Participant Information
Please read the following information about the Next Steps South West project to make sure you understand what data we are collecting, who can access it, and what will be done with it.
You are being invited to take part in a research project run by Next Steps South West as part of the Uni Connect programme. Uni Connect aims to increase the number of young people in higher education by providing information, advice and guidance and support to students. This research will help us to understand in more detail what support works and for whom.
Who are we?
Next Steps South West is carrying out the local evaluation for Uni Connect. CFE Research is carrying out the national evaluation for the Uni Connect programme.
What is the project’s purpose?
The project will explore outreach activities’ effectiveness in engaging students with higher education (post-18 programmes leading to qualifications above A Level or Level 3 standard) within Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset.
What does the project involve?
You will be invited to join in with activities and sessions that will talk about higher education. These may be aimed at explaining more about your post-18 options, target specific skills, or aim to raise confidence or aspiration.
Post-Activity Evaluation After some activities, you may be asked to complete an evaluation survey or take part in a group discussion with a member of the Next Steps South West team. Evaluation of our activities will help us to understand how useful you found the sessions, if they have changed your thoughts about higher education, and how we can improve them for future groups of students. Your answers will be collected together, and may be used if the research is published, but you will not be identifiable.
What will happen with the information collected?
- Your personal data (first name, last name, date of birth and home postcode) will be collected by the Next Steps South West team based at the University of Plymouth.
- We gather this data so we can register your attendance at our event. We will record it onto a secure database (HEAT – Higher Education Access Tracker) which allows us to track students’ progress onto higher education, and to produce reports monitoring our activities.
- The data we add to HEAT may be shared with the Department for Education (DfE) and the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
- We will remove all personal data from the HEAT database if you do not take part in Next Steps South West activities by the time you leave Year 11 and our records indicate you have not progressed onto Sixth Form or Further Education.
- We will remove all personal data from the HEAT database if you do not take part in Next Steps South West activities by the time you leave Year 13, FE Level 3 Year 2 education (or equivalent).
- We will handle all data securely in line with the Data Protection Act 2018.
- We will not identify you in activity evaluation survey responses.
- Your school or college may request feedback from the data, but it will not be possible to identify you from this feedback, and no individual responses will be given.
- Next Steps South West and its partners will not use your personal data in a way that would affect you individually, and will not release data to any unauthorised third parties.
Controlling your personal information
If you have completed a student baseline survey and wish to withdraw your data you will need to contact CFE Research by email at ncop@cfe.org.uk
If you are concerned the personal information we hold on you is not accurate and wish to have it corrected or, no longer wish to be part of the NSSW project you can email Robert Hart the Evaluation Team Lead at robert.hart-1@plymouth.ac.uk to discuss this further.
Please be aware that if you do decide to withdraw from CFE Research or the Next Steps South West project, it is not possible to withdraw any data that has already been committed to research publications.
Download this Participant Information Sheet as a PDF (updated Jan2024)