The New Entrant Profile had its inception during a meeting between University and sixth form tutors, looking at ways to smooth the transition between school or college and HE. It is designed to be used after A-level results have come out and a student's place at Nottingham has been confirmed. It will, hopefully, ease students' transfer into HE by both providing them with an early entry into the ePARs system before they take up their place, and directing them to various agencies to deal with any worries they may have. It was trialled on paper in Geography and online in EEE in summer 2002. It was made explicit to students that completion of it was voluntary, but Geography received 187 returns out of a possible 191.
The NEP takes the form of a questionnaire, which will be a more informal and more up-to-date document than the UCAS personal statement, with links to, e.g. the Student Advice Centre and student support for those with disabilities. Once the questionnaire is completed, the student's Personal Tutor has a link to it via the Tutor side of ePARs, and an automatic message is sent to the student, to thank them for their response, and to assure them that the correct person will be able to access it in time for their first personal tutorial.
It is meant to be an informal communication to a student's personal tutor, to be an 'ice-breaker' that will form the basis of the first personal tutorial, to give the student some idea of what will happen during that first tutorial - and to help the Tutor.
View the pilot electronic New Entrant Profile (this will take approximately 45 seconds to load)
A brief history of NEP and new PARs/ePARs development