A blog has been written by Professor Deborah Johnston, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Framework) at London South Bank University.
London’s higher education sector has some pretty impressive statistics behind it!
Growth to more than half a million students and more than 50 higher education institutions has gone hand-in-hand with strong student satisfaction and improvements in equality, diversity and inclusion.
Data from the Higher Education Policy Institute show that London students are more likely to be happier and see good value from their courses than other students. At the same time, there have been important improvements in equality. By the end of this decade, it is expected that 74% of local Londoners going to London universities will be from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, and 73% of local Londoners going to London universities will be from free-school-meal backgrounds.
Although the London student population is growing, there is still more to do to support disabled students. Arguably, the sector overall is still in the process of aligning itself to its Equality Act duties. With the recent publication of the EHRC Note of Learning, this is an important moment that London institutions look at their areas for improvement. The Disabled Student Commitment provides a framework to do just that, and to support institutions to improve the experience for their disabled students.
A new group, the Disabled Student Commitment Working Group, is being established under the leadership of London Higher to support this initiative and to draw on the experience of London institutions who are already on the journey.
The Disabled Student Experience
The numbers of students sharing a disability continues to rise. UCAS End of Cycle Figures 2023 show that a fifth of UK applicants have shared a disability or mental health condition on their application, which is an increase of 34% from 2022. The academic outcomes for disabled students are marginally poorer than for other students although this does not consider the gap in student experience and the challenges that disabled students often encounter to receive the support they need. One side effect of that experience gap is that, in 2022, UCAS reported that that the deferral rate had increased, with 28% of disabled applicants deferring entry (compared to 23% pre-Covid).
There are also significant negative differences with their non-disabled peers in entering the workforce, and the success gap measured by graduate outcomes data is a major challenge.
The Disabled Student Commitment
This framework was established by the Disabled Student Commission, an independent group established for three years by the Universities Minister in 2020, based on research and feedback from disabled students. The framework is known as the Disabled Student Commitment and it is intended to reduce the outcome, experience and progression gaps for disabled students.
With resourcing a concern in many universities, signing up to the Commitment ensures that resources are used effectively to meet needs at your institution and that activities reflect sector best practice. The approach also looks for synergies with work on student wellbeing and the University Mental Health Charter.
The Commitment is not a charter-mark but is an institution-led approach with a focus on the issues that lead to barriers to disabled student success across the student journey. Engaging with the Commitment will assist universities in meeting both their legal duties and the expectations of their disabled students. The Commitment encourages universities to make progress in a way that improve accountability with their disabled students, and is adaptable to individual universities’ contexts, including their starting point and available resourcing.
Next steps
There are two stages to the Commitment: initial sign-up; and achievement. Sign-up is designed as an accessible first stage and more information can be found on the Commitment landing page or directly by sending an email to dsc@advance-he.ac.uk.
At the same time, there are experiences to be shared from those already on the journey to achievement of the Commitment. London Higher is hosting a group to bring together all those who are either signed up or contemplating sign up. This will assist London institutions to ensure that all our students have the opportunity for a transformational university experience. The first meeting will take place on Thursday 30 January 2025. Please contact Mark Corbett, Head of Policy and Networks at London Higher, for inquiries: mark.corbett@londonhigher.ac.uk
The University of Law has commented on their involvement:
“The University of Law is delighted to be part of the commitment, with planning and development now being initialised across the university with a shared focus on quality of access and service for disabled students. The commitment also links directly into our ongoing Mental Health Charter Project and includes the recent recommendations from the Bristol Court case that concluded in February 2024.”
London South Bank University has detailed that:
“We have found our work towards the commitment complementary to our work around the University Mental Health charter. Both the Charter and commitment have given us the detailed framework to analyse where we are in relation to supporting our students. In conjunction they have given us confidence in producing our Disabled Student Delivery plan for the next three years, which we have crafted alongside our Disabled Student Panel. Since our work started in relation to the commitment a year ago, we have developed a whole institutional approach in relation to understanding and supporting the disabled student journey with student voice central to this.”
