Paul ChapmanMembership Engagement ManagerBirmingham City Students’ Union

Student Academic Partners at Birmingham City: Creating a community of Learners

Outstanding support for students

ContentBy the end of the session participants will have:

• Been introduced to the partnership approach at Birmingham City

• Seen the SAPs scheme setup, management and process

• Identified the benefits of such a scheme to students and staff and to the Union and Institution

• Reflected on the ability to influence academic engagement at their own institution

• Seen some of the wider engagement activities born from this relationship

• Planned any next steps

• Decided upon the Dark Side vs. Rebel Alliance

Ethos for our student partnerships

• Generating the Learning Community

– (From NSS/SES Feedback)

• Co-creation of learning experience: National Debate

• Student Representation Student Voice Student

Experience Learning Experience

• Activities are student led and delivering at the interface

• Partnership with the Students’ Union

Secondment of SU

Membership Engagement Manager

50% Secondment to the Centre for Enhancement of Learning and

Teaching (CELT) at Birmingham City University

…or is that joining the Dark Side?

What does it mean though?Partnera person who takes part in an undertaking with another or

others, especially in a business or firm with shared risks and profits

Collaborator a person who works jointly on an activity or project; an

associate

a person who cooperates traitorously with an enemy; a defector!!!

(oxforddictionaries.com)

How did we get to this point?

• Institutional support – Directorate and Senate

• Funding from CELT

• NUS/HEA case studies in student engagement

• Building on best practice

– Copenhagen Business School Student Assistants

– Northwest Missouri State

– University of Pittsburgh

Collaboration with the Institution

Collaboration with the Institution

(Futurelab ‘Learner Voice’)

Student Academic Partners• Joint student/staff proposals invited• Union & University wide assessment panel

• Induction briefing for all students and staff• Equality of role – No Junior researchers; no coffee getters!

• Students paid £10 per hour for up to 125 hours work (125hours / project)• Employed through Students’ Union

• Generation of project plan• Market place activities for collective activities (greater than the sum of its

parts)• Dissemination via posters, exhibitions and publications• Change model – Become a contagion!

SAP Number of applications Number of projects awarded

2009/10 52 25

2010/11 84 73

Applications in 2010/11 Number of project applications

Numbers of project awarded

Birmingham Institute of Art and Design 17 15

Business School 9 7Central services 6 6

Education, Law and Social Sciences 11 11

Health 12 10Performance, Media and English 18 12

Technology, Engineering and Environment 17 12

90 73

Outcomes - barriers

Outcomes - enablers

Outcomes

• Learning – intended and unintended“I have just been offered the Student Associate position for LexisNexis next year and I truly

believe my role in the SAP scheme played a big part in that. Main reason being was that my interviewer was very interested in discussing the project and could see that I could utilise the research undertaken for this role.

I would therefore like to thank you for implementing this scheme and giving me this opportunity because I've had an amazing experience so far. Not only has this been an impressive experience to list on my CV, I feel that I have developed a whole bunch of new skills and it gave me the confidence to take on the role of Student Associate.”

What else? • A new avenue of Student Engagement; Student Voice; Creating positive

change• SAP developments, benchmarking, sector dissemination and publications

and collaborations with other students’ unions• FE College Network: WP and Pre-Arrival awareness through

www.bcusu.com/virtualstudentsunion • Working with North West Missouri State University (USA) on student

employment through the HEA Change Academy • Expanding Students as ‘change agents’ - Investing in the learning

experience whilst reshaping the university• Support for a reviewed Representation Code of Practice• Support for Academic Campaigning Manifesto• Broadening the learning community...

Over to you…In two table top discussion groups:

• Card Sort: Agree or Disagree via discussion

• Snakes and Ladders: Identify the Enablers and barriers to collaborative working between students and staff in L&T

If we have time!

• Continue to rate your Institution: Exploring the conditions for a learning community (Fielding 2011)

It’s not just us…

University of Exeter – ‘Students as Change Agents’

University of Lincoln – ‘Student as Producer’

The University of Warwick – ‘The Reinvention Centre’

AGREEDISAGREE

Partnership is the same CollaborationThe Learning Experience is not the same as the Student Experience

Secondments/Partnerships of this nature dilute the independent role and voice of the SUStudents are not skilled or experienced enough to design their own learningStudents come and pay to receive education, why should they create it to?

'My Institution and the SU already maintains partnership working'The Union's role is to fight for the rights and demand action, not help them do what they are there

to do

CARD SORT