South and City College 2019-20 access and participation plan 2019-20

1. South and City College Birmingham is a large diverse, general further education college, which operates across much of Birmingham. The College dates back to1875 when it was formed as Handsworth Technical School and has undergone a number of name changes and developments since its original formation. In 1963 Hall Green Technical College was formed and then became independent as South Birmingham College in 1993 following the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. In August 2012 the College changed its name to the present South & City College following the merger between South Birmingham College and City College Birmingham. In 2017 the College was approved to use the term ‘University centre’ by the Department for Education and now enrols approximately 850+ students on higher education programmes.

2. Following the Government’s Area Review process in 2015, it was recommended that College merge with South and City College Birmingham. Bournville College experienced turbulent times in recent years due to poor financial management and wider management issues, which affected the quality of delivery and students’ learning experience prior to 2016. The region was in the first phase of the process and so during academic year 2016-17 South and City College Birmingham and Bournville College operated as federated colleges with a shared Principal and management team until merger was approved. Bournville College formally closed and became part of South and City College Birmingham in August 2017. South and City College Birmingham is now one of the largest general further education colleges in , offering courses from entry-level qualifications to higher levels.

3. This is the first access and participation plan for the College. In assessing the College’s performance data will be used from TEF metrics which are based on taught data (both franchised and directly funded provision) and internal data for directly funded provision, the target population for the access and participation plan.

1.0 Assessment of current performance

Access 4. The College enrols over 400 directly funded students each year on to other undergraduate programmes at levels 4 and 5. The majority of these are HNC/D programmes awarded by Pearson, in addition there are a smaller number of validated foundation degrees and two undergraduate degree top-up programmes awarded by local university partners.

Ethnicity 5. 59% of higher education students at the College in 2017/18 are from BME backgrounds 34% higher than the national profile for undergraduate programmes. The largest BME group is Asian at 27%, white students continue to be the largest group within the College at 41%.

Page 1 of 18 APP 19/2010005967 SCCB HE Student Population by Ethnicity

17/18

16/17

15/16

14/15

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

White Other Mixed Chinese Black Asian Arab

6. The ethnicity of higher education students compared to all students studying at the College on all programmes has since 2014 become more reflective of the student population as a whole. Mixed raced students have a higher and rising percentage compared to the whole population and students identifying as other and black has seen a slight decline when compared to percentages for the whole College population.

The difference between HE and whole College ethnicity by percentage (%)

White Other Mixed Chinese Black Asian Arab

-15% -10% -5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

17/18 16/17 15/16 14/15

7. The merger of the Colleges has had a significant impact on the TEF year 3 metrics, the aggregate ethnicity data of the College demonstrates that BME students now account for 53% of our student body from 59% at SCCB. For our full time students, 61% are now from BME backgrounds against 70% for SCCB in TEF year 2. Asian students constituted the majority of full time students at SCCB in TEF year 2 at 42%, the merged data now shows that White students are the largest ethnic group for TEF year 3 at 39%. White students continue to be the majority at 63% for part time students and this is due to the higher enrolments in teacher training programmes and more significantly in construction based subjects where the percentage of higher skilled and qualified staff from BME backgrounds is low in the sector.

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Age 8. The profile of higher education students at the College by age has seen a changing pattern over the last four years, whereas the national pattern has remained reasonably consistent except for a slight decline in mature students overall.

9. Mature students aged 30 years or more have declined at the College by significantly more than the national rate by around 12% since 2014-15. This decline in mature students follows the decline nationally in this age group and the College rate of 17% is slightly below the national engagement in higher education for students aged 30 years and over at 20%1.

10. Students aged 21 to 30 years old maintained their numbers in 2014/5 and 2015/16. In academic year 2016-17 there was a decline of 7%, although there has been a small increase of 1.5% in 2017-18 to 38% matching the national rate of 38% for this age group.

11. The largest increase in students enrolled at the College is in the 18-20-year age group at 44%, this is a 17% increase since 2014-15, and 3% above the national rate.

SCCB HE Student Population by Age National Student Population by Age

17/18 2016/17 16/17 2015/16 15/16

14/15 2014/15

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Over 30 21 - 30 18 to 20 Under 18 30 years and over 21-29 years 20 and under

Source: SCCB student data 2018 Source: Adapted from HESA 2018

12. TEF year 3 data also demonstrates that 54% of students are under the age of 21 years on full time programmes, however this falls to only 16% on part time programmes. Part time programmes still attract mature students with 36% of students aged 30 years or more.

Gender 13. There has been an increase in enrolment of male students at the College since 2014/15 by approximately 10%. In 2017-18 43% of students are female and 57% male. This pattern is the opposite of the UK wide student population with 57% female and 43% male for full time students.

14. TEF year 3 data narrows the gap between genders identifying 52% of students are female. Part time students again are the reverse of the UK wide population and TEF year 3 data shows that 59% of part time students are male, this is mainly due to the higher number of construction based programmes offered at the College which attract predominantly male students and are reflective of the sector.

1 HESA: Who’s studying HE 2016-17, figure 4

Page 3 of 18 APP 19/2010005967 SCCB HE Student Population by UK Student Population by Gender Gender 2016/17 17/18 16/17 2015/16 15/16 2014/15 14/15

0% 20% 40% 60% 0% 20% 40% 60%

Male Female Male Female

Source: SCCB student data 2018 Source: Adapted from HESA 2018

Disability SCCB HE Student Population by UK Student Population by Disability Disability 2016/17 17/18 16/17 2015/16 15/16 2014/15 14/15

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

No Known Disability Known Disability No known disability Known disability

Source: SCCB student data 2018 Source: Adapted from HESA 2018

15. The number of students identifying as having a disability at the College is 1% above the UK population rate at 13%. This is a 3% increase since 2014/15, and is reflective of the whole College student population.

Low higher education participation, household income and socioeconomic status Deprivation

16. The College attracts students from across Birmingham and 82% of our higher education students are local students. Higher numbers of students live in wards adjacent to campuses where our university centres are located. Non-local students normally study on franchise programmes for full time programmes or make good use of the excellent transport links from for example Northampton, Leicester, and Derby. Non-local part time students travel to College to study on specialist courses such as Building Services Engineering.

17. The College is committed to widening participation in education, metrics for TEF year 3 show that 46% of full time higher education students are in categories 1 and 2 in terms of POLAR 3 classification; this is an increase of 3% on TEF year 2. When comparing the SCCB student population map and the IMD data map a high proportion of higher education students are from IMD wards. For SCCB in TEF year 2 there is was no difference between full time and part time students, however for TEF year 3 the percentage of full time students remains at 46%, part time students in these categories

Page 4 of 18 APP 19/2010005967 has fallen to 36%, due to the smaller numbers enrolling on part time courses the overall percentage remains at 46%.

SCCB HE student Population 2016/17 by Deprivation in Birmingham 2015 Birmingham Ward Source: Birmingham City Council Source: SCCB student data

18. Using indices of multiple deprivation (IMD) data 29% of higher education students studying at the College are ranked as being in the highest 5% of the most deprived areas of Birmingham in 2017/18. In this year, nearly 62% of higher education students are ranked as residing in the highest 20% of most deprived areas in Birmingham, an increase from 43% in 2014-15 of 19%. There has been a slight decline of students in 2017-18 in the highest 1% of most deprived areas; however, this is counteracted by the large increase of 6% of students residing in the highest 6-10% of deprived areas. To support widening participation, SCCB also has lower entry criteria than most university providers with 77% of full time students and 82% of part time students in TEF year 3 classified as low or non- tariff for entry qualifications, aiming to support our communities and widen participation in higher education.

SCCB HE Student Population by IMD

81-90%

61-70%

41-50%

21-30%

6-10%

1% most deprived 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0%

17/18 16/17 15/16 14/15

Source: SCCB student data 2018

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19. The College does not currently have data on access for care leavers; it is believed due to the size of the higher education provision to be very small and would be suppressed. The college aims to collect data on this underrepresented group from 2018-19 to be able to comment on access, success and progression.

1.2 Success and progression

Continuation 20. In analysing non-continuation rates through withdrawal data by ethnicity reveals that in 2014/15 and 2015/16 the highest withdrawal rate was by white students at Bournville College. In 2017/18 since merger, the withdrawal rate of white students as a percentage of total students withdrawn has reduced by half. In 2016/17 there was an increase in withdrawals for Asian students, and specifically male Asian students and these were flagged in the TEF year 3 metrics.

SCCB HE Students Analysis of SCCB HE Student Analysis of Withdrawals by Ethnicity Withdrawals by Gender

White 17/18 Other Mixed 16/17 Chinese Black 15/16 Asian 14/15 Arab

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%

17/18 16/17 15/16 14/15 Male Female

Source: SCCB student data 2018 Source: SCCB student data 2018

21. Male students at the College are more likely to withdraw from their programmes than female students and 68% of total withdrawals in 2017-18 are male, this is a slight reduction on the previous year. TEF year 3 highlights than males are more likely to not continue in their studies than female students at 12.3% below benchmark.

22. Students from neighbourhoods ranked as areas of high deprivation are more likely to withdraw from their programme than students from areas of low deprivation. In 2017-18 the actual number of students withdrawing from areas of high deprivation ranked in the highest 20% fell by approximately 50% at the College. Actual numbers of withdrawals from areas of deprivation ranked in the top 10% also fell by 54%.

23. The TEF year 3 data does not demonstrate any flags from withdrawals based on disability, the number of students with disabilities withdrawing has fallen by 12% to 4% since 2015/16.

24. Non continuation rates for both mature and young learners have negative flags in the TEF year 3 metrics. Mature learners are less likely to continue in their studies at 8.2% below benchmark than young learners at 7.1% below benchmark. In 2017/18, 25% of total

Page 6 of 18 APP 19/2010005967 withdrawals were mature students; however, this represents 1.7% of the student population at the College. Again, students who are care leavers represent low numbers at the College and are not currently considered as a separate group.

SCCB HE Students Analysis of SCCB HE Student Analysis of Withdrawals by IMD Withdrawals by Disability

Unknown 17/18 81-90% 16/17 61-70% 15/16 41-50% 21-30% 14/15

6-10% 0.0% 50.0% 100.0%

1% most deprived No information provided 0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% No Learning Difficulty and/or Disability 17/18 16/17 15/16 14/15 Has Learning Difficulty and/or Disability

Source: SCCB student data 2018 Source: SCCB student data 2018

25. The College recognises that the largest challenge for higher education is to improve the number of students continuing in their studies. In 2016-17, 77% of students successfully progressed into year 2 of their programme, this was an increase of 4% on the previous year. This remains 5% below the benchmark identified in TEF year 3 as 82%.

Attainment 26. Attainment for the newly merged College for students who successfully complete their programme is at 86% across all fulltime programmes that have one or more years’ duration. The attainment rate for full time programmes at SCCB for 2016-17 was 91% and Bournville College 79%. Part time programme attainment was 93%. The majority of programmes studied were other undergraduate.

27. Analysis of attainment by underrepresented groups is not currently undertaken internally and TEF metric data, including splits for underrepresented groups is currently used for internal reporting purposes. The College will introduce reporting by attainment, success and progression in 2018-19 as discussed in paragraph 30.

Progression and Employment 28. The TEF year 3 metrics show positive flags for students entering highly skilled employment or further study and is 6.3% above the benchmark.

Core Benchmark metric Employment or further study 93.60% 93.00% Highly skilled employment or further study 71.00% 77.30%

 Mature students have excellent progression outcomes at nearly 11% above benchmark.

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Age Benchmark Young Mature Employment or further study 93.60% 92.60% 93.60% Highly skilled employment or further study 71.00% 74.70% 80.80%

 Students from low participation households are above the progression benchmark for all POLAR quintiles, and significantly above benchmark for all National IMD quintiles of up to 11%.

POLAR National IMD Benchmark Q1 orQ2 Q3,Q4 or Q5 Q1 orQ2 Q3,Q4 or Q5 Employment or further study 93.60% 92.50% 92.60% 92.90% 93.20% Highly skilled employment or further study 71.00% 72.00% 76.50% 75.30% 82.10%

 Progression outcomes to highly skilled employment or further study are significantly above benchmark for BME, non-disabled students and both male and female students.

Ethnicity Disabled Gender Benchmark White BME Yes No Male Female Employment or further study 93.60% 92.40% 93.70% 83.30% 94.30% 91.30% 94.20% Highly skilled employment or further study 71.00% 73.70% 80.30% 64.60% 79.00% 78.90% 76.30%

29. Only one category is flagged as below benchmark in TEF year 3 and that is students with a disability who are not progressing at the same rate as non-disabled students into high quality employment or further study. Although higher than benchmark, White students also need to be supported at the College to achieve the high progression outcomes that other students achieve, although this figure is impacted by historical data from Bournville College.

30. The College currently monitors and reports at different stages of our students’ journey, alongside external reports such as the TEF, graduate outcomes and NSS survey. Internal reporting structures, however, do not currently include intersections of student performance for underrepresented groups’ attainment and success. Intersections of students’ performance will be included in internal reporting mechanisms from 2018 and will include care leavers at whole College level. The College’s management information department has the expertise and capacity to develop the reports for each stage. These reports will be presented to, and monitored by the College’s Corporation and Governors. In addition, reporting for underrepresented groups at programme level has been developed in 2017-18 by one of our university partners to include intersections of performance and the College will work with our partner to develop robust reporting and monitoring mechanisms at programme level that review underrepresented groups. The College will ensure underrepresented group information is considered at this level except where student data needs to be suppressed for data protection purposes. This will form the basis of the College’s annual monitoring, reporting and planning processes.

Page 8 of 18 APP 19/2010005967 2.0 Ambition and strategy

31. South and City College Birmingham has a mission to provide outstanding education and training which is primarily vocational, in response to the needs of learners and employers. Higher education contributes to the College being able to fulfil this mission.

Access 32. Higher education at the College has an inclusive approach and aims to widen participation to meet the needs of employers and community. The College has ambitions to continue working at being successful in attracting BME students, male students, local students who reside in wards of high IMD and most deprived areas. There will be a greater focus on improving access for mature and female learners to equalise the balance of male and female students, and increase recruitment of white male learners from low engagement wards.

33. The College will continue to work with schools and our community to widen access to university level qualifications. With 82% of higher education students livingly locally and the locations of the College’s two university centres near wards with the highest IMD in Birmingham the college is well positioned to attract students and meet the needs of employers.

34. The College engages extensively with learners at level 3 to promote higher education and to enable progression into higher education both at the College and at University, in 2016- 17 over 1,000 level 3 learners studying at the College progressed to a university level programme. The College will continue to engage as a beneficiary with Aimhigher NCOP to increase the number of white males engaging in higher education.

35. The College has a dedicated schools liaison and outreach team that works with local schools to encourage progression into further and higher study. The College links with over 200 schools in the West Midlands and is successful in attracting students onto programmes across further and higher education programmes. Over 60 schools had 50 or more students progressing to the College in 2017-18 and 66.4% of the College student population are from the 20% most deprived areas in Birmingham. Our ambition is to increase the number of students by 5% from high IMD areas to reflect the student population at the College, and increase the recruitment of young white males by 10% to programmes offered at the Bournville College campus adjacent to the NCOP target wards. This will be achieved through increasing outreach events by 2% and introducing a bespoke roadshow programme with schools aiming for engagement with 20 schools in the first year and rising each year by 25%. This will be evaluated through schools’ liaison surveys and internal recruitment data.

36. The College also aims to increase the number of female learners by 7% in higher education over the next 5 years and even the gap between genders; this is a particular need for part time programmes of study. In order to support the increase, the College is targeting level 3 programmes at female (and mature) learners such as access programmes and providing progression routes into higher education. In addition, using positive female role models in subject areas such as construction and engineering. A target of 1.5% increase in full time female learners each year over the next 5 years is needed to meet this aim and evaluated through recruitment data and marketing survey responses. The College will offer bespoke IAG and support for mature learners through

Page 9 of 18 APP 19/2010005967 the application process in line with best practice identified by Offa2 and in offering a direct application process.

37. Aiming to reverse the trend of declining mature learners entering higher education the College is developing courses and delivery to support mature students and particularly those with caring or child commitments at level 3 and above. The College also aims to increase engagement of vocational learners to progress into higher education through designing programmes with university partners to develop clear progression routes to degree programmes such as in STEM subjects. The College aims to improve recruitment of vocational learners to STEM subjects by 50% by 2019-20, including 25% of learners from quintiles 1 or 2 of POLAR 3.

38. Innovative course design for higher apprentices is also being used to support the business patterns of employers and enable mature students to engage with higher level programmes. The College aims to increase higher level apprentice recruitment by 100% in 2019-20 from 2017-18 enrolments, with a 50% female target.

Success and Progression 39. The main aim for the College is to improve continuation rates for students across all groups. The College will aim to increase the College’s overall continuation rate to 3% above the benchmark by the end of 2019-20 academic year. This will build on the 4% increase in retention for 2017-18 and will be achieved through improvements to on programme support, reduction in withdrawals and improvements to achievements at the end of students’ first year of study.

40. On programme support will be focussed at specific times of students learning journey. At the start of programmes students will receive personalised support to identify learning gaps and advice for specific financial or personal support needs. Informed by the HEA research3 an improved induction process will centre on establishing a sense of belonging. Early tutorials will focus on identifying barriers for students on a personal basis to enable early support mechanisms to be devised. A target reduction in withdrawals of mature learners by 4% and young learners by 3%. Effectiveness will be measured through the college’s induction survey, attendance by learners and the intended reduction in the number of early withdrawals or non-engagement.

41. Improvements to engagement monitoring will be introduced through regular reviews of attendance, assessment submission and identification of ‘at risk’ students. Introduction of earlier intervention strategies such as tutorials and actions that are more responsive in linking students to wider student support mechanisms will be monitored. Students at risk will be supported earlier in their journey to reduce withdrawal rates. Whilst the College recognises that improvements to continuation rates are required across all underrepresented groups, there is a particular need to focus on male and white students. Male, particularly Asian male and white students’ non-continuation rate target is to be reduced by 12% and 13% respectively to meet the TEF benchmark.

42. Earlier intervention in non-engagement of students from areas with high IMD scores and POLAR categories 1 and 2 will also be monitored and intervention support such as academic tutoring and workshops or financial support established earlier in the cycle. Non- continuation rates of students from both areas of high IMD and Polar categories 1 and 2 will be reduced by 8%, intersections with male and white students will be monitored.

2 Offa:Topic briefing mature and part time learners 3 HEA: What works: retention and success

Page 10 of 18 APP 19/2010005967 43. A monitoring and recording system for ‘at risk’ students will be introduced in 2018-19 and a full review of actions to improve continuation rates will be undertaken at the end of academic year 2018-19 to consider their effectiveness and measure their impact against the benchmark data. Review of impacts on underrepresented groups will form part of this process. All students withdrawing from a programme will be contacted to complete an exit survey aiming to establish their reasons for withdrawal. The impact of the IMD and care leavers’ scholarships will be considered against hardship fund applications and non- continuation rates. These will be compared with the reasons students identify when withdrawing from their programmes in the exit survey. Intersections will be analysed and the impact of early intervention strategies reviewed and reported.

44. The College has successfully engaged in projects during the current academic year to build students’ confidence, social mobility and ultimately employability skills and prospects. Erasmus plus has been effective in allowing higher education students to undertake work experience in Europe, targeted study skills training has been used to engage students from vocational studies who may not have recent experience of exams. Study skills will be used to raise attainment levels of students and will included 100% of mature learners returning to education and target 100% of first year young male learners to reduce academic failure at the end of year 1.

45. The College is linking to the Mayor’s mentor programme as part of the one million mentors’ scheme and supported by the West Midland’s Mayor. All students are able to engage with this scheme; however, the College will actively encourage underrepresented groups. In particularly white males to support continuation rates and 100% of students with a disability, is a care leaver or in POLAR categories 1 and 2 to engage aiming to improve clarity of career direction and increase highly skilled student employment outcomes, measureable in TEF and in attainment rates.

46. Curriculum design is key to students’ success and the College has developed new partnerships with local universities to design new curricula and offer progression to degree programmes for higher education students. To improve the progression of mature and local students and to provide more local opportunities for students from wards with high IMD scores, the college is developing full honours degree programmes and top-up degree programmes. Innovation in design is utilised to allow cross qualification working, easier transfers between programmes and/or employment will be introduced to maximise student outcomes. The college aims that 100% of higher education students studying at the College will be able to progress onto a higher level qualification either at the College or at one of our partner universities within one hours travelling distance from home, or be able to study using alternative methods to enable local study. Top-up programmes are a relatively recent development at the College, therefore graduate outcome data for first degrees will be included in monitoring mechanisms to track destination and employment data for underrepresented groups.

47. Higher apprenticeships are another key growth area for the College and there is evidence that these programme are successfully engaging mature learners who wish to progress in their employment, the college is ambitious and aims to develop these apprentices into full degree apprenticeships by 2020, offering more choice for students and removal of financial barriers for underrepresented groups. Designing flexible study methods that accommodate business patterns in the 21st century is important to attract businesses and provide progression opportunities for employees.

48. The College has been recognised by QAA and in TEF for the clear focus on student employability and the established links with employers, and this is central to higher education at the College. Many programmes with good employment outcomes have work

Page 11 of 18 APP 19/2010005967 placements incorporated into their programme or use live projects to support learning. Live projects in media, film, music and fashion support the development of employability skills and help build a portfolio of work for students who are entering industries which are typically SME or self-employed. Students in the care sectors study for programmes that have a ‘license to practice’ to support employment outcomes and are offered to students aiming for employability or graduate programmes. This has supported the college in achieving positive outcomes in TEF 3 core metric data, and for BME, IMD, mature, and gender. This is a personalised approach to developing employability skills with additional support from the student engagement and careers teams. The introduction of financial support for interview costs for students with a disability aims to improve graduate outcomes for students by 10% to continuing in employment or further study to achieve the TEF benchmark and by 3% for highly skilled employment or further study to be at least equal to students without a declared disability.

49. By introducing these measures and financial support measures, the College aims to increase student achievement rates for full time students to 95% across all programmes at the College for both full and part time students completing their programmes. The college will also make improvements to data collection and analysis of student achievements for high grades on other undergraduate programmes as indicated in the improvements to reporting of data and intersections in paragraphs 30 and 52- 57.

50. The College will introduce a range of financial support measures for students identified in this plan.

Amount Support

£300 per year IMD Scholarship: Students from low income households (£25,000 and below) whose main residence is within a Birmingham ward categorised within the highest 20% for indices of multiple deprivation. (students will be required to demonstrate household income)

£50 per year Printing or study equipment scholarship for all students

£300 Care leavers scholarship (Year 1 only) £100 Students with a registered disability can apply for up to £100 (final year only) towards interview costs to support improvements to graduate employment.

Up to £200 Students who successfully achieve their main qualification will (final year only) receive a tablet following awarding of their qualification at an Examination Board

51. These are new support measures being introduced at the College and will be paid either as a fee reduction, bank transfer or in the case of printing as photocopying credit and the table as physical goods. Disabled students claiming support up to £100 towards interview costs will need to provide receipts as evidence.

Page 12 of 18 APP 19/2010005967 Evaluation 52. The College through the annual provider review and reporting mechanisms will monitor the overall performance of higher education students across the student journey. Higher education students’ performance is monitored at each stage of the student journey, greater depth of analysis would improve some aspects of monitoring and evaluation of performance for different characteristics of students. To be able to analyse the impact of support measures the college will continue to undertake analysis by key characteristics at each stage of students’ journey. The analysis of student achievements and grade profiles for other undergraduates will be in more depth.This more detailed analysis will further focus interventions and developments to be able to target specific groups of students and improve outcomes.

53. Both quantitative and qualitative evidence will be used to monitor and evaluate the impact of activities at each stage of the learners’ journey. The College will collect quantitative data to measure access of underrepresented groups and by key characteristics of learners such as IMD, gender, care leavers, ethnicity, age and introduce data collection on wider learner characteristics such as refugees and travellers. This will include:

 Learner destinations from further education programmes to higher education  Level 3 learners from NCOP wards against target recruitment of white males  The number of learners progressing from schools to further education and higher education programmes where outreach activities and roadshows have been undertaken.  Analysis of the marketing survey and enrolment data to identify trends in recruitment and main sources of information for students  Survey of induction processes and effectiveness.  Qualitative analysis of the effectiveness of financial support available for underrepresented groups to assess impact and process in line with best practice from the rainbow framework4.  Focus groups to evaluate access and outreach activities, including mature, female and learners with a disability.

54. Success and progression monitoring and evaluation will be undertaken during key points of the learners’ cycle including midterm and at the end of year 1 and 2 to evaluate measures against continuation and outcome data.

 Analysis of attendance and engagement in programmes of study including assessment submission at programme level  Analysis of engagement with and applications for financial support by key characteristics and underrepresented groups  Analysis of withdrawal data at set points in learners’ journey  Progression rates to year 2 of study  Review of graduate outcomes and first degree outcomes for underrepresented groups.  Focus groups on the impact and effectiveness of programme support strategies such as mentoring, tutorials and workshop activities.

55. In future years the College aims to build on this strategy by strengthening the evaluation capacity at the College, informed by the Rainbow Framework by:

4 Betterevaluation.org

Page 13 of 18 APP 19/2010005967  Developing knowledge and skills of individuals at all levels including programme level, and student representatives.  Improving the technical infrastructure for reporting and reporting processes  Developing a clear community of practice within higher education staff  Reviewing and improving policies and procedures to support decision making processes.

56. The monitoring of the access and participation will include reporting thought the college’s quality and curriculum boards at key stages of the learners’ journey, reviewing evidence and outcomes from actions taken. If it appears that the intentions of the plan may not be delivered, it is through this process that intervention will be formally reviewed along with the reasonable steps and actions to be taken to comply with the provision.

57. The progress and effectiveness of the plan is reported to, and monitored by, the College’s Governing body, this includes Student Governors.

3.0 Access, Student Success and Progression Measures

Access 58. The college aims to increase access for students from wards with high IMD, mature students, white males from wards classified as POLAR quintiles 1 and 2. To achieve the targets a range of measures will be used.

Outreach 59. The College has a dedicated schools’ liaison team who work extensively with local schools. The College will extend this work to include:  A higher education roadshow with dedicated university level progression and advice for secondary schools, access to tasters for different vocational subjects, across year groups on school premises.  Introduce 20 taster days for schools during 2018-19 academic year and increase this by 25% in subsequent years.  Continue to work with Aimhigher Plus National Collaborative Outreach Programme which targets wards with low engagement in higher education. The College’s Bournville College campus is located within and adjacent to key target wards for this activity. In addition, students from further education programmes at the College also benefit as recipients of Aimhigher Plus activity such as access to Ambassadors from local universities. The College aims to increase the recruitment of young white males by 10% to programmes offered at the Bournville College campus adjacent to the NCOP target wards.

Curriculum Design 60. The College will continue to develop programmes for local students, those who identify as having multiple deprivation indicators, mature learners and to increase engagement in higher education. This will include programmes to be developed at lower levels introducing more programmes that meet the needs of local students such as expanding Access to Higher Education programmes. One example which will positively impact on mature female learners entering higher education in 2018-19 was the introduction of an Access to Higher Education programme in Criminology. In 2018-19 students from this programme will be continuing to study at the College on a newly developed Foundation degree in Criminology.

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61. To support the recruitment of underrepresented groups and vocational learners into higher education the College will continue to work with partner universities and employers to develop innovative programmes. An example of which is a foundation degree in engineering specifically designed with additional study support to aid transition and prepare students for final year degree entry at a partner Russell Group university.

62. The College will also continue to consult with local employers on the design of programmes and the subjects offered to both attract students and for students to achieve positive graduate outcomes. This is particularly successful on higher apprenticeship programmes where the College can offer different subject pathways and it has a positive financial impact for over 30 higher apprentices and their employers.

Mentoring 63. In terms of mentoring for improving access, the College employs mentors who work with students across all academic levels. The College:  Benefits from being part of the Aimhigher Plus NCOP and has an ambassador mentoring students at Bournville College campus and are committed to continuing this in 2019-20.  Appoints approximately 40 ambassadors who work with curriculum teams at key events and open days, and the College will introduce a target of 20% of College ambassadors should be current higher education students.  Will introduce a subject specific mentor scheme for higher education students across levels of study with an aim of 50% of programmes engaging within the first year, and 100% in year 2.  Ensure that all students from areas of high deprivation are prioritised within the mentor scheme to support the reduction in withdrawals and improve continuation.

64. The College is also in the process of introducing the One Million Mentors scheme, and supporting the West Midlands Mayor’s mentor programme. Students of the College will mentor students on lower level programmes with a view to progressing into higher education.

Success and Progression

Academic Support 65. A key challenge for students entering higher education is transition. To support this and improve achievements and continuation rates the College will:  Make improvements to student induction to include an individual tutorial within the first 2 weeks of joining the College to establish support needs and transition.  Employ a specialist higher education academic support tutor to provide on-going academic support.  Continue with the allocation of dedicated time for a personal tutor for programmes. Teaching and Learning 66. The College will continue to ensure that 100% of academic staff hold a recognised teaching qualification within two years of employment, and will continue to offer a free teaching qualification as part of the staff development programme. In addition, higher

Page 15 of 18 APP 19/2010005967 education academic staff will be encouraged to become Fellows of the HE Academy / Advance HE with a target of 20% by 2019. The College will maintain the commitment to scheduled dedicated staff development every 6 weeks.

67. The College will continue to offer GCSEs in Maths and English for higher education students who need GCSEs specifically for progression, such as those students who wish to become primary school teachers and improve graduate outcomes and will further support mature learners.

68. The College will invest in developing flexible learning to support students both on campus and off campus. This will add to students’ current ability to access their desktops remotely for 24 hours and 365 days per year. Online individual tutorials will be introduced to support attainment for students with disabilities or learning difficulty with an entitlement of 5 hours per year.

Partnership 69. The College has good links with partners such as schools, universities, the LEP and employers in the West Midlands region and collaborates well to support students to develop higher skills and student outcomes. Data on progressions and destinations is collected, and used to inform decisions about current programmes and curriculum development. This data also informs planning and approval processes.

70. Each programme that is offered has progression pathways sign posted and the college links with local partners to develop pathways for each programme. The College will work in partnership to develop full degrees or top-up degrees for other undergraduate student progression. Where there is demand and students will benefit in terms of learning experience the College will deliver these programmes at one of the university centres at Digbeth or Bournville College campuses. The college will ensure that 100% of courses have clear progression routes to honours degree programmes and beyond.

71. With the introduction of full honours degrees at the College a new graduate opportunity electronic notice board will be introduced for students, sign posting to graduate recruitment events and employment opportunities. The College’s student engagement team will support students who have a disability to progress to highly skilled employment or further study and narrow the outcome gap with non-disabled students.

Employability 72. Programmes at the College all have planned development of employability skills and the College will commit to all higher education students to have the opportunity to engage with a live project or placement.

 In specialist subjects such as music the College will continue to provide students with the opportunity to engage with ‘Student Crew’ offering paid work experience.

 The highly successful Early Years and Health and Social Care conference will continue to be supported by the College to develop higher education students’ skills, link students with industry practice, research and scholarship. This conference also encourages level 3 students to engage in a higher education experience to aid progression.

Page 16 of 18 APP 19/2010005967  All programmes will embed employability skills within teaching, learning and assessment

Evaluation 73. The College will use a range of measure to evaluate the success against targets.

 Evaluations following outreach events through surveys and school feedback  Specific higher education learning support reports on engagement and achievement  Evaluation of data on participation of target learners in higher education, and the impact of measure on reducing withdrawals, improving continuation overall and for specific groups and characteristics of learners.  Improving data to analyse attainment of high grades and by specific characteristics  Focus groups with higher education students on the impact of financial measures introduced.  Review of student data against whole college population and monitor the impact through equality and diversity reporting structures and annual reporting mechanisms as explained in paragraphs 52-57. .

Equality and Diversity 74. This plan aligns with the College’s Equality Strategy in that the plan supports the College’s aim to ensure that everyone is equally valued and treats one another with respect and dignity. We are seeking to provide a positive working and learning environment that is free from discrimination, harassment or victimisation and place equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our business. The Equality Strategy for example makes a commitment to making every effort to ensure that our student body and workforce reflect the diverse communities of Birmingham and beyond and the access and participation plan identifies measures to support this and monitor progress. The strategy and access plan also commits to involving staff, students and service users in securing improvements to our programmes, services and learning and work environment.

75. The access and participation plan also aligns to the strategy in that it considers protected characteristics in accordance with the Equality Act 2010, and plans measures to reduce inequality across protected characteristics such as outcomes for students with disabilities.

76. Higher education students have been consulted through Boards of Studies on the content of the plan and agreed prior to submission to the Office for Students. Furthermore, students will be engaged in the review of this plan as part of the Board of Studies process which meet twice per year,

4.0 Investment

77. This is the first year of application for an access and participation plan for the College. In applying the College plans to invest approximately £150,000 in the first year and rising to nearly £280,000 in 2022. This investment is targeted at disadvantaged groups to equalise

Page 17 of 18 APP 19/2010005967 success and progression and supports the existing investment made to support our students.

78. More specifically the College aims to invest 20% of its additional fee income in measures to support students from disadvantaged neighbourhoods and care leavers. 14% of the higher fee income will be targeted at supporting students to be successful and improve graduate progression into highly skilled employment or further study for our learners with a disability.

79. The College currently invests approximately £238,500 in access, success and progression activity. The majority of which supports students’ success through study support, careers and student services support. The college dedicates £77,000 to support outreach activity and links to the schools’ liaison team. In 2016-17 £1,500 was accessed through a hardship fund and £1,700 was spent on providing specific support for progression. Existing higher education staff and university partners mainly support progression activities, and so costs are absorbed in these areas. The hardship fund will have improved promotion activity using induction for students in 2018-19. The College also offers a short term loan system for students who are waiting for the receipt of student finance payments.

5.0 Provision of information to students

80. Information on the access and participation plan will be provided to students on the College’s website for prospective students and be available in hard copy by request. Applicants to the College will be signposted in offer letters to the access and participation plan. Instructions for application will be available on the website and links provided to UCAS.

81. Internal progressing students and current higher education students will have access to the plan on the College’s VLE. Both prospective students and current higher education students will be informed of the plan in taster sessions and induction.

82. The College’s Student Engagement team will provide information to new students at the College during induction on the plan and processes for application. Information and application process will be included in students’ handbooks.

83. Further signposting to financial support available from elsewhere to prospective students will be on the College’s website; this will include links to Student Finance England, Whichuni.co.uk and GOV.UK, where prospective students can find information on bursaries and specific financial support for care leavers.

84. The College will also make information on fees available through the College’s website and will ensure that this clearly explains fees for the full duration of the programme.

Page 18 of 18 APP 19/2010005967 Full-time and part-time course fee levels for 2019-20 entrants.

Please enter inflationary statement in the free text box below. South and City College will not make increases in tuition fees for continuing students, the fee level in year 1 of a programme of study will be maintained for each subsequent year of study on the same programme.

Full-time course type: Additional information: Course fee: First degree £8,000 A slightly higher fee may be charged for subjects which have higher consumable costs to deliver such Foundation degree £8,000 as in the creative arts or has more individualised learning Foundation degree £7,500 Foundation year / Year 0 * HNC / HND £7,500 CertHE / DipHE * Postgraduate ITT * Accelerated degree * Sandwich year * Erasmus and overseas study years * Other * Franchise full-time course type: Additional information: Course fee: Foundation year / Year 0 * Foundation degree 10007140 Birmingham City University £7,500 First degree 10007140 Birmingham City University £8,000 HNC / HND 10007140 Birmingham City University £7,500 CertHE / DipHE * Postgraduate ITT * Accelerated degree * Sandwich year * Erasmus and overseas study years * Other * Part-time course type: Additional information: Course fee: First degree Birmingham City University - £4,500 Foundation degree Birmingham City University - £4,500 Foundation year / Year 0 * HNC / HND Birmingham City University - £4,500 CertHE / DipHE * Postgraduate ITT * Accelerated degree * Sandwich year * Erasmus and overseas study years * Other * Table 8a - Statistical targets and milestones relating to your applicants, entrants or student body

Yearly milestones (numeric where possible, however you Is this a Commentary on your milestones/targets Baseline year may use text) Stage of the lifecycle Main target type Description collaborative or textual description where numerical Reference number Target type (drop-down menu) (drop-down Baseline data (drop-down menu) (drop-down menu) (500 characters maximum) target? (drop- description is not appropriate (500 menu) down menu) 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 characters maximum)

increase increase increase increase learners learners learners learners learners learners over over the over the over the over the over the the age of 30 Other statistic - Mature age of 30 age of 30 age of 30 age of 30 age of 30 Increase mature learners over the age of 30 on full represent T16a_01 Access Mature (please give details in the No 2017-18 represent to to to to time programmes 17.5% of 19% of represent represent represent represent next column) student student 20% of 21% of 23% of 25% of population population student student student student population population population population

maintain female the female female female learners number of female learners learners to learners to learners to Other statistic - Other to female Increase access by female learners on full time represent 42% represent represent represent T16a_02 Access Gender No 2017-18 represent learners to (please give details in the programmes to narrow the gap male learners of student 46% of 48% of 50% of 45% of represent next column) population student student student student 50% of population population population population student population

Part time Part time Part time Part time Part time Part time students students students students students students from from IMD from IMD from IMD from IMD from IMD Other statistic - Part-time IMB neighbour neighbourh neighbour neighbour neighbour Low income Increase the access of part time students from T16a_03 Access (please give details in the No 2017-18 neighbourhood hoods to oods to hoods to hoods to hoods to background IMD neighbourhoods next column) s represent represent represent represent represent represent 36% of student 40% of 42% of 44% of 46% of 48% of population student student student student student population population population population population Increase continuati Increase Maintain Maintain on rates Increase continuatio continuati continuati by 7% or continuatio Other statistic - Other Continuation n rates to on rates to on rates to meet the n rates to T16a_04 Success Multiple (please give details in the Increase continuation rates for all full time learners No 2016-17 rates are at 5% above 5% above 5% above TEF 3% above 74.7%. TEF Yr 5 TEF Yr 6 TEF Yr 7 next column) benchmar TEF Yr 4 benchmar benchmar benchmar k which benchmark k k k ever is higher Withdrawa Withdrawal Withdrawa Withdrawa Withdraw l rate for rate for l rate for l rate for Withdrawal al rate for young White economically Other statistic - Other young young young Reduce the withdrawal rate of young white males rate for young young males T16a_05 Success disadvantaged (please give details in the No 2017-18 males males males to reduce over representation in withdrawal data white males is males reduced males reduced by reduced reduced next column) 29% reduced by a a further by a by a by 40% further 20% further 5% further 5% 10% 100% of 100% of 100% of HE HE HE courses to courses to courses to have have 100% of have access to access to HE access to a mentor a mentor courses to a mentor engaging engaging have engaging with with 50% of access to with students students HE a mentor students with 60% with 80% courses to engaging with 50% Other (please of of Other statistic - Other have with of give details in No specific HE students students T16a_06 Success Multiple (please give details in the Introduce a mentor programme No access to students students Description mentors from IMD from IMD a mentor with 50% from IMD next column) column) ward ward engaging of students ward accessing accessing with from IMD accessing the the students ward the mentor mentor mentor accessing programm programm programm the mentor e 100% of e 100% of e 100% of programm Asian and Asian and Asian and e White White White males males males have a have a have a mentor. mentor. mentor. Target to Target to Target to Target 20 Target to increase increase increase outreach carry out the the the Other (please events Other statistic - Other No specific HE 25 number of number of number of Introduce roadshows/ taster days in state schools give details in and T16a_07 Access State school No tasters days roadshows roadshows roadshow roadshow (please give details in the to target progression into HE Description roadshow offered / taster by 25% on s by 25% s by 25% next column) column) s/ taster days in the on the on the days in schools previous previous previous schools year year year Increase Increase Increase Increase white white white Increase white males males males white males access by access by access by males access by 10% on 10% on 10% on access by 10% on the the the 10% at the previous previous previous Bournville previous White economically Other statistic - Other Overall 41% of year at year at year at Increase recruitment of young males to courses College year at T16a_08 Access disadvantaged No 2017-18 males are Bournville Bournville Bournville (please give details in the offered at Bournville College campus Campus Bournville males white students College College College next column) from College Campus Campus Campus target Campus from from from wards of from target target target target low wards of wards of wards of wards of engagem low low low low ent engageme engageme engageme engageme nt nt nt nt

ensure ensure ensure ensure ensure 100% of 100% of 100% of 100% of 100% of students students students students students 8% of students who need who need who need who need who need Other statistic - Other Continue to offer GCSE Maths and English to HE enrolled onto a GCSE GCSE GCSE GCSE GCSE T16a_09 Progression Multiple (please give details in the students to support progression onto top-up and No 2017-18 GCSE maths and maths and maths and maths and maths and next column) masters programmes programme in English to English to English to English to English to 2017-18 progress progress progress progress progress have have have have have access to access to access to access to access to study study study study study To To To Improve Improve maintain maintain maintain highly highly highly highly highly skilled skilled skilled skilled skilled employme employme employme employme employme Other statistic - Progression Highly skilled nt or nt or nt or nt or nt or Improve outcomes for students with a disability to employment for further further further further further to employment or further T16a_10 Progression Disabled progress to highly skilled employment or further No 2016-17 disability in study study study study study study (please give details in study TEF Year 3 is outcomes outcomes outcomes outcomes outcomes the next column) 64.6% by 3.2% by 3.6% to to equal to equal to equal to equal equal non- non- non- non- benchmar disability disability disability disability k of benchmark TEF TEF TEF 67.8% of 71.4% benchmar benchmar benchmar k k k Improve Improve Improve Maintain Maintain Other statistic - Other Attainment rate Improve attainment for all groups of full time attainment attainment attainment attainment attainment T16a_11 Success Attainment raising No 2016-17 whole College (please give details in the students across both university centres rate to rate to rate to rate at rate at is 86% next column) 90% 92% 95% 95% 95% Engage Engage 50 Engage 60 Engage Engage 40 level 3 level 3 level 3 70 level 3 80 level 3 students students to students students students Other statistic - Other Raising attainment in further education. Inroduce a New scheme to be be to be to be to be T16a_12 Success Attainment raising (please give details in the mentoring programme for further education No 2017-18 no FE student beneficuia beneficuiar beneficuia beneficuia beneficuia learners mentors next column) ries of ies of ries of ries of ries of mentoring mentoring mentoring mentoring mentoring activities activities activities activities activities Engage all Engage all Engage all Engage all schools schools schools schools identied as identied identied Engage identied as polar as polar as polar all schools polar quintiles 1 quintiles 1 quintiles 1 identied quintiles 1 and 2 in and 2 in and 2 in as polar and 2 in wards wards wards quintiles 1 wards adjacent adjacent adjacent and 2 in adjacent to to to to Low participation Other statistic - Other New scheme wards university university university university Continue to collaborate with universty partners in T16a_13 Access neighbourhoods No 2017-18 following on adjacent centres in centres in centres in centres in (please give details in the sustained outreach (LPN) next column) from NCOP to one one one one university outreach outreach outreach outreach centres in activity . activity . activity . activity . one or Additionall Additionall Additionall Additionall more y engage y engage y engage y engage outreach 25% of 40% of 50% of 60% of activity schools in schools in schools in schools in two two or two or two or activities more more more activities activities activities Table 8b - Other milestones and targets.

Yearly milestones (numeric where possible, however you Commentary on your milestones/targets Is this a Reference Select stage of the Main target type Description may use text) or textual description where numerical Target type (drop-down menu) collaborative Baseline year Baseline data Number lifecycle (drop-down menu) (500 characters maximum) description is not appropriate (500 target? 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 characters maximum)