Access and Participation Statement
Empire College London is committed to widening participation and access to higher education for all students. The College aims to continue to deliver to students from all backgrounds, providing them with appropriate support to develop their skills and knowledge, contributing to achievement in HE.
The College has been delivering higher education for many years and recently reviewed its provision to ensure that it remains current and relevant and meets the needs of its student population. The review has also supported the expansion of a new campus in Birmingham, where delivery commenced in March 2023.
The College is committed to delivering a high-quality learning experience for all students irrespective of background, gender, age, ethnicity, disability, religion, social class, or any other factor. This is in line with the College goals and Equality and Diversity policy.
The College believes everyone should have the opportunity to progress in education and succeed.
Access, success, and progression
Our Access and Participation statement aims to raise the aspirations of all students to make them aware of what they can achieve and support their progression into and through higher education.
The College has a transparent admissions policy that welcomes applications from students with nontraditional backgrounds. The admissions team provides comprehensive advice, guidance, and pastoral support throughout the admissions process to allow applicants from as wide a spectrum as possible to access the college educational offer.
Existing students provide support to new and prospective students by participating in College recruitment events and the College induction programme each semester.
A comprehensive induction programme is provided, covering all intakes of students during the college year and allowing an effective transition to college life. Information on academic regulations, student support, policies, and student and college expectations throughout the learner journey is provided during the programme.
The College offers flexible course delivery, allowing students with childcare and work commitments to continue their studies rather than seeing this as a barrier.
A wide range of support mechanisms are in place to enable progression, retention, achievement, and success. These include initial assessments, tutorial support, IT support, mental health and well-being support, and financial, academic and pastoral support. Extracurricular activities are also embedded alongside the academic programme. Attending these events is an opportunity for students to enhance and share experiences with students across the College and have a balance between academic and social life.
The College has the appropriate processes in place to provide learner and learning support to students, including disabled students. These are regularly reviewed to ensure all students benefit from the support throughout their learner journey and to enable academic progression and continuation.
Appointed support coordinators work on participation and success among students with disabilities. The coordinators provide relevant advice and guidance to students for disability-related concerns. All declared disabilities are shared with tutors to support students throughout their journey so disabled students are not disadvantaged.
Third-party arrangements are in place for additional professional guidance for students who may experience specific learning difficulties or social and emotional problems. These arrangements also include needs assessments to support students and enhance support mechanisms in the College.
The retention and achievement of students are monitored throughout the academic year. This allows the College to intervene at early stages to provide and identify the necessary support for students who may require additional support.
The College offers students a career preparation service, including CV writing and interview techniques. Employer engagement is embedded in course delivery to develop transferable skills. The College supports students in employment and in continuing to the next levels of Higher Education.
The Student Voice actively feeds into the quality processes and is designed to allow improvements in various areas of the college. Students have many opportunities throughout the academic year to provide feedback. Student participation in course and management meetings, both formal and informal, is always encouraged. The feedback is used to identify areas of strengths and improvements in planning for future development at the college.
The College has continued with its strong track record of attracting and retaining students from diverse groups on its Higher Education programmes. The College is continuing to focus on the recruitment of students to Higher Education from under-represented groups, including:
• Mature learners
• BAME Groups
• Disabled learners
The Higher Education portfolio currently consists of Higher National Certificate in Business, Higher National Diploma in Business (Business Management), and Diploma in Education and Training. We are continually looking to develop and enhance the HE provisions to meet the needs of prospective and current students to support access, success, and progression.
The College will continue to:
• Implement effective targeted marketing to encourage prospective students who would not otherwise think about or consider entering Higher education.
• Provide Prospective students with accurate and timely information, allowing them to make informed decisions.
• Deliver programmes to accommodate the needs of students to support progression, retention, and success.
• Offer a wide range of appropriate student support mechanisms throughout the student journey to support progression, retention, achievement, and success.
• Monitor student engagement to ensure intervention is timely where required to support student needs.
• Provide Higher Education that is accessible to all.
The effectiveness of the above measures has resulted in:
a. 89% retention rate in all courses in the 2022-2023 academic year.
b. 83% success rate in all courses in the 2022-2023 Academic year.
c. 80% of HND Business management students progressed from the first to the second year of the course.
d. More than 50 % of students returned to complete the HND (2nd year) after successfully completing the HNC.
e. More than 50% of disabled students either successfully completed or progressed satisfactorily on the course.
f. 84% success rate for BAME students in the 2022-2023 Academic year across all courses.
g. 85% of graduate students are either in employment or further education (this data was retrieved from the Graduate Outcomes survey)
h. An overall satisfaction rate of 96% was reported in the external survey, which included various areas of student support. This survey was for the HND Business program only.
i. Internal student feedback is also taken throughout the academic year on various aspects, which include teaching and learning, student support, college resources and health and safety. More than 80% of students agreed with the service provided in these areas.
j. Students progressing to University degree programs after completing the HN programs. The ratio of student progression to Universities varies every semester.
Data in point a-f are provisional, as the analysis & report of the final data is due in November 2023
Future developments:
Continue developing partnerships to broaden progression pathways and encourage degree programme opportunities and aspirations.
Continue to review and develop academic and welfare support practices to ensure students benefit from support at every stage of their student journey to allow access, progression, retention, and success and enable students to overcome barriers and achieve in their education and beyond.
Student consultation
Students are members of management and staff meetings. The consultation takes place with students regarding their contribution to developing and implementing College systems and procedures. A particular and identifiable strength of the College is the support students provide in positively promoting the College.
The College continues to listen and respond to its students to enable them to benefit from their educational experience, feel valued, and be part of the decision-making.
Monitoring & Evaluation
The College will review the impact of its access and participation approaches annually and make amendments if these approaches are found to be ineffective.
The following data will be collected and used to inform future planning and support access and participation:
• Recruitment data
• Retention, progression, and completion data of students
• The social background of students to monitor participation by those from underrepresented groups.
• Internal & External Data
Last updated and reviewed: August 2023