UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON CONFIRMED
WIDENIING PARTICIPATION SUB COMMITTEE
Minutes of the meeting held on 20th September 2011 at Docklands Campus
Present: Gail May (Chair), Paivi Allen, Joy Coogan, Simone Okolo and Maggie McLinden
Officer: Dinaz Trudeau
In attendance: Alix Hansen and Gary Tindall
1. APOLOGIES
1.1 RECEIVED: from Andrew Calcutt, Anthony Hudson, Warren Kidd, Stephen Maddison and Stuart Smith
2. TERMS OF REFERENCE AND MEMBERSHIP
2.1 NOTED: that the Terms of Reference for the sub committee remain unchanged for this academic year.
2.2 NOTED: that due to a number of changes the membership of the sub committee has changed as follows:
(a) Cathy Walsh has stepped down from the WPSC and been replaced by Simone Okolo; and
(b) Thomas Johnson is now the UELSU representative; and
(c ) Warren Kidd (Cass School of Education) and Ian Hyslop (School of
Architecture, Computing & Engineering) are the new Leaders in Learning & Teaching representatives
(d) Emma Burchfield and Janine Crichlow have stepped down from the WPSC and been replaced by Stuart Smith
(e) Dr Stephen Maddison has joined the WPSC but as he is on sabbatical leave this Semester, Andrew Calcutt will be standing in.
The Chair welcomed all new members to the WPSC and wished to note her thanks to past members for their contribution.
3. MINUTES OF THE WIDENING PARTICIPATION SUB COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 7th JUNE 2011
3.1 RECEIVED & CONFIRMED: the unconfirmed minutes of the Widening Participation Sub Committee meeting held on 7th June 2011 as an accurate record.
4. MATTERS ARISING AND ACTION POINTS FROM THE WIDENING PARTICIPATION SUB COMMITTEE MEETING OF 7th JUNE 2011
4.1 NOTED: that there were no matters arising from the minutes.
4.2 NOTED: progress on the action plan from the WPSC meeting on 7th June 2011:
(a) Pre Entry Offer (Minute 51.1.1.2 refers)
The Chair noted that this meeting had not yet taken place.
As the Head of Admissions is no longer a member of the WPSC, the Chair will progress this action point. The Chair noted that students who are rejected are referred to the IAG service for support in finding a preparatory programme, Access for example. The reason this action was highlighted was that it would be very useful understand fully the reasons for rejection on an individual and institutional basis where they may be patterns that can be addressed pre entry.
The School and FE Partnerships Manager advised the sub committee that she had recently attended a meeting between Admissions and Redbridge College. The purpose of the meeting was to enhance understanding of HEI’s and to raise awareness amongst FE staff so that they are able to advise students more effectively for applying to UEL and other HEI’s.
Action: Chair
(b) WPSC Action Plan (Minute 55.4 refers)
The Chair and the School and FE Partnerships Manager have met to discuss how to enhance the process by which WP priorities are met through School/Service Learning & Teaching Objectives.
Last year this was patchy across Schools and Services due to a limited amount of guidance provided to LILTs and it was decided that a more effective way to ensuring that WP priorities are set and met by Schools and Services needed to be found.
The Chair and Schools & FE Partnerships Manager will review all School & Service Learning and Teaching Objectives and use this to identify where Schools/Services are specifically addressing WP issues and if there are any gaps. Additionally Education and Community Partnerships are trying to establish a key staff member or group within each School to work with in terms of recruitment and WP pre entry activity.
The Schools & FE Partnerships Manager added that when speaking to Leaders in Learning & Teaching about L&T Objectives, as a sub committee we needed to be clear about what we want them to do and what needs to be addressed in terms of WP.
ACTION: Chair to submit paper to next meeting.
Action: Chair
5. DATA ON WP STUDENTS
5.1 NOTED: a presentation by Gary Tindall from Corporate Systems of Click View (UEL’s new MIS) to analyse data on WP Students. The aim of Click View is to collect data from across UEL, share and make it more visual and easier to access.
5.2 NOTED: that the next stage of data analysis will be to gather data on WP cohorts and how these students progress while at UEL. When licences are available Corporate Systems plan to pilot this data collection in two UEL programmes.
5.3 NOTED: that Joy Coogan has asked if her Extended Psychology programme could be one of those considered to act as the pilot.
5.4 NOTED: that Pre Entry activity/intervention mapping is an important part of the data analysis. We have identified our top feeder schools and colleges, grading levels of partnership now and aspirational so that work and resources can be directed accordingly. There are interactive maps that have been created using GIS to visually represent our partnerships.
5.5 NOTED: the Chair thanked Gary for attending the meeting and his comprehensive overview of Click View and its functions.
6. EXTERNAL EXAMINERS SUB COMMITTEE ACTION PLAN – ACTION FOR THE WPSC
6.1 REVIEWED: an action from the External Examiners Sub Committee Action Plan for the WPSC regarding support at pre-entry.
6.2 NOTED: that a point made by External Examiners around students displaying insufficient background reading as part of their assessment. At the EESC it was decided that the WPSC should comment on support at pre entry especially around background reading.
6.3 NOTED: the WPSC’s response was as follows:
That Skillzone currently delivers workshops on essay writing which covers the importance of background reading and this is also a component of the Accessing Skills for HE (ASHE) Programme. In addition, Skillzone’s handout “Top Tips for Learners” offers guidance for students about reading around a subject, what to read and how to make the most of resources available at UEL for example Info Skills. We also noted that these concepts are covered in Skills Modules and by the Language Centre.
6.4 NOTED & AGREED: that the Chair (via the Servicing Officer) will send this response to the Quality Manager (Validation & Review) to enable this action to be completed.
Action: Chair & Servicing Officer
7. ACADEMIC SUPPORT FOR WP STUDENTS
7.1 RECEIVED & NOTED: a spoken report from the Chair regarding changes to the following:
(a) Skillzone Provision at UEL
(b) Other sources of support across UEL
(c ) On line Skills Tool and Electronic Skills Portal
(d) Future Developments in academic support
7.2 NOTED: that Skillzone provision at UEL will change this academic year to become more workshop based, with 1:1 and timetabled drop in sessions for students. Drop in hours will be reduced. There will also be fortnightly workshops at Stratford and 3 workshops a week at Docklands. There is also an “Ask a Skillzone Advisor” facility on the web pages. Subject Librarians were also offering skills support and in the future there could be more joint working between Skillzone and LLS.
7.3 NOTED: that there are numerous sources of study skills and academic support for students across UEL and Alix Hanson has undertaken an exercise to map these. During the mapping process it became clear that for students, these sources were at times difficult to access, not well signposted and confusing as to who did what. As a result of this, the idea of an Electronic Skills Portal where students can enter through one place and then be directed to the support they need is being developed.
7.4 NOTED: that the on line skills tool is aiming to ‘go live’ at the end of Semester B for pre entry use and to be available to current students from the start of Semester A in 2012/2013. The on line skills tool will focus primarily on academic writing. The WPSC will be asked to comment on the electronic skills portal and on line skills tool when more has been developed.
8. NEW FEES ARRANGEMENTS
8.1 RECEIVED & NOTED: a spoken report from the Chair regarding the new fees arrangements in 2012/13 and the implications of these changes for widening participation students.
8.2 NOTED: that each HEI has been given an allocation for the National Scholarship Programme and UEL has been allocated 186 bursaries that it will match fund to make a total of 372 bursaries. Full details of the NSP and eligibility criteria are available at www.uel.ac.uk/fees
8.3 NOTED: that UEL is targeting its offer at students progressing from 19 partner institutions and from New Beginnings 2.
8.5 NOTED: that monitoring and data gathering from these students will be important to see if it has made a difference in their decision to come to UEL.
8.6 NOTED: that the Chair was unsure if any of this extra funding could be used to pay for childcare and would investigate and report back to the WPSC.
Action: Chair
9. WPSC AWAY AFTERNOON
9.1 NOTED: that the away afternoon would take place on 13th October 2011, 12.00-4.00pm in CC1.18 at Stratford Campus.
9.2 NOTED: that the Chair urged all members to attend if possible as this was an opportunity for the WPSC to reflect on last year and set its priorities for this year.
10. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
10.1 NOTED: that there was no other business for the WPSC not covered elsewhere on the agenda.
11. DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS
11.1 NOTED: the details of meetings of the WPSC for the remainder of the academic year 2011/12
Date / Time / Location8th December 2011 / 10.00-12.00pm / EB1.39 Docklands
28th February 2012 / 10.00-12.00pm / EB1.39 Docklands
15th May 2012 / 10.00-12.00pm / ED2.01 Stratford
20th June 2012 / 2.00-4.00pm / RBG.13 Stratford
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Widening Participation Sub Committee 20th September 2011