Student Success and Student Retention are two new projects being managed by Student Services. These projects are linked to the University’s Access Agreement, which sets out how we plan to sustain and improve access, success and progression amongst our students.
Today we will be providing specific information on the Student Success project, with the Student Retention project being featured on SUSSED tomorrow. Be sure to read tomorrow’s post to bring yourself up to speed with the University’s latest efforts to improve the overall student experience.
Student Success is aimed at delivering an improved student experience for students from a range of underrepresented groups, thereby maximising their chances of success whilst in study.
Following a cross-university workshop earlier this year, the project has identified three priority groups: Mature Students, Contextual Admissions and students from a black or minority ethnic background.
Student Success can be supplemented by paying attention to the ways in which students integrate, behave and perform once they are in higher education. The project will offer interventions to support this process, and it is hoped that, in turn, this will contribute to developing our academic support and increase overall student satisfaction.
Specific objectives include:
- Identifying best practice, both internally and externally, for supporting underrepresented student groups.
- Investigating whether there are parts of our educational offer that limit the chances of success for these groups.
- Delivering interventions for student groups targeted at their specific needs.
Click here to view a flow diagram summarising the Student Success Project.
The project has celebrated a number of achievements to date. In October 2016, the project team ran a series of welcome events for mature students. Over the course of a week, the same event was run three times and over 80 new mature students attended.
The event involved a variety of cross-university colleagues including professional services, academic and union staff, as well as a panel of current mature students and alumni who had studied as mature students. During the event, the students and alumni shared their experiences of their time at Southampton.
The response to the event was overwhelmingly positive, and the project team are looking to run similar events in the future.
Going forward, additional scoping work will continue to take place. This will be aimed at specific groups of students with a view to ascertaining their particular needs, in order to help inform the project’s future plans.
To get involved with the project or for further information, please contact the project team by emailing: [email protected]
