Happy new year from all in the sparqs team! We hope 2025 has started well for everyone and we look forward to working with you all again during the coming year!
We begin the year with some exciting team news…. we are pleased to announce that Chase Greenfield is soon joining us as a Development Consultant, starting in post on Monday 20th January! Chase joins us from the University of St Andrews Students' Association, where he has been an Academic Representation Co-ordinator since Summer 2021. During his time at St Andrews, Chase has been very engaged with sparqs' work and has contributed to some of our training events in the role of a Tutor while we had limited staff capacity, so he's already had an insight into being a member of the team! He brings fantastic knowledge and experience and we look forward to welcoming him into sparqs. We know you will all join us in congratulating Chase and welcoming him when you encounter him in his new sparqs role!
We had a busy start to this academic year, with our usual hectic summer training period and an office move in the middle of it! At the start of August 2024, we moved into our new offices, downsizing to a more suitable office space. We are pleased to continue to share an office with our NUS Scotland colleagues, with whom we work in close partnership. See our Contact us webpage for our new office details.
In the midst of the office move, our That's Quality! and Associate Trainer residentials both took place successfully during August. Following the summer training, the move to the new tertiary quality arrangements continued to be a key focus for us and in early October we launched Scotland's Ambition for Student Partnership, commissioned by the SFC, building on sparqs’ previous work supporting the sector to explore partnership and helping identify how partnership approaches can be built into the mechanisms and processes within the Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework (TQEF). Shortly afterwards we launched our SEAP Guidance for students’ associations and student officers, designed to support meaningful student engagement throughout the SEAP (Self-Evaluation and Action Plan) process, required as part of the TQEF. Another delivery mechanism of the TQEF, which has recently been getting underway is Scotland’s Tertiary Enhancement Programme (STEP) - the national enhancement programme for Scotland’s tertiary sector. All of Scotland’s colleges and universities are a part of the programme. STEP is designed to enable Scotland’s colleges and universities to work together to improve and enhance learning, teaching, the student experience and staff development across tertiary provision. The programme is sector-owned and jointly managed by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) and College Development Network (CDN). STEP runs on a 4-year cycle. Every 4 years, the sector will choose a new topic to work on collaboratively. The topic for 2024–2028 is Supporting Diverse Learner Journeys.
For further information on the TQEF, SEAP, STEP and all things tertiary quality, please see our Quality Arrangements webpage, SFC’s TQEF webpage and the STEP website.
Ensuring there is a joined-up approach to the student voice within the TQEF is sparqs' Tertiary Quality Student Expert Group (TQSEG). This group of student experts meets approximately monthly, enabling students to discuss and influence the approach as it is implemented and developed. Volunteers from the student experts are matched to the various sector committees requiring student representation, and the regular TQSEG meetings enable these reps to have the support of sparqs and a peer network when carrying out their role. In addition, TQSEG continues to be regularly approached by sector agencies and national project groups for an opportunity to consult with students on sector projects and areas of policy related to learning, teaching and quality, both related to TQEF and outwith it. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 4th February 2025, 3-5pm by VC and we look forward to seeing members then.
Institutional visits and support
In the run up to the festive break we have been meeting with institutions and students’ associations across Scotland, aiming to visit all institutions by the end of January. The purpose of the visits is:
- To discuss sparqs’ two key sector resources, the Student Learning Experience model and Scotland’s Ambition for Student Partnership, and how these resources can be used to support activity within the new TQEF.
- To gather information on the key topics institutions and students’ associations are working on this year, in order to shape sparqs’ workplan over the coming year and beyond.
- To shape sparqs’ ongoing support for institutions and students’ associations - both in the context of the TQEF, as well as the support institutions and students’ associations would welcome from sparqs on wider learning, teaching and quality topics.
Themes which have been identified from the visits so far include:
- Innovative examples of use of the SLE model and the Partnership Ambition in a variety of different areas, including within rep training, strategic planning and in committee spaces. sparqs will consider how to share these with the wider sector, e.g. through a series of case studies.
- A desire for updated guidance for students’ associations and institutions on Student Partnership Agreements, including how these can interact with the SEAP.
- A continuing need for support for students’ associations to engage with elements of the Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework, particularly in the context of new roles for students within the process such as the Lead Student Rep role.
- Increasing diversity of the student body, in particular an increase in students with additional needs for learning, and how sparqs, and other sector agency, resources and approaches can continue to be accessible for all.
Our thanks to everyone who has made the time to meet with us so far, and we look forward to all the remaining visits coming up over the next month.
Our Networks and Advisory Groups
SESN, NEON and JAG continue to be invaluable to sparqs and our sincere thanks go to members of all three groups for their ongoing engagement and contributions.
SESN
Our Student Engagement Staff Network (SESN) remains a key opportunity for updating staff on national sector developments and allowing them to contribute appropriately. There have been two meetings so far this academic year and the next meeting is open for bookings...
- Tuesday 4th February 2025 – online, 10.00am-1.00pm
- see our separate SESN news article for more details and to register to attend.
NEON
Following a review of the scope and purpose of our National Education Officers' Network (NEON), the 2024-25 meetings aim to build on the training provided by sparqs during our That’s Quality! event in July and August 2024, by strengthening student officers’ understanding on the new Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework (TQEF) and by preparing them to engage with the process. We have had one meeting so far this academic year and the next meeting is now open for bookings....
- Tuesday 25th February 2025 - online, 10.30am-12.30pm
- see our separate NEON news article for more details and to register to attend.
JAG
Our College and University Advisory Groups (CAG and UAG) continue to meet jointly during this academic year as a Joint Advisory Group (JAG). The group is invaluable in helping to ensure that all of sparqs' work is meeting the needs of both colleges and universities and we thank members for their continued contributions and support, particularly as we continue to develop new tertiary resources and our new strategic plan and workplans.
Annual, joint JAG/SESN/NEON meeting
Once again, we will be inviting members of JAG, SESN and NEON to a joint, in-person meeting towards the end of the academic year. Members will be invited to register to attend nearer the time, but in the meantime, please save the date!
- Joint JAG/SESN/NEON meeting - Wednesday 7th May 2025, 10.00am-4.00pm at Queen Margaret University.
Save the dates for our 2025 Summer training
We're delighted to be able to give early notification of our 2025 Summer training dates, for both That's Quality! and our Associate Trainer residential event:
- That's Quality! Colleges online event: Tuesday 22nd July 2025, 10.00am-1.00pm, via Zoom.
- That’s Quality! Universities online event: Tuesday 22nd July 2025, 2.00pm-5.00pm, via Zoom.
- That’s Quality! residential (for both college and university delegates): Monday 11th & Tuesday 12th August 2025, Queen Margaret University (full days, timings TBC).
Read our separate That's Quality! article for further information on the event, and please hold the dates in relevant officer and staff diaries. Registration will open nearer the time.
Our annual, 4-day Associate Trainer (AT) residential event is a comprehensive training course to equip sparqs' ATs and Institutional ATs (from participating institutions) to deliver Course Rep Training during the following academic year. Read more on our AT scheme and IAT scheme webpages. Please save the dates if you take part in our IAT scheme, or are considering doing so! Registration for participating institutions will open nearer the time. sparqs recruits annually around March/April/May to ensure we have sufficient capacity within our own Associate Trainer team… so watch this space if you’re a rep who is interested in being employed by sparqs and trained at the below event to deliver CRT across Scotland in 2025-26!
- Associate Trainer residential event: Tuesday 26th to Friday 29th August 2025, Queen Margaret University (full days, timings TBC)
Course Rep Training
Following the successful trial of online national Course Rep Training (CRT) workshops during 2023-24, we ran 5 sessions again at the end of 2024, giving reps the chance to attend a cross-institutional CRT session if they had missed the opportunity within their own institution. The sessions were advertised via students' associations, and we were delighted that all 5 sessions were fully booked! Alongside the 43 sessions our sparqs Associate Trainers have delivered within individual institutions this academic year, Scotland's reps are being well equipped for their roles!
Get involved in our staff development project!
As many of you will know, Prof Catriona Bell is currently working with us on a part-time consultancy basis to carry out a piece work around embedding student partnership in staff development. The project is off to a great start and our thanks go to everyone who has already contributed to the initial stages. There is now an opportunity for institutions to help us pilot some of the project resources during March and April 2025. Read our separate article on the staff development project for more information, including how to get involved! The article also links to an Acronym Buster, which we have pulled together during the project and which we plan to update on an onging basis going forward.
Buddy Scheme
At the beginning of the academic year we again invited applications for our Buddy Scheme, aimed at pairing practitioners in student engagement across institutions and students’ associations. The scheme gives participants the opportunity to discuss and have a sounding board external to their own institution. sparqs matches the buddies into pairs based on their responses and provides guidance with some suggestions on how to structure the meetings.
We are pleased to announce that we will be re-launching a further intake of the scheme, details of which will be shared at our next SESN meeting on Tuesday 4th February 2025! Join us at the SESN meeting for all the details if you are interested in being paired with a buddy!
Stay in the loop!
Please keep yourself up to date with our work by reading our regular news mailings and keeping an eye on our website headlines! If you're not already signed up to our mailing list, you can sign up here and you can follow us on social media on Bluesky and Twitter/X.
To view our schedule of forthcoming events and meetings all in one place, see our calendar webpage. Events and meetings for members of specific groups are communicated via relevant mailing lists. Events which require registration can be found on our Events webpage once bookings are open (usually around 4-6 weeks beforehand).
Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any queries about any of our work!
Best wishes for a great 2025 from all of the sparqs team!