Introduction

The information published on these pages shows:

The number of applications for admission on to recognised, undergraduate higher education courses that we have received from UK domiciled applicants.
The number of offers we have made in relation to those applications.
The number of those offers accepted and the number of those who have registered with us.
The number of students who attained a particular degree or other academic award, or a particular level of such an award, on completion of their course with us.

It also shows these numbers by reference to:

The gender of the individuals to which they relate
Their ethnicity
Their socio-economic background.

It is important to note that the data presented has not been contextualised. This means, for example, that you will not be able to see from this data how many of those applying to courses met the entry criteria. It is also the case that universities and colleges will often receive many more applications than they have spaces on courses and so offer rates will necessarily be lower than application rates in those circumstances.

Contextual narrative for OfS Transparency Data return

A key part of our work at the University is to help anyone who has the ability and desire to access a university education, regardless of their background or finances.

In addition to around £3m in bursaries and scholarships that are available to individual students, the University invests more than £2.5m per year in outreach and access activities.

Our investment includes a range of activities for schools such as taster days and campus visits, access to university facilities and guidance for schools. Our Reading Scholars Programme works intensively across an academic year with 300 students from underrepresented groups, helping them to develop the knowledge and skills they need to successfully progress to higher education. In 2017, Universities Minister, Jo Johnson praised the programme as an example of best practice in widening participation.

The University is committed to access and participation and we recognise that, although our student population has diversified over the past five years in terms of ethnicity and disability, we have more to do to ensure that our current student population represents the breadth of society.

We do know that our commitment to supporting students through their course is helping with progressing throughout their studies (96.3% of students continued enrolment in 2017/8), degree outcomes gaps are narrowing and 94.9% of our 2017 graduates were in employment or study within six months of graduating. Of those who enter full-time work, 83.1% found employment in professional or managerial roles.

Access and Participation

We recognise that the journey to University education is different for everyone, and so our work to support access to higher education begins at an early stage.

We run a comprehensive programme of outreach and activities with schools to help young people think not only about university but also about their future careers. Our support helps students from many and varied backgrounds to make informed choices about which university best suits their needs, situation and preferences for study. Full details are available in our Access and Participation Plan.

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Table 1a: Summary of applications, offers, acceptances and registrations for 2018-19

			Number of applications	Percentage of applications that received an offer	Percentage of applications that accepted an offer	Percentage of applications that led to a registration
Full time
	Ethnicity	BAME	4,770	80.8%	21.1%	20.3%
		White	12,100	87.5%	20.1%	18.4%
	EIMD quintile	1 and 2	3970	80.4%	19.00%	17.7%
		3 to 5	12,050	87.4%	21.2%	19.7%
	Gender	Female	9,140	86.2%	20.9%	19.4%
		Male	7,900	84.9%	21.2%	19.7%
		Other	N	N	N	N

Part time
	Ethnicity	BAME	N	N	N	N
		White	30	85%	85%	80%

	EIMD quintile	1 and 2	N	N	N	N
		3 to 5	N	N	N	N
	Gender	Female	N	N	N	N
		Male	N	N	N	N
		Other	N	N	N	N

Apprenticeships
	Ethnicity	BAME	N	N	N	N
		White	110	DP	91%	90%
	EIMD quintile	1 and 2	30	DP	DP	DP
		3 to 5	90	95%	90%	90%
	Gender	Female	70	96%	86%	84%
		Male	70	DP	95%	92%
		Other	N	N	N	N

Applications, offers, acceptances and registrations

The University of Reading takes a holistic approach to considering prospective students who apply to study with us. We make offers primarily based on academic performance to date as well as activities undertaken in preparation for Higher Education and predicted grades.

When making offers, the University tailors these to individual applicants’ circumstances with details openly published on our website. Since 2019/20 entry we have also started making contextual offers which sees a lower than typical grade offering for applicants who meet at least one of the following criteria:

Live in an area with low participation in Higher Education (defined as POLAR quintiles 1 and 2);
Live in an area with high levels of deprivation (defined as IMD quintiles 1 and 2);
Have declared a disability on their UCAS form;
Have participated in our Reading Scholars programme.

In common with other universities who receive applications via UCAS, we do not receive or use any data on applicants’ ethnicity in the offer making process.

Starting from 2017/18 with the reintroduction of our Science Foundation Programme, the University continues to redevelop and expand its foundation course offering at the University, creating supportive pathways to complete an undergraduate programme for applicants with varied academic profiles.

As part of the application process, students are able to apply either direct to one of our foundation programmes or if they do not meet the conditions of our offer to enter direct on to year one of an undergraduate programme, we will automatically offer them a place on a relevant foundation programme should they meet the lower entry threshold.

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Table 2a: Percentage of first degrees at grade 2.1 or above by characteristic for 2017-18 qualifiers

		Percentage
Ethnicity	BAME	77%
	White	86%
EIMD quintile	1 and 2	76%
	3 to 5	85%
Gender	Female	86.3%
	Male	79.6%
	Other	N

Key

N/A	Not applicable as no applicants to this mode of study
N	24 or fewer students in this population
DP	Data suppressed for data protection reasons

Attainment

The university is working hard to support students to achieve their academic potential including helping to close the gap between attainment of different student groups. However, we recognise that there more work to be done to close the attainment gap between different groups and we are developing new approaches to teaching, learning, assessment and student support that help all students to fulfil their potential, as well as understand wider questions about how the sector can address attainment gap.

Reviewing our OfS data set reveals areas of focus for our future work. In particular, we know that the largest gap across all measures from 2017/8 related to ethnicity. This gap is however narrowing as a result of work we have undertaken. There is also a developing gap relating to students coming from disadvantaged areas with small increases in our gaps between IMD Q1&2 and Q3-5.

Academic Tutor System

Our commitment to enhance attainment is reflected in the transformation of our individualised academic tutoring system. Academic Tutors are focused on providing personalised academic support, helping student to identify their strengths and areas for development, discussing steps they can take to improve their performance and helping students to make decisions relating to their course. Our Academic Tutor System is designed to provide a key contact for students within their School / Department, establishing proactive, effective and long-lasting relationships that promote positive engagement within the academic community.

Find out more about Academic Tutor System on our student webpages here:
https://student.reading.ac.uk/essentials/_study/academic-tutors/your-tutor.aspx

The information published on these pages shows:

Contextual narrative for OfS Transparency Data return

Table 1a: Summary of applications, offers, acceptances and registrations for 2018-19

Full time

Part time

Apprenticeships

Applications, offers, acceptances and registrations

Table 2a: Percentage of first degrees at grade 2.1 or above by characteristic for 2017-18 qualifiers

Key

Attainment

Academic Tutor System

Further information

Subjects A-B

Subjects C-E

Subjects F-G

Subjects H-M

Subjects N-T

Subjects U-Z

Subjects A-C

Subjects D-G

Subjects H-P

Subjects Q-Z