Higher Education Destinations
THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
REPORT TO Board of the English Schools Foundation
FOR THE MEETING ON TUESDAY, 29th SEPTEMBER 2009
HIGHER EDUCATION DESTINATIONS REPORT 2009 - Preliminary
1. Purpose of the Report
To provide a report on the higher education destinations of ESF students who left school in 2009.
2. Background
This is the first year with five ESF schools newly in their first examination cohort of the IB and Advanced Diploma. It is the first year of full time HE counsellors and there have been many improvements to the service to students as a result. Higher education destinations have been gathered from the students. This can never be a complete data set for a number of reasons which include the following: Australian university applications which only take place in the December following year 13; the undetermined destinations of some gap year students; and also because some students and their families leave Hong Kong and do not respond to communications. This year we have about 85% [72% in 2008] of destinations confirmed and, to be consistent with past reports, this data only refers to actual destinations. The new UCAS tracking system has enabled HE counsellors to be more systematic in their tracking of offers and final destinations in the UK.
One measure of the success of a school system which educates students of all abilities is the fact that students go on to attend prestigious institutions, and another is the success with which those with a less high academic record are found a place at an appropriate higher or further education institution. ESF schools continue to support applications to a range of institutions. This is the first cohort of ESF Advanced Diploma students across 3 schools. A subsequent report will be available on this.
Regular and consistent monitoring of higher education destinations increases the validity of data. Five years ago, there was no proper, consistent and regular collation of data through the ESF wide database - MAZE. This is improving year on year. There have been significant improvements. HE counsellors have been much more effective in keeping a spreadsheet of offers for university places and these are now available to all ESF schools so that students applying in subsequent years can check to see if their applications are realistic. It has also helped in comparing offers from different institutions and subjects.
In addition, the accuracy of final destinations’ data has improved. Data collection occurs at a busy time of the school year during which students who are leaving reappraise their offers, New Year 13 students need counselling following their summer research, and many questions arise from new year 12 students who may need to change their IB options and do not want to jeopardise their future choice of course. There is still some improvement to be made on this data collection exercise at school level, so that the data builds up over a period of time rather than is all entered during one event in September.
3. Higher Education Data
· Of the 800 students who took the ESF Diploma pathways, there are currently 695 full records in MAZE where there are complete records for higher and further education. This data is gathered from 6 ESF schools and represents approximately 85% of the cohort. In years 2007 and 8 it represented less than 75%.
3.1 Destination by country – trends – Table 1 – HE21020
· In 2009, across ESF there is a similar pattern to HE final destinations from previous years, despite the change to IB Diploma with a variation between the countries in which students study; the UK is the most popular destination, with USA and Canada being the next most popular choice, followed by Hong Kong and Australia.
· 321 students went on to study in the UK, compared with 269 in 2008 and 305 in 2007. This represents approximately 46% of students [variation in previous years 44-48%].
· 107 students went on to study in the USA compared with 105 in 2008 and 137 in 2007. This represents approximately 15% of students [variation 16-22%].
· 96 students chose Canadian institutions, compared with 90 in 2008 and 62 in 2007. This represents approximately 14% of students [variation 10-16%].
· 95 students are now studying at Hong Kong Universities, with 63 in 2008 and 58 in 2007. This represents approximately 14% of students [variation 8-12%].
· 60 students have declared an interest in applying for Australia. This data is unreliable as confirmed offers are rare before December.
3.2 Destination by country – variations by school
· The tendency is for the Hong Kong Island schools to have more students, as a proportion, attend UK universities. Schools varied greatly this year, with Island and West Island Schools sending 55% to the UK, compared with 38% and 40% at Sha Tin College and KGV. This pattern has been consistent over the last four years [with the exception of 2007 where Sha Tin College had an unusually large number of students choosing UK destinations].
· There is no particular pattern by school of students attending US universities; this has varied from 12% to 28% in the last three years. South Island School has many more than usual [32%] attending US universities and Sha Tin College has 9%.
· The number of students attending institutions in Canada varies enormously, with Sha Tin College having more students [31%] attending universities north of the 49th parallel. South Island has consistently the lowest percentage at 6-8% over three years. ESF has a network of HE is working to improve the knowledge of all country destinations of the new team of Higher Education Counsellors.
· In 2009 all except Island School had more than 11% attend Hong Kong institutions this year. Students from the Kowloon and the New Territories tend to attend HK institutions more than their counterparts from Hong Kong Island. The trend is most definitely positive due to the enhanced reputation worldwide of HKU, HKUST, CUHK and Poly U; some tightening of belts during this year’s economic crisis; and the publicity drive by the local universities and our HE counsellors to ensure our students are well aware of what is available locally.
· Data for Australian universities is the most unreliable but it seems that most schools send around 5-10% of their cohort to Australasia. This may be growing as IB students are well regarded in universities across Australia.
· Students also attend universities in a range of countries other than those previously mentioned according to their nationality, and also a low, but consistent, number attend hotel management schools in Switzerland.
3.3 Destinations by subject – Table 2 – HE 21030
· ESF students who attend North American universities do not declare a major subject until the second year of study, so it is usual for “undeclared’ to be the largest category. 263 students chose this option in 2009 compared with 162 in 2008 and 234 in 2007.
· Of those who do choose a specialist subject, there is a full range of subjects chosen by ESF students. There is some variation across the cohorts, but quite a lot of consistency across ESF, with regard to the most popular subjects chosen. This seems to be no different with this first IB cohort although six students will go on to study languages which has traditionally had only one or two.
· Business degrees are usually the most popular, with 68 students went on to study these in 2008 [48 in 2007 and 75 in 2006]. This number has slightly this year to 46.
· Subjects which around 35-45 students [6-8%] each year go on to study, this year include Humanities, Social Sciences, Law and Sciences as well as Art and Art and Design, when combined with Foundation Art Courses. Social Sciences, Sciences, Law and Engineering have traditionally been in this range in previous years. Humanities degrees have made the biggest jump.
· Of the subjects which 25-34 [4-6%] students study, Medical and Veterinary, Economics and Engineering are in this range this year. Engineering varies year on year and is sometimes higher.
· Subjects that tend to attract 15-24 [2-4%] students per year are Media, Performing Arts, Architecture, Mathematics, English, Accounting and Art and Design.
· No real differences exist across schools in the range of subjects chosen. There is variation by cohort which indicates that schools are not dominant in one major area, and students are choosing according to interest, aptitude and career path, rather than the success of particular areas in any school.
3.4 Destinations by institutions – world – Table 3 HE 21042 and 4 HE21010
· It is difficult to analyse the data for trends with regard to individual universities as the variations in the number of potential institutions in each country impacts on the data.
· There are various ranking systems for universities which are produced by newspapers in each country. In order to be global in outlook, this report has referred to the Times Higher Education Supplement World Ranking www.timeshighereducation.co.uk as a way of gauging whether our students are getting places in the top universities in the world. In 2009, 136 students will be attending one of the thirty top universities in the world; this compares with 109 in 2008. Students from ESF schools will be studying at 18 of these 30 institutions [17 in 2008]. In 2009, 260 attended the top 50 and 343 the top 100. This is very similar to 2008, with 249 students attending one of the fifty top universities in the world, and 317 attending one in the top 100.
· These include universities such as Harvard, California Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College, London, University College, London, and Chicago in the top 10; Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Michigan, McGill and Stanford in the top 20; Brown, UCLA, Kings College, London, HKU, Edinburgh and Manchester in the top 30.
· For the last three years, the University of Hong Kong or the University of Toronto have been either the most popular or the second most popular destination for ESF students. The University of Hong Kong remains the most popular. This year the University of British Columbia was significantly more popular than the University of Toronto with IB scholarships being a significant influence on ESF students. HKUST has become a significant institution for ESF students although in previous years the Chinese University of Hong Kong was more popular. HKUST has been growing in reputation and has courted more internationally educated students.
3.5 Destinations by institutions - UK
· Arguably for undergraduate degrees, the most important criteria are the quality of teaching and student satisfaction. The Guardian newspaper in the UK produces what is considered to be the most appropriate ranking system for potential undergraduates intending to study at the UK universities http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityguide2009 and therefore ESF students use this to choose the best universities for their particular course. There are, of course. some prestigious institutions that will always rank highly, but other institutions vary by subject and year on year. Ranking is not an exact science so care must be taken with over-interpreting the data.
· For the purposes of this report and to be consistent with previous reports, we have chosen The Good University Guide published by the Times newspaper to compare trends. Just over 300 students are studying in the UK according to UCAS. Many of these ESF students are now studying at the top 30 institutions in the UK. Of these, 210 ESF students are studying at these universities, from a cohort of 321 who have gone to the UK to study [65%]. This compares with 188 from 269 students in 2008 [70%] and 199 from 307 students [65%] in 2007.
· In 2009, 95 students are at the top 10 universities this year [28%], compared with 100 in 2008 [38%]. In 2007, 92 went to the top 10 [31%].
· This year the top UK destinations were the University of Exeter, the University of Nottingham with 20 or more students, the University of Warwick, the University of Edinburgh, Kings College, London and University College, London, and the London School of Economics with between 10-20 students. The rise of the University of Exeter is significant as they had a publicity drive to increase the number of Hong Kong students as well as being more reasonable with IB Diploma offers.
· 80% of students who went on to study in the top 50 UK universities and many of the other 20% were doing the less academic ESF Advanced Diploma or they applied to prestigious institutes of art and design that don’t feature in the academic league tables. The most important factor is that ESF has an excellent record of placing young people in higher and further education across the academic spectrum, and also finding appropriate further study for with those with talents in particular areas such as art, design and the performing arts. This is the second year where many students are going to a range of arts institutions that have extremely high reputations worldwide. For example, students have gone on to study at the London Central, St Martins, Parson’s School of Design in New York, California Institute for the Arts, Rhode Island College of Design, London College of Fashion, Chelsea College of Art and Design, Edinburgh College of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design and the Arts Educational School, London.
4. Issues that arose from implementation of IB results
4.1 Predicted Grades
The art of predicting grades is important for a school’s reputation. Under A-levels teachers were rarely wrong largely because of exam modules being taken throughout the course. The IB Diploma is more challenging in that regard as more examinations are in one sitting within 3 weeks as well as the range of possible scores within the Diploma. This has more potential for things to go awry. Predicted grades have to be realistic and if they are not, even though it may get a student an offer, the prediction may result in a wasted application to university. ESF schools are working to improve the accuracy of these predicted grades. Schools were encouraging of students by setting them challenging target grades, but inexperience of the IB standards may have led them to be over optimistic. This had a knock-on effect in relation to the universities they were applying for i.e. many higher reach applications. ESF students did receive more offers as a result overall and yet some students were not sufficiently astute to ensure there was differentiation in their offers they accepted: a high but realistic reach, plus a lower realistic offer. HE counselling is advice to young people and their parents and it is not always heeded. There were examples of students accepting two high reach offers rather than two offers at different levels. Predicted grades need adjustment by the IB coordinator according to the behavioural characteristics of students. It is rare for students to perform to 1 grade above in every subject. Experience and accuracy will improve and schools will seek a balance between students’ interests and their reputation. ESF has run one meeting of IB Coordinators and HE Counsellors to explore best practice in predicted grade setting. Although this created anxiety, it has made no remarkable differences in the end.
4.2 Managing Uncertainty
In 2009, IB results were published to students on 6th July 2009, a full 7 weeks before the A level results on 20th August. There is a new paradigm of the pattern of students receiving results and confirmation of UK University offers which increases the anxiety among students, parents and senior leaders alike. Firstly the IB Diploma is a qualification which differentiates more and therefore more students missed their offer by a few points or by one point in a Higher Level subject which was a condition. This did not mean that all students didn’t get a place; however they had to wait until later in August when universities assessed whether their A-level numbers were too high and they wouldn’t have capacity on the courses. Some excellent universities were extremely active in Hong Kong picking up high performing students who were made to wait by their first choice university. This included Hong Kong Universities and The University of Warwick for example. Some ESF students decided to withdraw from the UK and apply to the USA. ESF schools had HE counsellors, IB Coordinators and Principals on hand during results day and yet some schools may have been slightly under resourced in this regard. Review and reflection is happening in schools on preparing students before term ends for this eventuality and as a result of 2009, there will be more expectation of the wait for a few weeks and better preparation as a result.
Appendix 1 Information on Higher Education and the IB Diploma
· ESF Centre, through the schools, has been collecting data systematically on the higher education destinations of our students for three years and there is a good knowledge of the progression routes for our students.
· There are several factors determining the offers given to students, the most significant is the popularity of the course with students in the UK and around the world, which hinges on the reputation of the institution as well as the reputation of that subject. There are other factors such as whether the student has international fee status or home fee status. Many ESF students have parents with UK, Canadian, US or Australian passports which allows them to access lower fees than other international counterparts.
· Many universities in the UK consider GCSE and IGCSE results to determine offers to students, rather than predicted grades for ‘A’ level and the Diploma.
· Data from five years’ experience of the IB Diploma has indicated that there is a great deal of evidence for good progression routes for ESF students. The very highest achieving students gain 40 points or more although 38 points is often enough for Oxbridge and other very high ranking universities, providing students obtain an offer, which in itself can depend on the interview.
· Students attaining 34-40 points will almost certainly gain entry into Russell Group universities in the UK and top 20 universities for a given subject, top universities in the USA, Canada and Australia although it will depend on the popularity of the courses.
· Students with scores of 28-34 points can also attain a good university place and students with 24-28 points are able to gain a reputable progression route into higher education in a technical university, or a liberal arts college, especially if they have a particular aptitude.
Appendix 2 ESF Diploma pathways and accreditation
· IB Diploma pass rate statistics often depend on the proportion of students who are allowed into the IB Diploma pathway, but who might have academic difficulties with achieving it. In preparing the schools for the transition from A levels to the IB, the ESF Diploma framework was created. This has four pathways, the IB Diploma, the Advanced, the Intermediate and the Foundation Diploma.
· Given the ability range of our students, schools need to provide an alternative pathway for those students with different learning styles and aptitudes and they have put in place a framework called the ESF Advanced Diploma with the philosophy and structure of the IB Diploma, using a basket of externally examined qualifications including BTECs, IB Certificates, Applied ‘A’ levels etc. This has been established in three schools for the first cohort, and one more school has commenced this for the 2010 examinations. Two further schools are examining the possibility and affordability of providing an alternative pathway.
· CIS/WASC [Council for International Schools/Western Association of Schools and Colleges] accreditation for a school, allows schools’ transcripts on students to have more credibility with universities especially in North America, but also in the UK. All the schools will gain this accreditation by 2010.
Table 1
|
HE21020 Country List by Alphabet on Number
|
||
|
Country
|
Number of Students
|
Percentage of Students
|
|
UNITED KINGDOM
|
321
|
46.19%
|
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
107
|
15.40%
|
|
CANADA
|
96
|
13.81%
|
|
HONG KONG SAR
|
95
|
13.67%
|
|
AUSTRALIA
|
60
|
8.63%
|
|
SWITZERLAND
|
2
|
0.29%
|
|
SOUTH AFRICA
|
2
|
0.29%
|
|
CHINA
|
2
|
0.29%
|
|
JAPAN
|
2
|
0.29%
|
|
KOREA (REPUBLIC OF)
|
2
|
0.29%
|
|
NETHERLANDS
|
1
|
0.14%
|
|
NEW ZEALAND
|
1
|
0.14%
|
|
SINGAPORE
|
1
|
0.14%
|
|
ITALY
|
1
|
0.14%
|
|
SPAIN
|
1
|
0.14%
|
|
SWEDEN
|
1
|
0.14%
|
Table 2
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HE21030 Category of Courses by Alphabet or Number
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||
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Category
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Number of Students
|
Percentage of Students
|
|
Undeclared
|
263
|
37.84%
|
|
Humanities
|
48
|
6.91%
|
|
Business
|
46
|
6.62%
|
|
Law
|
42
|
6.04%
|
|
Science
|
41
|
5.90%
|
|
Social Sciences
|
41
|
5.90%
|
|
Medical / Veterinary
|
27
|
3.88%
|
|
Art
|
26
|
3.74%
|
|
Economics
|
26
|
3.74%
|
|
Accounting
|
23
|
3.31%
|
|
Engineering
|
23
|
3.31%
|
|
English
|
16
|
2.30%
|
|
Performing Arts
|
16
|
2.30%
|
|
Architecture
|
11
|
1.58%
|
|
Art and Design
|
11
|
1.58%
|
|
Mathematics
|
11
|
1.58%
|
|
Media
|
9
|
1.29%
|
|
Education
|
7
|
1.01%
|
|
Languages
|
7
|
1.01%
|
|
Technology
|
1
|
0.14%
|
Table 3
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Course
|
Number of Students
|
|
Course Undeclared
|
103
|
|
Law
|
42
|
|
Business
|
40
|
|
Undeclared
|
35
|
|
Business/Management
|
34
|
|
Economics
|
26
|
|
Psychology
|
24
|
|
Accounting
|
23
|
|
Engineering
|
22
|
|
Arts
|
19
|
|
Medicine
|
18
|
|
Sciences
|
17
|
|
English
|
16
|
|
Foundation Course
|
16
|
|
History
|
16
|
|
Political Science
|
16
|
|
Social Sciences
|
16
|
|
Art and Design
|
15
|
|
Biomedical / Biochemistry
|
14
|
|
Geography
|
12
|
|
Architecture
|
11
|
|
Computing/ICT
|
11
|
|
Fashion
|
11
|
|
Mathematics
|
11
|
|
Media
|
9
|
|
Performing Arts
|
9
|
|
Sports Science
|
9
|
|
Hotel Management
|
8
|
|
Education
|
7
|
|
Film Production
|
7
|
|
Journalism/Communications
|
7
|
|
Music
|
7
|
|
Veterinary
|
7
|
|
Biology
|
6
|
|
Environmental Science
|
6
|
|
Marketing
|
6
|
|
Pharmacy
|
5
|
|
Physics
|
5
|
|
Chemistry
|
4
|
|
Humanities
|
4
|
|
Languages
|
4
|
|
Sport / Leisure
|
4
|
|
Food
|
3
|
|
PHYSIOTHERAPY
|
2
|
|
Anthropology
|
1
|
|
Aviation Technology
|
1
|
|
French
|
1
|
|
German
|
1
|
|
Leisure Mangement
|
1
|
|
Spanish
|
1
|
|
Technology
|
1
|
|
Zoology
|
1
|
|
Table 4
|
||
|
HE21042 ESF Students attending top 100 Universities
|
||
|
University
|
Country
|
Number of Student
|
|
University of Hong Kong
|
HONG KONG SAR
|
44
|
|
University of British Columbia
|
CANADA
|
35
|
|
HKUST
|
HONG KONG SAR
|
22
|
|
University of Toronto
|
CANADA
|
19
|
|
The University of Edinburgh
|
UNITED KINGDOM
|
15
|
|
King's College London (University of London)
|
UNITED KINGDOM
|
14
|
|
University College London (University of London)
|
UNITED KINGDOM
|
13
|
|
New York NYU
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
11
|
|
The University of Manchester
|
UNITED KINGDOM
|
9
|
|
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
|
HONG KONG SAR
|
9
|
|
University of Bristol
|
UNITED KINGDOM
|
9
|
|
Oxford University
|
UNITED KINGDOM
|
6
|
|
McGill University
|
CANADA
|
6
|
|
University of New South Wales [UNSW]
|
AUSTRALIA
|
6
|
|
Imperial College London (University of London)
|
UNITED KINGDOM
|
4
|
|
University of Cambridge
|
UNITED KINGDOM
|
4
|
|
University of Melbourne
|
AUSTRALIA
|
3
|
|
Chicago
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
3
|
|
Cornell
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
3
|
|
University of California - Berkeley
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
3
|
|
Boston
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
3
|
|
Brown University
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
3
|
|
The University of Pennsylvania
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
3
|
|
University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA)
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
3
|
|
Michigan
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
2
|
|
Monash University
|
AUSTRALIA
|
2
|
|
University of Queensland
|
AUSTRALIA
|
1
|
|
Peking University
|
CHINA
|
1
|
|
Stanford
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
1
|
|
California Institute of Technology
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
1
|
|
Harvard
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
1
|
|
Princeton
|
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
|
1
|
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