Furthering student engagement in decision making processes in

higher education

Dr Helen May, Higher Education Academy

Dr Elena Rodriguez-Falcon, University of Sheffield

Lauren Webb, Higher Education Academy

Ant Bagshaw, National Union of Students

The projects

• Joint NUS and Higher Education Academy student engagement project

• Furthering the involvement of disabled students in Higher Education Institutions, Higher Education Academy

• The Inclusive Learning and Teaching Project, University of Sheffield

The case for student engagement

Legal responsibilities: to implement disability duties

Value position: to uphold institutional values & reputation

Business need: to increase/maintain student numbers

Shared ownership: to build partnerships with students

May and Felsinger, 2010

The case for student engagement

Quality enhancement: to reduce burden of retrofitting and promote staff understanding and development

Student satisfaction: to improve students’ perceptions

Retention and success: to enhance students’ achievement, progression and retention

May and Felsinger, 2010

Low High

Language of engagement

Success factors

Close the loop: Ensure it is evident to students how information they impart has been used.

Focus on the quality of implementation: It is less important which method is used to engage with students and more important to consider the context and approach to implementation.

From consultation to involvement

Student representatives Clarity of purpose Respect Ownership of specific tasks Ability/encouragement to reach out to

cohort

Involvement success factors

Create a dialogue: moving from one-way student ‘voice’ to a conversation.

Effective processes: willingness to engage in ‘you said, we didn’t’ and respect the processes used to arrive at conclusions.

‘Doers’ Champions

Students and staff in

partnership

Leader buy-in

Student voice

Students as partners

• A community of learners• Empowering students

as agents of change

Examples:• Departmental level:

Mechanical Engineering • Faculty level:

Science student ambassadors• Institutional level:

the University/Student Commitment

Post-it exercise

On a post-it please write your own completion of the

starter:

“To enable student engagement I have…”

Please swap post-its so that you’ve no idea who has

yours.

If chosen, please read out the post-it you now have.

Post-it exercise

On a post-it please write your own completion of the

starter:

“To enable student engagement I would…”

Please swap post-its so that you’ve no idea who has

yours.

If chosen, please read out the post-it you now have.