What does the dashboard measure?
The access and participation data dashboard shows data for individual providers across different student characteristics.
The data includes indicators and gaps as measures of performance for each stage of a student’s journey through higher education:
- Access
These measures show the makeup of students entering higher education.
- Continuation
These measures show whether students continue their studies or not.
- Attainment
These measures examine the numbers of graduates who achieve a first or upper second class degree.
- Progression
These measures report on whether students are in highly skilled employment or study at a higher level six months after leaving higher education.
The data contained in the dashboard covers a period that coincides with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There are also other changes in the data landscape which could affect the indicators in the dashboard. You can find more information about this in our Frequently asked questions about the data.
The data covers all universities and colleges registered with the Office for Students. It reports the latest five years of data available at the time of publication.
We have published this data to help universities and colleges develop and monitor their access and participation plans.
The dashboard can be used to evaluate access and participation at specific universities and colleges in a consistent and transparent way.
It makes it easy to compare different student groups and pinpoint specific areas where a university or college can make improvements.
Equivalent information is also available in this dashboard for the higher educational sector as a whole. We have published a separate sector-level dashboard which looks at additional characteristics for the whole sector.
