Equalities Impact Assessments
Equality and Diversity Policy Impact Assessment Form
Policy /Practice/Section: Review Date: Feb 2008Medical Sciences
Undergraduate Student support and retention
1 What does the Policy/Practice aim to achieve?
The School aims to provide sufficient support to undergraduate students to enable them to complete their course.2 Why was the Policy/Practice developed (what was the rationale?)
To support undergraduate students in their studies.
3 Who are the stakeholders in the Policy/Practice?
All staff and students in the School.
4 Which groups benefit from the Policy/Practice?
Undergraduate students5 What methods were used to gather evidence for this assessment e.g. meetings/briefings with staff, e-mail consultation, quantitative data gathering and analysis, questionnaires etc?
Quantitative data gathering and analysis taking figures over a five year period6 Is there any evidence of higher or lower participation or uptake by the equality strands:
Race – Have been unable to analyse achievements by ethnicity as have been unable to access the appropriate data.
Gender – There is evidence of higher non-completion rates by male students and also evidence of lower achievement rates. Female students are more likely to achieve First Class honours or upper seconds (See Annex 1)
Age - Have been unable to analyse achievements by ethnicity as have been unable to access the appropriate data
Disability - Have been unable to analyse achievements by ethnicity as have been unable to access the appropriate data
Sexual orientation – No data collected
Religion and belief? – No data collected
7 Is there any evidence that different groups have different needs, experiences, issues and priorities in relation to this policy/practice
It is clear from the data that male students do less well than female students both in terms of non-completion and the level of award achieved.
8 If adverse impact on minority groups exist, what is the level of risk ?
a) to the groups affected
There is a risk that the way that the courses are organised, taught and assessed are having an adverse impact on male students but further work is required to investigate the causes of the patterns observed. Most of the attrition occurs in Year 1 of the course
b) to the University
The risk to the University is loss of revenue through students failing to complete their degree programme
How will the Policy/Practice be amended to reduce any risks identified?
Additional ways of keeping in touch with students are being devised to reduce the level of non-completion.
9 Do minority groups benefit positively from the Policy/Practice? In what way?
Support provided for students should benefit all students but further qualitative work is required to identify the extent to which students’ needs are being met.
10 Has the Policy been through a process of consultation with minority groups? If not, who should be consulted?
No consultation has been done as yet. Consultation should be with undergraduates with a particular emphasis on males as they are most likely not to complete. Advisers of studies should also be consulted.
11 Is there an opportunity to promote equality of opportunity or community relations more effectively through the Policy/Practice, or by working with others?
None identified
12 This Impact Assessment will be signed off by the Joint Committee on Equal Opportunities and be published on the Equality and Diversity website. Can you suggest where else it should be published e.g. College/School/Section meetings, websites, e-mail dissemination, team briefings?
A presentation has been prepared to disseminate the results within the School
13. If any action is proposed as a result of conducting this Impact assessment, please record this below
Action proposed / By Whom / Date
Presentation of results to School / Frank Bowser-Riley / April 2008
Consultation with students and Advisers to determine further actions required / Frank Bowser-Riley / May 2008