STUDENT RECRUITMENT
TEAM
Notes of a meeting
held on 23 November 2009
Present: Morag Bell (Chair), Paul Byrne, Andrew Cooney, John Dickens,
Wendy Ferguson, Martin Harrison, Jon Inegbedion,
Howard Jones, Jennifer Nutkins, Justine Sanders,
Tony Westaway, Tawfiq Wolff
1.
Apologies
for absence
Nil
2.
Notes
of the meeting held on 12 October 2009
These were approved.
3.
Matters
arising on the notes
(i)
Aimhigher Associates Scheme
It was reported that the target of 65 student
associates had now been met. Training had been undertaken and judged to have
met quality standards. It was fully expected that the associates would be
making their first visits to the participating schools within the next few
weeks.
(ii)
Points based visa system
The
Team noted that a familiarisation process with the detail of the new Sponsor Management System (SMS),
due to be implemented on 1 February 2010, was now well underway. A number of
necessary changes to LUSI had been identified and were being implemented by IT
Services. Initially, there would be only a small number of cases to put through
the new system but the volume would increase as the admissions cycle
progressed. Certain aspects of the system still required clarification and
contact was being maintained with UKBA about these.
(iii)
English Language requirements
The
Team received proposals regarding the pre-sessional English Language support
which would follow from the changes to the University’s minimum IELTS and
TOEFL requirements which had already been approved. Tony Westaway and Liz
Chahal and Henrietta Pocock (Student Support Centre) were thanked for their
detailed work on the proposals. The Team was reminded that the review of the
minimum requirements had been undertaken in response to concerns expressed by
academic departments. It was also emphasised that ADTs and ADRs would retain
their delegated authority to exempt particular students from the requirements. Departments would continue to be able
to set standards above the University’s
minimum threshold. The intention was
to place on the web a search facility which prospective students could use to
track the pre-sessional support they would need with a particular IELTS or TOEFL
score which fell short of the minimum.
The
Team approved the proposals for pre-sessional provision and asked for a
simplified version to be prepared for presentation to the next round of
Directorate meetings in December.
Action: AJW
(iv) Undergraduate
Prospectus
The Team was informed that the production schedule for
the target. Proofs would be released on 7 December. The planned reduction in
the size of the prospectus would be achieved. It was expected that the on-line
version of the publication would be one of the first sections of the web to
move across to the new content management system.
4.
UK/EU
UG intake targets 2010 entry
The
Team noted the UK/EU UG intake targets to be proposed to Operations Committee for 2010 entry. A meeting would be held shortly to begin the process for determining a set of recommendations
relating to PGT UK/EU and international recruitment and UG international
recruitment.
5.
UK/EU
and international UG applications 2010 entry
A
first analysis of undergraduate application data for 2010 entry was received.
The University was now within 1.0% of the equivalent overall UK/EU figure for
2009, a year in which applications had increased sharply. Both Engineering and
Science were recording actual increases while, by contrast, the Social Sciences
and Humanities Faculty had fallen by 6.7%. The position within the Faculty varied
significantly between departments, however, with Design and Technology, English
and Drama and PHIR (History) rising and
the
International
applications to the University had dropped so far by 25.5%.This contrasted with
a rise of 5.5% across the sector. An initial scrutiny of the domicile of
applicants did not suggest that any particular market was bearing the brunt of
the decline. Another possible explanation worthy of research was the impact of
higher entry requirements. It was unlikely that many applications had been
received yet from the principal
A
recent visit to
The
next analysis would include information on applications to the International
Foundation Programme at
Action: HEJ
6.
International
recruitment: the Unites States of America
The
Team was reminded that the University had regained its recognition for Federal
Loans, a development which brought the
Many
departments enjoyed research links with American academics and they were keen
to work with the International Office in exploiting the opportunities presented
by the successful loan recognition campaign. Currently, there were 74
registered students from the
Action: AJW
The
International Office had begun work on a recruitment strategy for the
A
further report would be made to the meeting of the Team due to be held on 18 January 2009 and to the first
round of Directorate meetings in the
New Year.
Action: AJW
The
Team was informed that the Department of Social Sciences was undertaking a
review of its undergraduate and taught postgraduate international recruitment
strategy and the International Office was invited to make contact to offer
assistance.
Action: International Office
7.
Widening
Participation
Justine Sanders presented a paper on the
University’s WP Strategic
Assessment. The Team was reminded
that HEFCE had asked all universities for a review of their Strategic
Assessment which, in Loughborough’s case, had been approved in June 2009. The deadline for this review
had been set for the end of February 2010 and initial guidelines had stipulated
that it should take the form of a concise explanation of the evaluation techniques
which would be employed for future activities. More detailed advice about the
submission had been promised soon. It had already been recommended that
reference should be made in the review to any links with Aimhigher and Lifelong
Learning Networks. The Team agreed that it would be helpful to make informal
contact with HEFCE to ascertain whether there were any specific issues which
they felt Loughborough ought to be addressing but which had not been mentioned
in the original letter of approval. A draft submission would be presented to
the next meeting of the Team.
Action: JS
Two
issues relating to mainstream undergraduate recruitment were raised. The first
concerned recruitment from the independent sector and it was agreed to ask the
SOAR Team to draw together some data on the University’s profile in this
respect over a three year period. A perception that the University was not the
choice of students at the “leading” schools could then be tested.
Action: JS
The
second issue drew attention to renewed Government interest in any admissions
strategies employed by universities which took account of contextual
information when reaching decisions on applications.
Examples of such information would be the academic performance of the school where
the applicant studied, the postcode of the applicant’s address and any
factors raised by either the applicant or the referee which suggested that
he/she was facing significant challenges. Currently, with the exception of a
small number of “special” offers available to encourage the
recruitment of elite athletes, Loughborough
based its decisions purely on academic achievement and potential. Any move away
from this position would need to be considered very carefully.
8.
Eliahue
Dangoor Scholarship: 1994 group initiative
The
Team endorsed a proposed selection process to support a new year-of-entry scholarship
scheme for
9.
Any
other business
(i)
Categorisation of taught postgraduate programmes
The
Team was pleased to learn that the work undertaken by Tawfiq Wolff to group
postgraduate programmes according to such categories as target market and
intended outcomes had been praised by
Professor Adam Smith during his recent visit to the University as part of the
review he was conducting into graduate education in the
(ii)
International recruitment missions
Jon
Inegbedion briefed the Team on visits which he had made recently to
Tony
Westaway reported on his recent visit to
- growing
interest in 2 + 2 arrangements at undergraduate level, an area in which Loughborough
had previous experience
- an
expansion in programmes taught through the medium of English Language with an
associated interest in
- greater
actual use of the science laboratories which had been the subject of
considerable investment
(iii)
Sustainability
The
Team was reminded that in 2008 an extensive word search had been carried out to
indentify which undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes contained
elements within a broad definition of sustainability. The search had revealed
that at least one programme within every department, and frequently many more,
came within the definition. This allowed both prospectuses to make clear
reference to the University’s commitment to and progress in this area.
The two publications also drew attention to the range of non-academic
“green” initiatives in which the University was now engaged. New
programmes with an explicit sustainability theme continued to be
introduced. Collaboration with the
Consideration
could now be given to repeating the word search, perhaps as a guided student
project. In the meantime, the possibility of recognising student contributions
to the sustainability agenda, outwith their degree studies, through the
Employability Award, was being investigated.
10.
Next
meeting
Monday 18 January 2010 at 9.30am
Author: Howard Jones
Date: 25 November 2009
Copyright: