This award is for an exceptional member of staff in any role who has developed partnership in quality
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Winner:
Robin Chandler ~ West College Scotland
As a member of West College Scotland’s Quality and Student Experience team, Robin is commended for her “remarkable” work in supporting the college’s students’ association. Well-known and widely respected across the college. Robin has worked with course reps and at college board level, helping the students’ association to remodel their representative structures and providing vital continuity, expert training to reps, and in-depth reports for student officers and college management.
Her work has resulted in an increased profile for the SA, shared ambitions for student feedback across curriculum and support areas, and significant impact on college strategy. She is also very active in the work of sparqs, and has contributed to many strands of work relating to the tertiary quality arrangements. As the authors of the nomination put it, she is a mediator, ambassador and visionary.
In a very high quality field where the judges found it extraordinarily difficult to pick a winner, judges praised the evidence of Robin’s internal and external impact and demonstration of strong values.
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Runner-up:
Scott Carle ~ Aberdeen University Students’ Association
In Scott’s role, he strives to ensure that students come first, helping to provide an advocacy service that supports and empowers them. He excels in his ability to build relationships, and has been key in improving and enhancing the SU’s partnership with the University, fostering a real sense of partnership on a number of projects across the board, including redesigning the Student Council, improving the Class Reps System, and adapting advice services to the changing student demographic. From helping a newly arrived international student into emergency accommodation, to directly assisting with academic appeals, the submission notes that Scott is always helpful to students and inspires and supports his team in dealing with the increasing demand for services, while keeping in mind both student and staff wellbeing.
Under Scott’s leadership, working in partnership with both officers and the University, there has been an increase in engagement with student representation, with significantly increased voter turnout in elections and increased diversity of both voters and candidates. Scott’s flexible and strategic approach aims to ensure the SU stays relevant and representative of the student body.
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Shortlisted:
Andrew Kinnell ~ Forth Valley College Students’ Association
Working in partnership with the College’s Learning & Quality team, and the Governance and Planning Officer, Andrew was instrumental in making the 2023 sabbatical officer elections more accessible in order to increase engagement. Reaching out to other SUs and SAs to share and receive best practice examples and ideas, Andrew made a case for introducing incentivised voting, contacting various local businesses to source prizes and implementing a prize draw for any student who voted in the College’s elections. The implemented changes increased voter turnout from approximately 50 votes in 2022, to 768 in 2023.
Going forward, FVSA will look to build upon relationships with other SUs and SAs to continually share best practice, aiming to ensure that the student voice is at the heart of continuous enhancement of the student learning experience. In his role, Andrew demonstrates a clear belief in the students’ association as a vital contributor to the institution and that the student voice to be heard throughout the college and beyond.
