EDI Mini-Fest - Awarding Gaps

Session Outline:

Awarding gaps exist both on individual courses and between courses.  Some of the root causes of these gaps have been previously identified and addressed through actions such as decolonisation of curricula.  This talk will present two specific contributors to our awarding gaps in TECH and describe some initial work to address these.  

Firstly, analysis undertaken in the faculty identified barriers that appear to exist to minoritised ethnicity students in securing a year long placement as part of their sandwich course; placements that are known to have extremely positive impacts on degree classifications and graduate employment.  

Secondly, degree apprentice students in the faculty tend to have extremely positive degree outcomes, in addition to the wider benefits associated with an apprenticeship, such as no tuition fees paid by the student and wider support from their employer.  

In line with national data, the apprenticeship versions of undergraduate courses in TECH appear to be made up of students from more affluent backgrounds and minoritised ethnicity students are almost completely unrepresented on some of our courses.  This talk will briefly outline the phenomena observed and describe ongoing actions to try to address these with employers and other stakeholders.