We recently launched our National Education Officers' Network (NEON), the first meeting of which took place on Thursday 14th November; and our Student Engagement Staff Network (the new name for the ARC Network) took place on Tuesday 19th November!
Read on for details of both network meetings and how you can get involved going forward......
.
National Education Officers' Network - 14th November
We recently launched the new sparqs’ National Education Officers’ Network (NEON), which will provide an opportunity for officers from colleges and universities across Scotland to discuss and work on key sector issues together.
The first meeting took place on Thursday 14th November 2019, at Glasgow Caledonian University.
The network is designed to be a space for officers to network and work on issues together in a cross-sector capacity, aimed at student officers with education remits from colleges and universities across Scotland.
Dates for the meetings for the rest of the academic year will be advertised soon.
The event hashtag, for use on Twitter, was #sparqsEON for the first meeting, but going forward will be #sparqsNEON as the "National" part was added to the network title further discussion at the November meeting!
The creation of NEON follows the success of sparqs’ Academic Representation Co-ordinators’ (ARC) Network, a professional network for staff with academic representation co-ordination roles in universities and colleges. During our recent strategic planning process, a need was identified for a similar cross-sector network for student officers.
Following a similar model to the ARC/SESN network, NEON will meet three times a year at different institutions across Scotland.
See the event page for further details and the materials from the day.
We’re really excited to work with everyone to develop the network!
For more information, contact Megan Brown, Development Consultant, at Megan.Brown@sparqs.ac.uk
.
Student Engagement Staff Network - 19th November
We’re pleased to introduce our Student Engagement Staff Network (SESN) as the new name for our Academic Representation Co-ordinators’ network (ARC) – and to open registration for our next gathering, on Tuesday 19th November 2019 at Dundee University Students’ Association.
Over the past few years, ARC has been a valuable forum for staff who support student engagement and academic representation activities to get together to discuss latest developments in the sector, contribute to the work of sparqs and other agencies, and share practice and challenges in a supportive professional networking environment.
Although originally aimed at staff who supported academic representatives in institutions and students’ associations, the network has been enriched by the participation of staff in slightly wider roles and the discussion of broader topics relating to student engagement in quality than simply the role of reps and rep systems.
To reflect this, and following a survey that gathered participants’ views on the value of the network, we have changed the name to the sparqs Student Engagement Staff Network (SESN).
SSEN will therefore welcome all staff whose roles involve supporting and developing student engagement; including academic representation, student engagement in committees, reviews, feedback and governance, and approaches to planning and celebrating student partnership.
The event hashtag, for use on Twitter, is #sparqsSESN
See the event page to view the agenda and presentation from the day.
For further information about the network, contact Simon Varwell, Senior Development Consultant, at simon.varwell@sparqs.ac.uk.
Wider information about the SESN, including materials from previous meetings of the ARC network, can be found on the SESN webpage.
