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While many universities and colleges have become confident in understanding what drives international vs UK students when making their firm choice, fewer feel confident in understanding what is likely to have the greatest impact on widening participation applicants.  In anticipation of the 2023 UCAS Student Decision Reports being published in July, I’ve looked back at last year’s reports to see how you can understand your WP applicant and offer holders better, and whether we should be developing a separate conversion campaign to your UK wide communications.  

At the top spot 

At first glance, there is very little differentiating all applicants against WP applicants across the sector, in the factors influencing their decision making. Range of modules comes out the top factor for all students regardless of background, showing that subject-specific marketing and communications are the flagship of any conversion campaign, with the opportunity to...

The cost of living is the topic at the top of everyone’s minds over the past year, and likely to be with us for a while. Students are one particular group that have been affected by rise of cost of living the most, and as prices of rent and food have gone up against a backdrop of maintenance loans being lower in real terms compared with 2021, Universities UK issued a stark warning in December 2022 that “…[students] risk becoming the ‘forgotten group’ in the cost of living crisis.”¹ But what about students who have recently submitted their UCAS application for September 2023 entry - what impact has the cost of living had on the decisions they’ve made over the past year? We surveyed and listened to students throughout the 2023 cycle to find out how cost of living factors were influencing the decisions they had made, and those...

If you haven’t already signed up, you can register to receive for Chapter 2 here, before the full report is published in April.

Having taught, and later worked behind-the-scenes at universities and colleges, I’ve got a good grip on the way the student experience works from both sides of the fence. When they work in synergy – with providers providing and students studying – we see real societal benefits.

And when students enjoy their course and have fun alongside it, they emerge as highly valuable and well-rounded adults. There’s nothing quite like the intelligent, curious, pragmatic graduate that we’ve seen coming through the Gen Z ranks over the past few years.

Which is why it’s so important to protect and support their lifestyles during this cost of living increase. The money they spend during their studies not only contributes massively to the economy, but it also teaches them as much about...

The introduction of T Levels marked a major landmark in qualification history, with the first ever cohort completing the brand-new technical qualification last year. Like their A level peers, about 1,000 students opened their results last August to discover their overall achievement, so it is right that we have a specific day in National Apprenticeship Week celebrating their successes.

T Levels mark the most significant change to the qualification landscape since the decoupling of the AS in 2015. T Levels, and the Post-16 review, are changing the shape of England’s vocational and technical education offer, and it is vital that all stakeholders – schools, colleges, universities, employers and training providers – understand what these reforms mean for the future pipeline of students.

These reforms sit within broader changes that have been seen over the last few years, including the introduction of Higher Technical Qualifications and Degree Apprenticeships. In...