We have published new guidance for universities and colleges setting out what your access agreements will need to cover if you wish to charge more than the basic fee in 2014-15 (OFFA publication 2013/01, How to produce an access agreement for 2014-15, available on our publications web page). The deadline for submitting your access agreement is Monday 8 April 2013.
Key areas where our guidance has changed
Our guidance for 2014-15 access agreements follows similar key principles to previous years, but we have developed and strengthened the following areas:
- an increased focus on evidence and evaluation
- demonstrating a strategic approach
- greater challenge around outcomes
- growth in outreach
- stronger collaboration
- equality and diversity
- student voice.
These areas reflect the development of our thinking and priorities, on which we will elaborate in a strategy statement to be published later this year.
HEFCE has published updated guidance on the National Scholarship Programme. This explains changes to the way in which institutional allocations will be made, consequent revisions to the arrangements for matched funding and provisional allocations for 2014-15. The guidance also renews confirmation of the national eligibility criteria for students.
Submitting your agreement
We will send our registered institutional contacts their institutional group keys to access the HEFCE extranet shortly, once the maximum tuition fees for full-time and part-time students have been announced for 2014-15. You will need this key in order to download your financial template and checklist (Annexes B and C) from the HEFCE extranet.
You must submit your access agreement, your completed financial template and checklist via the HEFCE extranet by Monday 8 April 2013. Our guidance includes instructions on how to use the HEFCE extranet.
Our approach to access agreements for 2015-16 and beyond
OFFA and HEFCE are working together to develop a national strategy for access and student success (for details see our recent press release).
As part of this work, HEFCE wrote to heads of institutions earlier this week setting out our joint plans to integrate access agreements and widening participation strategic statements in future years (HEFCE circular letter 01/2013, Widening participation strategic statements: changes for 2013-14 and longer-term plans for integration with OFFA access agreements).
We aim to create a single, coherent framework within which institutions can set their strategies, commitments and targets for widening access and student success. The integrated document will initially cover OFFA requirements for 2015-16 and HEFCE requirements for 2014-17.
We aim to publish guidance for the integrated document in early 2014. The guidance will be developed in parallel with the national strategy. We will work in partnership with institutions and other key sector stakeholders to ensure the new processes are useful and developmental for institutions. Our aim is to support institutions to develop clearly articulated strategies which provide a basis for robust evaluation and monitoring.