The document discusses the development of the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) at Ulster University. It provides background on the HEAR, which comprehensively documents student achievements both inside and outside the formal curriculum. Ulster has been working to implement the HEAR, starting with a basic system utilizing existing data and expanding to an external platform to issue HEARs to 2015 graduates. Moving forward, challenges include ongoing maintenance, verification processes, inclusion of additional achievement types, and scaling the HEAR to cover all students.

1. ulster.ac.uk
HEAR at ULSTER
Mrs Ruth Wasson
Director of Student Administration

2. “…the higher education sector has been developing the HEAR to
provide a richer description of student achievement, including
information about module marks, academic credit and other
achievements that can be verified by their institution…..we
expect to see most institutions developing HEARs for all their
undergraduate students from September 2012…”
The HE White Paper for England (2010)

3. HEAR AT ULSTER
• Introduction
• Background and Context
• What is the HEAR? And Why Develop one at Ulster?
• What are the Benefits for Ulster Students and Staff
• HEAR at Ulster - The Progress So Far
• HEAR…. What’s Next? The Challenges Ahead

4. HEAR AT ULSTER
 What is a HEAR?
The HEAR has 2 main parts:
 Accredited achievements in the formal curriculum
 Verified achievements in the co-curriculum
In Addition:
 Template - simple, clear, consistent, stringently defined with
core elements
 Electronic – allowing details to be added as a student
progresses through their course
 Acceptable, Equitable, Transparent, Reliable, Administratively
Manageable, Motivational and Verified

5. HEAR AT ULSTER
 Why Develop a HEAR at Ulster?
 Greater financial investment than ever before.
 All stakeholders should have detailed information on
what is behind a particular class of degree.
 Students require more than just a certificate.
 Employers have clearly defined qualities they are
looking for in graduates.

6. HEAR AT ULSTER
 What are the Benefits for Ulster Students and Staff?
 Enhances student experience giving a more holistic and transparent
acknowledgement of achievement
 Explicit record of employability skills with evidence
 Encourages students to articulate why they are employable
 To be used formatively as a means for student development
 Encourages students to be reflective
 Supports more strategic approaches to public and community
engagement
 Strengthens the links between the institution and Students Union
 Ulster perspective: Employability is critical, Student Experience,
Widening Participation and Fees Agenda.

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 HEAR at Ulster – The Start of the Project for 2014 HEARs issue
deadline
 Work on the European Diploma Supplement meant that
some information required for HEAR was already available:
Transcripts, University Prizes, Study Abroad,
Additional Awards, eg EDGE
 Working with Faculties and Schools, Departments and
Students Union to establish process to allow for verification
of additional achievements
 Ensure equity of access
 HEAR on Student and Staff Portal
 Section 6.1 ‘Live’

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 HEAR at Ulster – Phase 2 External Solution and 2015 Graduates
 Review of current provision
 Decision to recruit an external provider and Bid for
funding
 Tender process and recruitment of External Provider
 March to June 2015 - Implementation Plan, e-transcript
server installation, Technical Installation, Data mapping
and database configuration, HEAR descriptive and
presentation format, Student registration and HEAR
generation, Transfer to ‘Live’, Sign off and Go Live.

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 3156 Final HEAR’s issued to 2015
Graduates
 12,456 Formative HEAR’s issued to
returning students
 5,621 Student accounts activated
(35%)
 865 HEAR’s viewed by students
 5 Third party access tokens issued

19. HEAR AT ULSTER
 HEAR…..What’s Next?
The Challenges ahead for Ulster
 Ongoing Maintenance and update of current system with Gradintel
 Roles and Responsibilities following formal closure of the project
 Academic Staff SSO access to Gradintel
 HEAR business processes for new students and data refresh points
 Continuation of the issue of Transcripts?
 Future management of Section 6.1 (Banner or Gradintel)
 What does Verification look like and who will do it?
 Verification of recently approved 6.1 activities
 Training and Guidelines
 How do we ensure equity of opportunity for all students?
 Inclusion of Learning Outcomes, University Prizes, Placements and Study Abroad
 Scaling up to work for all students
 What about part timers, PG and Master students? Partner Institutions? Students
joining with advanced standing?

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 Other useful sites
 http://www.recordingachievement.org/
 http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Pages/default.aspx
 http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources
 http://hear.ac.uk/
 http://www.ulster.ac.uk/academicservices/student/DipSu
pp06.pdf