Following the successful pilot of sparqs’ Buddy Scheme, which ran from January to June 2023 (you can read more about it in our June article), we are happy to announce the opening of the Buddy Scheme for 2023-24. As a reminder, the 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.
Participants last year 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.
How to sign up....
You can sign up by completing our online form.
The deadline to register for the scheme is Monday, 2nd October 2023. After this date, sparqs will match the buddies based on their responses and send an introductory email 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.
This year’s scheme will run until May 2024. After taking part, you will be asked to fill in a quick self-reflection piece, which will provide evidence for sparqs to evaluate and improve the scheme.
Further information
For further info on the buddy scheme and how it fits within sparqs resources for professional development for students’ associations and academic coordinators, see our previous news article.
If you have any questions, get in touch with Gloria Laurini, Development Consultant - gloria.laurini@sparqs.ac.uk - or just sign up!
