HUMS SES 2013 FINAL
COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES
Student Engagement Strategy 2013-16
A. Overview
The College of Humanities aims to:
-
Provide a framework that defines and measures the remit and impact of ‘student engagement’ for UG and PGT students.
Meet core objectives set out in the co-authored University and Students’ Guild Student Engagement Strategy:
 “providing students with support to integrate and join communities within the University”
 “building capacity for students to engage”
 “extend(ing) the Change Agents concept”
 “developing a strong and overarching brand and strap line to promote student engagement as part of the Exeter experience”
-
Identify the key student engagement priorities that the College of Humanities aspires to support over the next three years. These
priorities address the following challenges:
 Engaging a wider and varied spectrum of students: not just catering for a small ‘super-engaged elite’.
 Meeting the evolution and changes in student expectation.
 Packaging, marketing and communicating student engagement to applicants, current students and staff.
 Sharing good practice across colleges.
 Valuing, supporting and celebrating student engagement activity and allocating appropriate resources.
This strategy has been formulated through analysis and comparison of best practice across the University, input from Humanities staff and
students, the support of the University’s Student Engagement Manager and the direction of a working party. The Strategy provides a framework
for planning and making future funding requests. The Associate Dean for Education has primary responsibility for overseeing this Strategy.
B. Definition
There is no single sector wide definition of the term ‘student engagement’. It is an umbrella term that covers a vast range of activities and
initiatives that seek to actively support staff and student partnerships and integrate students within the wider University community. The focus of
these activities and initiatives vary depending on the institution, staff and students. The QAA defines student engagement as being “all about
involving and empowering students in the process of shaping the student learning experience” (QAA 2012). The HEA supplies a similar
definition and emphasises the role of students as “active partners in shaping their learning experience” (HEA 2013). A University of Exeter
student defined the term succinctly and powerfully as “students captivated by involvement” (Exeter 2011).
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The College of Humanities appreciates the relationship between student engagement, the student experience and attainment. Student
engagement within the curriculum, individual disciplines, the College and the wider University allows students to contribute to the development
of our academic community and to accrue vital and transferable skill sets. The following 4 strands provide a basic framework for understanding
the remit and scope of what we accept and understand the term to cover. 13 priorities have been identified and proposed for the next three
years within this area.
C. Priorities
The following table outlines the activities and initiatives that Humanities plans to support, measure and mature over the next three years.
1. Student Engagement in own learning
e.g. taking ideas from the classroom and developing them outside the taught curriculum (e.g. student and staff panel debates); innovative forms
of assessment and opportunities for learning outside the classroom
Priority
Activity
Support and development
1.1 Innovative
curriculum design –
providing active
learning opportunities
within each taught
programme.
i. Supporting innovative module and
programme design.
i. Accreditation Committee
holds bank of past and
current modules; direct
student input in the creation
of modules; June 2013
Report on Accreditation
Good Practice; Hums EQE
Education Advisor to support
and share expertise.
ii. Field trips and active learning
inside and outside the classroom:
currently Hums covers all
compulsory field trips for core
modules; targeted deployment of
further resources may make a
noticeable difference.
ii. Aspire to provide discipline
‘Student Engagement
Budgets’ with a block ringfenced for supporting staff
and students to lead
innovative curriculum design.
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Measure of progress and
impact
i. EQE advisor; monitoring
MACE feedback and
attainment with modules
and programmes.
Operational
Responsibility
i. Accreditation
Chair.
ii. Compulsory Course
Costs Audit 2012-13.
ii. Associate Dean
Education;
College Manager.
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1.2 Supporting
autonomous
learning – students
taking responsibility
for their own learning;
being able to selfreflect and cope with
challenges.
i. Developing diverse forms of
assessment and feedback.
ii. Providing opportunities for
students to reflect on their own
engagement with learning and to
benchmark against cohort.
iii. Resources and organisation.
1.3 Setting and
communicating
expectations –
working to ensure
that both student and
staff expectations are
articulated and met.
i. Honour Code Launch for 2013-14.
ii. Personal Tutor role.
i.-ii. cf. Hums Assessment
and Feedback Strategy
2012-13; Assessment
Working Party (Term 2,
2014); cf. Hums SES 1.1.i.
ii. Develop ways in which to
gather information and
promote information between
learning engagement and
attainment.
iii. Monitoring and supporting
ELE; central Library support.
i. Effectively communicating
the code to staff and
students and integrate with
current practices; actively
involving students in
complaints procedures;
investigate the introduction of
an annual rolling ‘Student
Engagement Campaign
Budget’.
ii. Promote Personal Tutors
as having an academic
support role for students,
rather than just ‘when things
go wrong’; Personal Tutor
Working Party (Term 2,
2014).
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i.-ii. Central data analytics:
MACE; attendance; EQE
support; ADE monitoring
feedback turnaround.
i-ii. Associate
Dean Education;
Assistant College
Manager
(Education).
iii. Student visits and
interaction with ELE.
iii. Academic staff.
i. SSLC reactions;
qualitative staff and student
feedback from the first year
of implementation; no. of
student cases.
i. Associate Dean
Education;
Graduate Project
Officer (Student
Engagement).
ii. Senior Tutors Group;
EQE development and
review.
ii. EQE Advisor.
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2. Student engagement in representation, quality assurance processes and enhancement
e.g. SSLCs, Annual Programme Monitoring, MACE, NSS and Change Agents
Priority
Activity
Support and development
2.1 Student
representation –
strengthening current
framework and
assessing how to
identify and address
under-performance.
i. Student Staff Liaison
Committees, in 2012-13 88
UG/PGT Hums reps.
2.2 Individual student
feedback - providing
avenues for students to
offer feedback on key
activities, processes
and services
i. National Student Survey (NSS)
and Postgraduate Taught
Experience Survey (PTES).
i. Discipline-specific training
and induction; individual
committee roles (e.g. Library
Champion); clearer job roles;
democratic election of all
reps; signposting nonsuccessful reps to other
opportunities; creation of Lib
Arts and AHVC SSLCs;
College-wide coordinator.
i.-ii. Survey data and action
plans to go to SSLCs; open
access to data and action
plans; wide promotion of
response to feedback.
ii. Module and Course Evaluation
System (MACE).
ii. Follow central
recommendations on
changes to MACE.
iii. Innovative ways of capturing
feedback (EQE to provide
examples).
iii. The Graduate Project
Office to offer focus group
facilitation and planning to all
teams and disciplines within
Hums; incentivising and
engaging non-typical students
to participate where possible.
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Measure of progress
and impact
i. Increase in no. of
students standing as
candidates; voting
turnout; SSLC meeting
minutes; KPIs and items
addressed; cross
collaboration with other
student groups; preESG meeting with ADE.
Operational
Responsibility
i. Graduate Project
Officer (Student
Engagement).
i.ii. No. of students
completing surveys; no.
and type of qualitative
comments; SSLC
minutes; response to
feedback explicitly
mentioned on module
descriptors and student
facing webpages.
i. Assistant College
Manager
(Education) [DF];
Graduate Project
Officer (Student
Engagement).
iii. Staff feedback on
information gained;
discipline and type of
student participating;
pre-ESG meeting and
ESG student
attendance.
iii. Student
Engagement and
Employment Officer;
EQE Advisor.
ii. Assistant College
Manager
(Education) [JH].
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iv. Informal qualitative feedback
(e.g. via Personal Tutors).
2.3 Change Agents –
supporting students to
instigate and lead
research driven change.
i. Change Agents: in 2011-12
Hums supported 11 (7 attached to
SSLCs) projects, in 2012-13
Hums supported 16 (13 attached
to SSLCs) projects.
2.4 Transparency and
communication –
explaining the internal
processes that directly
impact on students and
using students to
communicate with other
students about the
wider student
experience.
i. College and Subject Taught
Handbooks.
ii. Student communications output:
e.g. Student Room
‘ambassadors’, student blogs and
video pilots.
iv. Personal Tutors and staff
to feed this back to the
appropriate team or manager.
i. Protect and grow volume of
non-SSLC based projects;
promote value of the process
as well as output; support
students to carry out effective
and robust research; interdisciplinary projects; aspire
towards discipline Student
Engagement Budgets.
i. Tailoring taught handbooks
for effective student use;
2012-13 Hums Student
Communications Report to go
to June 2013 ESG.
iv. ADE receives
feedback from DoEs.
iv. Senior Tutors;
various.
i. Volume and type of
projects; discipline and
type of student involved;
comparative tracking
over academic cycles;
cross-College
comparison and
collaboration; Teaching
Awards nominations.
i. Student feedback;
more intuitive structuring
of information; decrease
in enquiries.
i. Graduate Project
Officer (Student
Engagement).
ii. Review and investigate
expansion of 2012-13
Student Room trial at
Cornwall across all
disciplines; Study Abroad
blogs; Hums Student
Communications Report June
2013; YourExeter discipline
video pilots.
ii. Increased breadth
and volume of output;
positive feedback on
Student Room from
applicants.
ii. Student
Engagement and
Employment Officer.
i. Associate Dean
Education; Student
Engagement and
Employment Officer.
3. Student engagement in the academic and wider community
e.g. peer assisted learning; Graduate Project Office; employing students; HASS Research Strategy; Drama T3; buddy schemes; ambassadors
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Priority
Activity
3.1 Peer assisted
learning – treating and
valuing students as
partners in their
learning experience.
i. Undergraduate Writing Centre
(Exeter), launched in January
2012 / Undergraduate Writing
Centre (Cornwall), launched in
September 2012.
ii. Discipline-based peer assisted
learning (e.g. language tutorials in
Classics Society and Modern
Languages Societies).
3.2 Employment –
embedding students
and graduates in the
operation and delivery
of college services.
Support and development
Measure of progress
and impact
i. Investigate funding streams; i. No. of peer advisors
establish alumni sponsorship employed; no. of student
for long term; expand
visitors; no. of repeat
discipline intake.
student visitors; student
visitors from different
disciplines; assessment
marks.
Operational
Responsibility
i.-ii. Writing Centre
Academic Lead;
Student
Engagement and
Employment Officer;
EQE.
ii. No. of peer tutors and
tutees; improvement of
tutor and tutees’ grades;
formally delivered and
recognised peer
assisted learning
training.
i. Graduate Project Office: since
2011 six graduates have been
employed within Hums through
the Graduate Business
Partnership scheme as ‘Graduate
Project Officers’.
ii. Strengthen language peer
tutorial schemes (e.g.
Language Tandem); expand
peer tutorial schemes outside
grammar and language, e.g.
methodology, core module
support and subject buddy
schemes; recommendation
for central support and
standardisation from Skills
Team; request for EQE skills
time to support in short term.
i. Maintain and improve GPO
model on 2012-13; tighten
links between GPOs and
individual disciplines; aspire
to expand the scheme to
Cornwall.
i. GPOs supporting or
within new divisions;
feedback from staff and
students.
i. Student
Engagement and
Employment Officer.
ii. Student Campus Partners:
since 2010 27 UG/PGT student
interns and 84 UG/PGT students
on casual claims have been
ii. Hums disciplines and
admin managers given
planning advice and
recruitment support by
ii. Increase in volume
and reoccurrence of
SCP roles; recruitment
in new teams; reduction
i. Student
Engagement and
Employment Officer.
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employed by Hums (see below
3.3.ii).
3.3 Research
community – opening
up and involving
students in the wider
Hums research
community.
3.4 College and
discipline community
– supporting the
promotion and
facilitation of co-
Student Engagement and
Employment Officer;
investigate the introduction of
a Study Abroad Peer
Advisory scheme; (see below
3.3.ii).
i. Report to go to ADR in
2013 on potential activity (e.g.
workshops, events and
student input on research
panels); cross disciplinary
collaboration with CSSIS;
integration with Grand
Challenges.
of casual claims in
favour of SCP contract;
Hums Finance to track
records of employed
UG/PGT.
i. No. of students
attending research
workshops and events;
volume and topic of
dissertations
i. Student
Engagement and
Employment Officer;
Graduate Project
Officer (Student
Engagement).
ii. Employing UG/PGT students as
research interns.
ii. Support academic staff to
hire UG/PGT students for
short internships, if
appropriate, outside of term
time; aspire for a pilot in
Hums discipline(s) post-2014.
ii. No. of student interns;
breadth and type of
work; increase in PGT
and PGR applications;
correlation between
research project and
dissertation topics.
ii. Student
Engagement and
Employment Officer.
iii. Involving PGT students in the
PGR community.
iii. Review of current
interactions; involvement in
PG Conference;
consideration as part of the
College PGT review.
iii. Attendance at the
PGR conference; cross
PG initiatives and
projects; increased PGR
applications.
i. Student Ambassadors: in 201213 there were c. 30 student
volunteers who represented their
discipline at open and visit days.
i. Support ambassadors to be
able to talk to applicants
about wider College and
University opportunities; role
in staff induction; review of
i. Track level, discipline
and type of student.
iii. Student
Engagement and
Employment Officer
and Graduate
School PGR Student
Support
Administrator.
i. Admissions
Coordinator [CT].
i. Engage UG/PGT students in
wider College Research
Community.
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curricular events and
activities that sustain
and develop the idea of
a wider academic
community.
voluntary and paid student
roles within the College.
ii. Support discipline-based events
and initiatives: e.g. T3 in Drama,
which in 2011-12 facilitated 44
individual student-led stage
productions.
ii. Develop and mature how
events can interlock with
central initiatives, i.e. Grand
Challenges.
ii. No. of students
participating; student led
organisation; staff
attendance and
interaction; social media.
ii. Student
Engagement and
Employment Officer.
iii. UG/PGT induction.
iii. PGT Induction Review;
College UG/PGT Fair in
Fresher’s Week; access to
event support budget; link
with Honour Code Launch.
iii. SSLC feedback;
attendance at events
and fresher’s fairs.
iii. Education team
and Graduate
School.
iv. Support activities and events
for student minorities: e.g.
international and mature students.
iv. Consultation with
international and mature
students; supporting student
societies to offer wide range
of activities; Language
Tandem Scheme; Study
Abroad Peer Advisory
scheme.
iv. Student feedback;
focus groups; breadth
and range of student
society activity; no. of
students involved in
schemes; liaison with
central University
support staff.
iv. Assistant College
Manager
(Education) [DF].
Measure of progress
and impact
i. Membership nos.;
coordinated SSLC,
Operational
Responsibility
i. Graduate Project
Officer (Student
4. Student engagement in extra-curricular activities
e.g. societies and discipline-based volunteering
Priority
Activity
Support and development
4.1 Academic
societies –supporting
i. 14 Guild-affiliated academic
societies attached to each
i. Connect societies with
discipline and College
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and connecting with a
defined group of preengaged students.
discipline within Hums.
4.2 Discipline-based
volunteering recognising students’
affiliation with their
subject and that
volunteering provides
valuable transferable
skillsets.
i. Care Homes Project: launched in
2011, in 2012-13 c. 160 UG
students enrolled.
ii. RAMMbassadors, Countess
Weir Community Group and the
Gateway Project offer small groups
of Hist., Theo. and Eng. UG
students the opportunity to
volunteer.
contacts; GPO (SE)
coordinate SSLC, discipline
and society agenda setting in
T1; comprehensive society
activity uploaded to
YourExeter.
i. Annual Fund bid has been
submitted to employ a
student to administer and
grow the scheme; open
scheme across Hums.
ii. A key contact within each
discipline for Community
Action to liaise and support;
aspire to grow and expand
the Guild discipline-based
volunteering schemes across
all disciplines.
discipline and society
initiatives and activities;
YourExeter variety of
content.
Engagement)
[Streatham];
Graduate Project
Officer (Education)
[Penryn].
i.-ii. No. of students
enrolled on scheme;
students from all
disciplines involved;
tracking Community
Action membership
demographics; varied
projects.
i. Academic Leads;
Graduate Project
Officer (Student
Engagement).
ii. Graduate Project
Officer (Student
Engagement).
D. Next steps
1. Progress report in Term 2 on activity.
Alex Ratcliffe (Student Engagement and Employment Officer)
Andrew McRae (Associate Dean Education)
Charlie Leyland (Student Engagement Manager)
11 December 2013 AMR END
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