Use of contextual data

Use of contextual data for 2012 entry

If you are a UK applicant under the age of 21, the University may use contextual information alongside your application in order to build up a full and rounded view of your achievement and potential. This is simply additional information considered by admissions decision-makers alongside your UCAS form. No decisions will be made on the basis of this information alone and you must meet our standard academic criteria to be considered for entry.

Four pieces of contextual information are used where available. They are drawn from your application form and used alongside publicly available datasets to provide the following information:

  1. The performance of the school or college where you took your GCSEs or equivalent qualifications;
  2. The performance of your school or college at A-level or equivalent level;

(In both instances you will be flagged if your school or college performs below the national average across multiple years).

  1. An assessment of the postcode that you have provided as your home address, using the HEFCE POLAR2 Low Participation Neighbourhood (LPN) data and ACORN information (a system that assigns specific geo-demographic profiles to individual UK postcodes). You will be flagged if your postcode falls into ACORN categories 4 or 5 OR the LPN data.
  2. Whether you have been looked after or in care for more than three months; this is determined from your UCAS application.

A combination of these factors is used to avoid over-reliance on any one indicator. An overall contextual flag is produced if you meet at least one of the educational indicators plus the postcode indicator. You will also receive an overall flag if you have been in care for more than three months.

If you receive an overall flag and meet the standard academic entry criteria, your application is recommended for further consideration by admissions tutors. This further consideration will not result in either an automatic offer or a lower offer but can include, among other things:

You can check whether you would be assigned a contextual flag based on your home postcode and the schools you attended:

Detailed information about the use of contextual data at Manchester is contained in the following documents, which are available to download as PDFs:

You will need a PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat (downloadable from Adobe) to view PDF files. PDF files open in a new window.

For further information about the use of contextual data please contact:

Alison Charles
Undergraduate Admissions Manager
Email: a.charles@manchester.ac.uk