As we approach the end of the academic year, this article is a reminder about the Self-Evaluation and Action Plan (SEAP) process. In particular, we want to remind institutions to seek perspectives and input from outgoing students' association officers before they depart from their roles.
SEAP timeline and officer terms
The SEAP covers the previous academic year’s activities, meaning the next SEAP (due on Monday 1st December 2025) will cover content from the 2024-25 academic year.
The elected student officer at the time of the submission of the SEAP may not have been in post during the discussions and activities of the previous academic year on which the SEAP is based. Therefore, some activity needs to happen before the previous elected officer leaves post around May/June/July, to ensure that what they have been working on with the institution throughout the year is captured, so that the rationale and evidence for content of the SEAP can be shared with the incoming officer. That incoming officer will then subsequently shape the next submission.
It is important that the students’ association and institutional staff help provide continuity for student engagement in the SEAP and support officers to understand key parts of the document. This means that decisions relating to the SEAP need to be included in elected officer handover notes and induction programmes for new officers.
For a full refresher on the SEAP, review sparqs’ SEAP Guidance.
Capturing outgoing officers’ insights
To ensure continuity and a strong student voice in the SEAP, sparqs suggests that institutions’ quality teams and students' associations work together to ensure that outgoing officers can share their perspectives before departing their roles.
Here are some possible activities you may undertake prior to the departure of student officers:
- Host a meeting with quality staff, students' association staff, and the outgoing officer to discuss key themes in learning and teaching from the academic year (utilising the Student Learning Experience model)
- Also reflect on the institution's approach to student partnership and engagement using Scotland’s Ambition for Student Partnership.
- Support outgoing officers to write down key themes in learning and teaching (and student partnership) in their handover.
- Support outgoing officers to reflect on key themes emerging from institutional committees over the past academic year.
- Review last year's SEAP with the outgoing officer, asking what key themes and actions carried over from this.
Remember that these approaches can utilise existing data sources and documents and don't need to result in a totally new process to be effective!
Prepare for incoming officer induction
As you welcome new students' association officers, ensure that conversations around the SEAP are included within their wider induction programme. In particular, you may want to consider:
- Providing an overview of the SEAP and mapping out key SEAP dates and meetings for the year ahead.
- Introducing incoming officers to the Student Learning Experience (SLE) model and suggesting how they can use it to structure ongoing data collection and feedback.
If you have any questions or would like support in planning your SEAP activities, please get in touch with your sparqs Development Consultant.
