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Office for Students Transparency Information

The Office for Students requires the University to publish information about student application, offer, acceptance and registration data, as well as data on graduate attainment.

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 socioeconomic 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.

Aston University context

Aston University has demonstrated a long standing, sustained commitment to supporting access and success for its students. The University continually challenges itself to conduct research into the causes of gaps at access and success, and provide evidence-based initiatives which address these. Our plans and targets are set out in our Access and Participation Plan, which is currently undergoing an assessment by the Office for Students. Once it is available we will publish it on this web page.

To see the transparency data below in the wider context of Aston University’s student body, it is important to note the following:

• The majority of Aston University’s UK undergraduate students identify as BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) (68%).
• Aston’s proportion of students from quintile 1 and 2 (the most deprived neighbourhoods according to the English Indices of Multiple Deprivation (EIMD)) has grown over the past 5 years, and Aston recruits more EIMD quintile 1 students than the sector average, with the proportion growing faster than the sector average.
• Aston University’s biggest ‘intersectional’ student group is BAME and mixed ethnicity students from the two lowest EIMD quintiles (46% of our students). 
• Looking at data over a number of years, Aston University’s attainment gap between BAME and white students is steadily reducing and our Access and Participation Plan sets out our target to further reduce the gap.

The transparency data shown below highlights particular gaps that Aston University is working to address.

Offer rates between BAME and white applicants

Our transparency data suggest gaps in offer rates between BAME and white applicants. We are aware of these differences and in 2018 we began monitoring the reasons for these differences and the reasons for rejection of applicants. Our analysis showed that, to a large extent, the gaps in offer rates could be explained by the students’ subject choices. This is supported by reporting and analysis from UCAS. We found that a large number of students were not given an offer because they had an insufficient volume of qualifications. This is also supported by our internal data. We are taking action to ensure entry requirements are as clear as they can be on our website. 

It is important to note the University does not know an applicant’s ethnic background when making decisions on applications.

Offer rates between students from different EIMD quintiles

Our transparency data suggest gaps in offer rates between students from different EIMD quintiles. It is likely that gaps in offer rates can also be, to a large extent, explained by students’ subject choices.  

Students who are less well represented in higher education (which will include many students from EIMD quintiles 1 and 2) may be eligible for Aston University’s contextual offer scheme, Aston Ready, which was introduced in 2019.

Attainment gaps

Our transparency data suggest a BAME attainment gap, with fewer BAME students obtaining first and 2.1 classifications compared to their white counterparts. Our attainment gap is smaller than the sector average but we are not content with this. We are acutely aware of this issue and have conducted research into the causes of this, as well as carrying out initiatives to improve this situation. When looking at the rates of firsts and 2.1 classifications awarded by Aston University between 2010 and 2018 by ethnicity, the data show significant progress in closing this gap. Initiatives aimed at closing the BAME attainment gap include our Learning and Development Centre (which provides additional academic support to students) and an Office for Students funded project, ‘Levelling the playing field through work-based learning’ which encourages the take-up of work-based learning amongst BAME students. This is based on evidence that amongst students who take work placements, attainment gaps are much smaller (Moores, Birdi, Higson, 2017). We set out in our Access and Participation Plan targets to reduce attainment gaps year-on-year and detail the action we will take to achieve these reductions.

The University has committed to implementing the  Universities UK framework for addressing the BAME attainment gap, and was involved in the development of the framework.

Our transparency data suggest an attainment gap between students from the most deprived neighbourhoods (EIMD quintile 1) and students from less deprived neighbourhoods. We are aware of this issue and our Access and Participation Plan sets out our target to reduce this gap, and which strategies we will adopt to achieve this, including our Learning Development Centre.

Applications, offers, acceptances and registrations: 2018-19 entrants

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

Table 1b: Detailed information on applications, offers, acceptances and registrations for 2018-19 entrants

Attainment: 2017/18 qualifiers

Table 2a: Percentage of first degrees at grade 2:1 or above by characteristic for 2017/18 qualifiers

Table 2b: Detailed information on attainment for 2017-18 qualifiers

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