Contextual data in admissions

Initial set of contextual data items to be provided via UCAS

The data that will be made available via UCAS has been agreed through consultation with SPA and the institutions that currently use such data, together with agreement from the administrations of the UK. It is from publicly held datasets.

The information that UCAS will provide free for 2012 entry, that HEIs will need to sign up to take, will be as below. If any other data becomes available it will be added here:

1.	School performance average of students achieving 5 A*-C GCSE including English or Welsh and mathematics or equivalent • England, Wales and Northern Ireland Scottish Standard grade equivalent • Scotland
2.	School performance average QCA point score for best 8 GCSEs • England, Wales and Northern Ireland Scottish Standard grade equivalent • Scotland
3.	School performance average QCA points per A level entry (or equivalent) • England, Wales and Northern Ireland UCAS tariff point score per Scottish Highers entry • Scotland
4.	School performance average QCA points per A level student (or equivalent) • England, Wales and Northern Ireland School performance average UCAS tariff points per Scottish Highers entry • Scotland
5.	Percentage of students at the school entitled to free school meals • England, Wales and Northern Ireland Percentage of students at the school registered for free school meals • Scotland
6.	Percentage of students at the school entitled to educational maintenance allowance - (note this information will be available for one year only for England as EMA will cease thereafter in England). • England, Wales and Northern Ireland Percentage of students at the school registered for educational maintenance allowance • Scotland
7.	Lives in a low progression to higher education neighbourhood (Polar 2)

The information will be linked to the applicant or can be made available as generic data sets. Initially two years worth of data will be available, for the 2009 and 2010 academic years.

Points to note UCAS will not be providing:

Progression to Higher Education data, as this figure would have to have been calculated by UCAS rather than provided directly by the UK education departments. Scotland already calculate this figure, and UCAS is working with the Scottish Government to examine if it is possible to pass the component parts of this calculation on to the institutions in the future;
Progression from year 11 to further education data as none of the UK education departments can provide the, so it is not being included at this stage;
Socio-economic class IIM-VII is currently derived by from self declared occupational background information collected by UCAS in UCAS Apply, and about 20-30% do not declare the data. Currently this data is not provided to HEIs at the time of application, but only after receive after the institution has made a decision on the application and again after the end of the application cycle as part of the UCAS *J data transfer transaction, this will not be changed for 2012 entry.
In care for greater than 6 months. However the data on in care for 3 months and over is collected by UCAS through self declared data in UCAS Apply.

Applicants self-declared data
In addition, there is already contextual data that is self declared by applicants at the time of their application via UCAS that HEIs receive WITH the application data:

disability, special needs (including dyslexia or another specific learning difficulty) or a medical condition
whether or not any of the applicant’s parents, step-parents or guardians have themselves undertaken a course at higher education level
whether or not the applicant has any time spent in local authority care. This includes public care and if they lived in one or more of foster care, semi-independent living or residential care homes (codes C-E are 3 months or more in care)
Activities in preparation for higher education (UK Applicants only) that is widening participation or aspiration raising activities that are non-examination based activities such as summer schools, Saturday university, campus days, summer academies, taster courses, subject enhancement and booster courses. Applicants are encouraged to give more details in their personal statement.

In addition, there is already contextual data that is self declared by UK applicants at their time of application via UCAS that HEIs receive AFTER the institution has made a decision on the application:

Ethnic origin of applicants who live in the UK
Occupational background - This information is mandatory for UK applicants. This information is converted by UCAS into occupational classifications based on those used by the Office for National Statistics, and will be used to produce statistics on higher education. Those under 21, give the job title/ most recent job title of their parent, step-parent or guardian who earns the most. Those 21 or over, give their own job title/ most recent job title Applicants answer to this question will not affect how their application is considered by their chosen institutions. A number of applicants prefer not to give this information, they enter: I prefer not to say.

This data after the applicant has applied can be used for monitoring and evaluation

The common basket of data
Discussion with a number of universities in 2010 identified a basket of data on which they all agree would need to be available across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This original basket of data is given below. UCAS's work the administrations around the UK to date (February 2011) has enabled the data above to be agreed for 2012, work will continue to establish if more data can be made available.
However, although there may be limitations on some of the data and it does not cover all the data items that institutions wanted, this is still a huge move forward on contextual data provision, with useful outcomes for HEIs.
Although the points below refer to information on GCSEs and A Levels, of course information will also need to be obtained on other qualifications e.g, IB, Standard and Higher qualifications in Scotland, Welsh Baccalaureate, BTEC and other national qualifications, Advanced Diplomas and other appropriate qualifications.

Educational Background

Progression rates to higher education (percentage determined by cohort size) from school/college (Scotland only)
School performance - Average (mean) school GCSE performance for 5 A*-C GCSE (including English/Welsh and Mathematics)*
Average (mean) school 'Best Eight' GCSE performance
Progression from Year 11 to further education (not available)
Average (mean) of QCA points per qualification (per entry and per student)*

* Require national average

Socio-Economic Background

In receipt of (or entitled to) free school meal (school rates and individual)
In receipt of (or entitled to) an Educational Maintenance Allowance (including levels) not available in England after 2011
Lives in a low progression to higher education neighbourhood (Polar 2)
Socio-economic class IIIM-VII (not available)
Have been in care for greater than six months (available via UCAS application data for greater than 3 months)

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Reviewed and updated: May 2011