A reminder about two of our recently-published resources, in case anyone missed them.... both designed to help institutions with the new tertiary quality arrangements, in terms of how partnership approaches can be built into institutional processes, and supporting meaningful student engagement throughout the annual SEAP process (required as part of the new arrangements). See below for details of SFC's SEAP drop-in sessions taking place on 14th and 15th November if you have any questions prior to submission of your SEAP.
Scotland's Ambition for Student Partnership
On 7th October 2024 we published Scotland’s Ambition for Student Partnership, and its accompanying features and indicators. Commissioned by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), it builds on sparqs’ previous work supporting the sector to explore partnership and helps identify how partnership approaches can be built into the mechanisms and processes within the new quality arrangements, the Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework (TQEF).
‘Student Engagement and Partnership’ is embedded in the TQEF as one of the six principles, reflecting the importance of this approach within the TQEF. Scotland’s Ambition for Student Partnership underpins this principle.
The ambition statement is aspirational. It is recognised that, whilst there is significant good practice across Scotland, to achieve our ambition will require continued enhancement activity and this will be a journey for individual institutions and the sector as a whole.
The ambition statement is underpinned by 8 features. We will know that we have achieved a culture of student partnership when these features are embedded into institutions’ systems and processes.
Each feature of student partnership can be explored further through indicators of practice. These indicators are not designed to be a checklist – they are designed to be examples of practice which institutions and students’ associations can use to identify their current best practice and opportunities for development.
For further information see our Scotland's Ambition for Student Partnership webpage and read more about student engagement and partnership in the TQEF on our Quality Arrangements webpage.
Self-Evaluation and Action Plan (SEAP) guidance for students' associations and student officers
On 17th October 2024 we published our SEAP Guidance for students’ associations and student officers, designed to support meaningful student engagement throughout the SEAP (Self-Evaluation and Action Plan) process.
The guidance includes an overview of the SEAP process; some suggestions of how students can be involved in the development of the SEAP; and suggested actions for students’ associations. It is particularly relevant to students’ association representatives and staff, but is also a useful resource for all institutional staff involved in the SEAP process.
The SEAP is a document which enables institutions to reflect annually on institutional quality assurance and enhancement activities and outcomes, and to identify key strategic areas for enhancement. Definitive guidance on the SEAP process can be found in the Scottish Funding Council’s Guidance on Quality.
There are opportunities for student engagement and partnership throughout the development of the SEAP itself, as well as through the activities upon which the SEAP reports. If you require more support on student engagement in the SEAP, you can contact sparqs for further information and advice.
The SEAP is part of Scotland’s new Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework (TQEF). For further information on TQEF, please see our Quality Arrangements webpage and the SFC’s TQEF webpage.
SFC SEAP drop-in sessions this week!
This year's SEAP submissions are due to be submitted to the SFC by 2nd December 2024 and we hope that our guidance is useful if you are still working on your submission. Please note that the SFC are running online drop-in sessions on Thursday 14th (4-5pm) and Friday 15th November (10-11am) if you have any queries prior to submission.
Queries
For further information on either of the above resources, or anything related to the TQEF, please contact Megan Brown, Senior Development Consultant - megan.brown@sparqs.ac.uk.
