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Engaging with students…Elgan Hughes

@BCUPresident

Birmingham City Students’ Union

BCU President until tomorrow!

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Who am I?

• 2nd Year elected Sabbatical Officer• Graduate of Bsc (Hons)Engineering Product

Design• Engaged student throughout my university

experience – Student Rep. BoS. Rugby!• Recent heavy involvement in academic student

engagement activity • Passionate about students getting the most out

of their time at University

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What are we going to do?

Today I hope to tease out your thoughts and opinions on:

• SU and Institution perspectives • Discussing a few questions / statements• Sharing our thoughts with each other • Develop an opinion to take away

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Student Engagement

What was it like before this new era of student engagement?

Did you not engage with students at all!?

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Why Student Engagement now?

Split – as best you can! – into small groups and think why the sector is focusing so much on student engagement…

..and why is it relevant to the AUA?

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Why Student Engagement at BCU…• Generating the Learning Community across 8 Campuses

– (From consistent NSS/SES Feedback)

• Co-creation of the learning experience

Recipient / Consumer / Participant / Collaborator

• Embed students at the heart of what we do

• Encourage activities to be student led with students delivering at the interface!

• Join up the spheres focussing on the Academic Sphere (HEA What Works?)

• Develop the partnership with the Students’ Union

– Shared and owned vision

– Secondment of SU’s Head of Engagement

– Joint SU : University working groups

– Continual Partnership dialogue

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HEA What Works? Model

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Partnership - A National Agenda

“Students' unions now focus on cooperation, not opposition”

(Greatrix, THE, May 2012)

“However, of late, the “them” and “us” are no longer so diametrically opposed; we often stand side by side” (Grattan & Meakin, walesonline.co.uk Oct 2012)

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Partnership - A National Agenda…?

“We have to move beyond defining a good relationship between an institution and a students’ union as students’ union officers and senior management working together. This will mean enabling academic staff, as well as students, to be part of the conversation on determining how partnership will work.

(NUS Manifesto for Partnership, 2013)

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Partnership - A National Agenda…?

“By working together to a common agreed purpose, steps can be taken that lead to enhancements for all concerned”

(QAA Chapter B5)

“A distinctive feature of the programme is that participating teams comprise at least 50 per cent students or student representatives, with appropriate representation from academic staff and senior managers”

(HEA Students as Partners Initiative, 2013)

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Partnership - A National Agenda…?

"Partnership is central to the experiences of students in Wales. Students [sic] unions ensure partnership between the universities and its students works at its best.”

(Leighton Andrews, 2013, Minister for Education, Welsh National Assembly, QAA Wales

Annual Conference)

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Is this student engagement?

• The VC and the President getting along?• The VC and President getting along and meaning it?• A few sabbatical officers at university meetings?• A student representative on a course committee? • Joint staff and student working / steering groups?• Inviting University VIPs to the SU Ball or Annual Review?• A bit of ‘top up’ funding for the SU?• Students participating in surveys and questionnaires? • Senior management and Senior management?• Staff and students at a very local level?• Joint Strategic documents?

OR

• Consistent vision and mainstream partnership working in order to…?

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QAA Student Engagement?SEVEN PRINCIPLES/INDICATORS• HE Providers with their student body define and promote opportunities

for any student to engage in educational enhancement and quality assurance

• HE Providers create and maintain an environment within which students and staff engage in discussions that aim to bring about enhancement

• Arrangements exist for the effective representation of the collective student voice at all organisational level, and these provide opportunities for all students to be heard

• HE Providers ensure that reps and staff have access to training and ongoing support

• Students and staff engage in evidence-based discussions based on mutual sharing of information

• Staff and students disseminate and jointly recognise enhancements made Effectiveness is monitored and reviewed at least annually

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In English…(Taylor & Hobley)!• Make sure students are encouraged to get involved

– tell them how and sell the benefits!• Make it easy for them – and not a one-off – part of

what is the norm• Have proper representative systems in place• Train and support your reps• Always use evidence and make sure its shared• Tell people what has happened as a result and

recognise achievements • Check it is working – review regularly

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BCU’s View on Student Engagement

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How do we deliverStudentEngagement?

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Administration SAP Project• We encourage all aspects of the University to

get involved• Including Administrators! • Ian Hamley – Dir. Faculty Administration ELSS

• Library Services: Mapping the Student Journey

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Administration SAP ProjectShaping the Administrative Services within a Faculty: supporting the ‘student journey’

• Staff and Student (3) Partnership • Student voice directly into a process• Staff reacting and changing approach • Student delivering part of the solution

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Your TurnIn groups think about your role, service, department:

• How could you better engage with students?• What impact would you like to see?• What challenges can you identify?

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“Student engagement at BCU encourages students to be partners and proactive change agents, to share their

ideas of learning and teaching as they seek to enhance learning opportunities that are supported throughout

the whole student journey.

We believe student engagement is a mind set, a culture that is adopted through collaboration rather than

merely a series of projects, initiatives and piecemeal reactions to poor satisfaction scores in surveys. This

partnership, and the benefits it brings, is demonstrable in the relationship between BCU and BCSU”

(Chapman et al. 2013, Student Engagement; Identity, Motivation and Community)

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What does it mean for Students …?

“I’ve not felt that we’ve been the students and they’ve been the staff, we haven’t been told what

to do, it has been refreshing and quite nice to have this equal standing. I think it has worked well so far because we have a good mix of approaches,

how we work and we have learnt off each other... you feel like you are learning and growing rather than just being told which is quite nice...we just

feel like a team, there is no hierarchy or anything so it’s great.”

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What does it mean for Staff…?

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Creating the learning Community…

National Student Survey

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A Quick Plug…• BCU Book: Student Engagement,

Identity, Motivation and Community

• 16 Chapters all co-authored by students and staff

• Overview of our student engagement activities and impact

www.bcusu.com/learning

http://www.bcu.ac.uk/about-us/celt/student-engagement/publications

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Check out others…

• National Union of Students• Higher Education Academy – Dr Abbi Flint

Students as Partners• RAISE Network • Alex Buckley (HEA) – ‘Pedagogy or Politics?’• Chris Taylor & Karl Hobley (QAA

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Newsroom/Events/Pages/Developing-Student-Engagement.aspx )

• Any others?

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