1

Future Directions:A sector-wide response to quality enhancement in a challenging environmentDr Colleen Connor, Dr Karen Fitzgibbon, Sarah Ingram, Dr Helena Lim and Dr Nick Potter

HEA Annual Conference, 3-4 July 2012

• The Welsh Context

• Introducing the QE theme and approach

• Process

• Promoting buy-in and engagement

• Case study: student engagement

• Early outputs and outcomes

2

Structure of session

Interaction! Interaction! Interaction!

• 10 HEIs, plus the Open University in Wales and the University of Wales

• For Our Future: the 21st Century Higher Education Strategy and Plan for Wales, 2009

• Twin priorities:• Delivering social justice• Support a buoyant

economy

• HEFCW Corporate Plan, 2010

• More integrated HE system

• Organised in regions• Delivered by fewer, more

sustainable institutions• Strategic themes

• widening access• student

experience/voice, • skills • knowledge transfer • research

3

The Welsh Context

Challenging

environment

• First Welsh QE theme, identified end-2010:

• Students as Partners

• Learning for Employment

• Learning in Employment

• Sector-wide response to enhance specific areas of the student learning experience

4

Graduates for our future

• Aims

• Share good practice

• Generate ideas and models for innovation

5

Key partners

All Welsh institutions delivering HE

Steering Group

Enhancement activities

Identify good practice/gaps

Events

Biennial conference series

Enhancement activities

Address gaps/ share good practice

Events

Identify next enhancement theme

6

Approach

• Identify gaps• Involve all • Maximise collaboration• Minimise duplication• Learning from elsewhere• Inform future developments

Learning for Employment

Learning in Employment

Students as Partners

7

Work Strands

W O R K- S T RA N D S

Facilitating A Collaborative Working Group

foster information

sharing

track progre

ss

produce outcome

s

manage expectatio

ns

problem-

solve

Case Study Themes

Authentic Learning

Careers Awareness & Application Skills

Developing Graduate Attributes

Developing Leadership & Enterprise

Expanding Professional Networks

Creating Resources to help Employability

Student and learner experiences

Employer experiences

Assessment

Quality assurance/quality enhancement

Alumni engagement

Student representation

Students supporting students

Students contribution to curriculum design

LfE LiE SaP

Improving the student experience is at the heart of all strands.

Students as Partners asks students to input into the work of the strand.

Students from every institution in Wales are part of the strand (18/42 members).

Student members are equal to staff members: they attend meetings, are asked to write case studies and input into the future ideas of the strand.

10

Student engagement

Including students within the strand has shaped the work of the group:

• Students are keen to attend meetings;

• They build up relationships with other students (and staff) within Wales;

• Students are used to working in a fast-paced environment, they push the momentum of the group;

• Students are not afraid of speaking up if they don’t agree with ideas;

• Students have lots of new ideas.

Unfortunately, the nature of being a student is that they have a limited timescale and after a year most of them leave:

• Students need to be quickly inducted into the strand;

• Engaged students leave and their knowledge is lost.11

Benefits and Detriments

The Future Directions conference highlighted the benefit of engaging on an equal basis with students:

• Students ran workshops;• Staff reacted positively to the new perspective;• Interesting debates evolved: how to engage students, how should we recognise and reward students;

• Students were impressed with the enthusiasm from staff.

Students as Partners section split into:• Student representation;• Students supporting students;• Curriculum development.

12

Student Engagement in conference

Students and staff working alongside each other have created deeper debates and ideas are flowing for work that could happen over the next two years: students are excited to see change (they have no initiative fatigue).

Future work:

• Student-focussed event for student officers and engaged reps, to bring further awareness of the project and get a wider range of views on the work of Future Directions.

• Engaging the a-typical student, there is enthusiasm from staff and students to capture the ways that atypical students are engaged with and how it can be improved.

13

Student Engagement – the future

Discussion

• Flexibility/responsiveness to rapidly changing Welsh/ national/ international context

• Different degrees of engagement

• Not another initiative, initiative-fatigue

• Who’s enhancement theme is it anyway?

• Overlap/integration

• Outcomes/output

15

Challenges

Inaugural Future Directions Conference, 26 April 2012 - videos of speaker presentations

http://savilleav.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/9d6221c8b61847888954894a1498961d1d

FD case study publications

Students as Partners

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/events/academyevents/2012/Students_as_Partners_190412_1138_FINAL.pdf

Learning for Employment

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/events/academyevents/2012/Learning_For_Employment.pdf

Learning in Employment

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/events/academyevents/2012/Learning_In_Employment_English_200412_1237.pdf

16

Further information