NEWS
Student diversity drive seeks to increase applications from state pupils
The University of Edinburgh has expanded its admissions policy for 2023 to encourage more applications from state school pupils in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Students from all UK state schools outside of Scotland will now receive additional consideration as part of the University’s contextual admissions process, whereas previously additional school measures only focussed on low-attaining schools.
The move seeks to increase diversity in the University’s student body, where currently roughly three-out-of-four Scottish students are from a state school, compared with less than half from the rest of the UK. As there are separate admissions pools for applicants from Scotland, the rest of the UK and internationally, these groups are not in competition with each other for spaces.
The University will not consider school type as a standalone contextual measure, but rather as one of a number of factors that might make an applicant eligible for an offer.
Contextual admission is the sector-wide practice that takes into account a range of factors that may impact some applicants when accessing higher education. If an applicant has encountered a number of these challenges they can be offered a place with minimum entry requirements. Indicators of applicants’ financial status, such as where they live, are the primary indicators for contextual admissions. Factors relating to an individual’s education and personal circumstances – for example if an applicant has been in care or is a refugee – are also considered. All measures are based on in-depth research, institutional modelling and UK and Scottish government policy on admissions and widening participation.
Edinburgh offers scholarship schemes to support UK students from low income backgrounds, irrespective of their schooling. The Access Edinburgh Scholarship provides a guaranteed yearly grant of up to £3000 for successful applicants, or £5000 for care-experienced or estranged students.
For students coming from Scotland, the University has made considerable progress towards widening participation through a range of initiatives and using several indicators for contextual admissions, with around 75 to 80 per cent of students having been state school educated. u
https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/access-edinburgh/ widening-access-offers
Colleges plan to boost maths teaching with new funding
College students are set to benefit from extra maths tuition as part of an extension to teaching hours across the academic year.
As part of the Budget and Spending Review last October, the Department for Education announced a £800 million package over three years to fund an average of 40 more hours for
16 to 19-year-olds in further education which would take full-time students’ minimum annual hours from 540 to 580.
An Association of Colleges survey found 56% of colleges plan to use the additional teaching time and associated funding to boost maths provision. Improving young people’s numeracy skills has been a priority for the Conservative government and is a stated ambition of prime ministerial hopeful Liz Truss.
Recent upticks in FE funding, which have come after a decade of cuts, have been swallowed up by soaring energy prices and inflation, leading to major challenges for college coffers. Despite these challenges, colleges continue to deliver quality vocational education and training for 1.7 million people a year.
Eddie Playfair, AoC Senior Policy Manager, 16 to 18 said: “This welcome additional funding comes at a time of unprecedented cost pressures across college budgets with insufficient growth to cover them. In this first year, we have asked for a high level of flexibility, particularly where colleges are already above 580 hours for all full time 16 to 18-year-olds. “Our survey of how colleges are planning to use the additional 40 hours per year for 16 to 18-year-olds shows that colleges welcome the additional funded hours and will do their best to ensure that they benefit students in a range of different ways. 62% of college students are already getting more than 580 hours per year and will not need the extra 40 hours to reach the new minimum.
“Over half of colleges are planning to offer additional maths teaching and many are hoping to offer extra work-related learning, targeted support, academic enhancement, personal and social development and enrichment. “Colleges are already facing serious recruitment challenges and, since this funding was announced, the cost-of-living crisis has hit hard, creating further budget pressures. This marginal extra funding is unlikely to deliver all the support students need.”
uwww.aoc.co.uk
Major hires at IMP Software, as Multi-Academy Trust CFO joins the ranks as MAT Product Specialist
Education company IMP Software, specialists in budgeting, forecasting and reporting software for multi-academy trusts (MATs), has made a number of key appointments as it reports a 100% increase in customer growth in 12 months. IMP, which is based in Exeter and Peterborough but operates as a virtual team nationwide, has boosted its headcount by 60% to support its work with 198 MATs and 1,750 schools. The latest key addition is Warren Porter, who joins the company as MAT Product Specialist. Warren was previously Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at
Nottinghamshire-based Esteem Multi-Academy Trust. A qualified accountant, he has also worked as a Management Accountant at the Transform Trust and Finance Consultant at SAAF Education, a leading provider of business
8
www.education-today.co.uk
support services in education. Warren will utilise his vast MAT experience to help shape the IMP roadmap whilst also providing support to the product and sales teams within IMP.
“I am really excited about the opportunity to join IMP Software and am looking forward to supporting the next phase of its growth,” Warren said. “As a former MAT Finance Director, and a qualified accountant, this is the perfect role for me as I have always had a keen interest in systems and software. Having previously been an IMP customer I have never used another piece of software that has delivered so much value to the sector. It transformed finance within my trust overnight. The support and implementation team was the best support from a provider, software and non-software, I have experienced as a customer. I am proud to be part of a company that has had such a significant impact across the sector.” u
https://www.impsoftware.co.uk/
September 2022
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