The sparqs' Buddy scheme is aimed at pairing practitioners in student engagement across institutions and students’ associations, to give them the opportunity to discuss and have a sounding board external to their own institution. Following a successful pilot in early 2023, we now invite new applications at the beginning of each academic year and again in January for anyone who missed the first intake.
sparqs matches the buddies into pairs based on their responses and provides guidance with some suggestions on how to structure the meetings. Ultimately, it is up to the buddies to decide whether they want to meet in person or online, but we advise to meet at least twice per semester, with the first meeting focusing on discussing and setting common goals, understandings, expectations from the scheme and setting future dates.
At the end of the academic year, participants are asked to fill in a quick self-reflection piece, which will provide evidence for sparqs to evaluate and improve the scheme.
Previous participants reported that they enjoyed the experience; in particular practitioners who were new to their role said it was great to have a more experienced buddy to provide some direction and advice. It was also good to have someone to talk to, who shared similar challenges, and be able to meet online to brainstorm.
All buddies said it was a positive experience that they would like to carry on going forward.
The Buddy Scheme fits within sparqs resources for professional development for students’ associations' academic co-ordinators. See our Induction guide for Academic Representation Co-ordinators, which is updated annually.
This year we are also hosting a buddy scheme for officers as part of our That's Quality! programme. Details have been sent to officers registered for That's Quality!
2026-27 staff buddy scheme
As usual, we opened registration in early Autumn and have 11 buddies matched up in 4 pairs and a trio. As in previous years, we will open a further intake in January 2027 for anyone who missed the Autumn intake.
Further information
For further info on the Buddy Scheme, or if you have any questions, please contact Amy Monks.