New UCAS data - an opportunity for system-level learning as well as enhanced local support
Posted in Views by Kath Lawrence
As students across the country anxiously await exam results this summer and start to prepare for their university adventure, institutions for the first time will have data on numbers of students self-identifying as having various life experiences such as being estranged from their families, having caring responsibilities, or having a parent who serves, or has served, in the UK Armed Forces. Initial data on applications is already being used proactively by individual institutions to plan support but this Autumn will mark a new era for organisations such as the SCiP Alliance whose interest is not only in helping universities and colleges plan and implement that support to drive local change but also lies in using strategic-level data for system-level impact. It's a long-awaited opportunity to understand need and enhance support for potential and current higher education students from Armed Forces families across the UK. But more than that, the potential to track this cohort into and through HE is tremendously exciting and represents a step-change in our understanding of the distribution and outcomes of this group of young people whose experiences too often see them fall under the radar.
The SCiP Alliance has partnered with the MOD and UCAS, initially to deliver the change and associated resources and support, but now also to work together to ensure we maximise the strategic as well as the local potential for this to contribute to our community's capacity to drive impactful outcomes for young people.
