Access and Participation Plan

Our strategic approach 

Our APP sets out the meaningful and impactful steps we will take to promote equality of opportunity to enable everyone, irrespective of background, to enter and succeed in higher education if they have the potential and desire to do so.  

The APP is broad in scope and touches on almost everything that we do: working with schools and colleges within our region to address gaps in attainment, how we go about teaching, what we teach, the diversity of our education and research communities, the quality of our student experience and the contribution we make to the local region.   

Through this work we anticipate the following outcomes: 

 

Figure 1: Anticipated outcomes of the APP at each stage of the student lifecycle 

The plan is a regulatory requirement and is focused on priorities identified through research, analysis and consultation. It covers students paying regulated fees, addressing gaps in outcomes for those experiencing risks to equal opportunity including but not limited to students with protected characteristics, those eligible for free school meals and/or with certain characteristics or experiencing multiple barriers to HE e.g. estranged, care experienced, seeking asylum, boys from low socio-economic backgrounds. 

 

Our priorities 

Our plan is based on areas where evidence shows the gap to equality of opportunity is biggest for specific student groups. 

• At Exeter, access is our biggest challenge.  Students are less likely to come to Exeter if they are from low-income households, live in an area of low representation in higher education, are mature, or are Black or from a minority ethnic group.  

 

• The proportion of our students continuing into their second year, and completing their course, is generally good but there are gaps for mature students, those from a low-income household, care experienced students and those with a mental health condition. 

 

• Degree awarding gaps have narrowed in recent years but are still significant for Black and Asian students, mature students, and those from low-income households. 

 

• Progression is also generally good but gaps remain for low-income students, and those with disabilities and mental health conditions.  

Annex A of the APP (pages 31 to 55) provides further information and analysis related to the identification and prioritisation of key risks to equality of opportunity.  

What we are doing 

We are working to eliminate disparities between different student groups in accessing and participating successfully in higher education by addressing risks to equal opportunity. The overarching themes of our new APP are: 

1. strategic role and partnerships within the region to support attainment and access. 

1. learner focused WP and recruitment activity to diversify our student body and support progression to HE more widely. 

1. supporting students to fulfil their academic potential ensuring our portfolio is attractive to learners and adopting sector leading inclusive practice. 

1. alleviating non-academic barriers to learning and delivering positive student experience. 

1. supporting students to fulfil their post-study ambitions to achieve social mobility. 

 

See page 5 of our APP for information about the targets that have been set for each of these objectives.  The APP also sets out how these objectives will be achieved within a series of implementation strategies (pages 9 to 27).  Annex B of the APP explains why specific interventions have been included in the APP (pages 56 to 75).  

Our approach to delivery 

During his visit last year John Blake, the Director of Fair Access and Participation at the Office for Students, endorsed our whole institution approach and collaboration with students as key strengths of our existing APP.  Delivery of APP commitments draws on the following teams across the institution: 

Lifecycle Stage	Examples of University of Exeter stakeholders involved
Access	Access, Participation and Outreach (APO) team, Exeter Innovation, South West Social Mobility Commission, Academic Skills team, WP Academic Leads in departments and their colleagues, Degree Apprenticeship team, Admissions and recruitment and marketing teams.
Student success	Transition and Induction: T&I Working Group and T&I academic leads, APO team, Study Abroad team, Students.
	Wellbeing: Student funding, wellbeing, academic skills and APO teams. Student Guild and Union, Student Guide Advice Service, Students.
	Academic: Pastoral mentors, Student Data Leads, Curriculum 4 Change team, Academic Skills Team, Success and Inclusive Education WG, Academic Leads for Race Equality and Inclusion, Educator Development, APO and Peer Mentoring teams.
Progression	Student Employability and Academic Success and Wellbeing teams, Students.

 

Many of our priorities are being addressed through current strategic measures such as our major programme of curriculum review through Curriculum 4 Change, and we will continue build on the momentum of Success for All. 

The Access, Participation and Outreach (APO) Team also leads on APP policy and planning, data analysis and target setting, project monitoring and evaluation in collaboration with academic and professional service colleagues, and provides the secretariat for most aspects of Success for All governance which also oversees the delivery of the APP.