Course Rep of the Year Awards shortlists announcement! 19 Feb 2019
3rd sparqs' Student Engagement Awards Shortlists! We are delighted to announce the shortlists for the 'Course Rep of the Year' sparqs Student Engagement Awards! Congratulations to the following reps and thanks to everyone who took the time to nominate an outstanding… Read More
International delegate programme at #sparqs19 - site visits open to book! 19 Feb 2019
We're pleased to announce that the site visits for international delegates attending #sparqs19 are now open to book! In addition to the main conference on 28th March 2019, the optional site visits and International Delegates' Day during the same week as the… Read More
Final week to register for #sparqs19 on 28th March 2019! 19 Feb 2019
If you've still to register for the sparqs' conference, please book by Friday 22nd February! Student Engagement for All is taking place on Thursday 28th March 2019 at Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh. #sparqs19 The conference is aimed at students, managers and practitioners in colleges, universities and other post-16… Read More
SPOTLIGHT ON…University of the West of Scotland's innovative approach to ILR 19 Feb 2019
This ‘SPOTLIGHT ON’ features the University of the West of Scotland’s innovative approach to Institution-led Review (ILR) which has been contextualised to mirror certain elements of Enhancement-led Institution Review (ELIR), and enables programme teams to focus on those areas where… Read More
'Talking Student Engagement' Interview with Tom Lowe 19 Feb 2019
In this interview, we talk to Tom Lowe, who is the Centre for Student Engagement Manager at the University of Winchester and Secretary for the international network RAISE (Researching, Advancing and Inspiring Student Engagement). Tom’s area of focus is the practicalities surrounding engaging students… Read More
sparqs' 2019 Student Engagement Awards shortlists announced! 21 Jan 2019
Awards Shortlists announcement! We are delighted to announce the shortlists for the 2019 sparqs Student Engagement Awards for the four institutional/SA categories. Thank you to everyone who took the time to make submissions, they were of a very high standard and it was a tough… Read More
Course Rep of the Year Awards are still open + #sparqs19 registration! 21 Jan 2019
Course Rep of the Year awards are still open! .The awards for 'Course Rep of the Year' are currently still open until Friday 8th February so please get your nominations in if you'd like to see an outstanding rep recognised! Nominations are invited for… Read More
Open for registration – Academic Rep Co-ordinators’ Network meeting on 20th February 2019! 07 Jan 2019
The second of 2018-19’s Academic Representation Co-ordinators' (ARC) Network meetings is now open for registrations! The Academic Representation Co-ordinators’ network is sparqs’ professional forum for staff in roles relating to the support of academic representation and student engagement in quality. Under the banner… Read More
'Course Rep of the Year' awards are now open for nominations! 07 Jan 2019
Nominations are now open for our 'Course Rep of the Year' awards for both colleges and universities within Scotland .The awards are part of the third sparqs Student Engagement Awards, taking place at the end of our conference on Thursday 28th… Read More
The College Improvement Project: tackling the FE attainment challenge 07 Jan 2019
Launched in 2017, the College Improvement Project (CIP), aims to improve retention and raise attainment in FE in colleges through taking a quality improvement approach to developing evidence-based practice. Five colleges across Scotland are involved in the project (Dundee & Angus,… Read More
New Year, new… exciting resources! 07 Jan 2019
Welcome to 2019! We hope you have had a wonderful festive break and are feeling recharged and ready for 2019. What better way to ease yourself back in than with some light reading? We wanted to highlight some useful resources for you… Read More
Don't miss the early-bird rate for #sparqs19 - register by Friday 18th January! 07 Jan 2019
Book before Friday 18th January to take advantage of the early-bird rate for the sparqs' conference ~ Student Engagement for All ~ #sparqs19 The conference is taking place on Thursday 28th March 2019 at Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh, aimed at students, managers and practitioners in colleges,… Read More
Registration is open for the sparqs conference on 28th March 2019! 12 Dec 2018
We are delighted to announce that registration is now open for the sparqs' conference ~ Student Engagement for All ~ taking place on Thursday 28th March 2019 at Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh. #sparqs19 The conference is aimed at students, managers and practitioners in colleges, universities and… Read More
The deadline has been extended for nominations for the 2019 sparqs Student Engagement Awards! 12 Dec 2018
A reminder that nominations are still open for the third sparqs Student Engagement Awards! The deadline for submissions has been extended until Friday 11th January 2019! . The Awards will take place at the end of our conference on Thursday 28th March 2019 in Edinburgh. We are inviting students’ associations… Read More
Headlines and resources from our HGIOC event on 5th November 2018 12 Dec 2018
On Monday 5th November 2018 we held a HGIOC (How good is our college?) event for student officers and SA staff, with quality staff invited to join from lunch onwards, for the afternoon session. The day was designed to help officers consolidate their… Read More
SPOTLIGHT ON…University of Dundee's STEP UP modules to aid transition and articulation 12 Dec 2018
This ‘SPOTLIGHT ON’ features the University of Dundee’s STEP UP modules which facilitate articulation for students from the neighbouring Dundee and Angus College. The modules support transition from the college to university and focus on the key academic skills required for… Read More
sparqs' contribution at EQAF 2019 in Vienna 12 Dec 2018
sparqs participated in the recent European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) on 15th-17th November 2018 in Vienna, Austria. EQAF, an annual gathering for quality practitioners from institutions and sectors across Europe and beyond, is a major opportunity to learn and share on… Read More
Opportunity for college officers to attend CDN’s Quality 2019 conference 12 Dec 2018
Don’t miss this important opportunity for college student officers to come along and join discussions around quality, share their experiences and learn from the experiences of colleagues to influence work within institutions for 2018/19. The College Development Network (CDN) Quality… Read More
'Talking Student Engagement' Interview with Ignas Gaižiūnas 12 Dec 2018
In this interview, we talk to Ignas Gaižiūnas, student at Vilnius University (VU) in Lithuania. He is studying an MSc in Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, and has held various representative posts in Vilnius University Students’ representation (VU SA). He also… Read More
'Talking Student Engagement' Interview with Lucy Mercer-Mapstone 12 Dec 2018
In this interview, we talk to Dr Lucy Mercer-Mapstone, a Research Fellow at The University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Academic Development. She is on a six month fellowship from Australia, having worked previously at the University of Queensland. 1. Could you… Read More
