Advance HE Teaching & Learning Conference 2018: Using pre-admission data to explore factors associated with differential attainment among transnational and UK/EU distance learning students

Many online distance learning (ODL) programmes observe disparities in attainment between UK/EU and transnational students. We obtained pre-admission data to create an integrated dataset of pre-and post-admission data for students registered on a postgraduate ODL programme at the University of Manchester. These data were used to explore the impact of age gender ethnicity work experience educational background region of birth region of domicile and region of nationality among other variables to determine the most important pre-admission determinants of attainment. The pros and cons of using admissions data for this purpose are discussed.