Student engagement

We are working in partnership with various national stakeholders (for example, the Quality Assurance Agency, the Higher Education Academy, NUS, Universities UK and Guild HE) to develop student-engagement policies and inform institutional practice. This work takes place through a group drawn from across the higher education sector chaired by the NUS.

Research into student engagement

This builds on recommendations from work we commissioned the Open University's Centre for Higher Education Research and Information (CHERI) to undertake a study on student engagement. The study was intended to introduce an evidence base into the debate, and makes a number of recommendations. These include:

institutional and student union review of the student engagement cycle, including establishing criteria for monitoring effectiveness
the discussion of appropriate staff and student development needs, and the production of materials to provide guidance to institutions on how to engage with students
the development of practices that benefit part-time students.

Project work

Since 2009 we have funded a joint collaboration between the National Union of Students and the Higher Education Academy.

The project is intended to support higher education institutions and their students’ unions to engage students more effectively in shaping their learning experiences.

Among other things, the project has a number of aims to:

develop materials and resources for students’ unions and institutions to improve how they engage students in shaping their learning experience
facilitate students, student representatives and academics in subject areas to discuss teaching and learning issues and approaches to pedagogy to enhance the student learning experience
bring students, academics and senior managers within institutions together to discuss student engagement at national level
provide examples of effective practice with different perspectives from across the diversity of the sector.

More about the project

A key output of this project is the student engagement toolikit.

Page last updated 17 April 2012