Thursday 7th December 2023
09:30am - 4:00pm
Etc Venues, Chancery Lane, 50-52 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1HL
The Widening Participation Conference 2023 will explore the latest practice and innovation in delivering high impact interventions that drive outcomes on access and participation.
The Conference will take a deep-dive into acting on the expectations of the Equality of Opportunity Risk Register and will consider action points for the design of reformed Access and Participation Plans. Attendees will also examine solutions from leading providers on intervention design, evaluation and monitoring.
Headline Speakers
Lord Jo Johnson
Former Minister of State for Universities, Research and Innovation
John Blake
Director for Fair Access and Participation
Office for Students
Mary Curnock Cook CBE
Former Chief Executive, UCAS
Professor Antony Moss
Pro Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience
London South Bank University
Dr Eliza Kozman
Deputy CEO
TASO
Agenda
8:45 am
Registration, Refreshments and Networking
9:30 am
Chair’s Welcome Address
Dr Eliza Kozman
Deputy CEO
TASO (CONFIRMED)
9:40 am
The Leaders Forum: The State of Access and Participation in Higher Education - What does Real Progress Look Like?
How can regulatory expectations on equality of opportunity be translated into real progress on widening participation?
What are the next steps in supporting a robust evidence base for targeted interventions?
How can we develop a cohesive system-wide view on social mobility from school age to employment?
What does the ‘journey to a million’ applicants mean for access and what will demand from students look like?
What is the impact of inflationary pressures, cost of living concerns and frozen tuition fees on driving progress on widening participation?
Lord Jo Johnson
Former Minister of State for Universities, Research and Innovation (CONFIRMED)
Mary Curnock Cook CBE
Former Chief Executive, UCAS (CONFIRMED)
Professor Antony Moss
Pro Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience
London South Bank University (CONFIRMED)
Nick Bent
CEO
Upreach (CONFIRMED)
10:30 am
Office for Students Update: The New Approach to Access and Participation Plans and Next Steps
The approach to monitoring risks to equality of opportunity and how the OfS is evaluation provider performance
Outcomes from wave 1 submissions that act on new guidance for Access and Participation Plans
Next steps for wave 2 submissions in 2024 and the delivery route for 2025 – 26
Successful approaches to embedding student engagement into A&P Plans
Evaluating ‘what works’ in delivering intervention strategies and demonstrating high quality evaluation
John Blake
Director for Fair Access and Participation
Office for Students (CONFIRMED)
11:00 am
Break and Networking
11:20 am
The Impact of Curriculum Reform on the Ethnicity Degree Awarding Gap
The session will explore Behavioural Insights Team research which assessed whether two curriculum reforms had an impact on the attainment of BAME students and addressed the EDAG. Dr Laure Bokobza will be considering the results from this study, using quasi-experimental quantitative methods to assess the impact of the reforms.
This research update will then be followed by a wider discussion on practical delivery in closing the EDAG from Dr Ada Adeghe, University of Wolverhampton.
Dr Laure Bokobza
Senior Research Advisor
The Behavioural Insights Team (CONFIRMED)
Dr Ada Adeghe
Associate Dean, Inclusivity
University of Wolverhampton (CONFIRMED)
11:50 am
Insights from a Wave 1 Volunteer Provider: Lessons Learnt
Identifying areas of risk and aligning monitoring with the Equality of Opportunity Risk Register
Lessons to learn from Wave 1 submissions in 2023 and forming an approach for 2024
Richard Mendez
Director of Access, Skills & Apprenticeships
University of Chester (CONFIRMED)
Sara Lawton
Access and Participation Manager (Data and Reporting)
University of Chester (CONFIRMED)
12:10 pm
Evaluation and Review: Are Our Interventions Working?
This panel brings together leaders in evaluation to examine approaches to review and monitoring. Panellists will consider:
Evaluation tools and evidence types when building an APP
How evaluation can be successfully embedded into programme design to examine ‘what works’
Self-assessment of evaluation practices and the route to building evaluation capabilities
Measuring outcomes against objectives and monitoring the impact of an intervention
Overcoming common barriers to successful evaluation: how do we create a meaningful answer on the value of an intervention?
Dr Julian Crockford
Student Experience Evaluator and Researcher
Sheffield Hallam University (CONFIRMED)
Paul Blagburn
Head of Widening Participation
University of Warwick (CONFIRMED)
Jonathan Schulte
LSE Evaluations Manager
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (CONFIRMED)
Sarah Harder-Collins
Head of Participation and Success
University of Winchester (CONFIRMED)
1:10 pm
Lunch and Networking
Stream A
2:10pm
Wave 1 Insights from the University of Derby
Professor Neil Fowler
Professor and Associate Provost Learning and Teaching
University of Derby (CONFIRMED)
2:40 pm
The Cost-of-Living Conundrum: Supporting Participation and Inclusion Amid Crisis
Professor Graeme Atherton
Director
National Education Opportunities Network (NEON) (CONFIRMED)
Stream B
2:10 pm
The Fair Access Agenda in Scotland – Interventions, Monitoring and Evidence
Professor John McKendrick
Commissioner for Fair Access
Scottish Government (CONFIRMED)
2:40 pm
Learning Points on Summer Schools: Insights from Wales
Alexandra Roberts
Senior Student Recruitment Officer
University of South Wales (CONFIRMED)
3:10 pm
Networking and Refreshments
Conference Close
3:30 pm
* Programme subject to change
Audience
Directors of Student Recruitment
Pro Vice Chancellors
Widening Participation Managers
Outreach Officers
Student Recruitment Managers
Heads of Widening Participation and Access
Access Managers
Directors of Admissions
Associate Deans
Heads of Equality and Inclusion
Heads of Outreach
Pricing
Public Sector
£395 + VAT
Attend Widening Participation Conference
Private Sector
£595 + VAT
Attend Widening Participation Conference
HE Professional
£395 + VAT
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