Recruitment and Admissions Forum 2019

The Forum started with an intriguing plenary outlining the key findings, including that:

• Female students are less likely to drop out and they get better degrees on average. Also, pre-92 universities admit proportionately more of them.
• At Russell Group universities, Engineering students fro m disadvantaged areas are three times more likely to dropout than students from more privileged backgrounds. In other pre-92 universities, they’re twice as likely, but at post-92 unis, the difference almost disappears.
• Foundation degree students are twice as likely to drop out as traditional year one degree entry students.

We then enjoyed a full morning data hackathon – a deep dive into engineering student demographic profile entry requirements, enrolment, continuation and outcome patterns – enabling an evidence-based look at some of the most fundamental questions facing engineering admissions today.

The afternoon welcomed a range of speakers:

• Graham Howe (UWTSD) outlined the MADE project: UWTSD’s innovative provision to enable those already in industry to study level 7 and MSE Engineering programmes.
• Francesca Nichols (EDT) walked us through their approach to encouraging young people into STE(A)M careers.
• The EPC’s own Stella Fowler launched the results of the EPC’s annual Engineering Enrolments Survey.

Finally our closing keynote speaker Eliza Kozman (Behavioural Insights Team) outlined a behavioural and evidence-driven approach to recruitment and admissions in engineering and STEM.

All members will shortly be able to access a summary of the results of the engineering enrolments survey in the members areas of the EPC website. If you have forgotten your password, please contact us.