The information published on these pages shows:
The number of students who attained a particular degree or other academic award, or a particular level of such an award, on completion of their course with us.
It shows these numbers by reference to:
University of Southampton context relating to the data contained in the Transparency Information Notice
The University of Southampton operates a fair admission policy and is committed to equal access and opportunity. The data contained within the Transparency Information Notice highlights areas where we have more work to do in realising our ambitions.
We recognise that the proportion of BAME students attaining a 2:1 degree (or above) is lower than that of their white peers. While the percentage of BAME students to have attained at least a 2:1 degree has increased by five percentage points, disparity with white peers persists. This gap has decreased by two percentage points, when compared to the previous year, however further action is necessary and we will be working with the Faculty of Environment and Life Sciences (where the greatest disparity is observed) to better understand the causes of this disparity and to close this gap.
We also recognise a significant division in attainment between students from the most deprived (EIMD quintiles 1 and 2) and the least deprived (EIMD 2019 quintiles 3 to 5) areas of England. The percentage of students from EIMD quintile 1 and 2 students to have attained at least a 2:1 degree has increased by three percentage points when compared to the previous year. The percentage of EIMD quintile 1 to 2 students to attain a first class degree has also increased when compared to last year (up three and eight percentage points respectively). Despite this, an eight percentage point difference between EIMD quintile 1 to 2 students and EIMD quintile 3 to 5 students attaining a grade 2:1 or above persists. The greatest disparity is observed in the Faculty of Environment and Life Sciences and a targeted strategy and action plan is currently being sought.
Awarding gaps continue to be a top priority for us. In the last year we have implemented multiple programmes to reduce and eventually eliminate these gaps. Our flagship widening participation programme, Ignite Southampton, is a lifecycle orientated scheme for students from IMD Q1 postcodes which supports better success and progression outcomes. We have also initiated an Awarding Gap Project which is student led. This project ultimately seeks to eliminate the awarding gap between Black and White students. Alongside these projects, our Faculties each have dedicated and detailed plans to further access, success and progression for students from underrepresented groups.
Attainment data by gender continues to closely align, with the proportion of female students achieving a grade 2:1 (or above) increasing by 2.9 percentage points (to 94.8%) and the proportion of male students attaining a 2:1 degree (or above) increasing by 1.7 percentage points (to 89.9%) when compared to last year. This situation will continue to be monitored.
As a founding signatory of the Athena Swan gender equality charter, and a Silver Award holder, we are committed to maximising the potential of all our people and tackling known gender equality issues. We will continue to closely monitor this data.
More generally, we have committed ourselves to achieving stretching targets on access and attainment in our Access and Participation Plan agreed with the Office for Students (OfS).