SPA Newsletter – Autumn 2014 Contact us: 01242 544891 [email protected] www.spa.ac.uk SPA's mission is to promote fair admissions and access to higher education in the UK. By providing an evidence base and guidelines for good practice, SPA supports higher education providers in maintaining and enhancing excellence and professionalism in the recruitment and selection of students. Much of SPA’s support to the HE sector is to provide advice and guidance on admissions issues based on the wide range of queries we receive from HE providers so please contact us if you have questions. Admissions structures – centralised, devolved or mixed? : 2013 and 2014 cycles Devolved Mixed Based on SPA surveys in 2011, 2013 and 2014; comparing 91 HEP responses from 2011 with their most recent response. Centralised 2011 cycle National Expert Think Tank (NETT): Admissions decision-making : NETT is an expert group of HE admissions practitioners convened by SPA to inform and influence topical The national debates on fairness and good practice in HE admissions. In 2014 the group examined issues within admissions decision-making. NETT members presented and collated research strands with the group’s wider intelligence and experience during a three-day residential. The two guides produced aim to support individual HEPs in developing their own information, communication and reviews: o Managing Mistakes Guide provides advice on reducing the chances of mistakes occurring; and responding effectively when mistakes do occur. o Considerations on Unconditional Offer-making Guide includes a set of reflective questions to help institutions reach informed judgements when considering or reviewing such practice, a Q&A toolkit for evaluating their answers to the reflective questions and constructing a SWOT analysis plus indicative evidence on unconditional offer-making practice. Both guides are on our website at www.spa.ac.uk/support/goodpractice/planningandmanaginga/nettguide. SPA is currently working with a number of HE providers on the final strand of NETT’s investigation, on the relationship between student recruitment and admissions. For more information, please go to the SPA website www.spa.ac.uk Using Admissions to bridge the gap for care leavers Call for evidence SPA is looking for specific good practice examples to highlight how applicants in and leaving care are supported through the admissions process. We aim to provide case studies and advice to bridge the gap between widening access/participation and retention initiatives and to demonstrate how admissions can be an active agent in supporting care leavers. The examples will be reviewed and collated by SPA with any additional advice and external resources. Further information is available on the SPA website: www.spa.ac.uk/information/callforevidence SPA event: Monday 2 March 2015, the Studio in Birmingham We will be holding a free event to showcase the good practice and examine some of the case studies in more detail. We would encourage both admissions and student support staff to attend to share ideas, so please let relevant colleagues know and keep the date in your diary. Competition Law and Admissions : new briefing provides an initial insight into some aspects of SPA’s competition law and how this may impact staff in admissions and related areas. It provides some key facts and scenarios for HE providers to consider. It was prepared by SPA working with the UCAS legal team and competition lawyers. The Office of Fair Trading’s (now the Competition and Markets Authority) report, March 2014, overview was that the HE sector is in many respects performing to a very high standard in competition and consumer law terms. The briefing can be downloaded at www.spa.ac.uk/support/goodpractice/competitionlawandadmissions. It does not purport to be exhaustive and is not legal advice; competition law is a complex legal area and HEPs should take their own legal advice. Planning & Managing Admissions SPA’s Considerations for Planning and Managing Admissions have been updated for 2015: www.spa.ac.uk/support/goodpractice/planningandma naginga/ The document highlights the four key stages in planning admissions, each providing information to support the next. It provides a checklist of issues for HEPs to consider in planning and managing admissions, with an emphasis on being prepared for, rather than reacting to, events. APL/RPL We have recently updated our briefing document on accreditation and recognition of prior learning (APL/ RPL) which provides definitions of some of the terms used with relation to APL/RPL, summarises the QAA UK Quality Code guidance on this issue, and provides links to examples of HE providers’ APL/RPL policies. The briefing is on our website at www.spa.ac.uk/support/qualificati ons/aplrpl SNETT: Contextualised admissions SPA’s Scottish National Expert Tank has produced three papers on aspects of contextualised admissions: 1. Producing a business case and internal communications to support the introduction of contextualised admissions. 2. Data needs, school profiles and dealing with missing data. 3. Hints and tips for monitoring and tracking contextualised admissions. Coming soon on the SPA website. SPA Review An external Review Group, organised by UCAS, is working with independent reviewers to evaluate the effectiveness, impact and value for money of the SPA programme from 2012-13 to present, examine the future demand for SPA’s services, and make recommendations about the future funding and delivery of these services as the current round of funding for SPA comes to an end next year. It is expected that there will soon be a survey of HEPs and others to elicit views and we trust you will be able to respond. For more information, please go to the SPA website www.spa.ac.uk
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