Imperial calls Access and Participation Plan discussion

Imperial College and the Union jointly held an open forum discussion on its plans to improve access for students from widening participation (WP) backgrounds.

The meeting took place from 12:00 - 13:00 in Meeting Room 3 in the Union Building and was attended by many of the Liberation Officers, as well as representatives from the Union, including Deputy President (Welfare), Becky Neil and Interim Head of Student Voice, Emelie Helsen.

This meeting comes as the College is in the process of writing its Access and Particiption Plan, which is a document they must write for the Office for Students by 23rd May, outlining what College is going to do to ensure that they are accessible to students from a widening participation background and that they are supportive to those students while they are at Imperial so they achieve good graduate outcomes. The plan is mostly about undergraduate home students and widening participation backgrounds refers to BME (Black and minority ethnic) students, disabled students, students from a low household income, students from low participation neighbourhoods, mature students, care leavers and students from state schools.

Elements of the plan were presented by Dr. Malcolm Edwards, Director of Strategic Planning, and this was followed by time for questions and discussion, in which those in attendance were given the opportunity to provide feedback.

Methods of improving access, including a focus on BME students and socio-economically disadvantaged students, and replicating programs such as Pathways to Medicine and STEM potential programs outside London through a digitally-delivered pilot program, were discussed at length. The College is also considering launching a program in London specifically for Black students.

Data suggests that Imperial performs well in terms of attracting black applicants but performs poorly in terms of admitting them, which could be indicative of unconscious bias present in the admissions process.

Another consideration that needs to be taken into account is the apparent "attainment gap" which exists for BME and WP students, and ensuring measures are also in place to tackle this.

College has been described as "keen to get feedback from a diverse group of students on the plan".

Work surrounding improving access is ongoing and largely already underway. On 9th April, Imperial sent a cohort of staff and students to run a stall at the REACH Society's 10th Annual Careers Event, an event specifically aimed at Black students aged 13 - 25 to provide advice about their future aspirations. For the past three years, the conference has attracted over 2000 Black students and have established strong links with the Amos Bursary and several universities, including UCL, Brunel and Durham University. This was the first time Imperial has been in attendance at the conference and was described as a chance to "show that Black British individuals have a place at elite universities."