Report to UAL Student Life Committee | June 2010 The Student Experience at UAL: A University Challenge
INTRODUCTION UAL has 15% less home students than the national average. We’re almost ¾ women. We’ve got a large proportion of undergrads and FE, and hardly any PG research students. And we’re significantly more ethnically diverse than leading non-arts institutions in the Russell Group. These facts about our Student population will not be new to the Student Life Committee members, but are key in setting the scene. In short, even in the context of an already ‘hyper-diverse’ national student body, we stand out as particularly so. In many respects it is impossible to compare UAL students to the ‘average UK student’, and you certainly cannot put a UAL student in a ‘UAL student’ box. This is a large institution filled with hundreds of small and diverse communities, each one populated by individual creative people. And above all else our students need and want for vastly different things. SUARTS REPORTS | SU REPORT TO UAL SLC | JUNE 2010
Page 1 of 6
That said, there are some assumptions about the diversity of our students that go too far. Our students also want for many of the same things. Yes, even our students want to play sports, want to run a student radio station, want an experience outside of the ‘classroom’, want a feeling of community and indeed want to compete on University Challenge (as they have done for the first time this year!) More and more our students are wanting for a better, fuller ‘Student Experience’, they are expecting more than the University is currently delivering is almost every respect. There has clearly been a move towards recognising this over the last few years, with many significant improvements, but we feel things need to move much faster. In our experience, even the recent increased developments and change in thinking is down to a committed minority, rather than a true shift in the culture and life blood of the University – and this is what is needed to see real change.
1
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE The ‘Student Experience’ is often thought about purely in terms extra curricular pursuits, where it should be seen as the combination of how each stage and component of Higher Education affects each student on their own terms. It covers the cultural interaction that students have during their education, from choosing a University, pre-registration information, teaching quality, contact time with staff, feedback, accommodation, facilities, welfare service, bullying and harassment, finance and debt, student employment, to post-course plans.2 Universities UK state that “Student Experience encapsulates a wide range of issues from across the student life cycle and university engagement with students.”3 The 1994 Group: “’Student Experience’ is a wide-ranging term meaning different things to different kinds of students. … there are many different aspects of university life which affect the experience of students, from the quality of teaching, level of academic support and provision of learning and library space to the opportunities for volunteering, sport and other extra-curricular activities, work-based learning and paid work and access to bars, cafes and other social spaces.”4 And the University of St Andrews: “The whole Student Experience sits at the centre of studying at the University of St Andrews. We believe that if a student is happy in their living environment, if they feel integrated socially, if they have clear expectations which are met and they feel supported throughout, then they will go on to expand their learning much further than simply doing the bare minimum in their course work. They will live the Student Experience here and will take away with them a period in their lives in which they have gained life skills, lifelong friends, social contacts, and confidence, with a love of learning which they will carry throughout their lives.”5 1
UAL Student Stereotypes according to CSM Alumni Jasiminne Yip - http://www.jasiminne.com/2010/01/my-art-college-is-better-than-yours.html NUS Student Experience Report, 2008 - http://www.nus.org.uk/PageFiles/4017/NUS_StudentExperienceReport.pdf 3 Universities UK - http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/PolicyAndResearch/PolicyAreas/Pages/Student-Experience.aspx 4 1994 Group Student Experience Policy Statement - www.1994group.ac.uk/documents/public/SEPolicyStatement.pdf 5 St Andrews - www.st-andrews.ac.uk/administration/StudentExperience/Thestudentexperience 2
SUARTS REPORTS | SU REPORT TO UAL SLC | JUNE 2010
Page 2 of 6
Considering the whole Student Experience recognises that students are not only pupils in a ‘classroom’, but that they have a vested interest in the community, delivery of services and direction of the University. The Student Experience covers a wide range of opportunities and services through an education by which a University is able to differentiate itself from another. The purpose of undertaking work on the student experience is to deliver a relevant University experience to every student. As stated many times before, we feel that recognising the full student experience and doing more to make provisions for students in this vein will be one of the biggest factors in getting UAL off the bottom of the ladder when it comes to student satisfaction in the NSS. It should also be noted that there is the context nationally of increasing weight being put on student satisfaction and all the component parts that make up the student experience, and an increased likelihood of these and similar measures being linked to funding – something that would have a noticeable impact on UAL with its consistent poor performance across the board in the likely areas of analysis. In ‘The Coalition: our programme for government’ our new Government have stated that they “will publish more information about the costs, graduate earnings and student satisfaction of different university courses.”6 David Willets, our new Minister of State for Universities and Science, has “repeatedly argued that if universities want to charge higher fees, they must first demonstrate that top-up fees have improved the student experience”7, stating specifically that “there needs to be a national student experience website would pull together searchable information on research ratings, drop-out rates, library facilities and university estates.”8 It is well known that UAL overall has a particularly low student satisfaction rating, but we also acknowledge the extreme variations in satisfaction. UAL has massive inconsistencies in quality and course organisation within and across colleges, and it is also true that there is a huge diversity amongst students studying in entirely different practises and modes across the institution. This lack of parity is becoming less and less defensible. We believe that there are two key factors to UAL getting to grips with the student experience over the coming few years: Centralising some areas of policy, management and implementation and Empowering the Students’ Union
CENTRALISING The Student Experience doesn’t have to be the same at every college and site, in fact distinct college and site identities are important to many students. However, aspects like the range and quality of service available through Study Support, the quality and quantity of feedback a student receives, or their access to Student Services and the Students’ Union, should be standard across the entire institution. The above graph is a breakdown of overall student satisfaction by course at UAL9 which clearly shows the breadth of responses from students on different courses, even within the same college or school. The variation is 64%, with the highest at 94% and the lowest at 23%. Student satisfaction should not be so locally influenced.
6
The Coalition: our programme for government - www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/409088/pfg_coalition.pdf THE Article May 2010 - www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=411667 8 David Willets Speech on Higher Education and the Student Experience - www.davidwilletts.co.uk/2007/10/31/student-experience 9 National Student Survey, 2009 7
SUARTS REPORTS | SU REPORT TO UAL SLC | JUNE 2010
Page 3 of 6
A clear manifestation of the spread of power and control is the issue of student timetables. When we conducted our pre-campaign research this year, we couldn’t find a single other UK University that did not use a central timetabling system. Students are still waiting for accurate timetables at UAL – and there’s even debate over whether the University can commit to providing timetables on an individual basis rather than simply at a course level. “We value student unions. We salute them and what they achieve for and on behalf of students. Without them, universities would be much poorer institutions, as would the employers, causes and political parties who take on their alumni.” David Willets
10
EMPOWERING THE STUDENTS’ UNION Since 2006, student involvement in their Union has increased by over 400%. We have demonstrated that UAL students are interested in playing sport, being part of political and cultural societies, running events, and coming together to socialise. Students who are engaged in these activities tell us that it has made their experience at Uni. We also support students to settle in to University life through the Buddying Scheme – the largest scheme of its kind in any University in the UK. And throughout the year, our specialist student advisors compliment the work of Student Services by helping students through difficult processes like appeals, complaints, and situations where they find themselves facing discipline. We contribute to the student experience by giving students the support to develop opportunities for themselves. In every survey we have ever conducted, the most consistent message from students is that they want to feel part of a University community. Communities can’t be prescribed to students, but we can make sure that we are ready to support students when they come to us interested in starting up activities and initiatives. It is also the case that, apart from Nigel Carrington, the Students’ Union are the only body in the University whose remit spreads across the entire ‘student experience’. We hold qualitative and quantitative information and feedback from thousands of students each year on all aspects of the student experience. We support students to improve aspects of their own student experience. //Recommendation 1: Long term, UAL should consider planning to invest in facilities for student extracurricular activities. Top priorities for students are sports facilities (playing field, gym, sports hall), and a venue/black box space where students can practice, perform and host events. // Recommendation 2: UAL should continue to value and invest in the Students’ Union, as the sole body with a remit covering the entire student experience. 10
David Willets Speech on Higher Education and the Student Experience - http://www.davidwilletts.co.uk/2007/10/31/student-experience
SUARTS REPORTS | SU REPORT TO UAL SLC | JUNE 2010
Page 4 of 6
THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENT EXPERIENCE Our concerns about respect and understanding for the general student experience aside, we remain particularly concerned about the experience of our international students at UAL and how this will develop over the coming years. We would like to commend the University on some initiatives, with change in the language centre’s pre-sessional scheme particularly useful, and providing great examples of best practice in pre-arrival information. However, we think most would agree that the experience of our international students is far from ideal and with the University looking to fairly dramatically increase the number of international students we feel there needs to be a massive step change in the support networks available to them. Having chosen UAL partly to find out about London, experience another culture, improve their English as well as to study their chosen discipline, International students are, by and large, still very much segregated. Language levels are an issue, which we acknowledge is something that is widely discussed. We continue to receive feedback that the process and examination of IELTS is a poor reflection on the level and kinds of language that students can expect to need within their UAL life, and it’s a daily reality that students who do have a good grasp of English are acting as a ‘translator’ for others. Segregation leads to fractured groups forming based on nationality, which ultimately leads to feelings of isolation and a lack of shared benefit across groups of students. Probably the biggest issue, and as yet largely unfathomed, is the cultural differences and variances in educational backgrounds that students arrive at UAL with. For certain groups of international students there is a real stigma attached to accessing support, both academic and personal guidance related. The Students’ Union Officers regularly see the results of this in appeals and academic misconduct panels often with heart breaking stories that could be so easily avoided through sign posting to resources that are already in place. Enough is not done to manage and support international students in their transition to studying here and integration into student life. First impressions are everything, and we think particular attention needs to be paid to international students first interactions with the University. During the first day of Fresher’s Festival 2009; an international student arrived at the Student Hub straight from the airport looking for the accommodation office, which being a Sunday was closed. The student had no information about where they were staying and no contact details apart from the instruction to go straight to Davies Street when he arrived. Luckily with the SU open and after many frantic phone calls, a room in a hall was located for the night. Had we not SUARTS REPORTS | SU REPORT TO UAL SLC | JUNE 2010
Page 5 of 6
been open, this student would have been stranded on his first day and night in the country. Contrast this to many other institutions that offer international students the option of a student helper to pick them up from the airport and travel with them to their halls – and our offer is not very attractive. The University, in partnership with the Students’ Union needs to seriously review its current International Student Experience. From day one these students need to be better supported, better inducted to UAL life. They need to feel as though they are getting the £10,000+ experience they pay for. // Recommendation 3: Consider and plan how UAL can do more to integrate international students both in their initial interactions with the University and throughout their time here. // Recommendation 4: Employ home students during the pre-sessional programme to arrange social and cultural trips for the students (rather than current practice of mainly, if not only, using international students) – and ideally continue this throughout the year. // Recommendation 5: UAL needs to look at the support structures available to international students. // Recommendation 6: The University and the Students’ Union looks at ways in which community support can be increased for both incoming and current international students.
SUMMARY UAL needs to do more to recognise and support the full spectrum of the student experience. Student Life Committee should position itself to be leading debates on all the non-academic aspects of the student experience and be stricter about the business it covers, what it should and shouldn’t discuss. A lack of focus has meant certain aspects of our remit have been missed off the agenda. ‘Student Experience’ is a term that gets banded about the Higher Education sector, and UAL is no different. Many, institutions have taken steps to define or make statements about what ‘Student Experience’ means to them, giving them a structure within which to work. We think it would be an important step for UAL to take in partnership with the Students’ Union, especially in the context of the use of the term in the new Medium Term Strategy. Helen Gimber Students’ Union President president@su.arts.ac.uk
SUARTS REPORTS | SU REPORT TO UAL SLC | JUNE 2010
Page 6 of 6