Equal Opportunities Policies and Monitoring

The School of Physics subscribes to and supports the University Equal Opportunities Policy [pdf] and aims to implement that policy both during the admissions process and throughout all its programmes of study.

Nomenclature

In the context of this document:

• the School  means the School of Physics at the University of Exeter;
   
• the University  means the University of Exeter;
   
• personal status  refers to gender, race, nationality, ethnic identity or national origin, socio-economic status or role within the University, religious or political beliefs, disability, age, marital status, family circumstances, or sexual orientation;
   
• discrimination  occurs when a person is treated less favourably than another, not on academic merit but on grounds of 'personal status'.

Aims

The School will seek to ensure that:

• Every applicant for a place on a either undergraduate or postgraduate programme shall be given equal opportunity whatever their personal status, except where the facilities of the School or University reasonably prevent this being possible.
• The prospectuses and other advertising literature will not imply that there is a preference for one group of applicants as against another.
• A clear indication of the standard entry qualifications required by the School will be published in the University Undergraduate and Postgraduate Prospectuses and other publicity material will refer to these sources.
• The most effective ways will be employed to bring the modules taught by the School to the attention of prospective applicants.
• The initial selection of applicants (either for offers or interviews) is made solely on the basis of information contained in their application.
• All persons responsible for the selection of candidates will be in possession of whatever information is currently supplied by the University to enable them to minimise the risk of discrimination.
• All candidates invited to interview should normally be deemed capable of attaining the School's minimum published standards for entry as stated in the University Prospectuses. Exceptions to this norm may be made at the discretion of the Head of School or appropriate Admissions Tutor. A range of qualifications (A- and AS levels, vocational A-levels, IB, HNC, HND, etc.) will be considered when assessing the information on each candidate, and where necessary, advice will be sought from the University Admissions Office.
• Questions at interview:
  • should not refer to the personal status of the interviewee,
  • should not differ because of the personal status of the interviewee,
  • should not be overly-aggressive or jokingly familiar,
  • should be phrased in a standard way that does not make use of cultural idiom or metaphor that might place candidates from minority racial groups at a disadvantage.

In the case of potential research students, the School will also seek to ensure that:

• Candidates are normally interviewed by their proposed supervisor, to ensure that the candidate is competent to undertake the proposed research and that the School/University has the necessary resources to accommodate it.
• Research candidates should be advised of all studentships awarded by the School for which they may be eligible;
• Research candidates should be given the opportunity at interview to outline the topic for study that they have in mind when they apply;
• Those candidates are accepted with topics which the School feels competent to supervise properly and which can be completed in the stipulated period;
• All new research students must take the School's Postgraduate Research Training Programme.

Non-standard entry at undergraduate level

• All care will be taken to guard against discrimination on the basis of possible unjustified pre-judgement that individuals, because of their non-standard application, possess characteristics which would make them unsuitable for a place.
• The University entrance requirements permit appropriate qualifications other than A-levels to be accepted as entry qualifications, and all such applications will be carefully considered. Where necessary, advice upon the appropriateness of offers is sought from the University Admissions Officer and from relevant UCAS publications.

Non-standard entry at postgraduate level

• All care will be taken to guard against discrimination on the basis of possible unjustified pre-judgement that individuals, because of their non-standard application, possess characteristics which would make them unsuitable for a place.

• to welcome good-quality applicants who must normally have an upper second class honours degree, an MPhil by research, or a taught MSc in Physics or a related subject from a UK university or institute of higher education, or from an overseas university or institution whose degrees are recognised by this university;
• to be willing to consider non-standard entry applications, for which a case has to be made to the Dean and Board of the Postgraduate Faculty;
• to welcome part-time research students and be sensitive to their problems. (This intention is subject to the University requirement that the School be satisfied that part-time candidates can be given regular supervision. This means that we would expect them normally to live within reasonable distance of Exeter, or be able to visit or be in contact with their supervisor at least once a term.)

Assessment of Prior Learning and Experience

Because of the variety of qualifications with which students are now eligible to apply, and of the range of experience that might be taken into consideration, it is not considered that a standard procedure can be prescribed. Where the interviewer is uncertain whether prior learning and experience may legitimately be taken into account in the admissions process, advice should be sought from the relevant School Admissions Officer, the University Admissions Office and/or the Staff Development Unit Officer with special responsibility for the assessment of prior learning and experience.

Implementation and Monitoring

The success of an equal opportunities policy is enhanced by the systematic monitoring of its implementation.

The first stage in the implementation of this policy is the provision of prospectuses and, where appropriate, other advertising and informational literature, to as many prospective candidates as is possible and financially reasonable, including those against whom there may be a potential for discrimination. Such a procedure requires an analysis of the constituencies from which applications are invited, as well as careful financial budgeting. Admissions tutors are expected to undertake periodic analysis of the constituency and their conclusions are monitored by the School committees to which they report.

The second stage will scrutinise the process of selection of the candidates for offer/interview from amongst all those who submit applications. Selection should be an objective exercise, based on the information contained in the application forms, undertaken without prejudice by the selector. The University Performance Indicator Dataset will be used by the Admissions tutors to make a periodic comparison of the composition of the student body with the constituency from which it is drawn. In this way, attention will be drawn to such imbalances if they do arise and selection procedures can be corrected.

The process of monitoring needs to be reflective and avoid over-simplistic interpretation of statistics. There may be wholly acceptable non-discriminatory reasons for an imbalance, for example, where more men than women apply to the School.

The School commits itself to a regular review of its policies for admissions. This will continue to take place at the annual pre-sessional Planning Day and, where necessary, at Management Committee meetings.