Consultancy: past work
Through the consultancy, we have assisted institutions and students' associations to enhance their student participation in a variety of ways.
This page includes just some examples of the workplans we have agreed and undertaken with institutions and students' associations.
Individual examples
In a number of colleges, sparqs has worked with staff and student officers to develop more relevant and customised class rep training materials, and often helping staff to take on the role of delivering that training themselves.
In two colleges, sparqs has helped staff and student representatives to create new dedicated forums for class reps to meet and exchange views and experiences on the learning experience. This has led to a better understanding by reps of their roles, and better quality feedback being fed to the institution.
In a university, sparqs was invited to conduct an external review of a new representative structure. After meeting with a wide range of staff and students, sparqs highlighted good practice and recommended some action points.
A university and its students' association asked sparqs to undertake an evaluation of the support given to sabbatical officers in their student engagement responsibilities. As well as key staff, sparqs also spoke to current and past sabbaticals. Sparqs made recommendations concerning the duties, training and support provided to officers, and highlighted some excellent areas of practice.
In two universities, sparqs developed sets of toolkits to be used by staff and students at departmental level, which will allow action and development in student engagement to vary according to the priorities, cultures and structures of each department.
In a small college, sparqs has helped staff to reflect on their student engagement activities at curriculum area level, conducted research as requested, and allowed curriculum teams to identify their individual progress, successes and areas for further development in the engagement of students.
Events
Although the consultancy aims to help institutions individually with their own unique priorities and challenges, a number of common themes have emerged in our work.
Joint events have been held in the past where institutions and students' associations were pursuing similar interests or facing common challenges.
Our Events section has information about these, including:
- the events held for college students' association staff members between 2007 and 2009
- the Accreditation and Reward event held in February 2008
Institutions' challenges and priorities for student engagement, which we learn about through the consultancy, continue to inform the content of our events throughout the year.