G&F Summary Report Aug15-Jan16
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UCAS advisory and standing groups’ summary report UCAS advisory and standing groups’ summary report August 2015 – January 2016 This report outlines the key discussion areas covered by UCAS’ groups, from August 2015 to January 2016. During this period 14 groups met at least once. The purpose of this report is to provide a high level summary of discussions covered by these groups, pulling together any key themes of discussion. Full minutes for all advisory and standing group meetings are available on ucas.com. Business rules Business rules were discussed in a number of the advisory and standing groups. Topics included the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the name-blind application proposal, implications for student loans if the UK left the EU, dates and deadlines – including why the deadline for music was earlier than dance and drama in the UCAS Conservatoires scheme, and the reject by default (RBD) date for the UCAS Undergraduate scheme. Training providers being under pressure to recruit under the new teacher training allocations methodology was also raised. Confirmation and Clearing 2015 An operational update on Confirmation and Clearing was given to all advisory and standing groups. All groups agreed it had been a success. There had been fewer embargo breaches compared to previous years, all of which seemed to be due to human or system error. There was a mixed response to precision marketing data services (PMDS). Although many providers liked the concept, a common complaint was that they received the lists too late, and did not have sufficient time to shortlist and contact applicants. Communications Updates were provided on UCAS’ increased communications to applicants, including reminders of deadline dates and guidance on their next steps. Communications to advisers had also increased – to increase their knowledge of the different schemes. More videos had been produced to help advisers and applicants. The use of webinars to engage with providers was also discussed and promoted. Digital Acceleration All groups were given an update on Digital Acceleration and reminded that the dates set were target dates. All groups were informed that the UCAS Postgraduate scheme would be redeveloped first, followed by the Undergraduate and Conservatoire schemes, and then UCAS Teacher Training and UCAS Progress. Subsequent progress on development was discussed, and providers were encouraged to attend development webinars and feedback on the UCAS Postgraduate beta search tool. Security Marking: PRIVATE Page 1 of 2 Document Owner: Groups & Forums Secretariat Last updated: 19 May 2016 Data The data supplied by UCAS was discussed at a number of groups, and a significant amount of work had been done on the data collected as part of the application process. The Higher Education Data and Information Improvement Programme (HEDIIP) presented an update on the data landscape work and the development of new Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) codes. IT The application programming interface (API) cost implications were explained to some of the advisory groups. The groups stated it would be useful to have examples of what the API would deliver and the benefits providers would receive from using it. UCAS confirmed that it was working on how to provide improved test data to providers. Operational approach and services At the UCAS Teacher Training Advisory Group, discussions focused on referees and what they should and should not be asked to comment on, including whether an applicant was suitable to work with children. Many of the groups discussed the new Tariff. Concerns included, the lack of rounded figures when working out points, and that the AS would be devalued for learners who took it prior to 2017, but chose to delay entry to HE until the following year. Similarly, more information on the changes to GCSEs was required, especially around grade alignment. Questions were raised around a referee’s ability to comment on personal statements and the improvements to Adviser Track. UCAS was also investigating ways to help schools and colleges receive applicants’ results earlier, to allow more time for planning their support. Security Marking: PRIVATE Page 2 of 2 Document Owner: Groups & Forums Secretariat Last updated: 19 May 2016 College HE Advisory Group minutes CHEAG/16/M1 College HE Advisory Group meeting held on Tuesday 23 February 2016, 11:00 – 15:00, at UCAS. Chair: Paul Featonby Hartpury College Present: Debbie Lister Heart of Worcestershire College Jo Ricketts Grwp NPTC Group Chris Moore Loughborough College James Marczak Myerscough College Kristine Murray Blackpool and Fylde College Debbie Toseland Cornwall College Apologies: Kiram Rami Uxbridge College Nik Snodin New College Nottingham Rosemary Hayward Truro and Penwith College Steve Trotter Plymouth College of Art UCAS in Adam Glaudot Technology Relationship Manager attendance: Andy Frampton Relationship Manager Carys Fisher Policy Executive Deniz Gosai Groups and Forums Administrator Fraser Nicoll Strategic Product Manager Gavin Bradley Senior Scheme Delivery Owner Giles Ursell Strategic Product Manager Janet Warne Relationship Manager Margaret Farragher Head of Policy and Qualifications Rob Edmondson Strategic Product Manager Security Marking: PUBLIC Page 1 of 6 Document Owner: Groups and Forums Secretariat Last updated: 15 March 2016 action A1/16/01 Welcome and apologies Paul Featonby, Hartpury College, introduced himself as the new Chair of the Group. Each member of the Group introduced themselves and apologies were noted. A1/16/02 Minutes and actions from the previous meeting The minutes were approved as an accurate and correct reflection of the last meeting. The ‘in progress’ actions on the action log were discussed: CHEAG027 – was discussed later in the meeting CHEAG035 – a Dates and Deadlines Working Group had been set up. This working group looked at all equal consideration deadlines, including the 24 March deadline. Further details would be shared at the Admissions Conference in March 2016. This item DG would then be discussed at the next College HE Advisory Group meeting. CHEAG053 CHEAG036 – Adam Glaudot, Technology Relationship Manager, agreed to circulate information to the Group regarding the phasing out of ODBC connections. The Group identified it would be useful to create a list of providers that used each of the main software vendors, and to share this information with other UCAS customers where appropriate. The Group discussed the implications of moving to new technology and requested that providers should be given sufficient notice to the switchover. Andy Frampton, Relationship Manager, and Adam would work together to produce sufficient communications on this matter. CHEAG045 – it was noted that the relevant teams were aware that providers would like the City and Guilds qualifications to be broken down, similar to BTEC courses. Andy Frampton was to follow this up. CHEAG048 – UCAS Progress training had been scheduled in Birmingham. Janet Warne, Relationship Manager, agreed to find out whether further training had been organised. It was noted that a UCAS Progress Advisory Group had since been set up. The Group would meet for the first time on Monday 29 February 2016. CHEAG049 – the issue around whether schools were actively retaining their students and not encouraging them to apply to colleges was discussed at the Secondary Education Advisory Group meeting. The schools agreed that this could be happening but were not aware of any schools doing so. This action was closed. Security Marking: PUBLIC Page 2 of 6 Document Owner: Groups and Forums Secretariat Last updated: 15 March 2016 action A1/16/03 Operational update Over 600,000 applications had been processed during the 2016 cycle. The October 15 deadline file was closed successfully at the end of October 2015. During the week commencing 11 January 2016 alone, 150,000 applications were processed. There was a delay in informing providers that they could close their courses, which UCAS apologised for. UCAS Extra went live on Thursday 25 February 2016. The Group was informed that UCAS was working with ABL to process winter exam results, and this would continue until the end of May 2016. Further information was available in the weekly bulletin. The Operational Team was working closely with their IT colleagues to ensure the list of outages was communicated in sufficient time. Preparation for Confirmation and Clearing had begun. Lessons learnt from previous cycles were being inputted to ensure Confirmation and Clearing ran smoothly. The Group was informed that there was a small issue around digital copy forms for the 15 January deadline. It was noted that if a job ran past midnight then problems occurred when picking up new applications. This was noticed and rectified quickly. The colleges in the Group were not affected, and were happy with the current cycle. It was questioned why EU and non-EU RPAs were released at different times. The reason behind this was unknown, however, it was noted that a dummy RPA was available in the test system which released them at the same time. The Operations Team agreed to investigate whether this timing is required for future cycles. The Group requested to avoid making Application and Decision Tracker unavailable due to scheduled maintenance on Mondays, as this was when reports are often run. It was noted that there were plans to decommission ABL listings in their current format ahead of Confirmation and Clearing, with an alternative data source available on web- link. UCAS