Summary of 2020/21 – 2024/25 Access and Participation Plan
Access and participation plans set out how universities will improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups to access, succeed in and progress from higher education.
Our access and participation plan
See our full access and participation plan for Nottingham Trent University.
Key points
The focus of our access and participation plan is on improving outcomes for specific groups of students. In particular, we aim to reduce the gap between:
- students from low-income backgrounds compared with more affluent backgrounds entering NTU
- students from low-income backgrounds compared with more affluent backgrounds who complete their undergraduate qualification
- students from certain groups who achieve a degree award of 2:1 or above
- low-income female students who progress to highly-skilled employment or further study compared to males from more affluent backgrounds.
See pages 9-10 of the full plan for details of our key points.
Fees we charge
At Nottingham Trent University, the maximum fees we charge are:
- £9,250 for full-time students
- £6,935 for part-time students.
See the full list of fees for our courses.
Financial help available
We offer financial support to students from low-income backgrounds. This consists of:
- an annual bursary of £750 for the duration of the course if the student’s household income is below £27,500. Some other criteria apply
- additional bursaries for students from particular backgrounds or circumstances. This includes care-leavers and estranged students
- support through the Undergraduate Hardship Fund.
See page 18 of the full plan for details of the financial help available.
Information for students
Our financial support provision is made available to prospective students through our:
- dedicated fees and funding web pages
- finance talks and workshops to young people and their parents or carers
- high-profile coverage of financial matters at University open events
- online, face-to-face and telephone enquiry services.
Furthermore, we send every prospective student details of their course information, including the course fee for each year of study. We also send information on what the course fee includes and any additional costs students have to pay.
See page 27 of the full plan for details of how our financial support provision is made available to students.
What we are aiming to achieve
Our institutional priority is to create opportunities for students to develop knowledge, skills, character and resilience in order to play a positive role in society.
We use a variety of ways to measure our progress. This includes ‘POLAR’ and ‘IMD’, which are statistical measures used to identify areas with low university participation rates and areas of deprivation. They classify areas into five groups, or quintiles.
Based on our assessment of performance, below are the specific targets we have identified on which to focus.
- Reduce the gap in access to NTU between most (POLAR4 q5) and least (POLAR4 q1) represented groups to 9 percentage points by 2024-25 and to zero by 2038.
- Reduce the gap in higher education participation rates of pupils from Nottinghamshire eligible for Free School Meals (FSMs) to eight percentage points by 2024-5 and to zero by 2038.
- Eliminate the gap in non-continuation between most (POLAR4 q5) and least (POLAR4 q1) represented groups by 2026-27.
- Reduce the gap in degree outcomes between black and white students to 8 percentage points by 2022-23 and to zero by 2030-31.
- Reduce the gap in degree outcomes between disadvantaged (IMD quintile 1) and advantaged (IMD quintile 5) students to 7 percentage points by 2024-25 and to zero by 2032-33.
- Reduce the gap in degree outcomes between mature and young students to zero by 2027/28.
- Reduce the gap in progression to graduate level occupation or higher study between disadvantaged female (IMD quintiles 1&2) and advantaged male (IMD quintile 3-5) first degree graduates to 2 percentage points in 2024-25 and to zero in 2026-27.
See pages 9 and 10 of the full plan for details of what we are aiming to achieve.
What we are doing to achieve our aims
We are working at all stages of the student lifecycle: Access to university; success at university; progression into highly-skilled employment or further study. Research shows that engagement is key to success. Therefore, we are looking to change cultures and structures and deliver initiatives all designed to increase engagement with courses and study.
You can also see pages 13 to 20 of the full plan for details of what we are aiming to achieve.
We are:
- diversifying our course portfolio, delivering more higher and degree apprenticeships, foundation degrees and Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs).
- working in partnership with local stakeholders to achieve a change in the provision of local comprehensive education.
- delivering Initial teacher Training (ITT) and placing trainee teachers in schools rated less than good
- working closely with our local collaborative outreach partnership, DANCOP, to deliver provision in local schools
- supporting local school governance through our staff volunteering scheme
- working with our partner schools to deliver interventions designed to develop pupils’ knowledge, behaviours, skills and attainment.
We are:
- using Level 3 minimum entry requirements at a course and institutional level
- developing inclusive teaching methods and course content
- using learning analytics - an online resource designed to help students understand how well they are engaging with their studies
- contacting students whose engagement has stopped
- developing a whole university approach to well-being
- delivering a peer-mentoring scheme
- facilitating engagement in extra-curricular activities for students from the target backgrounds
- providing financial support to assist in all the above.
We are:
- embedding work experience into our curriculum at level five along with compulsory careers education at level four and an employability assessment in the final year
- providing additional careers education support to enhance placement applications, provide skills for selection and the resilience to sustain students in making further applications
- delivering a Women's Development Programme to boost skills and qualities such as confidence and assertiveness.
How students can get involved
We worked closely with the Students’ Union to gather student input into the design of this plan. NTU students are represented on senior committees and groups which gives them access to the key decision-makers within the University and its Governing Body. The development of the access and participation plan took place at these committees.
Students can get involved in either the delivery of the provision or the design of the plan by emailing CenSCE.
See page 20 of the full plan for details of how students can get involved.
Evaluation — how we will measure what we have achieved
Our programmes of activity are informed by the best available evidence about what works for students. We use numerous practices to explore the impact of our programmes. These include:
- pre- and post-surveys
- outreach participant tracking data
- interviews or focus groups with pupils, teaching professionals, undergraduate students and other key stakeholders
- randomised controlled trials in which participants are randomly assigned to different groups to test the affects of different activities.
We will publish evidence from our evaluations:
- on an externally facing webpage
- on our local intranet for work in progress
- in peer reviewed journals.
See pages 21 to 25 of the full plan for details of how we will measure what we have achieved.
Contact us
Email censce@ntu.ac.uk for more information.