Recruitment and Admissions Policy

Aims of the Policy
Our Recruitment and Admissions Policy is designed to ensure that the Centre is able to admit a diverse student population who possess the abilities and aptitudes to complete their studies successfully.
This policy is a framework for all staff who are involved in recruitment, selection, and admissions activity.
External Reference Points
The following policy has been developed using the following external reference points:
Competition and Markets Authority Guidance for Higher Education - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/428549/HE_providers_-_advice_on_consumer_protection_law.pdf
Core Practice of the UK Quality Code for Higher Education related to admissions, recruitment and widening access - https://www.qaa.ac.uk//en/quality-code/advice-and guidance/admissions-recruitment-and-widening-access
University UK Fair Admissions Code of Practice -https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/sites/default/files/field/downloads/2022-03/uuk-guildhe-admissions-code-of-practice.pdf and this policy has been developed to ensure that its recruitment and admissions practice protect applicants, support fairness and transparency, ensure the stability of the higher education sector and maintain high academic standards.
Scope of the Policy
This policy covers the recruitment and admission of students to all courses offered by the Centre.
This policy should be read in conjunction with the Centre’s Access and Participation Statement which sets out our aims and objectives for widening access and participation.
General Principles
The Centre aims to provide education for all applicants who demonstrate the potential to benefit from its courses.
The recruitment process is designed to attract a diverse student population who possess the abilities and aptitudes to complete their studies successfully.
The Centre will admit candidates who have the potential to succeed on their chosen course regardless of background.
The Centre will communicate clearly with potential students, and provide clear, accurate, and up-front information concerning the courses, the fees, the terms and conditions and the procedures for admissions and enrolment.
The Centre will provide comprehensive and consistent information on the course, the student experience and how it will meet students’ progression aspirations.
Recruitment activities will be aimed at providing information and guidance to applicants and keeping them informed of any updates to the course in order to ensure that they can make an informed decision.
The Centre will ensure that selection methods are fair and consistently applied. Applicants will be selected on the basis of their application, including the evidence of their qualifications and experience and, where appropriate, through the use of interviewing, admissions tests, or other such mechanisms.
Consideration will be given to the nature and the purpose of an interview, or any other selection method, to ensure that it has appropriate selection criteria and is designed to appropriately assess the applicant’s suitability for the course.
All recruitment, admissions, enrolment, and induction procedures will be regularly monitored for their effectiveness for all categories of applicants. Entry requirements will also be regularly reviewed prior to publication to ensure that they are appropriate.
The Centre will aim to remove any barriers to application through support for students with disabilities and appropriate outreach to ensure applications from disadvantaged groups.
The Centre aims to provide a professional service that is efficient and managed by staff who understand their role in the overall student experience.
In line with the OfS transparency condition, information will be made available to applicants on applications, offers, acceptances and enrolments analysed by gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic background.
Recruitment
Information provision
1. In accordance with consumer protection law, the Centre will provide potential applicants with information that is accurate, complete, clear, unambiguous, up front, timely and accessible.
2. Information provided will include modes of study, teaching, learning and assessment procedures, learning outcomes, awarding bodies and the extent of flexibility and choice.
3. Information will also be available on the range of learner support, academic or pastoral, available for students. This will include study skills support, information technology and learning resources/library services, personal tutorial support, student welfare, counselling, employment, and careers services.
4. Clear information will also be provided on tuition fees, and any other costs associated with the course and the availability of funding.
5. Information on how to apply will be provided to applicants, including timescales and key communications, together with expectations of applicants, how to ask for feedback and, where necessary, make a complaint.
Advice and guidance
1. The Centre will provide appropriate guidance to enable potential applicants to make informed decisions about their options. The information outlined above will be supplemented by advice and guidance as follows:
Outreach work to encourage applications from students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Providing information and advice from a suitably qualified member of staff to applicants.
Providing access to information in suitable alternative formats for those applicants with particular disabilities or with particular needs as appropriate.
1. The Centre’s activities will be undertaken with the aim of providing support and guidance to help the applicant make an informed decision.
Admissions
Entry requirements
1. The Centre will publish entry requirements for all courses it offers on its website and in relevant course brochures.
2. The Centre will consider mature applicants (aged 18 or over at point of entry) who have relevant work and/or life experience.
3. The Centre will also welcome applications from individuals who have followed non-standard educational routes, or those who meet entry criteria through experience rather than academic qualification.
Admissions processes – general principles
1. Admissions processes will be outlined to applicants on the Centre’s website.
2. Opportunity will be given on application forms, at any interviews or other selection activities, for applicants to draw attention to relevant qualifications, experience and other information that might support their application.
3. The Centre will request information on applicants’ personal characteristics and demographics in order to monitor the effectiveness of its admissions processes. However, this information will not form part of the admissions decisions.
4. The Centre will aim to process applications and to communicate decisions in line with published processing times and deadlines where appropriate. Where it is unable to do this, it will communicate the reasons for this to the applicant.
5. Where interviews or additional assessments are used, these will be clearly outlined to candidates in the information provided.
6. The Centre will carry out checks on documents supplied by applicants to establish authenticity in order to guard against fraudulent applications. Where an application is found to be fraudulent either prior to or after admission, the Centre may cancel the offer or enrolment.
Applicants’ obligations
Applicants must apply through the appropriate channel as outlined on the Centre’s website.
Applicants are responsible for ensuring that the Centre is in receipt of all relevant information in order to make a decision on their application and that all information is complete and accurate.
Consideration of applications
Applications will be assessed against the entry criteria. Those students who meet or who have the potential to meet the criteria will be given an offer subject to places being available.
Where applicants do not have the formal entry criteria, their applications will be considered on their individual merits and an assessment made about whether they have the potential to succeed on the course.
Where courses are full and/or waiting lists are held, or when courses have to be closed for any reason, applicants will be informed as soon as practicable with the offer of alternative courses or entry points, wherever possible.
Where applicants are considered unsuitable for a particular course, then, wherever possible, they will be provided with feedback and referred to other appropriate courses.
Interviewing and assessment
Applicants will receive clear information on interviews, or any form of assessment applied during the application process. Applicants with a disability or other learning needs should contact the Centre to discuss any reasonable adjustments to the interview and assessment process.
Interviews and assessments, if required, will be conducted, and evaluated in a standardised manner for the course and will be inclusive to reflect the Centre’s commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Decisions, and the reasons for the decisions will be recorded in writing as fully as possible to facilitate feedback to unsuccessful applicants.
Additional health and DBS checks
For certain courses, particularly in education, health, social work, and other courses that may lead to professional registration, applicants will be required to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. This will be clearly outlined in the information for the course.
For courses in health-related subjects, applicants must also undergo a health check. This will also form part of the information provided to applicants.
Any offer of a place will be made subject to satisfactorily passing these checks.
The offer stage
Offers will be made as promptly as reasonably possible. Information will be provided to the successful applicant on:
any conditions attached to the offer.
the tuition fees and terms and conditions of admission
what the applicant has to do next and by when
Where a request for deferral of entry to a later entry point has been made, the Centre will process such request subject to places being available.
The Centre will also provide the offer holder with any updates to the course and any changes made.
Changes to courses
The Centre will ensure that substantial alterations to courses from earlier published information are communicated to applicants holding an offer. This may include significant changes to cost, location, content, or title.
Where a course is withdrawn prior to admission, the Centre will inform applicants at the earliest opportunity in line with the Centre’s published terms and conditions and the Student Protection Plan.
Applicants with a disability or other learning needs
The Centre encourages applicants with disability to disclose their disability and support requirements at the earliest opportunity, for example on the application form. This helps Centre’s staff to provide students with appropriate information and support.
Early disclosure enables the Centre to consider appropriate support requirements and to identify whether reasonable adjustments can be made prior to the start of the term.
In the unlikely event that the Centre is unable to make the adjustments needed to provide the required support, the Centre undertakes to offer the applicant support in submitting an alternative application where appropriate.
Applicants with criminal convictions
Having a criminal conviction will not necessarily be a bar to admission and the Centre abides by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1975.
For courses requiring a DBS check, any convictions either declared by the candidate or disclosed as part of the DBS will be considered in accordance with the Regulations for the consideration of criminal convictions for students on courses leading to professional registration.
References
For applicants to a course where a reference is required and there has been a significant break since schooling, a personal reference from a professional or employer (not friend or family) may be requested rather than a school reference.
Where a reference has been requested but an interview or other selection activity is conducted before the reference has been received, an offer may be made ’subject to satisfactory reference.’ This condition will be stated in the offer letter. The reference will then be followed up by the admissions team, and when received, a further letter is sent to the applicant either confirming or cancelling the offer.
Recognition of Prior (Experiential) Learning and Advanced Standing
Applicants with prior experience which is equivalent to parts of the course can use the process of the Recognition of Prior (Experiential) Learning. The process is based on a portfolio of evidence to show the equivalence of the normal entrance requirement of a specific course.
Applicants with a prior qualification or other certified learning may apply for advanced standing (e.g. admission to level 5 of a Higher National Diploma course). The prior learning will need to map against the learning outcomes, content, and level of award.
Applicants wishing to claim advanced standing or exemption from particular modules should contact the Admissions Office prior to their admission to the course.
Complaints regarding the admissions process
The Centre is committed to providing fair, transparent, and consistent admissions procedures for all of our applicants. We recognise, however, that there may be occasions when applicants are dissatisfied with the conduct of the admissions process. The Centre has a Complaints Policy accessible using the following link: https://passionlearningcentre.co.uk/policies-and-procedures
Data protection
Information collected as part of the application process will be used only in accordance with the Centre’s Data Protection Policy which is available on our website.
Responsibility for recruitment and Admissions

The responsibility for recruitment lies within the Recruitment and Admissions department which will report to the Academic Board

Staff Training

All staff involved in recruitment and admissions process will receive training which will include relevant information on the CMA and Data Protection Requirements. Training requirements will be reviewed on a regular basis and training will be refreshed annually.
Monitoring
The Recruitment and Admissions Policy will be reviewed as required by Academic Board to ensure that it is effective and is meeting the requirements of the Fair admissions code of practice.
The policy will be monitored by the Recruitment and Admissions Committee in relation to both the process and its effectiveness in meeting the objectives of the Centre’s Access and Participation Statement.
It will also be monitored in relation to the qualifications used on entry and the successful outcome of students.