When we took a look at the TEF submissions, we were interested in seeing how providers are delivering high-quality student experiences for a diverse range of students at scale.
This is a challenge that many institutions are grappling with in real time – the student population is both diversifying and growing at speed, and the needs of students are growing at a similar pace.
A common trend in the submissions was to discuss the diverse nature of a provider’s student population. Some mentioned increasing proportions of students declaring a disability or mental health condition; others mentioned a higher proportion of commuting students or students with caring responsibilities. Providers with a larger black student population described the work they were doing as part of improving access and participation in addressing awarding gaps between students of colour and their white peers.
Few providers mentioned economic diversity between student populations and demographics, although there was mention of widening access schemes that aimed to help prepare first-in-family students, for instance, in their transition to university. Similarly, brilliant schemes of academic or professional mentoring projects were explicitly created to support students of colour or those with a declared disability.
