A sector-level assessment of transparency around UCAS personal statements

Fair admissions to university are dependent upon clear and transparent information about selection criteria. This paper, focussing on transparency around the UCAS personal statement in the UK, provides the first sector-wide assessment of practice. Expanding on previous work, this study uses an established transparency framework applied to 100 universities to investigate to what extent institutions are transparent in their communications to applicants. We find both considerable opportunities to develop practice, as well as examples of excellent practice. Selective universities are generally more transparent about the way the personal statement is used in admissions, which we postulate is due to the increased importance of the statement in candidate evaluation. We recommend that universities adapt their websites to provide institution-specific, transparent information about admissions processes, rather than framing this as generic advice and guidance around personal statements.