Investing in your experience Student Centredness Budget report 2008/09
Contents Introduction
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Investing in your experience 2008/09
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Variable tuition fees and how we invest them
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Student bursaries, widening participation
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and scholarships The Student Centredness Budget 2008/09
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Looking to the future
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Introduction
Your experience as a student at the University of Southampton is important to us. We are committed to enhancing your student experience with a ‘student-centred’ approach – focusing on your views and needs. With the introduction of variable tuition fees, we have set aside a fund to invest in continually improving the student experience. As you can probably imagine, this fund has been in great demand, given the many issues to address and the history of under-investment in universities in general. The purpose of this report is to give you, the students, an account of the investments we have made, how they are working to benefit you and the plans we have for the coming year. It is my intention to make this an annual report, and to find more ways of engaging you in shaping how we make best use of future investments. You will see that in taking a student-centred approach we have involved almost every part of the University community, showing the strong commitment by all of us to enhancing your experience.
The Students’ Union is delighted to see an increasing focus on the student experience as a whole in what has been termed the studentcentred approach, and that a more formal stance is being taken towards its delivery. The student experience is more than just the academic encounter; it encompasses every aspect of a student’s life. In an ever-changing environment the services that support the student experience must keep pace with the continually improving education provision. The whole University environment now needs to cater for the diverse needs of students and with a rising consumer culture within higher education, the quality of service and where investments are made will increasingly become under scrutiny. We welcome and encourage this report in the view it will enhance the whole student experience at the University of Southampton.
Alex Tanfield, President (2008/09) Southampton University Students’ Union Professor Debra Humphris Pro Vice-Chancellor, Education
Investing in your experience 2008/09
At the University of Southampton we are committed to promoting a student centred-culture. This means valuing your views and taking your needs into consideration over your entire experience as a student – your academic studies, your life as a student in general and the services we provide to you.
Our student-centred approach is designed to respond to the diverse needs of our students so you benefit from the learning environment offered within an international research-intensive university. We seek to develop in you the attributes that we demonstrate in our research activities, including: independence, leadership, innovation, professionalism, teamwork, continuous learning and global awareness. Our student-centred approach is embedded in our Learning and Teaching Enhancement Strategy 2006–2010, which you can view on the University website. www.southampton.ac.uk/lateu/strategic_themes/index.html
Variable tuition fees and how we invest them
Part of our student-centred approach involves showing you how we invest your tuition fees. In this section, we show how the income from your variable tuition fees is invested to best contribute to enhancing your experience as a student.
Variable tuition fees were introduced in the academic year 2006/07 for all new home/EU first-year students. Before that, there was an annual fee of £1,255. In 2008/09 the total fee was set at £3,145 per academic year, comprising of the original £1,255 plus the variable fee of £1,890. For each student, the original amount of £1,255 continues to go directly to your School. The additional income from the variable tuition fee (£1,890) is divided so that 60 per cent (£1,134) also goes to your School, 20 per cent (£378) is directed to student bursaries and the remaining 20 per cent (£378) is used to create the Student Centeredness Budget – a fund to continually improve the wider student experience. How your fee is spent: £2,389 to your School (£1,255 + £1,134) £378 to student bursaries £378 to Student Centredness Budget Total £3,145 The variable tuition fees started in 2006/07, so it will take until 2010/11 for all students to be paying tuition fees because some students are taking four- or five-year programmes. By 2008/09, variable tuition fees were being paid by first-, second- and third-year students. In that year, based on the framework above, the income to the University from variable tuition fees was divided as follows: £28,745,000 to Schools £3,580,000 to student bursaries £3,580,000 to Student Centredness Budget Total £35,905,000
Student bursaries, widening participation and scholarships
We offer a range of income-contingent bursaries designed to help UK undergraduate students in most financial need. In 2008/09, we raised the level of bursary from £1,000 to £1,200 for students with a household income of under £25,000 and from £500 to £600 for students whose household income is below £32,000. As a result, we offered a total of £3m in bursaries.
We are committed to supporting widening participation activity – encouraging, recruiting and supporting people who have the potential to succeed at university, but who come from groups that are currently under-represented in higher education in general and the University of Southampton in particular. We allocated £278,000 for widening participation activity in 2008/09. This is on top of our baseline activity in this area in 2005/06, before variable tuition fees were introduced. Academic Schools also award scholarships to students to reward academic excellence. In 2008/09 these payments totalled £166,000. We aim to increase the range of bursary projects while maintaining the amount per bursary. We predict that our budget for bursaries will be tight in 2009/10 because of the current recession and increased demand.
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The Student Centredness Budget 2008/09 We aim to deliver an innovative and high-quality student experience each year. To achieve this, we invest resources in a range projects identified by staff across the University. These projects are driven by the themes of the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Strategy 2006–2010. This section shows how the Student Centredness Budget was used in 2008/09 to support your total student experience at the University.
Promoting educational development: Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (LATEU) The following projects have been initiated to promote educational development across the University.
Project
Leaders
School
Budget
Concept maps as tools for evaluating the learning of clinical reasoning within the BSc Physiotherapy and Podiatry education programme at the University of Southampton
Steven Ryall, Anne Bruton, Debbie Thackray and Keith McCormick
Health Sciences
£10,878
Project
Leaders
School
Budget
Enhanced world-class teaching in Earth sciences: developing the virtual environment
Paul Kemp, David Sear, Pat Maier, Simon Kemp and Ian Williams
Civil Engineering and the Environment
£26,000
Status Ongoing.
Status Ongoing.
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Project
Leaders
School
Budget
Removing cultural barriers to collaborative learning in diverse student groups
Dr Mel Ashleigh, Dr Jane Pritchard
Management
£16,000
Status Currently the team are collecting data and are analysing it. They are also preparing a paper for a conference in the summer and this will form the start of their report.
Project
Leaders
School
Budget
International student experience DVD/web cast
Dr Bill Brooks, Hazel Chauhan, Karin Frydenlund, Peter Phillips and Keir Thorpe
Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences
£9,875
Status A DVD has been produced and presented at the Good Practice Lunch. The DVD is available for internal audiences from the LATEU website.
Project
Leaders
School
Budget
Enhancing students’ employability
Dr Paul Cooper
Humanities
£8,750
Status A DVD has been produced and was presented at Learning and Teaching week in March 2009. Copies are available from Dr Paul Cooper or via LATEU.
Project
Leaders
School
Budget
Strengthening blended learning in gerontology
Professor Maria Evandrou, Dr Elisabeth Schroder- Butterfill, Professor Peter Coleman, Professor Avan Aihie-Sayer, Dr Julia Schonheinz, Dr Gail Grant and Dr Gill Granville
Social Sciences
£24,962
Status This project is now completed and was presented at Learning and Teaching week in March 2009. The presentation is available on the LATEU website as an audio and Camtasia video. www.southampton.ac.uk/lateu/professional_development/Learning_and_Teaching_Week/ 2009/index.html
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Project
Leaders
School
Budget
Delivering new distance learning course in Chemistry and Engineering Sciences
David Harrowven, Dr Martyn Hill, Dr Edward Young, Dr Andrew Hector, Dr Rachel Ferris and Joy Moloney
Chemistry, Engineering Sciences
£24,000
Status This project involved third-year undergraduate students in both Schools, who helped to develop a new module for each School. These modules are now used as part of the programmes. In Chemistry, the module, entitled Advanced chemistry for students on placements (Chem3025), is being developed through Blackboard. It runs from October to May and is a core module for students taking MChem with a one-year placement (F102). In Engineering Sciences, the new module is Manufacturing with metals (SESG3001). The School of Engineering Sciences is now offering a semester in industry and the materials developed for this new module will be a central part of student learning while on placement. A process is in place now for developing interactive materials for the new modules.
Project
Leaders
School
Budget
Visualisation of long-term landscape change using virtual globes
Dr David Martin, Professor Eelco Rohling, Dr Justin Dix, Dr David Wheatley, Dr Paul Hughes and Richard Treves
Geography, School of Ocean and Earth Science, Archaeology
£16,323
Status This project is now completed. It was presented at Learning and Teaching Week 2009. There have also been local presentations to the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) and the School of Geography.
Project
Leaders
School
Budget
Electronic visualisation of nineteenth-century French literary scientific texts
Professor Mary Orr, Dr Mark Weal and Mr Malcolm Fellows
Humanities
£11,000
Status This project is now completed and will be presented as soon as a date is confirmed.
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Project
Leaders
School
Budget
Online pre-lab exercises: enhancing learning in the laboratory
Dr David Read, Professor Gill Reid, Dr Jeremy Hinks, Mr Sam Cole, Bob Price and Dr Rachel Ferris
Chemistry
£18,515
Status This project is now completed. It was presented at Learning and Teaching Week 2009.
Project
Leaders
School
Budget
HUMLO – providing results reusable subject-specific learning objects (RLOs) for developing students’ study skills in the humanities
Julie Watson, Dr Jeanice Brooks, Dr Helen Deeming, Dr Stephen Morton, Dr GP Earl and Dr Juliet Solheim
Humanities
£18,526
Status Most of the RLOs have been created and evaluation is due to take place next academic year (2009/10).
Project
Leaders
School
Budget
Supporting disabled students: promoting understanding among placement and academic staff
Michelle Cowen, Dr Steve Tee, Janet Skinner, Sue Meads, Kathy Owen, Cathy Sullivan, Dr Jane Seale and Stephanie Meakin
Health Sciences, Education and Social Sciences
£36,200
Project
Leaders
School
Budget
Enhancing the learner experience of disabled students
Dr Mike Wald, Dr Jane Seale and EA Draffan
Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) and Education
£25,000
Status Ongoing.
Status The project is now completed. It was presented at Learning and Teaching Week 2009. For more information about the project, go to www.lexdis.org/project/elexdis
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Library
The University Library Service is consistently rated as ‘excellent’ in our Student Evaluation Questionnaire and the National Student Survey. The Hartley Library has undergone a spectacular five-year £10m refurbishment.
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Library opening hours ÂŁ37,000 In response to student demand, the Student Centredness Budget has enabled the Library to increase opening hours during exam periods, which has been positively received by students. The space for the catering facilities in Lattes has also been expanded and work is underway to extend the opening hours.
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Revision space security Student Administration and Registry Department Budget: £2,000
In collaboration with Southampton University Students’ Union (SUSU) and following a successful trial earlier in the year, additional rooms where identified to provide suitable revision spaces. The working hours of security staff were increased to ensure the rooms are open from 8am to 11pm, including bank holidays.
iSolutions SUSSED portal Budget: £300,000
iSolutions provides computing and IT facilities for all staff and students at the University. The commitment to maintain the quality and accessibility of our IT facilities is an important part of the University infrastructure to support learning and research. The SUSSED portal has a key role in ensuring easy and coordinated access to the wide range of resources available to support students. Each year the Student Centredness Budget has invested in the development of SUSSED, enabling iSolutions to create a web-based, one-stop shop for the services you need, accessible wherever you are. This is a long-term commitment as University systems and technologies evolve. An upgrade of SUSSED in October 2008 delivered enhanced functionality, better usability and more resilience to cater for a growing number of users. Now in its fourth year in service, the portal has had increased usage year on year since its launch. The 2008/09 usage has remained steady through this year, which reflects the fact that SUSSED has become embedded in the daily lives of most students. On average, there are a total of 44,000 logins to SUSSED each day.
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Open-access computing and teaching software Budget: £417,000
Across the University there are more than 1,800 PCs in a range of open-access computing facilities, including: 1,176 PCs in teaching clusters as part of the common learning spaces, 180 in lecture theatres and 46 in the Assistive Technology Service rooms. There are five PCs in halls of residence, 200 in MSc rooms and over 80 available for training. Throughout the libraries across the University there are 101 InfoGate terminals, which have a full software portfolio for student use. There also are 49 WebCats, which enable students to search library web pages for books. Alongside the hardware investment, iSolutions continue to invest in the software available via SUSSED and on workstations. Over the past year, the major upgrades include Shibboleth Authentication to Blackboard, Question Mark Perception upgrade and Adobe Connect Professional (virtual videoconference groups).
Learning space enhancement Estates and Facilities Budget: £1,000,000
The University is committed to providing its students with high quality learning spaces. To achieve this, an annual budget of £1m has been set aside for the refurbishment of its common learning spaces, including the updating of IT equipment, furnishings and redecoration programmes. To minimise disruption to students, this work is carried out during Easter and summer vacations. Decisions on refurbishments are made by the Common Learning Spaces Working Group, which includes a sabbatical officer from the Students’ Union to ensure the voice of students is included. The works are planned a year in advance with a clear set of priorities: this is essential because there is always more work that the working group would like to do than there are funds available. Typically about half of the suggested projects get funded each year. The budget in 2008/09 paid for: – v arious refurbishment works including redecoration, furniture and audio-visual installations in buildings 4, 7, 16, 25, 34, 44, 54, 58 and 65 – a lterations to assist people with disabilities in various rooms – a data projector replacement programme to both improve the clarity of projected teaching media and to help maintain reliability – a lterations at NOCS to increase teaching capacity and reduce the need for students to commute between NOCS and Highfield for lectures
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Catering Business and Community Services Budget: £ 145,000
A major focus for Hospitality Services is to create environments that provide students with areas for socialising and varied dining choices. An extensive refurbishment has transformed the Piazza into a modern restaurant and Student Social Centre. These improvements, costing £85,000 in total, have been well received and have improved sales. The Hartley Library Lattes has become a focal point for students during crucial study periods following a further investment of £35,000 and extended opening hours. Extended opening hours of the Avenue Restaurant have been a success. We conducted a survey to find out more about how students and staff use the Avenue Restaurant. The responses and feedback received indicated that further investment would benefit students. Over summer 2009 there will be a complete refurbishment, which will offer flexibility and extend the range of food available. The total investment will be £120,000.
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Students’ Union Café Southampton University Students’ Union (SUSU) Budget: £150,000
Working in partnership with the Students’ Union is a key element in taking our student-centred approach forward in the long term. In the short term, as a result of careful budgeting in 2008/09, SUSU have been allocated the resources needed for the refurbishment of the SUSU café at Highfield. Plans have been developed, led by Alex Tanfield, Students’ Union President 2008/09, and the work will be completed in time for the new academic year in September 2009.
Recreation facilities Various schools Budget: £36,000
While there has been significant investment in recreation facilities at Highfield Campus and Wide Lane, accessible leisure facilities are equally important for students across all our campuses. In 2008/09, funding was allocated to support student access to local leisure facilities in Winchester, the Isle of Wight and Basingstoke.
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Open days Student Administration and Registry Department Budget: £14,000
Long before you started your programme here at the University of Southampton, you will have been in contact with the University in a range of ways. As part of our wide range of recruitment and outreach activities, the University has an enviable record of successful open days. These are designed to provide the best opportunity for students, their families and teachers to see the University and get a real feel for what our campuses have to offer. The programme of events includes: subject presentations and drop-in points; tours of Academic Schools and facilities; general information talks; tours of campuses and halls of residence; advice on applying to study here and employability prospects after graduation. The popularity and success of our open days is such that in 2008/09 the Student Centredness Budget supported the UK Recruitment and Outreach team by funding an additional event. We now have three open days each year: one in July and two in September. Around 24,000 visitors attend the open days each year – and with a total spend of £54,000, this is very cost effective at £2.25 per visitor. The main costs include the hire of buses and drivers, student ambassadors, catering, marketing, signage and infrastructure.
Student associates and undergraduate ambassadors schemes Student Administration and Registry Department Budget: £10,000
Each year around 250 of our students are placed in educational settings to support young people. They work as classroom assistants and support teachers, as well as developing transferable skills that will be invaluable when they graduate. Some of these students also go on to train as teachers. In their feedback last year, one student associate wrote: “The student associates scheme is extremely rewarding and a perfect example of life working in a school. The experience has helped me to make some career-steering decisions.” If you are interested in these schemes, you can find more information on our website. www.soton.ac.uk/schoolsandcolleges/activities/sas.html www.soton.ac.uk/ses/resources/ambassadorscheme.html The Student Centredness Budget has helped to fund a one-year administrative role that will support the University’s outreach activities. The new administrator will support the undergraduate ambassadors scheme in particular, working with the students and on the evaluation of the scheme. As part of the University’s commitment to providing career opportunities for our students, we hope this role will give a graduate the opportunity to start their career in student recruitment and outreach.
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DisabledGo Education Student Services and Human Resources Budget: ÂŁ21,000
At the University of Southampton we are committed to providing a wide range of services to support students with disabilities. As part of our continuing commitment, we have registered with DisabledGo Education. This is an innovative facility that gives information on the accessibility of universities around the country and supports people with disabilities in getting access to education and employment. For more information about DisabledGo, visit their website at www.disabledgo.info/AboutUs.asp
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Employability Student Services and Faculties Budget: £192,000 Over the past three years we have increased our focus on promoting the employability of our graduates. In 2008/09 we employed three full-time Faculty employability coordinators and additional support staff. We have also allocated funding to support additional employability-related activities. The employability coordinators have worked as part of the three Faculty teams and were members of an employability steering group. This group has been established to create a University-wide approach to employability and oversee to its implementation. The governance for this programme of work has been to the University Education Committee. Here are just a few examples of the wide range of activities.
Strategic Health Authority: NHS South Central Newly Qualified Practitioners Employment (NQPE) action group The NQPE action group has been formed to provide advice and guidance to newly qualified practitioners who have not found employment 6–12 months after graduation.
Global Advantage conference 2009 A one-day conference to enhance the employability of international students.
Global skills We have commissioned research (through an MSc student project) to look at what employers are saying about the value of global skills. This involved conducting a stock-take of the internal and external resources available to enhance global skills and providing employer and student case studies.
Coordinated ‘Enhancing Employability’ seminar series A day of events that encompassed employability and employer engagement, emphasising work experience, employability skills and alumni networking.
Sport employability day The aim of this project was to enhance the understanding of career prospects for undergraduate sport students, and highlight employability skills gained from their academic study and overall university experience.
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School of Management Blackboard site The School of Management designed and maintained a Blackboard site that hosts information for students looking for work placements, including application information and lists of placement opportunities. The School has also surveyed third-year students to assess how many did summer internships, placements or work.
Graduate recruitment A project to assist employability tutors with inviting employers to present graduate recruitment trends.
Interview techniques This project involved producing an educational DVD showing different styles of interview techniques recently used by candidates for nursing positions. A new format DVD was introduced and well received by students at two employability day events organised by the School of Nursing and Midwifery in February 2009.
Life After Graduation: School of Ocean and Earth Science (SOES) On 22 April, eight SOES alumni returned to the University to participate as panellists on the SOES Life After Graduation panel held at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS). More than 100 students and staff attended the Geology and Geophysics and the Marine Biology and Oceanography panels to hear alumni speak candidly about their path since graduation and their tips for getting a job. Students also had the chance to network with alumni during lunch and foster links with a variety of companies. Employability is a priority for the University and SOES graduates are highly regarded in a number of fields. During the economic downturn and the inevitable feelings of uncertainty, the panel provided constructive advice on career prospects to students and promoted the important role companies can play in supporting employability efforts. The feedback from participants and alumni has been positive and we plan to host another event in 2010.
Engagement and employability in the Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics (FESM) Alumni posters were displayed across all nine Schools to illustrate the destinations of graduates. Additional activities took place in the School of Chemistry as part of a professional skills programme
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Internationalisation Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (LATEU) Budget: ÂŁ37,000
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As part of growing our international profile, we have worked to seek alignment with the emerging European Higher Education Area. One element of this is to promote student mobility and lifelong learning across Europe. As the diversity of our student population increases, we will continue to invest in enriching the cultural diversity of the student experience.
Looking to the future
Our investment in the wide range of services that make up the student experience is an ongoing commitment. In the coming year, we will use funds to enhance a number of emerging areas to reflect the changing needs of our students. These include: graduate employment, internships, supporting students to make the transition to university, refurbishing the SUSU cafÊ at Highfield and engaging students in designing future learning spaces. To enhance the involvement of students, we will also be setting up an advisory group, in partnership with the Students’ Union, to plan and evaluate future investment and to seek your views on emerging issues that need to be addressed. Your feedback is important to us. If you have any comments on this report or would like to get involved, please contact Maria Hampson (m.hampson@southampton.ac.uk).
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www.southampton.ac.uk m.hampson@southampton.ac.uk +44(0)23 8059 9112