Case Study: Ensuring Student Success through a Streamlined Network of Support
According to John Blake, Director for Fair Access and Participation at the OfS, what the data reveals should ‘concern us all’, particularly as it shows significant gaps for certain student groups.
The University of Leeds is trying to change this through interconnected programmes supporting students who may otherwise struggle to apply to, enter and succeed at university.
This approach has proven successful. The most recent year of data shows that compared to the sector-wide averages, the University of Leeds has smaller completion gaps for students from deprived backgrounds, those eligible for free school meals and of Black Heritage:
| Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD): Q1 vs Q5 | Free School Meals (FSM): Eligible vs Not Eligible | Ethnicity (Black) vs Ethnicity (White) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Leeds* | 90.2% of students from the most deprived backgrounds completed their course, compared to 96.7% from the most advantaged group. Completion gap = 6.4pp | 90.5% of students eligible for free school meals completed their course, compared to 95.6% of students who were not eligible. Completion gap = 5.1pp | 90.2% of Black students completed their course, compared to 95.3% of White students. Completion gap = 5.1pp |
| Sector-wide averages** | 81.6% of students from the most deprived backgrounds completed their course, compared to 92.2% from the most advantaged group. Completion gap = 10.7pp | 82.5% of students eligible for free school meals completed their course, compared to 90.8% of students who were not eligible. Completion gap = 8.2pp | 80.7% of Black students completed their course, compared to 88.5% of White students. Completion gap = 7.8pp |
* From: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/access-and-participation-data-dashboard/data-dashboard/
**From: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/press-and-media/students-from-disadvantaged-backgrounds-less-likely-to-complete-their-course/
Crucial to Leeds’s strategy are contextual admissions scheme ‘Access to Leeds’ and flagship student support network ‘The Plus Programme’. Working as one streamlined system, together these initiatives act as a full package of support for students from application to graduation.
Applications: Access to Leeds
Access to Leeds was the UK’s first nationwide higher education (HE) contextual admissions scheme, supporting eligible students with study skills and subject content in their final year in 6th form or college and, potentially, a lower alternative offer to reflect their more challenging circumstances.
Over 10,000 students have registered as students at Leeds via Access to Leeds since the scheme began 20 years ago. 62% of students entering Leeds via Access to Leeds in 2022/23 were from the lower POLAR4 quintiles (areas with lower percentages of students progressing into higher education), compared with just 7% from areas with the highest.
“The main benefit was the reduced grade,” says Megan, a 4th year undergraduate student. “It took the pressure off a little bit. And by introducing you to things at university before you start, you can be thinking about it, and then when you hear about it at university, you're not that scared of it.”
A head start
The Access to Leeds programme starts before students arrive on campus and before they even take their A levels, BTECs or other equivalent Level 3 qualification with the Access to Leeds module which eligible applicants follow during their Year 13 summer term at school or college. The module is a remote programme that is completed on a virtual learning platform. It comprises study skill workshops designed to strengthen students’ writing, referencing and critical reading abilities, putting them on a level footing with others more likely to have developed these skills at school.
Meegan, an Access to Leeds applicant, found the module beneficial: “I hadn't done some study skills like academic integrity in my college courses at all. I didn't really know the concept of plagiarism. It was all new stuff, but after you read through the module materials it seemed much more straightforward.”
The module culminates in a subject-specific task with guidance from a university tutor who marks the work and provides feedback, familiarising students with university-style assessments prior to starting their degree.
Lizzie, now a postgraduate student at Leeds, found the subject-assignment feedback especially useful: “It was really helpful to get an example of what we were going to get when we started: a lot of the marking and the comments were about the academic style of the essay - it was useful to know how they wanted you to write an essay and how that differed from A-level work.”
The module provides an insight into what to expect as a Leeds student. Some students may already be familiar with the concept of university life via parents or carers who have been to university before them, or they may attend schools that prioritise entrance to Russell Group universities or universities with higher entry requirements. However, many students have not had this experience and the module aims to help them feel they belong at the University of Leeds.
The pre-entry preparation that students receive in the Access to Leeds module is crucial to achieving the University's wider Access and Student Success targets. 96% of the students completing the module in 2021/22 agreed that it helped them improve or develop their academic skills and 87% thought it helped them to prepare for studying at university.
There’s evidence that participation leads to higher continuation rates and improved graduate outcomes for several groups of underrepresented students. Over the past five years, 86% of students from areas of low participation in higher education (LPN) who completed Access to Leeds achieved 2:1 or higher in contrast to 81% of students who were also from an LPN area but did not complete Access to Leeds.
Increased skills and confidence
“My first-year personal tutees completing the Access to Leeds module have a better grasp of study skills, particularly around referencing,” said Stacey Mottershaw, Associate Professor at LUBS. “Having pre-entry materials to help students get to grips with study skills is particularly useful in easing the transition into university.”
“It helped me understand how independent you have to be in university,” said one student. Another commented that, “The skills it gave me and the reassurance and pressure it alleviated was extremely valuable to me. I had a greater understanding of how I could avoid any penalties before I even started my studies.”
Continuation: The Plus Programme
When they start to study, Access to Leeds students are automatically enrolled onto The Plus Programme. The programme, which is driven and shaped by student voice, works closely with the University’s Schools to offer a package of services that can help students practically, emotionally and financially to achieve their goals throughout their journey at Leeds. In 2019 it won a National Education Opportunities Network award for best widening access initiative.
Data clearly shows that membership in the Plus Programme correlates with consistently stronger continuation rates than the University’s average. Between 2016/17 and 2019/20 94.4% of UK entrants participating in the Plus Programme continued from first to second year, compared to, 93.9% of UK entrants who did not participate in the Plus Programme.
Plus Programme students also have better completion outcomes on average compared to their peers who were not eligible to participate. Analysis of the University’s annual completion rate data found that 94% of Plus Programme students completed their degrees between 2016/17 and 2019/20, compared to 89% of comparable students who were not on the scheme.
What our students say
“I heard about useful things like the Learning Development Team through the Plus Programme, which I found really helpful,” says Megan. “There were lots of workshops, like how to study independently, which were great when you are new to uni life. Having the Plus Programme makes me aware of what is available to me. It makes me feel more like I'm getting the most out of university as there's all these different things that I can sign up to and go to”.
Fostering a sense of community is central to the Plus Programme’s ethos, and engagement with the scheme is good, with some students automatically enrolled and others self-referring. In 2021/22, 137 undergraduate students joined the programme via this route which included 42 estranged students and 6 care experienced students.
“I love my engagement with them,” adds Lizzie, “in the past couple of years I've spoken at their events which has helped with my public speaking skills. And it’s been a really good experience to speak to other students from similar backgrounds and see what their experiences are because, even if they have the same experience as me, it is important to make those connections. It can teach me something.”
To maximise opportunities with students, the Plus Programme commissioned research by external agency Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) to review their communications, with the aim of finding ways to increase engagement with emails and attendance at events and activities. The project identified barriers students were facing and changes the Plus Programme team could make to their communications to help overcome those barriers. The changes resulted in higher proportions of students opening emails and clicking on links and attending events.
“I find the newsletter super useful because they have different sections like careers, socials and experiences and it's all in one place - you don't have to then go looking for it and you can just click straight through,” says Megan.
What's next?
The University of Leeds has had some success with reducing inequalities, but there is still much more work to do to completely close the gaps. The University of Leeds’s Access and Student Success Strategy sets out in detail how we plan to continue to tackle these issues across the institution.
Within our established support, the Access to Leeds module is being further developed to include more transferable academic skills and additional resources for mental health and wellbeing.
The Plus Programme continues to grow and has expanded to work with taught postgraduate students at Leeds. Next priorities for the scheme including increasing the number of students from ethnically minoritised backgrounds into postgraduate research and learning from the lived experiences of care-experienced and estranged students.
Keep up to date with how we are improving access and success by following us on Twitter @Success_Leeds.
About the author
Jessica Burgess is a Communications and Impact Officer within the Educational Engagement team at the University of Leeds. She shares best practice, findings and recommendations from research relating to the University’s Access and Student Success Strategy with academics, professional staff and WP practitioners interested in reducing inequalities in higher education.
This article was written with support from colleagues in Educational Engagement.
