Contents
- Executive summary
- Review of Aimhigher
- Governance and management of Aimhigher 2008-2011
- Management in the transitional phase (February 2008 - July 2008)
- The targeting process
- Funding 2008 to 2011
- Submission of strategic plans for 2008-2011 including annual operational plans
- Schedule for planning, monitoring and reporting the Aimhigher programme
- Monitoring 2008 to 2011
- Evaluation 2008 to 2011
Annexes
- Annex A Aimhigher funding to Area Partnerships 2008 to 2011
- Annex B Template for Aimhigher Area Partnership strategic and operational plans (see separate file)
- Annex C Aimhigher annual monitoring statement template
- Annex D Additional guidance on evaluation
- Annex E National communications strategy
- List of abbreviations
Executive summary
Purpose
1. This guidance sets out the objectives, scope and structure of the Aimhigher programme from August 2008; provides advice for Aimhigher partnerships on what they will need to do between February and July 2008 to prepare for this new phase of the programme; and requests partnerships to submit strategic plans for the three academic years 2008-2011. It should be read alongside previous guidance, including guidance on targeting1.
Key points
2. The Aimhigher programme is a key component of government policy to widen and so increase participation in higher education (HE). In October 2007 the Government announced its intention to extend funding for the Aimhigher programme from academic year 2008-09 to 2010-11. This reflects its continuing efforts to encourage groups of learners that are under-represented in higher education to embark on a route which will enable them to benefit from it.
Improving targeting
3. In this new phase of the Aimhigher programme we expect partnerships to hone their targeting of the priority groups to ensure utmost effectiveness. These groups are:
- people from lower socio-economic groups
- people from disadvantaged socio-economic groups who live in areas of relative deprivation where participation in HE is low
- 'looked after' children in the care system
- people with a disability or a specific learning difficulty.
We are working to provide more up-to-date data to help Area Partnerships pinpoint their targeting but recognise that this is no substitute for local knowledge.
4. Aimhigher is about widening participation in HE, but within that it is also about addressing fair access issues such as increasing opportunities for people from under-represented groups to attend higher education institutions and courses where competition for places is fiercest and which offer the highest financial rates of return.
Developing the programme
5. We have instigated change within the programme to promote effectiveness. By 2011 Aimhigher partnerships will:
- be able to show how they have contributed to narrowing the social class gap in learner attainment and participation in higher education
- have encouraged more positive learner identities through targeted outreach work
- have embedded Aimhigher activity in the work of all partners by developing links between higher education institutions (HEIs), schools, colleges and work-based learning providers
- have made a recognised contribution to target school and college improvement plans in respect of aspirations, attainment and progression.
Changes in management structure
6. In order to make the programme more effective we are changing the structure, management and governance of Aimhigher in the following ways:
- We will only fund Aimhigher Area Partnerships. We will not fund regional partnerships any longer. Area Partnerships will be free to decide whether to collaborate and commission work/services at a regional level.
- We will encourage smaller Area Partnerships to amalgamate with others, to ensure that all can sustain an adequate infrastructure to deliver effective local programmes.
- Governance and accountability will be improved by agreeing a lead HEI in each area that will be responsible for providing assurance about the use of funding, convening an Area Partnership Committee and appointing an Aimhigher co-ordinator.
- We will simplify the format for plans and monitoring reports (see Annex B), including financial monitoring. We will also introduce evaluation reports and commission an external body to assess them.
7. We believe that the ability of the Area Partnerships to work closely with all education providers is key to the programme's success and that the new structures we have put in place should put a renewed emphasis on this.
8. We recommend the use of the Aimhigher Learner Progression Framework2 and we expect Area Partnerships to forge close relationships with the relevant schools, colleges, HEIs and work-based learning providers so that they can offer each targeted learner a clear route to progress through to higher education.
Funding 2008-2011
9. The Government and HEFCE have allocated £239.5 million to the Aimhigher programme for 2008-2011. We are continuing to use the same formula-based funding method as we have in the past, but again will 'smooth' the differences in funding for each Area Partnership to minimise destabilising changes (gains or losses) in the funding for each one. Details of funding allocations are at Annex A.
Plans, monitoring and evaluation
10. In a change from previous years, we have provided a standard template for Area Partnerships to complete for their strategic plan and, for the first time, an annual operational plan, against which we will monitor progress against agreed targets and milestones (see Annex B). This will give a clearer measure of progress towards the objectives of partnerships and provide a closer link to financial spending profiles and planning.
11. We will also provide templates for periodic financial monitoring and an annual monitoring statement which will be available on the HEFCE extranet (an example of the latter is at Annex C) - see paragraph 102.
12. We will separate the process of monitoring from that of evaluation. This reflects our continued emphasis on the need to develop comprehensive and valid procedures to assess the effectiveness and impact of the Aimhigher programme.
13. As part of our review we have overhauled our evaluation methods for the Aimhigher programme. We have drawn up our detailed expectations of Area Partnerships and explained how we will approach evaluation at the national level (see Annex D).
14. Area Partnerships will need to submit an evaluation plan by 31 July 2008.
Communications
15. We are currently updating the national communications strategy for Aimhigher to reflect the future communications needs of the programme (Annex E). The strategy will be finalised in February and regular updates will be available on the Aimhigher practitioner site.
16. Our recent survey of Aimhigher communications (December 2007) received over 100 responses and we are grateful to all those who participated. The survey responses are currently being analysed and these will feed into the development of the updated strategy. Those interested in reviewing or providing input to the draft version of the strategy can register their interest by e-mailing us at aimhigher@hefce.ac.uk.
Action required
17. By Wednesday 14 May 2008, Area Partnerships will need to submit their revised strategic plans (which will include an operational plan for the period 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009) covering the period 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2011.
18. By Wednesday 31 July 2008 Area Partnerships should submit a completed evaluation plan.
19. Area Partnerships should submit their plans to us by completing Annex B, available on the HEFCE web-site with this report, and returning it to aimhigher@hefce.ac.uk.
Notes
1. This document updates previous Aimhigher guidance (HEFCE 2004/08 and HEFCE 2006/02). It is not comprehensive but should be taken as the authoritative guidance where it differs from earlier advice.
2. 'Aimhigher Learner Progression Framework Feasibility Study (Interim Report)' (Action on Access January 2008) is available at www.actiononaccess.org/
