We are delighted to announce that sparqs will be holding its biennial conference on Thursday 23rd March 2017 at Surgeon’s Hall in Edinburgh. (Please note that the conference is now a day earlier than originally advertised, so please make sure that you have the correct date in your diary, and apologies for any confusion caused).
The conference will focus on 'impact' - the impact that students and students’ associations in partnership with colleges, universities and other agencies are making to the enhancement in the quality of the learning experience. There is substantial evidence that in the past few years student led activities are having an increasing impact on the quality of the student experience and institutional decision-making. The conference will be an opportunity to showcase this work and share good practice throughout Scotland, the rest of the UK and internationally.
Similar to our 2015 conference, the day will be a blend of keynote presentations covering key themes in student engagement as well as a wide range of workshops, presentations and displays from colleges, universities, agencies and international partners from Europe and further afield. Our international work over the past years is likely to generate a larger presence of international delegates and once again we will be organising an additional pre-conference day of activities for that audience on the day before the main conference.
In a fitting end to the day, the conference will be rounded off with the second sparqs Student Engagement Awards! We’ll be inviting students’ associations and institutions to submit nominations across a range of categories relating to impact. The 2015 Awards were a great success and we look forward once again to celebrating the innovative work going on across the sector!
What should you do now?
- Please put 23rd March 2017 in your diary!
- Begin to think of activities and initiatives that you could present on or facilitate a workshop at the conference.
- Focus on potential success stories that could be entered for one of the sparqs awards.
The call for proposals will be issued in November 2016 – further details to come!
In the meantime, for further information please contact David Scott, Institutional Support and Development Manager – david.scott@sparqs.ac.uk
