Impact Report
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Impact Report JUNE 2019 Foreword from the Warden 4 Key Data Points 5 Policy Context 6 Access and the University of Oxford 7 Access to Excellence 8 Summary of Access Activity 10 Wadham’s Access Programme 12 Targeting and Evaluation 17 Impact Highlights 18 The Undergraduate Centre and Access Centre 21 Ambitions for the Future 23 This report is produced in collaboration with The Bridge Group to provide an overview of Wadham College’s access activities and a summary of outcomes during 2017/2018. Epigraph “It was an amazing opportunity…It’s made a huge positive difference to my confidence and encouraged me to apply to Oxbridge and Russell Group universities in the future. We also learnt about ‘super-curricular’ activities that I can do in my spare time to further my knowledge of these subjects that I am passionate about.” Year 10 pupil “While many Oxford colleges struggle to admit a diverse range of undergraduates, Wadham College stands out as showing what can be done when a college’s leadership and governing body are committed to the cause of widening access.” Richard Adams, Education Editor, Guardian “I came at an Aspiration Day and was taken around by someone like me, someone from a state school in a disadvantaged area, and it changed my view of Oxford and made me want to apply and I did, and I ended up at Wadham.” Dan Gunn (PPE, 2017) “Wadham is the living proof that fair access to higher education is not a matter of lowering standards: largely thanks to the exceptionally diverse social and ethnic mix of our undergraduate body, we continue to be one of the academically strongest of all the Oxford colleges.” Peter Thoneman, Fellow and Tutor for Access “Growing up on a farm in rural Devon, I didn’t know anybody other than my teachers who had been to university. I could not have come to Wadham without the grants I received, and considering recent changes, I think it is more important than ever that Wadham is able to ensure that students are able to come here no matter their financial background.” Alumna, Rebecca Rose (Law, 2014) “The commitment of our alumni and friends to supporting Wadham’s outreach work has made a genuine difference to thousands of students in our regional schools. Thanks to donor generosity, the College has been able to scale up its work and offer sustained support to more students from disadvantaged backgrounds.” Julie Hage, Fellow and Development Director, Wadham College 3 Foreword from the Warden This year, the College has reaffirmed and built on its position as a national leader in advancing fair access. Wadham’s commitment in this area has never been more important - my colleagues and I are delighted to share our third annual impact report. The progress that we have made in recent years is At Wadham, we also know there are academic benefits testament to the College’s sustained commitment to associated with learning in more diverse environments. access, and the critical role that support from our alumni and friends has played in this. In the last three years, we We are part of a college community with one of the most have increased significantly the volume and impact of our diverse student bodies in Oxford (on average over the outreach activity. More students are progressing from last three years, 69% of our students have been admitted our outreach programmes to Oxford and other highly from state schools, compared to around 60% across competitive universities, and next year we will unveil the the University), but also one of the highest ranking in the University’s first dedicated access space. Norrington table (10th in 2017/18). Access and academic excellence are not dichotomous; rather, they are mutually The impact of our work is successfully extending well dependent and reinforcing. beyond the College. Wadham’s access team are part of the community in many of our target schools, including With the support of our alumni, Fellows and students, through the pioneering project in Luton that has been our Access to Excellence programme is bringing brilliant acclaimed by government ministers and policy-makers. young people from all communities and backgrounds to Our commitment to evaluating the impact of our access live and study here - and their achievements mock the programme means that we can share evidence to support claim that broadening access to our elite institutions best practice, and we continue to create and contribute means lowering standards. to public debates about how universities can most We are making good progress, but there is much more to effectively advance access. do. The activity captured here also provides an opportunity We invite you to join us on this journey. to reflect on why it is such a fundamental part of College life. Combatting deep-rooted inequalities in our education system will deliver positive societal and economic outcomes: a more meritocratic society where hard Lord Macdonald of River Glaven Kt QC work and talent are the main determiners of success. Warden of Wadham College 4 Key Data Points in the number of • Increasing numbers of students from our • 39 percentage point increase students agreeing to the statement “I would fit outreach programmes applying to, and in at the University of Oxford” after a visit to the securing places at, Oxford. For example: College than before. o amongst our 2018 biology and classics summer school participants, there were worked with 50 Year 10 • The Luton Project nineteen applications and eight pupils pupils from 10 state schools in Luton with over received offers to the University (a 42% 90% of the pupils having at least two widening success rate compared to the wider participation flags. average success rate of 20%) engaged in this year alone – a 25% o Nine students who took part in the • 120 schools increase compared to last year Newham/Tower Hamlets based Humanities program ‘Wad-HAM’ made applications to in the last three years • 444 access events Oxford of which 3 received offers (15/16-17/18), at the College and delivered by the Wadham Access Team in our link regions • Considering data from one of our key partner organisations, IntoUniversity, 22% engaged with Wadham across • 18,412 pupils of participating school leavers gain a place those three years at a Russell Group university, compared to of Wadham’s link state schools which offer 10% of those from similar backgrounds. In • 83% 2017/18 Wadham hosted 15 IntoUniversity academic qualifications (of which there are 203) visits with more than 450 students. have engaged with the College in that time Wadham 17% Undergraduate 2019 Entry - School Types 39% Academy Comprehensive 28% Grammar Independent 12% Sixth Form College/ 5% Tertiary College 5 Policy Context “Our best universities lead the world in the quality of their research and teaching. Surely they should all want to lead the world in demonstrating that their doors are open to ensuring the most talented candidates can attend and succeed, whatever their background?”. Nicola Dandridge, Chief Executive, Office for Students The College is closely in touch with from lower socio-economic backgrounds who attain the grades required by the most competitive institutions are the latest developments in policy and still seven percentage points less likely to secure a place, research. This ensures our activity is compared to their more affluent peers attaining the same responsive and progressive, and that grades. we can use our evidence base to help The great majority of pupils who achieve three A-grades or better at A-Level are educated in state schools; but inform change. many of these pupils do not even consider applying to Oxbridge. This is due to a complex range of factors, Deep-rooted inequalities are persistent and complex in including discouraging perceptions of Oxford and the the UK; unequal access to higher education is a critical application process. A recent survey found that more part of this. than four in ten (43%) state secondary school teachers say they would rarely or never advise their bright pupils to The latest data1 shows that young people from the most apply to Oxbridge.2 disadvantaged backgrounds had an entry rate to higher education of 19.7% last year, which is higher than ever Getting into university is only part of the student journey. before. However, despite this progress in absolute terms, Unequal graduate outcomes by social background the gaps in higher education participation remain large: are receiving increased focus in debates and national those from the most advantaged backgrounds are still assessments of higher education (for example, the 3 2.4 times more likely to access higher education than Teaching Excellence Framework). We are therefore their disadvantaged counterparts - and they are 5.7 times actively introducing more support for students as they more likely to enter a more selective university. progress from Wadham and into the workplace. The recently established Office for Students (OfS, the government body that regulates the higher education sector) has set out bold ambitions in relation to access. They have outlined national targets focused on eradicating the gaps in access, success and progression for underrepresented groups. These reforms to how institutions are held accountable in relation to access are designed to encourage more strategic approaches, requiring providers to plan against a five-year timeframe. Encouragingly, the latest guidance reflects much of Wadham’s focus in recent years, including: a focus on sustained programmes; collaboration between institutions and charitable Wadham hosted in London its annual social organisations; and ensuring that evaluation is at the heart mobility summit in 2018 at PWC UK. Melvyn Bragg of all activity. (History, 1958) chaired a lively discussion; Dr Louise Ashley (Royal Holloway) spoke alongside The new guidance also reiterates that school attainment Warren East CBE, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls- is still the strongest predictor of whether a young person Royce (Engineering, 1980); Amanda Parker, Policy attends university.