sparqs Trustee Board news! 13 Oct 2026
In our May 2026 news article we were delighted to announced that Douglas Blackstock had been appointed as the new Chair of the sparqs Trustee Board. Our September 2026 Trustee Board meeting marked the formal handover of the role, with Douglas… Read More
New sparqs guidance: getting ready for Institutional Liaison Meetings 13 Oct 2026
Institutional Liaison Meetings (ILMs) are part of Annual Quality Engagements (AQEs), which are one of the mechanisms of the Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework (TQEF). To help student officers and students' association staff prepare with confidence, sparqs has launched a new… Read More
sparqs' updated SEAP Practical Guide to Student Partnership 13 Oct 2026
We are pleased to publish our updated SEAP Guidance for students’ associations and student officers, designed to support meaningful student engagement throughout the SEAP (Self-Evaluation and Action Plan) process. Initially published in 2024, the guidance is now updated annually. The… Read More
sparqs' updated TQER practical guide 13 Oct 2026
We are pleased to publish our updated Practical Guide to Tertiary Quality Enhancement Review (TQER). Originally published in September 2025, the guide is now updated annually. It has been produced for students’ association officers and staff in the tertiary education… Read More
Reminder re our induction resource for staff with a student engagement role 13 Oct 2026
A reminder about our induction resource for new academic representation co-ordinators and similar students’ association staff. Updated annually, the Induction guide for Academic Representation Co-ordinators contains helpful information for any new students’ association or institution staff member with a student… Read More
sparqs 2026-27 Course Rep Training reminder! 13 Oct 2026
A reminder that bookings are open for our 2026-27 Course Rep Training! Sessions are now underway and we look forward to receiving your bookings if sparqs delivers your training... All the information you need is on our main CRT webpage. Please… Read More
Has your sparqs Development Consultant changed? 13 Oct 2026
As a result of recent staff changes over the summer, our allocation of institutions across the sparqs Development Consultants has been reviewed. View the updated contact list to check your own, and if your contact has indeed changed, your new Development… Read More
Upcoming sparqs events and meetings 13 Oct 2026
A reminder about sparqs events and meetings coming up soon! See our Events and meetings calendar webpage for the full list of events this academic year, but the list below is a reminder about things coming up during the next month or… Read More
Round-up of our That's Quality! 2026 event 28 Aug 2026
A round-up from our annual That’s Quality! induction event for new college and university student officers and those who support them. The event is designed to introduce participants to the quality enhancement agenda, look at why quality matters to students… Read More
sparqs' support to education officers for 2026-27 28 Aug 2026
As always, during July we sent our annual welcome emails to new and returning student officers with an education remit. The aim was to highlight sparqs' support, relevant resources and forthcoming events that would be useful as part of student… Read More
sparqs 2026-27 Course Rep Training is open for bookings! 28 Aug 2026
Bookings are now open for our 2026-27 Course Rep Training ....for delivery from week beginning Monday 28th September 2026 onwards. All the information you need is on our main CRT webpage. Please read the booking guidance before arranging your sessions and… Read More
'Talking Student Partnership' interview with Micole Cochrane 28 Aug 2026
Our 'Talking Student Partnership' interview series continues with another video conversation from Scotland’s tertiary education sector! The next interview in our series features Micole Cochrane, Students' Association Development Officer at West Lothian College. In our interview, Micole reflects on her nearly… Read More
Meet our Associate Trainer team for 2026-27 28 Aug 2026
We are delighted to introduce our excellent team of student Associate Trainers (ATs) for the coming academic year. The team includes 11 newly-recruited trainers and 13 returners from previous years, once again making it our largest ever team! The team will… Read More
NEON dates and meetings for 2026-27 28 Aug 2026
sparqs is pleased to announce that this year’s schedule of events for meetings of the National Education Officers' Network (NEON). Dates for 2026-27 are as follows: Online Tuesday 22nd September 2026 – 1.00pm to 3.00pm. Tuesday 1st December 2026 – 10.00am to 12noon. Thursday 4th… Read More
SESN plans for 2026-27! 28 Aug 2026
The Student Engagement Staff Network (SESN) is back for academic year 2026-27. Make sure you save the dates in your diary! The diary requests for the meetings will be sent out shortly for members to accept/decline to confirm attendance. Anyone who… Read More
sparqs staff buddy scheme open for registration! 28 Aug 2026
The Buddy Scheme is back for year 2026-27! By signing up to the scheme, you are paired with another practitioner in student engagement across institutions and students’ associations in Scotland, to give you the opportunity to discuss and have a… Read More
Updated Induction Resource for Academic Representation Co-ordinators 02 Jul 2026
We are pleased to announce an update to our induction resource for new academic representation co-ordinators and similar students’ association staff. The Induction guide for Academic Representation Co-ordinators contains helpful information for any new students’ association or institution staff member… Read More
Have you booked your That's Quality! places? 02 Jul 2026
A reminder that our annual That's Quality! programme for student officers and students’ association staff is still open for summer 2026 bookings! Students' associations - please think about which of your officers and staff need to attend and get them registered… Read More
Welcome to our new Development Consultants 02 Jul 2026
We are delighted to announce that we have appointed two new Development Consultants to the sparqs staff team, Cerys Davies and Sophie Kennedy. Between them they bring a great balance of knowledge and expertise and we look forward to working… Read More
Some prompts for planning for the year ahead! 28 May 2026
A few prompts and reminders which might be helpful to students' associations and institutions around this time of year, some of which we’ve already flagged in recent articles…. Course Rep Training planning Following on from the reminder in our early April news… Read More