Recruitment and Admissions Committee (RAC)

One of the EPC’s standing committees reporting to the EPC Board, the Recruitment & Admissions Committee leads the EPC’s work on policy and practice relating to who becomes an engineering student and how. As such, its work covers issues of fair access, outreach, applications and entry requirements, marketing and student equality, diversity and inclusion.

In practice, the key work of the Committee each year is to organise the Recruitment & Admissions Forum – the event which  brings together anyone with responsibility for – or an interest in – recruitment and admissions to engineering higher education. The Committee also responds to consultations by government and other bodies and has overseen our groundbreaking research on access and social mobility.

Aims and Objectives

1. To influence policies to improve the quantity, quality and preparedness of entrants from the UK and overseas to engineering undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses.
2. To collect and disseminate information relevant to the recruitment and admission of students from the UK and overseas to the EPC membership.
3. To support initiatives which promote engineering in schools and colleges.

1. Influence

By taking part in consultations and directly attempting to influence Government, statutory bodies and assessment organisations so that :

  • more students are attracted into engineering and are able to study the key feeder subjects;
  • the status of pre-university engineering courses is raised so attracting able students into engineering;
  • entrants are better prepared for a degree course in engineering through appropriate content, standards and learning environment;
  • international students with appropriate qualifications are welcome to undertake engineering courses.

By collaborating with organisations, for example, those who represent subjects which are essential/helpful for the study of engineering and who have similar aims to present a more influential joint case.

2. Inform

By providing members with information:

  • on application and admission statistics by subject;
  • on the current range of pre-university qualifications offered by the different regions of the UK.

By alerting members to significant developments and changes to the above.

3. Support

By supporting existing initiatives. (Not developing new ones.)

By promoting and facilitating links between university engineering departments and their local STEM support.

1. To influence policies to improve the quantity, quality and preparedness of entrants from the UK and overseas to engineering undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses By taking part in consultations and directly attempting to influence Government, statutory bodies and assessment organisations so that :

  • more students are attracted into engineering and are able to study the key feeder subjects;
  • the status of pre-university engineering courses is raised so attracting able students into engineering;
  • entrants are better prepared for a degree course in engineering through appropriate content, standards and learning environment;
  • international students with appropriate qualifications are welcome to undertake engineering courses.

By collaborating with organisations, for example, those who represent subjects which are essential/helpful for the study of engineering and who have similar aims to present a more influential joint case.
2. To collect and disseminate information relevant to the recruitment and admission of students from the UK and overseas to the EPC membership. By providing members with information:

  • on application and admission statistics by subject;
  • on the current range of pre-university qualifications offered by the different regions of the UK.

By alerting members to significant developments and changes to the above.
3. To support initiatives which promote engineering in schools and colleges By supporting existing initiatives. (Not developing new ones.)

By promoting and facilitating links between university engineering departments and their local STEM support.

Membership

Chair; Vice-chair; Chairs of RAC working groups; Members from EPC member departments (not necessarily members of the EPC Executive Board); Members from other organisations with similar interests and aims. Unless otherwise stated Committee meetings are open to all EPC members to attend as an observer. If you are interested in joining the Committee, please contact the Chair or the EPC executive team.

The period of tenure for the Chair is normally three years and renewable once.  In the year preceding a change of chair this would normally be the next chair and, in the year immediately following the change, this would normally be the immediate past chair.

The vice-chair (and hence future chair) is appointed by the EPC Executive Board on the recommendation of the Recruitment and Admissions Committee. Normally, the chair and Vice-chair would be members of EPC.

Member Email
Mike Bramhall mike.bramhall@tedi-london.ac.uk
Georgina Harris gharris@arden.ac.uk
Natalie Wint natalie.wint.21@ucl.ac.uk
Hicham Adjali h.adjali@qmul.ac.uk
Simon Banks simon.banks@kcl.ac.uk
Rhian Todd (Memberships and Administrative Manager) admin@epc.ac.uk
Johnny Rich (ex officio) j.rich@epc.ac.uk
Geoff Parks gtp10@hermes.cam.ac.uk
Colin Turner c.turner@ulster.ac.uk
Andrew Thorn andrew.thorn@uwtsd.ac.uk
Steve Bullock steve.bullock@bristol.ac.uk
Martin Eason M.Eason3@wlv.ac.uk
Sophia Economides s.economides@ucl.ac.uk
Kay Bond kay.bond@tedi-london.ac.uk
Jennifer Thompson jennifer.thompson@swansea.ac.uk
Martin Fiddler m.l.fiddler@staffs.ac.uk
Peta Kirk p.kirk@sheffield.ac.uk
Jan Kowal j.kowal@open.ac.uk
Ion Sucala i.sucala@exeter.ac.uk
Paul Davies paul.davies7@southwales.ac.uk

 

By request, some members may be corresponding members, not normally attending meetings but in receipt of minutes and papers,

Related working groups

From time to time, the Committee will establish a working group, usually as a 'task and finish' group to lead a particular project.

In recent years, the RAC has had two working groups reporting through it to the EPC Executive Board. These groups have completed their work for now.

These are:

Entry to Engineering in Higher Education Advisory Panel

This group focused specifically on pre-university qualifications and teaching. Its composition includes representation from other subject organisations with similar aims and an interest in maths education as well as other bodies which have similar aims and interests. It focuses mainly, but not exclusively, on Aim 1 of RAC.

Recruitment Working Group

This group specifically focused on improving the links between the engineering HE community and organisations promoting engineering and STEM within schools and colleges. Its composition may include representation from these organisations.

Other Working Groups

In addition, RAC may set up internal task groups to undertake specific time limited tasks.

Committee meetings

Dates, meeting details, papers and minutes of RAC meetings held in 2022/23. More recent meeting and RAC events can be found on the Event pages.

More recent meetings are now featured on the Past events pages.

19th June 2023 – click here.

3rd April 2023 – click here.

30th January 2023 – click here.

24th November 2022 – click here.

14th October 2022 – click here.

31st August 2022 – click here.

24th June 2022 – click here.

Previous meetings and papers

Dates, meeting details, papers and minutes of all RAC meetings held in previous years. This content is accessible by RAC members only.

For dates, meeting details, papers and minutes of all previous Recruitment and Admissions Committee meetings, click here.

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