
retention. The Fee Waiver scheme for part-time students involves few students at UCL.
All these schemes, however, act as a positive influence on progression and retention.
10.3 UCL offers guaranteed accommodation to all first-year students no matter where the
parental home is located, and although many students from the under-represented groups
may not be able to afford to take up this guarantee, we think this is important for two
reasons. First, it may offer an opportunity for some who may be held back by domestic
circumstance, and second, it offers the same opportunities to all. UCL is currently
seeking a private sponsor to assist with the housing costs of these students, and with the
travel costs of disadvantaged students from home to UCL.
11. Conclusion
11.1 The thrust of the strategy (and the accompanying Action Plan) is to put in place
procedures and activities which will lead to an increase in the number of students from
under-represented groups at UCL, and to ensure that, once on course, they do as well as
students from other backgrounds.
11.2 The strategy addresses a range of groups: state-sector: social classes IIIM – V; lowparticipation neighbourhoods; ethnic minorities; students with disabilities; mature
students, and also touches upon gender imbalance.
11.3 The strategy takes an holistic approach to widening participation, placing it in the
context of the Mission Statement and the Academic Strategy, and linking it with other
strategies such as Learning and Teaching (for progression and retention) and Estates (for
students with disabilities).
11.4 Being based on the student life cycle, the strategy also takes an holistic approach, from
raising awareness of higher education in the early years, to employment or further study
on graduation.
11.5 The strategy recognises that there is only a certain amount that individual universities
can do, and that for widening participation to be a success, the government and its
agencies have a large role to play.
11.6 UCL seeks students who will benefit from the nature of its degree programmes and the
way they are taught and examined. It has a good reputation for the care it takes in the
selection of its students and a good record for the progression and retention of students,
irrespective of background. The strategy builds on this, suggesting refinements to the
selection process and, through the Learning and Teaching Strategy, aiding the
progression and retention of under-represented groups.
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11.7 The strategy builds on the Excellence in Cities (EiC) initiative of the government’s
Excellence Challenge document. UCL has already entered into partnership agreements
with nine EiC areas which will form the focus of UCL’s activities.
11.8 The Action Plan which is based on the strategy, involves a wide range of UCL people,
students and staff, and also pupils, teachers and parents from the schools and colleges
sector.
11.9 The strategy identifies an overall set of outcome targets for UCL in the areas of school
type, social class and low-participation neighbourhoods.
11.10 A management structure has been put in place to drive forward the strategy, receive
progress reports and management statistics, monitor activities, outcomes and outputs, and
provide a mechanism to encourage synergy with other related strategies.
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