Admissions Principles and Procedures
Each section relates to undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research admissions unless specified otherwise.1. Aims
1.1 Brunel University aims to:- create a student body that is balanced and diverse in terms of cultural background and experience;
- recruit students who have the ability to successfully complete their chosen course, whatever their background.
- encouraging applications from all those with the motivation and academic ability to succeed at Brunel;
- assessing each application on an individual basis;
- offering places to applicants who have the potential to do well at Brunel.
- providing Admissions Offices with the required expertise in both Home/EU and International admissions
- fair
- transparent
- accessible
- easily understood by candidates
- consistently applied across all courses
2. Monitoring
2.1 Senate regulates the admission of students, subject to the Charter, Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations.2.2 The Recruitment and Admissions Committee oversees admissions on behalf of Senate.
2.4 The Committee will make an annual report to Senate. In order to respond rapidly to changing circumstances, the Chair is empowered to act on behalf of the Committee between meetings.
2.5 The Widening Participation Strategy Group is responsible for the University’s WP strategy which is monitored annually in line with internal procedures.
3. Transparency
3.1 The University’s website and printed publications shall provide clear information on the entry criteria, both academic and non-academic, for each course. The University shall publish its Admissions Policy and Annexes on its website4. Consistency
4.1 All University admissions, except for research degrees, shall be dealt with by centralised admissions offices to ensure fairness and consistency. These offices must follow the procedures and principles set out in this document and ensure that it works in a way that is consistent with the University’s admissions aims.4.2 The University shall provide relevant training for all staff in the centralised Admissions Offices to help them to do their job effectively. Admissions Officers are required to undergo training provided by the University. The Admissions Office shall provide each member of its staff with a manual of procedures to ensure consistency of practice.
4.3 The Head of each School shall provide the Admissions Offices with clear criteria for entry to each course. These criteria shall be replicated by the University on its website and in its publications. All applications shall be considered against these criteria.
4.4 The Home/EU Admissions Office shall publish entry profiles via UCAS and the University's own publications for each course or programme.
4.5 Equal consideration will be given to all applicants who apply by the relevant date as detailed in the UCAS and GTTR Admissions Guides.
5. Responsibility
5.1 It is the responsibility of senior admissions managers to ensure that all admissions staff understand and support the University's Admissions Aims and Principles and Procedures, are competent to make sound and fair judgments, are appropriately trained and have sufficient resources and time to carry out their responsibilities effectively. The Head of School shall designate staff in the School to work closely with the staff of the Admissions Offices.5.2 The staff designated by the Head of School shall work closely with the central Admissions Offices to provide clear entry criteria and to make academic judgements on borderline applicants or those from a non-standard educational background.
6. Process for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught Degrees
6.1 In order to ensure consistency and fairness, the general principles and procedures set out in this paper must be followed by all Admissions Offices.6.2 All application forms are considered by members of the admissions team and, where necessary, an academic member of staff with a responsibility for admissions.
6.3 Applications are considered on an equal basis, against criteria set by School admissions staff.
6.4 Normally, the University does not require candidates to be interviewed prior to an offer being made, except for practitioner courses e.g. teaching, social work and health care or where there is a professional requirement e.g. journalism. Where insufficient information is provided on the application form to establish whether the applicant will be able to succeed on the course, the applicant may be invited for interview. Schools must explain why and how the interview will be used in assessing the applicants and must follow agreed and published procedures:
- Interviews intended to select students must normally be conducted by a member of staff who has undergone University-provided training on fair and effective recruitment techniques;
- The interview and consequent decision-making will be consistent with the University's policy on equal opportunities. Questions related to the race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, religion or age of the applicant must not be raised either at the interview or in subsequent discussion. However, staff should encourage applicants to disclose any disability to the University, to help ensure that any necessary adjustments can be planned to support their education;
- The School must set criteria for measuring a candidate's performance at interview;
- A standard format note of the interview must be taken and submitted to the relevant Admissions Office.
6.6 All undergraduate applicants who are made an offer of a place will be invited to attend a specified UCAS Day. Invitations to attend will be sent out by Admissions Officers. Schools will organise and run the course specific UCAS Days. International applicants will be asked to contact the School if they wish to attend a UCASDay. Postgraduate applicants who are made an offer of a place will be sent details of the University postgraduate open days.
6.7 Normally, the University does not require applicants to undergo additional tests. Schools may set an additional test, subject to clearly explaining why and how this will be used in assessing the candidate. It is likely that such tests will normally only be used for non-standard entry applicants, to ensure that they have sufficient skills to enable them to succeed on their chosen course.
7. Criteria for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught Degrees
7.1 Schools must set criteria that support the University's admissions aims and are in accordance with the principles and procedures.7.2 Admissions Officers are expected to use the criteria set by Schools in deciding whether an offer can be made. These criteria include academic achievement and potential as well as other non-academic factors.
7.3 Schools may set minimum entry requirements that are higher than those set by Senate and may insist on specified performance in a particular subject at GCSE, A level or other examination..
7.4 Applicants must be able to demonstrate that they possess the necessary English Language proficiency level to succeed on their chosen course. The Recruitment and Admissions Committee sets the minimum English Language proficiency levels for each subject area. Schools may set higher requirements for specific courses, but may not lower them.
7.5 The Personal Statement and Reference provide important supplementary indications of ability, motivation and potential, as well as information about personal circumstances and social and cultural context. They are read carefully and taken into account in reaching a decision. Criteria for assessing the Personal Statement may include, for example:
- Demonstrated interest in and commitment to the subject
- Evidence of clear thinking and understanding
- Appropriateness of the course in relation to the candidate's declared interests and career aspirations
- Non-academic achievement or extra-curricular interests that indicate the likely contribution a candidate will make to the life of the University
7.7 Candidates are not discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, religion, disability or age. No condition of entry shall be imposed which members of a particular group are less likely to be able to satisfy than other applicants not of that group, unless such a condition is justifiable on academic grounds.
7.8 Consideration of applications from students who declare a disability is based on the same criteria and principles as for other candidates. Every reasonable assistance will be given to disabled applicants through the Disability and Dyslexia Service to ensure that their needs can be met by the University to enable them to successfully complete their chosen course.
7.9 Applications from mature and other students who have non-standard qualifications or who wish work or life experience to be taken into account as part of their application, will be considered on an individual basis.
7.10 Applicants are required to disclose relevant criminal convictions on the application form. Admissions staff will disregard any criminal convictions which are spent under the terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, unless the programme of study is likely to bring the student into contact with children or vulnerable adults. Refer to separate procedures on dealing with applications from ex-offenders.
7.11 Where admission is given for entry at level 2 or 3, applicants must meet the normal year 1 entry criteria in addition to any other conditions deemed appropriate by the Admissions Tutor, except in cases where agreements have been made with feeder institutions.
7.12 The University reserves the right to exclude a candidate who is considered on justifiable grounds to be unsuitable for a place on a particular course or for attendance at the University in general.
8. Process and Criteria for Research degrees
8.1 Applications for research degrees must be passed to the central Admissions Offices and shall normally be logged within 24 hours of receipt. They will then be forwarded to a School or Research Institute.8.2 The Head of School or Research Institute shall appoint a senior member of academic staff to oversee the admission of postgraduate research students within that School or Research Institute. This member of academic staff should have received training in selection and admissions procedures.
8.3 Schools or Research Institutes that require a research proposal from applicants will publish criteria by which each research proposal is assessed. Each School or Research Institute shall produce a pro-forma of criteria against which each research proposal shall be judged by an appropriate member of academic staff. These criteria shall be published on the web to assist applicants in preparing their research proposal. A copy of the completed pro-forma shall be attached to each application form by the School and returned to the relevant Admissions Office, once a decision has been made.
8.4 Applicants will normally be asked to attend the university for interview, or where this is not practicable, will be interviewed by phone or video-link. The interview will follow agreed and published procedures:
- Interviews must normally be conducted by two academic members of staff who have undergone University-provided training on fair and effective recruitment techniques;
- The interview and consequent decision-making will be consistent with the University’s policy on equal opportunities. Questions related to the race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, religion or age of the applicant must not be raised either at interview or in any subsequent discussion. However staff should encourage applicants to disclose any disability to the University, to help ensure that any necessary adjustments can be planned to support their education;
- The School must set criteria for measuring a candidate’s performance at interview;
- A standard format note of the interview must be taken and submitted to the relevant central Admissions Office
- The Head or Deputy Head of School will normally sign off the final decision.
8.6 Applicants not meeting the normal entrance requirements may be considered for registration for the degree of MPhil, LLM or MRes (normally good performance in year 1). Each applicant will be considered on his/her own merits and admitted at an appropriate entry level.
8.7 Admissions decisions shall be made by the academic staff within a School or Research Institute, and then communicated to the relevant central Admissions Office, within 3 weeks of receiving a complete application, or when an interview needs to be arranged, shortly after the interview
8.8 Where a School or Research Institute is unable to make an offer because no suitable supervision is available, the form shall be forwarded to the Graduate School for further consideration.
9. Offers for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught Degrees
9.1 Wherever possible, all undergraduate applicants are contacted by the University within 4 weeks of their application being received. All postgraduate applicants will normally be contacted within one week.9.2 Schools will inform the Admissions Offices of any changes to their normal offer and entry criteria by 1st October each year. The levels of the conditional offers made must normally be in line with published entry requirements and may not vary substantially from these.
9.3 Different levels of offer may be made to meet individual circumstances. These will not be higher than the standard offer.
9.4 In deciding the quantity of conditional and unconditional offers to be made, historic conversion trends (in terms of both offer-to-acceptance and acceptance-to-conditions-met) will be taken into account.
9.5 Undergraduate applicants who narrowly miss meeting the academic requirements in their conditional offer, may be accepted at “Confirmation”, provided that their qualifications do not fall below the University minimum entry level.
9.6 The University may accept undergraduate students during the “Clearing” period with grades lower than the normal mainstream requirement, should there be places available. All applicants must meet the University minimum entry level.
10. Feedback to unsuccessful applicants
10.1 The University currently receives over 25,000 applications and regrets that it is not resourced to enter into an individual dialogue with every applicant to whom it is unable to make an offer. Unsuccessful applicants will receive a written communication stating the reason why their application has been rejected. Guidance on requesting further feedback is contained in Annex 8 Applicant Feedback and Complaints Procedures10.2 The University will only correspond with the applicant about a decision, unless the applicant provides written permission for the University to discuss it with another person (e.g. a parent).
10.3 Applicants are advised to seek further guidance from their school, college or careers service if they wish to resubmit an application at a later date.
10.4 Applicants who request feedback or make a complaint or ask for a review of the admissions policies and procedures will not be discriminated against in any further applications on the basis of any of these
11. Scholarships and Bursaries
11.1 The bursaries and scholarships related to the University Access Agreement for undergraduate applicants will be administered separately from applications.12. Widening Participation
12.1 The University encourages individuals from under-represented backgrounds to aspire to and succeed in higher education.12.2 A separate widening participation strategy sets out the outreach and retention activities undertaken to support such students, particularly those with disabilities and care-leavers.
