Evaluation of the plan

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Governance

The oversight of the strategic direction of the access and participation plan (APP) is entrusted to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience (ESE), who is a member of the University of Nottingham's (UoN) Executive Board.

Supporting the PVC in providing strategic guidance to the APP is the APP Steering Group, which reports to the Education and Student Experience Committee. Comprising senior leaders such as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), People and Culture, Deputy Registrar, and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, this board plays a crucial role in shaping the direction of the APP.

Additionally, the APP Delivery Team, currently chaired by the Deputy Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Curriculum Leadership, oversees the implementation of the plan. Consisting of senior leaders in Education and Student Experience, including Sub-Group Chairs focusing on specific aspects of the APP, this team ensures effective delivery and coordination of APP initiatives as articulated in the next section.

The effectiveness of UoN's governance is continuously monitored and changes will be introduced if new approaches are required.

Performance monitoring

The APP is subject to comprehensive monitoring overseen by the APP Steering Group. The Delivery Team oversees the Professional Services Degree Awarding Gap subgroup, the Academic Degree Awarding Gap subgroup, the Continuation subgroup, each with a distinct focus.

While three of these subgroups concentrate on particular targets delineated within the APP, the fourth group, the Data subgroup is dedicated to the data infrastructure underpinning the plan's progression. This group is also planning to explore the development of a performance framework aimed at facilitating more detailed and real-time monitoring and evaluation of UoN's interventions.

A subset of the Delivery Team is responsible for conducting monitoring and evaluation activities to oversee the process of receiving annual impact reports on current initiatives. This group also reviews evidence to assess the extent of impact on the progression of APP targets. It is anticipated that this group will play a crucial role in monitoring and evaluating intervention strategies overall, ensuring that they effectively address targeted risks and achieve their desired impact.

Self-assessment tool

To assess our areas for development, we completed the Office for Students (OfS) self-assessment tool in preparation for this plan. Since our last APP, our focus has been on expanding our dedicated evaluation resource, particularly at the access stage, by establishing a Data and Evaluation team to support our Widening Participation Team. This team has improved our strategic oversight through the implementation of a new Evaluation Strategy, ensuring consistent expectations across all access initiatives. Additionally, this team has conducted tailored evaluation consultations with sub-teams to refine their practices. Our attention is now shifting to the success stage, aiming to transition from emerging to good performance levels.

This self-assessment highlights the necessity of extending our strategic evaluation approach to encompass the success stage, thereby integrating evaluation practices throughout the student lifecycle. In support of this standardisation, we have developed a new SharePoint site housing key evaluation resources, which has been shared with staff involved in APP projects across the institution. We are actively fostering a culture of sharing best practice through our APP networks.

Planned developments include:

Short term

In the short term, our focus will be on several key actions to strengthen our evaluation processes.

First, we aim to identify the evaluation needs at the success stage.

Secondly, we will enhance our Evaluation SharePoint site to encompass evaluation practices from across the institution, integrating valuable resources from the Network for Evaluating and Researching University Participation Interventions (NERUPI). Staff will be encouraged to join relevant training networks, facilitating the dissemination of important information through these channels, whilst also ensuring they keep up to date with emerging evidence.

Thirdly, we will establish a clear purpose and audience for our evaluation reports and activities, employing a standardised format.

Lastly, we will conduct a mapping of evaluation skills and knowledge across the relevant APP programmes.

Medium-term

In the medium term, we will provide more strategic direction for evaluation at the success stage. This includes the identification of a strategic lead for evaluation, who will provide direction and oversight to our evaluation efforts.

We will also establish a Community of Practice for Evaluation, offering a platform for staff to share best practices and exchange insights.

Additionally, a critical review of our APP activities and programmes will be conducted to evaluate their efficacy, identify areas for improvement, and implement necessary changes.

Longer-term

Looking towards the longer term, we aim to embed evaluation as a fundamental component of all roles whose primary focus is on the support of our APP plan. This strategic move ensures that evaluation practices are ingrained within the culture of our institution.

Moreover, we will focus on enhancing the dissemination of evaluation outcomes both internally and externally. This will include sharing findings (see below) and establishing an Evaluation hub as a repository of evaluation reports, to make these publicly available to relevant stakeholders.

These measures aim to enhance transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement within our evaluation processes.

Publishing

As a research-intensive institution, UoN is committed to advancing the development of knowledge both within the institution and externally to further support the development of equality of opportunity for all students.

Internally

A dedicated APP SharePoint site provides a platform for university staff to deepen their understanding of the APP and share findings and impact reports from evaluations. Colleagues are strongly encouraged to present research and evaluation findings at internal conferences, aiming to elevate the profile of the APP at UoN, raise awareness of the issues faced, and foster opportunities for internal collaboration. The most notable example is our annual Teaching and Learning Conference, which brings together colleagues from all campuses to focus on key teaching and learning matters over two days. The recent themes included inclusivity and accessibility and have attracted over 600 delegates.

We will produce an annual report that consolidates findings from several small evaluation projects, primarily focusing on ongoing, cyclical activities or interventions directly aligned with UoN's intervention strategies, as well as reports from larger-scale evaluation projects. These will be shared across our education and student experience networks, as well as via UoN's communication channels. Learning will also be shared across our other campuses in China and Malaysia.

We will also encourage sharing of practice from faculty and school level. For example, a research associate who has investigated Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) awarding gaps for our school of Life Sciences is now working with our Education and Student Experience team to scale-up approaches across the institution.

Externally

As members of networks such as the Russell Group Widening Participation Evaluation Forum, NERUPI, and Forum for Access and Continuing Education (FACE) APP Special Interest Group, UoN is privileged to share its findings and contribute to fostering strong working relationships and the development of knowledge and skills to address disparities.Where appropriate, staff will be offered opportunities and encouraged to present at conferences and events. UoN staff have already presented at AdvanceHE and FACE conferences on matters related to awarding gaps.

Ethics

As an integral part of the project planning process, researchers will collaborate closely with the appropriate ethics committee to seek guidance and obtain necessary approvals. Currently, both the Delivery Team and the Steering Group are actively engaged in providing support and guidance to facilitate this process. Their expertise and oversight ensure that ethical considerations remain at the forefront throughout projects, upholding UoN's commitment to ethical research practices.

Evaluation partnership

We will maintain our commitment to enhancing our evaluation partnerships and activities with specialists such as EMWPREP and leverage their expertise when conducting our evaluation.

Additionally, our recent membership in NERUPI aims to broaden our access to evaluation resources, foster greater sharing of best practices beyond our institution, and offer staff opportunities for advancing their evaluation proficiency.

Provision of information to students