News - Fair Access Toolkit

Universities Scotland has launched a new campaign on widening access called “40 Faces”, which profiles 40 non-traditional students and graduates who share their experience of university and shares their views on what is key to achieve Scotland’s access targets by 2030, that by 2030 20% of Scottish entrants to University will be from the 20% most socioeconomically disadvantaged postcode areas.

40 Faces looks at the narrative and experiences of these learners and highlights key themes which will be key to any further progress.

They are

Start young on self-belief. Schools and universities must continue to cultivate a strong and inclusive sense of belonging amongst underrepresented communities.
Join things up. Achievement of the 2030 goals will only be possible with a holistic approach that sees progress at school, college and university level, including significant progress in the poverty-related attainment gap in schools.
No wrong path. Multiple routes into university need to be available to suit diverse needs and offer second chances and equal access to chances later in life.
Money matters. From the perspective of student finance, which focused more on non-repayable grants and bursaries, and the funding available to universities to support access initiatives and investment on a per student basis.

Find out more at Universities Scotland

(Added to News April 2024)

We are pleased to announce that the Scottish Funding Council has awarded SCAPP further funding from August 2024- July 2025.

We welcome this award which will allow SCAPP to continue to develop and shape activity which is practitioner led, focusing on professional learning and development activities, including the MAPS mentoring programme and the growing Professional Standards Framework and Accreditation Scheme, and the development of evaluation capacities, support and activities for the SCAPP community, while continuing to scope out a sustainable way to achieve this.

Thanks are extended to the Scottish Funding Council, and to the Scottish Government, for their continued financial and personal support and interest in SCAPP.

In addition, we appreciate the continued support and guidance from the SCAPP Steering Group, and the in kind support from many practitioners, all of which has helped in the shaping of SCAPP activity.

(Added to News March 2024)

SCAPP hosted a Practice Sharing event on Wednesday 13th March to bring together the participants of our Evaluation Matters Community of Practice (CoP) which was launched in December 2022.

As part of SCAPP’s commitment to supporting evaluation practice, build capacity of WA/WP practitioners and help to establish ‘what works’ in Access and Participation, the CoP received support from a range of guest speakers providing training sharing practice, with a full schedule of meetings throughout a 12 month period. CoP members produced case studies on their evaluation work alongside a collaborative report.

Our Sharing Event provided an opportunity to have meaningful discussions around our CoP outputs, reflect on the evaluation of this CoP and consider future steps.

SCAPP would like to thank all of the participants for engaging so productively in this CoP, and the professionals who provided their time and expertise to make this CoP a success, particularly our co-facilitators Alison Browitt (University of Glasgow) and Jennie Younger (LEAPS).

You can find out more about Evaluation Matters here on on the Fair Access website

(Added to News March 2024)

In Autumn 2023, SCAPP commissioned an independent consultation to seek the views of members about SCAPPs work and activities and to better understand the value members may derive from SCAPP.

The insight from this evaluation has been used to:

learn from the membership and contribute to the future planning and development of SCAPP and its services
provide services and activities which most effectively use SCAPPs resources

We were pleased that the large majority of respondents derived value from their SCAPP membership and reported a positive impact on their role and on their organisation.

Please see a summary of the results, and how we will have implemented the feedback from this consultation in the attached Summary and ‘You Said We Did’ document.

(Added to news February 2024)

Wee Campus is an online digital community that has been developed and co-designed with students with experience of care to be a safe place to engage, share experiences, advice, find information, and encourage others through their higher education journey. They are open to all and believe everyone wants to be the best they can be, wants to be there for others, and with the right support can excel.

What Wee Campus offers:

Connect with other higher education students with care experience
Share experiences and guidance
Find Information and seek advice
Encourage others through their higher education journey

Find out More:
Website: https://whynottrust.org/the-wee-campus/
Instagram: @thewhynottrust
Facebook: @thewhynottrust
Email: hello@whynottrust.org

(Added to News March 2024)

It is with great sadness that Susan Muller, Director of Stand Alone, has announced the charity’s closure:

”After 12 successful years in the context of rapidly changing circumstances and a challenging wider environment hampering our efforts to raise additional funding, we have had to make the hard decision to close. Stand Alone will cease its operations on 31 March 2024 and will be officially dissolved by 30 April 2024.

This is not a decision Stand Alone’s Board of Trustees have taken lightly.

While we are all very regretful that Stand Alone charity has reached the end of the road, we are immensely proud of what we have achieved. And we want to take this opportunity to celebrate the changes we have effected for estranged students since launching our higher education work in 2016.

Now that Stand Alone is closing it is time to hand over the baton and for higher education sector bodies, higher education providers and other third sector organisations to keep advocating for and driving forward the development of support for estranged students in higher education.”

Stand Alone invite institutions and organisations to join in a social media legacy campaign #ESLegacyPledge during 18-20th March and a final ‘Passing the Baton’ for the Higher Education Sector event on 21 March, which you can sign up to attend, here.

Please read the full announcement from Stand Alone, here.

(Added to news February 2024)

SCAPP seeks a new Chair

SCAPP is seeking a new Chair for its Steering Group to help lead and steer SCAPP through the next phase of its developments as it works towards a more sustainable future.

The Chair performs an important strategic leadership role for SCAPP and the Steering Group, providing focus and direction for its activities, working closely with SCAPP staff members and the Steering Group, acting as a spokesperson for SCAPP as appropriate, and ensuring effective governance arrangements are in place to support the operations of SCAPP. As SCAPP continues to work within a challenging financial landscape, income generation and sustainable operations will be important for the network going forward.

Please see below and on the SCAPP Jobs & Opportunities page for full details of the position and application process.

The College Development Network have relaunched the College Action Inquiry Research Network (CAIRN) Journal. The Journal aims to be an important voice in the scholarship of the Scottish college sector. It aims to provide a forum to disseminate innovation, knowledge and critical insights through a variety of scholarly submissions. These will include: featured research articles, personal reflection articles and book reviews. In addition, we also seek short thoughtful descriptive narrative articles highlighting innovative practices aimed at enhancing and supporting educational core activities.

Read more on the CDN website.

(Added to news February 2024)

Professor John McKendrick’s First report as Commissioner for Fair Access is published. Entitled Renewing the Alliance for Fair Access, Professor McKendrick makes 20 recommendations and outlines his ten priorities for 2024.

Coverage of his report can also be found in Wonkhe, Times Higher Education Supplement, The Herald, and Times Education Supplement

(Added to News February 2024)

If you support young people at either a School, College, University, or even through an Access Programme, you can nominate those with the drive to access higher education but who face barriers in achieving this.

Each year, over 700 young people, known as Robertson Trust Scholars, are supported through Journey to Success in a broad range of subjects across Scotland’s universities. Since 1992, the programme has supported over 1,000 young people to overcome financial and social barriers to gain the university education and career they aspire to.

The programme was devised to offer self-development opportunities and financial support to 16-25 year olds in Scotland who face barriers to higher education. We are particularly interested in supporting students from backgrounds currently underrepresented in higher education, including those who are:

From schools with low progression rates to higher education
From households with low income
Black and Minority Ethnic groups
Disabled
Have lived experience of care
Carers
Estranged from their family
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities
From military families

Please click here to learn more about how the nominations work and also visit the webpage for more information on The Scholarship and Journey to Success.

School and College Nominations: Deadline 28 April 2024

University Nominations: Deadline 2 June 2024

If you have any questions, please email scholars@therobertsontrust.org.uk.

(added to News February 2024)

11-12 June 2024
Abertay University, Dundee

After the success of the SCAPP Conference 2023, SCAPP is delighted to collaborate with the Abertay University team, to deliver the European Access Network Conference 2024!

The theme for 2024 is New Beginnings for European Access – Designing Equity, Transitions and Student Success, and is focused on preparation, diversity and partnerships.

Conference registrations are open and SCAPP are pleased to announce a 20% discount for Paid SCAPP Members to attend the conference. Please note there are a limited number of tickets available on the discounted SCAPP rate, and this discount is available on a first-come-first served basis. Once this discounted ticket allocation is exhausted, the standard rates will apply.

There are one-day, and two-day delegate rates, which include a delegate pack, attendance at all of the day sessions (for the day/s of the booking), refreshments, lunch and the evening activity (Welcome Reception on Tuesday or end of Conference Celebration on the Wednesday).

Book your place at the EAN Conference, here.
Please note that all delegates must be registered individually, and Abertay University can only accept card payment.

Those who have submitted an abstract to the conference will be notified of the outcome by 11 March 2024. They may wish to note the key dates here.
(Presenters will also be required to register, and pay for a ticket to attend).

Read all details about the conference at https://ean.abertay.ac.uk/
Please contact scapp@stir.ac.uk with any questions.

(Added to news January 2024)

Universities Scotland is delighted to appoint Claire McPherson to the role of Director. Ms McPherson will take up the role on 25 March 2024; succeeding Alastair Sim, who has been Director of the body which represents Scotland’s 19 universities and higher education institutions, since 2009.

Claire brings a wealth of experience shaping and influencing public policy at senior levels within the Scottish Government. Her career in the Scottish Government includes strategic and policy roles in the First Ministers’ Policy and Delivery Unit, leading cross government work on Public Service Reform and most recently as Deputy Director for Population and Migration. This gives her a deep insight into the critical role universities play across a broad range of government policy priorities. Claire was also Deputy Director Policy at the Scottish Funding Council for two years at a key time during the COVID-19 pandemic and was instrumental in the Council’s policy response, including the Council’s strategic review of the coherence and sustainability of higher education.

Claire becomes Director of Universities Scotland at a strategically important time for the higher education sector. Universities face a volatile financial landscape and several policy challenges ahead. Universities Scotland’s policy and advocacy role, providing a strong, united voice for the sector, will be vital to ensuring the continued international success of our universities and the significant contribution they make to economic growth and social justice within Scotland.

Commenting on her appointment, Claire McPherson said

“It is a huge privilege to join Universities Scotland to represent and advocate for a sector that is the source of so much pride in Scotland. Universities provide life changing opportunities for students, produce essential research, stimulate innovation, encourage entrepreneurship, and act as beacons for international talent and inward investment. Our universities are uniquely placed to provide the insight, expertise and creativity required to address the challenges we face here in Scotland and around the world. I look forward to working closely with the sector and our many important partners as we face the exciting challenges ahead.”

Universities Scotland’s’ Convener, Professor Iain Gillespie said:

“Claire brings a wealth of experience and insight to the role of Director. This is a strong appointment for Universities Scotland. Her leadership, in this demanding position, will be of vital importance to the continued success of Scotland’s universities as we navigate an ever-changing landscape. I’m very much looking forward to working with her in this new capacity.”

Vivienne Stern, Chief Executive of Universities UK. Said:

“I am delighted that Claire will be joining us to lead the next phase of Universities Scotland’s work. Her experience working within the Scottish Government, combined with her understanding of the huge potential of Scotland’s universities, will be a powerful advantage to her as a leading force in Scottish higher education and research.”

Claire lives in Edinburgh with her husband and two children. She is a law graduate from the University of Glasgow. She spent the early part of her civil service career in London, before returning to Scotland in 2013 to join the Scottish Government.

Further info at Universities Scotland

(Added to news January 2024)

SQA have developed a short awareness-raising video about the next generation of HN Qualifications – NextGen: HN. This may be useful to clarify understanding for colleagues across the sector or equally of use for new staff in widening access and participation roles, admissions, course development team, recruitment and similar.

Preparing to receive NextGen Learners – What you Need to Know

Please share with your networks.

(Added to news January 2024)

Please be aware that the Carer Support Payment will replace Carers Allowance in Scotland, and is planned to be launched nationally in Scotland in Spring 2024.

With this change, there may be impacts on Higher Education Students with caring responsibilities, who are eligible for these payments.

You may also like to read further information on our Student Carers page.

(Added to news December 2023)

Driving Institutional Change

Congratulations to the University of the West of Scotland for winning a Stand Alone Pledge Award 2023 for their Pre-entry IAG, Estranged students’ voice and engagement.

This year’s awards highlight and celebrate how the Pledge has brought about change in the institutional support for estranged students.

Read more on the Stand Alone website.

(Added to news December 2023)

Please be aware that SAAS have updated their definition of Students Estranged from their families.

SAAS will not ask estranged applicants for their parents’ income when assessing their student finance package.
Read more on the SAAS website

Estrangement can occur at any time. According to SAAS data a third of students don’t identify / apply to student finance as estranged until their 3rd year.

You may also like to read more on our Estranged Students Page.

(Added to news November 2023)

The Sutton Trust US Programme is designed to support students from state schools across the UK in S5 in Scotland, Year 12 in England and Wales and Year 13 in Northern Ireland to explore US study and access leading universities. It includes two residentials before all students spend a week in the US staying on campus at a leading US university and visiting a variety of other American universities.

Applications are currently open until 14th January 2024. Please share with your relevant networks.

(Added to news November 2023)

Please share with your network

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland – Transitions Applications now open

Transitions is an award-winning performing and production arts initiative. We believe that everyone with talent and potential should have access to training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland regardless of their background.

We understand that for many people who want to pursue a career in the performing and production arts, finding and funding suitable training activities and courses can be challenging.

The Transitions initiative aims to provide funded training for those wishing to study the performing or production arts. We seek to help people who would like to study:

To be eligible you must meet the following criteria:

you are 16+ if interested in either drama, film or production
you are 7+ if interested in music or ballet
you have not completed a higher education programme

And are one or more of the following:

you live in an SIMD1 postcode
or you are a care experienced and/or an estranged young person

Or are living in an SIMD1 or SIMD2 postcode and:

living rurally
Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC)
a young carer

Click here for how to apply

Application deadline 31 January 2023

(Added to news November 2023)

The SCAPP New Practitioner Network aims to build the knowledge, confidence and networks of practitioners who are new to roles in Widening Access and Widening Participation.

After the success of the 2023 Network, we are pleased to open registrations for the SCAPP New Practitioner Network 2024!

The Network will be co-facilitated by Laura Kwiatkowski (SCAPP Learning & Development Coordinator) and Nicola Kennedy (Senior Outreach Officer – Schools, Edinburgh Napier University). Topic sessions will be run by guest speakers and specialists throughout 2024.

Please read more and register to take part on the SCAPP New Practitioner Network Page.

(added to news October 2023)

If you have an interest in developing the foundations for student success, then you might be interested to know that the Scottish First Year Experience Network has just been launched. This network arose out of the European First Year Experience conference held at Abertay University in June 2023.

Over 40 staff and students attended the inaugural opening, online event. At the session, we agreed on the parameters for our operation and started to identify some of the key areas we could focus on as a collaborative community of practitioners, students and researchers.

In the first instance, our activities will focus on setting expectations for student success across three different targeted activity groups (TAGs): mature, international and articulating students. To join a TAG please complete this short Microsoft form and register your interest.

We welcome anyone who might be interested, from universities, colleges, student organisations or elsewhere.

If you want to get involved, please drop us an email at scottishfye@abertay.ac.uk. You can also follow us on Twitter, @ScotFYEN.

(Added to news October 2023)

Dr Jan Smith, candidate for EdD in Education Leadership, University of Strathclyde, is seeking Leaders or Managers who support educational outcomes of care leavers in Higher Education in the UK to complete a research questionnaire.

Jan hopes to obtain as many views and experiences as possible. Jan hopes that any findings from this work will provide the evidence base required to improve the university experience for staff supporting care leavers in higher education settings, as well as care leavers themselves.

Please do share this with any relevant colleagues.

You can find details of the research project here on LinkedIn, and a link to the questionnaire, here.

Please email Jan.Smith.2020@uni.strath.ac.uk with any questions or for further information.

(added to news October 2023)

The Universal Evaluation Framework has been launched, and is available for free use.

This is an open access and interactive tool for planning evaluations or for gathering evaluative evidence created by Prof Stella Jones-Devitt and Prof Liz Austen and team as part of the QAA Scotland Enhancement Themes.

You can register for a user account and access the resource on: https://evaluationforall.org/

(added to news September 2023)

UCAS is launching a new service in Autumn 2023. The UCAS Outreach Connection Service will help schools and colleges navigate opportunities offered by HE providers and third-party organisations. Providers and third party providers can showcase their outreach and engagement activities via an online tool, promoting opportunities to support students from underrepresented backgrounds into higher education.

All UCAS registered centres in the UK will have automatic access to this portal.

You can find out more about it here on the UCAS website

(added to news September 2023)

The ICAS Foundation is a registered Scottish Charity which aims to widen access and increase diversity, creating employment routes into the accountancy sector for talented young people from low-income backgrounds. The Nurturing Talent Programme is their key initiative and provides ongoing support for up to 4 years including bursary funding, individualised mentoring, and help in securing internships and graduate jobs. They also provide practical support in areas including interview skills, CV writing and employer engagement.

Please see the document from ICAS with further information.
You may wish to share the information with your finance and bursary teams, and those advising current or prospective students.

The ICAS Foundation team are actively seeking new university partnerships, particularly in the Glasgow region – although the team welcome all enquiries. For more information or to have an informal discussion about how your institution can work with the ICAS Foundation, please contact Sanjay Singh, Director of the ICAS Foundation, at Ssingh@icasfoundation.org.uk

(added to news August 2023)

CDN are offering their Executive Leadership Series to anyone working in the tertiary sector who has senior leadership ambitions. They can sign up for some or all of the sessions, which have a range of speakers and the opportunity to build a peer network of colleagues from different institutions at a similar stage in their careers. SCAPP members are welcome to participate in these. Details are available on the SCAPP Learning Resources provided by organisations page.

(added to news September 2023)

CDN are delighted to launch the ambitious new Trauma-Informed College Programme, aimed at facilitating the creation of a trauma-informed culture in every college in Scotland.

The programme will utilise learning from CDN’s recent Pathways from Poverty Research and the expertise of colleagues and partners across the sector to provide training, resources and interventions that will help colleges tackle the challenges faced by learners and their communities in accessing and sustaining their participation in education.

At the heart of the programme is an understanding that colleges are already leading the way in tackling educational disadvantage in our communities and in supporting all learners, including those who have lived experience of poverty and trauma, to succeed. The programme aims to build on existing good practice and to provide a range of support to colleges and college leaders to consider what further steps they need to take to develop and embed a truly trauma-informed culture throughout their organisation.

Read the full programme overview here

(added to news August 2023)

SCAPP Membership Subscription update

From August 2023, SCAPP is introducing annual membership subscriptions.
Paid SCAPP members are eligible for additional benefits, including access to a dedicated Members area of the Fair Access Website.

If you are a SCAPP member and part of an institution with paid SCAPP membership, you will receive an email from SCAPP. This will provide your SCAPP username and a password, giving you access to sections of the website which will be exclusive to paid members. Please check your junk mail folder as the email may arrive there.

We are currently consulting on membership options for individuals who belong to charities or third sector and voluntary organisations, public sector and private sector organisations, and for individuals who have registered with SCAPP. At this stage they will be considered as Nonpaid Members while we contact them to explore options.

Please see our Paid Members and partners listed here.

A list of benefits for both Paid, and Nonpaid, members can be found on the SCAPP Website.

We will continue to provide useful, purposeful and impactful activities to serve the widening access and participation community and ensure that we are implementing a system that is fair and enable engagement with SCAPP and the wider community.

If you would like to discuss membership please contact scapp@stir.ac.uk

Thanks to everyone who came along to our conference on 16th May. We welcomed just under 140 delegates on the day who took part and inputted to keynote sessions, a Question Time Panel and 12 different workshops, as well as opportunities to network throughout the day.

We would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who attended, and supported the conference in the various roles and capacities on the day. We hope you found it an ideal may to meet new or existing colleagues after more than 3 years when face-to-face meetings and events were simply impossible or challenging to attend.

Thanks to everyone who has completed the conference evaluation survey so far. The deadline is Tuesday 30th May at 17:00. Your feedback will help us plan future events so if you’ve yet to complete you can find the link to the Conference survey here, which should take no more than 5-7 minutes to complete.

We will be uploading presentations from the workshops and on our Conference page together with photos from the day. See Conference Page for more information

If you have any ideas for future events or conference topics and themes please contact us at scapp@stir.ac.uk

Widening access targets reaffirmed in new First Minister’s vision for Scotland

First Minister, Humza Yousaf, has set out the Scottish Government’s priorities and objectives in his first prospectus – Equality, opportunity, community.

Amongst other commitments, it pledges a recommitment to meet the interim target of 18 per cent of full-time first degree entrants to universities coming from the most deprived communities in Scotland by 2026 and moving to a final target of 20% by 2030. There is also a commitment to focus on closing the poverty related attainment gap, whilst raising attainment for all, and keep the Promise made to the care community by 2030

You can read the publication further here

Service personnel, service leavers, and veterans have been given a boost by the launch of a skills discovery tool designed to support their career pathways beyond military service.

Although service personnel can bring a wealth of valuable skills, experience, and qualifications to the workplace, these can often be difficult for employers outside of the armed forces to recognise.

This unique tool helps by recognising and translating the skills, experience and qualifications gained during service into language more easily understood by learning institutions and employers outside the armed forces, so will support ex-military personnel to gain employment or move into further learning. It also allows serving personnel to better understand the skills and qualifications they are gaining in order to plan their careers both within and outwith the armed forces.

The easy-to-use tool allows a veteran or service leaver to select their role, rank, cap badge or trade from a range of armed forces roles and select those most relevant to them. They are then given a pre-filtered list of qualifications that they can use to select those they have completed. The results will highlight the range of transferable skills that they have gained and will use these to provide suggested job roles that they would be suited to.

Check out the latest news from across the sector

If you have any news that you want to share, please contact scapp@stir.ac.uk

40 Voices

SCAPP Funding Award 2024-25

Evaluation Matters Practice Sharing Event

Results of the SCAPP Member Consultation

Wee Campus - New Resource for Care Experienced Students

Closure of Stand Alone

SCAPP Chair Vacancy

CAIRN (College Action Inquiry Research Network) journal launch

Renewing the Alliance for Fair Access - Commissioner for Fair Access Annual report 2024 published

Nominations for entry to the 2024/25 Robertson Trust Scholarship are now open!

European Access Network Conference, in collaboration with SCAPP

Universities Scotland - Claire McPherson to be the next Director

Preparing to receive NextGen Learners - What you Need to Know

Preparing to receive NextGen Learners – What you Need to Know

Changes to Carer Support Payment

Stand Alone Pledge Awards 2023

EAN Conference - SCAPP Site Visit to Abertay University

SAAS Estranged Student Definition Update

Sutton Trust US Programme Open for Applications

RCS Transitions - Applications now open

SCAPP New Practitioner Network 2024

Scottish First Year Experience Network

Participants wanted for research on support for Care Leavers in Higher Education

SCQF Guide to Ukrainian Qualifications

Universal Evaluation Framework

UCAS Outreach Connection Service

ICAS Foundation

CDN Executive Leadership Series

CDN Launch Trauma-Informed College Programme

SCAPP Subscription Update

SCAPP Conference 2023

SAAS Stakeholder Toolkit 2023 - 2024

Widening access targets reaffirmed in new First Minister’s vision for Scotland

First Minister, Humza Yousaf, has set out the Scottish Government’s priorities and objectives in his first prospectus – Equality, opportunity, community.

Military Skills Discovery Tool Launch - SCQF

Each and Every Child launch new podcast

CDN appoint new Chief Executive

New Commissioner for Fair Access is appointed

ADVANCE Project

SCAPP Directory of Networking and Expertise