Personalising information, advice and guidance

We introduced the UCAS Hub almost three years ago and last year it became the single sign-on environment replacing Apply and Track. It gave 1.5m students in 2022 (up from 1m in 2021) their own dashboard to discover, save, favourite, and pin the content they find most valuable, refine their choices, and apply and make decisions about their higher education and training destinations.

New information, advice and tools we’ve introduced since 2021 include:

We’re introducing more tools for schools to support their students in our dedicated adviser hub – last year, this included an historic entry grade tool for teachers, showing the profile of achieved grades students were accepted with. This helps advisers guide students on their chances of being accepted on to a course with results that may be different from the advertised entry grades.

In just a year, more than 1 million students have completed the Careers Quiz in the Hub. It’s the only quiz in the UK that combines up-to-date labour market information with graduate outcomes data and higher education choices, and matches this with the students’ preferences to suggest courses and careers.

We push UCAS information, advice and guidance across multiple platforms and stream live sessions from the UCAS studio to social media and directly into the UCAS Hub. With podcasts, livestreams, and virtual events, we’re giving students direct access to experts and providing advice on topics such as preparing CVs, writing personal statements, interview tips, and making choices in Clearing. Each livestream can attract an audience of up to 30,000 students – they can ask experts questions directly and chat to other students in the same position.

2022 saw the return of in-person events, attracting 140,000 students to one of the 50 UCAS Discovery exhibitions, which we’ve transformed to cover the full range of post-secondary choices. More than half of all secondary schools and colleges in the UK now attend these events, where students can meet up to 180 different universities, colleges, and employers under one roof.

UCAS Discovery events are instrumental in inspiring students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, with 30% of students attending from the most deprived neighbourhoods, and 90% of students rating their experience as good or great. 82% of students say the event makes them think differently about the opportunities available to them.

Eight out of ten students say attending a UCAS Discovery event has supported them to take their next step in achieving their ambitions.

The future of the UCAS Hub is an immersive and personalised experience, with content tools powered by UCAS data and insight, to help students understand their options and create a truly unique experience, for each and every individual. Our plans include:

Showing students the actual grades that have historically resulted in applicants gaining entry to courses. This could help students target courses they might not have otherwise considered, discounting them based on only understanding advertised entry requirements.

It will use behavioural algorithms to suggest the most relevant pathway for each student, based on what they engage with in the Hub, surfacing options they might otherwise not have considered.

Focusing our support on students who have yet to find their pathway. With the introduction of a new pre-event preparation tool, we’ll help them get even more out of our events, particularly disadvantaged students.