Student Experience Strategy | Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh

Widening Participation Strategy 2023 – 2026

1 Scope and definitions

1.1 Our Widening Participation (WP) Strategy 2023-26 builds upon our previous Widening Access and Retention Strategy. In refreshing our Strategy, we have taken the opportunity to reflect on our progress over the last 10 years or so, and to refocus and to strengthen aspects of our approach.

1.2 Our Strategy continues to take a full student lifecycle approach, encompassing access, transition, participation, and progression, including into employment and further study.

1.3 Our approach focuses on four elements: awareness, access, participation, and progression. This is developed further within Section 2 of this strategy.

1.4 We are committed to widening participation amongst those who have previously been inhibited from entering Higher Education for social, economic, or cultural reasons, and to taking active steps to maximise their persistence and success.

1.5 Our strategy seeks to increase participation by those traditionally under-represented groups, including those that are: first generation to go to Higher Education; from low progression schools; reside in communities in the lowest 20% of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (MD20); articulating students from Scotland’s Colleges; disabled students; BAME students; male students studying Nursing and Allied Health programmes; ex-service/armed forces; estranged students; student carers and those who are care experienced.

1.6 Although this strategy identifies specific actions that support the success of those whom we have identified as widening participation students, very many of those actions apply to the wider student population.

Strategic Framework

2.1 The Widening Participation Strategy 2023 – 2026 is positioned firmly within our Strategic Plan.

2.2 From its beginnings in 1875, Queen Margaret University has consistently addressed society’s needs and enabled positive social change. Our Strategy holds true to the principles and values on which the University was founded, and these are embodied in our approach to student participation.

2.3 We see our Purpose as helping to create a better society through education, research and innovation, and by providing a supportive and creative learning environment in which students thrive.

2.4 Our purpose is underpinned by our Values. We are a university that is modern in its outlook, but with a maturity built on a long history of serving the community, both locally and globally, and enhancing its wellbeing. We work in a transparent and inclusive manner and hold to core values in everything we do.

2.5 We value social justice: in fact, it underpins our world view. We embrace equality, diversity, inclusion, respect, and supporting our communities. Opportunities and access are open to all and on a fair basis.

Contribution to institutional and national measures

3.1 We are in a period of significant change within Scotland’s education system, coupled with the need to continue to respond to the post-pandemic landscape. The published outcomes of the reviews of Education Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Authority, combined with the current review of Skills Development Scotland, has the potential to create a strong forward map for learners in Scotland in deciding their futures and choices.

3.2 The recommended that, by 2030, students from the 20% most deprived backgrounds (i.e. living in a Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 20 area, SIMD20) should represent 20% of entrants to higher education. As an interim objective, the report states that, by 2021, students from SIMD20 areas should represent at least 16% of full-time first-degree entrants. The next target is that by 2026, 18% of entrants to higher education will be from the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland.

3.3 In his first (January 2024) the new Commissioner for Fair Access, Professor John McKendrick, reports that 16.5% of entrants to higher education are from the

20% most deprived areas. This success is tempered by the fact that progress toward the next Interim Target of 18% has stalled. However, he does acknowledge the positive role the sector has played in preventing a more significant decline during the pandemic.

3.4 Professor McKendrick acknowledges the scale of the challenge. Future entrants have had to manage learning through times of COVID and a cost-of-living crisis. Scotland’s fiscal position also makes it more challenging to resource fair access work. There is recognition that the sector has come to know ‘what works’, but the evidence base needs to be strengthened to better understand which (or what combination) of actions is making the difference. There is recognition also that, while universities in Scotland have a key role to play, fair access is ‘everybody’s business’.

3.5 The report confirms the retention of SIMD as the central metric to indicate national progress in achieving fair access but suggests that universities in Scotland collectively specify a basket of indicators from which individual HEIs may draw to demonstrate their wider work in promoting fair access.

3.6 We remain committed to a baseline target of recruiting 16% of our Scottish-domiciled undergraduate entrants (SDUE) from SIMD20 and 28% from SIMD 40. For entry in 2023-24, data suggests that 13.8% of Scottish Domiciled Undergraduate Entrants (SDUEs) were drawn from the SIMD 20 demographic, and 38.1 % from SIMD 40.

3.7 Additionally, on the basis that we have adopted a wider definition of ‘under-represented groups’ that has extended beyond that of the SIMD national indicator, we have included specific outcomes for protected characteristic groups in our Outcome Agreements since 2011. We have in place a range of initiatives to increase the participation and retention of those from a broad range of non-traditional groups. This includes disabled students, BAME students, mature students, and male students studying Allied Health programmes.

3.8 We continue to be humbled by the number of care-experienced students who have chosen to study with us, and we are committed to ensuring they receive the student experience they so richly deserve. Our commitment in this area is published at the following link: Care Experienced Students

3.9 In adopting the approach above, we are fully aligned with the stated views of the Commissioner that fair access ‘is also about enabling entrants to thrive in higher education and helping them achieve positive outcomes after graduation. The strategy set out below details how we will deliver on this approach.

Widening participation strategy: framework for success

Supporting the learner journey:

Awareness
Raise awareness of Higher Education provision available across Scotland.
Access
Increase the proportion of learners from under-represented backgrounds entering QMU.
Participation
A positive student experience for all where students are retained and succeed both academically and personally.
Progression
Successful graduate destinations for all students, regardless of background.

Our Widening Participation Strategy is made up of four components that, together, provide a supportive and enabling pathway through the learner journey.

4.1 Awareness

We will continue to work to raise general awareness of higher education within target communities. This involves work undertaken with our local communities, delivered by a range of staff from across the University.

4.1.1 Closing the Gap: work with Schools

We work with identified target cohorts to support their entry to QMU. This includes a range of widening participation programmes and activities designed to build relationships with Senior Phase pupils (S3/S4 to S6), as well as staff and other stakeholders within key target schools within Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife, and the wider Central Belt.

4.1.2 Partnerships

We contribute fully to the Lothian Equal Access Partnership for Schools (LEAPS), the Schools for Higher Education Programme (SHEP) and Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP) East. Each year, over 5,000 prospective students (and their families and advisers) engage with us and via our partnership work with the Lothians Equal Access Programme for Schools (LEAPS) and the Schools for Higher Education Programme (SHEP).

Our College Engagement Plan ensures that we develop new and maintain existing articulation routes that offer a range of opportunities for HNC/D students studying at partner colleges throughout Scotland to articulate with advanced standing to study at QMU.

4.2 Access

4.2.1 Contextualised Admissions

Our Contextualised Admissions Policy explains how we make fair offers to study at the University.

We publish our standard and minimum entry requirements for undergraduate programmes in our University prospectus and on our website. The prospectus includes information presented in simple, clear language developed in accordance with the ‘Common Language’ guidelines produced by Universities Scotland.

We commit to making offers at the published minimum entry requirements to identified groups where we recognise that a range of factors has influenced attainment. These groups include:

• Living in an area of deprivation, as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), and in particular, SIMD 20 and SIMD 40.

• Care experienced.

• Eligible for the Lothian Equal Access Programme for Schools (LEAPS).

The following groups are also identified, but as the contextual information is not currently captured in the UCAS application process, we rely on applicants disclosing the information through the personal or referee statement.

• Caring responsibilities

• Estranged from their family

• Armed forces/ex-military veteran.

QMU has a very similar percentage of males to females to the national picture (differences of 1%). The data on mature students shows that the gender split is less pronounced, and the conversion rates are much higher, which may be evidence of the work QMU staff are doing with applicants entering QMU through alternative routes. We will continue to address this issue as part of outcomes set out in our Mainstreaming Report and Equality Outcomes.

4.2.2 Articulation

We are committed to working with college partners to maximise progression from college to university and have a comprehensive set of articulation agreements with colleges across Scotland.

We develop articulation opportunities beyond those afforded by articulation agreements. We are committed to providing an integrated tertiary education model through collaboration with further education partners to increase the portfolio of QMU degrees delivered at college campuses across the country. We consider that this model of delivery has the potential to increase student articulation numbers, but it does require a flexible funding approach across all partners ie the university, colleges and the SFC.

4.3 Participation

‘The fair access agenda should be recalibrated to give equal weight to entry, student experience, and outcomes’ .

The University’s Student Experience Strategy (SES) provides a framework for the delivery of a high-quality student experience, within which all academic provision is subject to periodic evidence-based review.

We recognise a range of factors contribute to student retention and success, including good mental health and wellbeing, engagement in academic study and participation in social groups. Student resilience and persistence is promoted by access to dedicated support for additional learning needs, through peer mentoring, by providing access to financial advice and support and through targeted interventions at key transition points, from pre-entry through to post-graduation.

We have a number of strategies in place to enhance student engagement, persistence and retention that promote the factors identified above. Our approach offers support to students throughout their student journey and beyond, recognising that promoting retention and success to all, benefits all. Initiatives are evaluated through student feedback and evidence of impact.

At institutional level, we continue to evaluate ‘what works’ given the success evidenced previously by some groups where there is dedicated support and intervention e.g. care experienced.

We support the successful transition of those entering the university through QM Advance, Direct Entrant Induction Week (induction programmes), PALS (Peer Assisted Learning Scheme), Academic Skills support through the Effective Learning Service (ELS), and QMCares (support for student carers, care experienced and estranged students).

Student services provide support from pre-entry to post-graduation through funding advice, careers and employability support, disability support, counselling, and wellbeing support. Students are supported through employer mentoring, work experience opportunities and support with developing CVs and job applications.

We have a robust system in place to record student withdrawals, meaning we can establish students’ reasons for leaving and incorporate mitigating action within our approaches to improving retention rates. Withdrawal and deferral reports are reviewed on a weekly basis.

Importantly however, our ‘Thinking of Leaving’ resource, which is managed by our Student Retention and Surveys Team, is designed to engage students at the point at which they are considering whether to continue with their study at the University. Staff are available to offer support and advice, to signpost as appropriate, and to discuss options, other than withdrawal. We do recognise however that it can be a student’s best interest to defer or to withdraw where circumstances warrant this.

In line with sector best practice, we provide a named point of contact for all Care Experienced, Carers and Estranged Students, along with a dedicated corresponding webpage: QM Cares

Our WPO team includes a dedicated staff member to lead on support for members of ‘QMCares’, our dedicated support group for students with care experience, those estranged from their families and student carers. We work in partnership with Who Cares? Scotland, Care Experienced, Estranged & Carers East Forum (CEECEF), East Lothian Champions Board and the Hub for Success, to support care experienced young people and to promote the University as a positive destination. We are also active partners in East Lothian’s Corporate Parenting Board.

4.4 Progression

For many students, an important part of - and key motivation for - undertaking and completing their degree programme is to move onto secure graduate employment. As such, the university embeds employability and labour market experiences across all its degree programmes. Students are supported with employer mentoring, work experience opportunities and support with developing CVs and job applications that continues after graduation.

The most recent HESA PI for employability and based on the status of the 2020/21 graduating cohort 15 months after graduation) shows that 97.3% of undergraduate qualifiers responding to the Graduate Outcomes survey were in a positive destination, placing QMU in the top 6 of Scottish universities for the number of graduates in full-time employment 15 months after they have graduated (Graduate Outcome Statistics 2020/1 published by HESA in 2023).

Our focus on graduate employability is being advanced through our Employability Strategy, which outlines the measures we take to create an environment in which students develop the skills and attributes needed to flourish in a rapidly changing labour market. It represents an agreement on the focus and priorities of the Careers and Employability team, programme teams and our external partners over the period 2021-2026. Developed against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, it includes projects which will support students to navigate uncertain labour markets and the economic downturn, and to maximise opportunities presented by changing working practices across all industries and sectors. We are introducing Careers Registration from 2024 to allow us to track career readiness to allow targeted support and intervention alongside study.

Our people, governance and data

We will continue to invest carefully in people and structures, to deliver on this strategy. Specifically, we will utilise fully our SFC Widening Access and Retention Funding (WARF) allocation of £623k (April 2023) for this purpose. We will continue to invest in dedicated people to develop, deliver and enhance our access and retention agenda through school, college, and community engagement, and through the provision of tailored support to applicant and student groups whom we have identified through our research and evaluation are at a higher risk of not persisting with their studies.

Our Widening Participation and Outreach (WPO) Team, consisting of five staff (4.5 FTE) funded directly by WARF, works with a range of partners, including schools, colleges, community groups, third sector and voluntary agencies, and local authorities to maximise the opportunities of people in Edinburgh and the Lothians and beyond. Both of our Academic Schools also receive funding for a WISeR Coordinator to support the embedding of best practice within each School and engage staff at the local level with the University’s access and retention priorities.

Overseeing the widening participation and student retention focussed work outlined above - and all WARF funded work - is the WISeR (Widening Participation and Student Retention) Board. Chaired by the Vice-Principal and University Secretary, the board comprises colleagues from across the University and works to scrutinise progress made against the stated institutional and national measure targets outlined in this strategy and the SFC Outcome Agreement. The board reports to the Student Experience Committee, with major work also noted at Senate.

To understand the extent to which we have met internal and external target for widening participation, we will continue to develop our data intelligence, with the support of our student partners. Priorities established for each School are evidence based, drawing on programme level data, including application, admission, retention and attainment.

Wherever practicable, our data on fair access will be disaggregated to understand the

relative contributions of different pathways (direct entry from school; articulation; and

adult wider access). We will continue to produce disaggregated data for each of our disciplines, including those that comprise the ‘high demand’ through our annual reporting cycle.

Useful Links

Queen Margaret University Employability Strategy

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