Speak Week Report - Nov 2023

What do BU students think?

SPEAK WEEK REPORT

November 2023

SPEAK WEEK: November 2023

SUBU’s Full-Time Officers designed the survey to explore three main themes:

▪ Campus Experience

▪ Cost of Living

▪ Support for Student Wellbeing/ Mental Health

It also included final questions on students' experiences of finding and using accommodation guarantors.

SPEAK WEEK Nov 2023-24: A COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS YEARS

Speak Week has taken place every academic year for over 10 years. We hold two eventsone in Autumn and one in Spring. The engagement with this SUBU Student Voice initiative has seen a continuing growth postpandemic and in November 2023 Speak Week saw its highest respondentnumbers on record! The continuing growth in student respondents is encouraging consideredalongside general student engagement challenges in the sector.

SPEAK WEEK Respondents

965

SPEAK WEEK

Speak Week respondent profile compared to the BU student population

• HSS underrepresentation & FST overrepresentation

• UG underrepresentation& PGT overrepresentation

• Home/ UK students underrepresentation& International Students overrepresentation

Theme 1 Campus Experience

Q1

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE

Thinking about the atmosphere, facilities, events, and activities available on campus, how would you rate your overall campus experience so far this year?

3, 0%

10, 1%

358, 38%

120, 13%

461, 48%

Excellent Good OK Poor

Very poor

Most students were satisfiedwith their campus experience during the first semesterwith over a third rating the atmosphere, facilities, events and activities on campus as excellent (a decline from 47% last year) .

86% of students said their campus experience was Good or Excellent, and only 1% rated it as Poor

STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS

SIGNIFICANTLY ASSOCIATED WITH VARIABILITY IN CAMPUS EXPERIENCE

▪ Age

▪ Campus (Talbot, Lansdowne, Other)

▪ Student origin (Home, EU or International)

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE

Across all age groups, over 80% of students had either “Excellent” or “Good” experience.

89% |80%

Under 21s Aged 21-24

Students aged under 21 and 25-29 had higher overall satisfactionrates than those aged 21-24 and 30-39.

Students aged between 25 and 39 were more likely to rate their experience as excellent.

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE

Experience by Campus (p <.01)

87% |80%

Talbot base Lansdowne base

of students reported “Excellent” or “Good” campus experience

Across campuses, over 80% of students had either “Excellent” or “Good” experience. As in the previous year, students based at Talbot campus report significantly better experience comparedto those at other campuses.

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE

Experience by Student Origin

(p <.01)

I.e., Home, European or InternationalStudents

Amongst Home and International students, over 85% had either “Excellent” or “Good” experience with International and EU students being more likely to rate their experience as “Excellent”.

85% |89% |69%

UK/Home International of students reported “Excellent” or “Good” campus experience

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE

Q2

How would you rate the following events/campaigns?

77% |86% of respondents of freshers

Attended Freshers’Fair and 92% of attendants said it either met or exceeded expectations

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE

Q1 Additional Comments

There were 135 commentsaround “overall campus experience" with the following key themes:

• Facilities (45) & Atmosphere (26)

• Events (35) & Activities (29)

Facilities & Atmosphere

Over half, 71 of the 135 free-text comments (52%), were related to experience with campus facilities and atmosphere.Students shared both positive and negative comments. Common themes:

 Accessibility

 Clean and Comfortable

 Range of Facilities

 Comfortability

“Facilities are good and there’s always a good atmosphere”.

 Inclusivity

“The campus is always clean and maintained well.”.

“I think the facilities here at BU are just amazing. With so many opportunities to go for around campus we are able to open our wings and be confident to fly.”

“There are adequate facilities for disabled students and the reception staff are happy to answer any questions. All of the seminar and lecture rooms are modern with all the necessities, like sockets etc”.

 Lack of Space, too busy

 Food Options

 Sanitary Products

 Feelings of Isolation on Lansdowne

“Cafe has limited seating and only one microwave facility so there is often a queue. Feedback from friends say not a huge choice of warm healthy lunch options either.”

“I occasionally experience high levels of anxiety and struggle with crowded places and recently campus has felt busier and more cramped than ever.”

“There is an amazing balance between a focused academic atmosphere and a socially engaging atmosphere that allows the students to better their overall higher education experience”.

Students felt there was a lack of space in various university buildings,including cafés, libraries, and prayer rooms.

Food options were a concern. Students expressed a need for more hot water access, microwaves and international food on campus. Mixed response to the smoking ban.

Events & Activities

Almost half, 64 of the 135 free-text comments (48%), were related to experience with campus events and activities. Students sharedboth positive and negative comments. Common themes:

 Range of Events/ Activities

“There has been a great range of events and activities on campus that have helped make the move to university much smoother”

 Lack of Events at Lansdowne

 Student’s Knowledge of Events

 Events timing

Students felt there was a great range of events and activities on campus.

“I’m at the Lansdowne campus. It is very isolated and doesn’t really have a campus feel”.

“I don't think all events are always known about until you accidently find them sometimes”.

Some students commented they didn’t alwayshear about events and activities, or they were at a time when it was inconvenient.

Q3

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE (ATTENDANCE)

How often are you unable to attend lectures, seminars and booked events on campus?

140, 15%

324, 34%

277, 29%

More than once a week

Only a third (34%) of students always attended lectures and booked events on campus (a slight increase from 32% in March 2023).

Once a week

215, 22%

Once a month

Never

66% were unable to attend booked lectures, seminar and booked events on campus at least once a month, with 15% unable to attend more than once a week.

Q3

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE (ATTENDANCE)

Comparing “How often are you unable to attend lectures, seminars and booked events on campus?” March vs November 2023

% of Students who are unable to attend lectures, seminars and booked events on campus

This is still an issue, and not for the first time…

There has been no significantchange in students' attendanceof lectures, seminars and booked events, since March (Speak Week Data: March 2023 vs November 2023). There has been littleto no positive change in students' attendance,emphasising the need to make adjustments, further motivating students to engage.

More than twice a week Once a week Once a month Never

STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS

SIGNIFICANTLY

ASSOCIATED WITH VARIABILITY IN CAMPUS ATTENDANCE

▪ Campus (Talbot, Lansdowne, Other)

▪ Age

▪ Level of Study

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE (ATTENDANCE)

Students on Talbot Campus had significantly worse attendance rates.

69% |50% of Talbot base Lansdowne base

students reported missing lectures, seminars and booked events on campus.

Experience by Campus (p=.001) (n=164)

Never Once a month Once a week More than once a week

Lansdowne % Talbot % (n=693)

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE (ATTENDANCE)

Experience by Age

73% |48%

of students reported missing lectures, seminars and booked events on campus.

Attendance likelihoodincreasedwith age. Students aged under 21 had the worst attendance rates.

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE (ATTENDANCE)

Experience by Level of Study

82% |51% of Foundation Postgraduate

students reported missing lectures, seminars and booked events on campus.

Attendance likelihoodincreasedwith level of study. Foundation students had the worst attendance rates, and PG students the best.

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE (ATTENDANCE)

Q3

Additional Comments

There were 104 comments around attendance with the following key themes:

Illness, Physical/Mental Health (32 comments)

Work commitments (10 comments), Timetables and

Time poor with personal schedules (40 Comments)

Travel (14 Comments)

Health & Motivation

A third of the free-text comments (32; 30%) related to experience of health issues, ill mental health and lack of motivation.

Common themes:

“Not an occurrence I like , I do try… but sometimes I’m just tired or just not mentally well enough to even leave my room”.

 Flu, sickness, hangover

 Physical health

“Often due to personal reasons, I have a chronic illness which effects my energy levels”.

“Unmotivated…”

 Mental health

 Motivation

“Get bored easily…”.

“Sometimes, my long covid prevents me from coming jn, but I make sure to catch up online”.

“This boils down to my social anxiety which stems from classroom environments. Attendance has not impacted my grades however and I have achieved a First for the past two years running (I’m in my third and final year) even though I’ve worked remotely. I am back on campus this year however and adjusting to in person teaching again slowly. ”.

Illness: Flu, sickness and hangovers influenced attendanceand assignments.

Physical/ mental health: chronic fatigue, social anxiety, mental health difficulties, and mobility issues.

Work, Time, Travel

Half of the free-text comments (54; 51%) related to students having work commitments, timetable clashes or inconvenient timetables as well as travel issues.

Common themes:

“I have far to travel into campus so I tend to only go in if I have to”.

 Work

 Timetables

 Travel

“Work and event clash and making it hard to attend and be involved, if bursary was a reasonable amount to live on plus finance, then wouldn't have to work as much”.

“Work obligations or bad timetabling”.

“Often society meetings/ extracurricular stuff I didn't attend any Black history month stuff because I didn't know if I was welcome and didn't want to take up space from Black students. Evenings are difficult for me due to outside commitments”.

“Getting in for 9am can be a struggle and I don't even sleep in! Also, next semester I am in every day but for one hour on most”.

Timetable: schedule clashes, employment responsibilities, sports fixtures and childcare.

Travel: late due to transport services, cost of travel, time of commute.

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE (Attendance)

Q4 Which of these factors affect your ability to come onto campus/ engage with your course?

965 participants

Factors affecting students’ ability to come onto campus/ engage with their course:

31% Cost of food and drink on campus

30% Part time paid work commitments

29% 29%

Not feeling motivated to come onto campus

Some teaching is not engaging enough

Q5

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE

Thinkingback on your universityexperience this year so far, what importantinformation from BU/ SUBU was provided too late or not at all?

241 responses provided key themes

Course information (74 comments)

Events (41 comments)

Support (22 comments)

Employment (21 comments)

Accommodation (17 comments)

Theme 1: CAMPUS EXPERIENCE

Q5 Thinking back on your university experience this year so far, what important information from BU/ SUBU was provided too late or not at all? n=241

30.7%

Course information: timetables, assessments, equipment and software

17.0% 9.1% 8.7%

Events: societies, Freshers' events

Support: Wellbeing, library, financial/economic

“The timetable!!It was provided extremely late, which made it hard to find a part time job that could be worked around it. I had to leave my full-time job to attend BU”.

“Mostly the events taking place, I wasn't aware of them unless I was on campus at that time and the emails hadn't said much about them”.

7.1%

Employment: student jobs, placements, career advice

Accommodation: general information

“I received information about summer accommodation for students who cannot go home for the summer, but it would have been nice if it was more readily available. The assumption that everyone has a family to go home to during summer feels a bit alienating sometimes”.

“More information on searching part-time jobs to international students can be provided”.

SUMMARY: CAMPUS

EXPERIENCE & ATTENDANCE

• 86% selected Excellent or Good for Overall campus experience

• Only 34% were always able to attend lectures, seminars, and booked events

Ability to attend was commonly influenced by Illness, Work, Timetabling, Travel and Health (both physical and mental).

➢ Younger students and those on Talbot less likely to have no attendance issues.

• Campus and Course Engagement was commonly negatively influenced by:

1. Cost of food and drink

2. Part time work commitments

3. Lack of motivation

4. Teaching not engaging enough

My work for students (Lansdowne campus)

• 32 new seating spaces added to Lansdowne

• New SUBU common room was launched

• Full-Time Officer Pop-up Thursdays to listen to students

• SUBU Advice free Breakfast Club

• Rotation of SUBU departments present in Lansdowne office

• Student Rep Coffee Mornings

• Free yoga sessions

• Hiring a full-time Campus Activities and Projects

Lead, predominantly based in Lansdowne

• Offering free travel to ReFreshers’ Fair to Talbot site

Holly Tyack

VP Opportunities

Norah Valerie Deka VP Education

My work for students (Attendance)

• Working with the university's Learning Analytics working group

- Attendance capture policy

- Student attendance dashboard for personal tutors

• Conversations university leadership team about the promotion of personal tutor roles and students' use of them

• Working to reduce isolation (Talk Table project)

Q6

Theme 2: COST OF LIVING

How worried are you personally about the rising costs of living?

965 participants

96% are worried to some extent about the cost of living, with 66% being Extremely or Very worried

279, 30%

36, 4%

336,

274, 30%

Extremely worried

Very worried

Somewhat worried

Not worried

Year of study (p=.011) and Student Origin (p=.023) were significantlyassociated with how worried students were. Foundation and final year students were the most worried aboutthe rising cost of living, as were International students (Extremely or Very Worried: Foundation: 73.3%, Final Year: 73.8%; International: 72.4%)

36%

Theme 2: COST OF LIVING

Q6 Additional Comments

There were 99 additional comments, revealing students’ feelings on the cost of living.

“you have to prioritise eating and getting proper nutrition over doing other activities”.

"Living off £80pcm is not enough. I either go out and socialise or I eat well. I cannot do both and that's before placement starts and having to fill up with petrol. I cannot live a balanced life which affects my studies".

“Even with budgeting, the increased price of almost everything makes stresses me as it’s hard to keep to strict budgets and also enjoy uni life”.

965 participants

Essentials: Bills, Rent, Food, Transport, and prioritising essentials (47). 47.5%

19.2%

Combatting Rising Cost: Additional Employment,Living at Home, and Benefits/Discounts (19).

Feelings of Worry, Anxiety and Stress (19). 19.2%

Student Loans: Too Low/Not

Covering Cost of Rent (10). 10.1%

Q7

Theme 2: COST OF LIVING

Which of these, if any, are you doing because of the increases in the cost of living?

I spend less on non-essentials

I cut back on travel, eating out and entertainment

I compare prices and shop around more

I spend less on food shopping and essentials

I have a strict budget

I try to save on utilities, such as fuel, electricity,…

I am seeking additional financial support from…

I am doing more hours of paid work

I am using credit, for example credit cards, loans or…

I am using hardship funding/ other available…

I am using support from charities including food…

Other (please specify)

None of the above

965 participants

42%, 385

34%, 308

34%, 308

65%, 593

60%, 549

59%, 535

A limiting student experiencecoping rather than thriving

60% Cutting back on travel, eating out, entertainment

254

17%, 150

6%, 57

5%, 46

4%, 36

0%, 0

17% Using credit

42% 28%

Spending less on food and essentials

Doing more hours of paid work

11%

Using hardship funds and/or charitable support from food banks

Q8

Theme 2: COST OF LIVING

If you do paid work during university term time, around how many hours do you do per week?

965 participants

Part time paid work now a necessity for the majority of students

60% of students work parttime

44% work 10+ hours a week

28% work 12+ hours a week

Theme 2: COST OF LIVING Q9

What can BU/ SUBU do to better support you with your cost of living?

Themes

Analysis of the 366 free-text comments present key themes across BU.

Sub-Themes

• discountingfood drink, transport and accommodation, financiallyeducatingnew students, and increasing timetable-friendlyjob opportunities,and many more.

965 participants

Theme 2: COST OF LIVING

Q9 Q9 What can BU/ SUBU do to better support you with your cost of living?

“Lower the price of food on campus to make it more accessible”.

“Possibly more events explaining how to budget effectively or what to look for when choosing banks, energy providers, etc”.

“I’m living in student accommodation living is so high, if I get some discount that it would be beneficial”.

“More student-friendly part time jobs by the university, especially course related, so that we can also be prepared for placements or future careers”.

965 participants

Food and Drink: Affordable Food Prices, Free Food/Drink,Vouchers and Discounts. 34.2%

Employment: More Job Opportunities,Help Finding Jobs, Increased Wages for Student Jobs @BU & SUBU. 12.6%

Accommodation:Reduce Rent Cost and Increase Maintenance Loans 11.2%

Financial Education: How to Save Money/Budget and Getting Extra Funding. 9.8%

SUMMARY: COST OF LIVING

• 96% are Somewhat, Very or Extremely Worried about the cost of living. ➢ International and Final Year students were the most worried (very/extremely worried).

• Cost of essentials (housing, bills, food and transport) were common worries for students.

• Students are cutting down on essentials, non-essentials, travel, eating out and entertainment, whilst working part time, many using credit cards, hardship funds and charity support including food banks.

• Students want the university to support them with cost of living by:

1. Food and Drink on Campus

2. Employment

3. Accommodation

My work for students (Cost of Living)

• Unipol Joint Code conference – speaking about the struggles of students who are left on average £4 a week after paying rent in Bournemouth

• Raising awareness of the cost-of-living pressures particularly for international students by chairing the International Students Working Group & Pay Policy

• Petition to change the structure of maintenance loans

• Full-Time Officer support for free Supper Club

• Cost of Living help and resources webpage

• Lobbying for a Guarantor Scheme for International students

Chike Dike

SU President

Theme 3

Mental Health & Wellbeing

Prevalence

National research shows the proportion of students affected by mental health issues has rapidlyincreased in the past years.

Those disclosing mental health condition upon enrolment at universities more than tripled since 2014/15, representing the largest increase across disabilitytypes.

And surveys consistentlyreveal higher rates of poor mental health than those disclosed to universities:

▪ 57% of students had a current mental health issue (In “Being Well, Doing Well” Student Minds 2022)

▪ 81% of students had experienced mental health difficulties, with 49% of those having had suicidal thoughts and feelings (Cibyl Student Mental Health Survey 2022)

Consequences

The consequences of this exponential rise in mental health issues for students range from poor attendanceand academic performance to dropping out of university, self-harm and suicide:

▪ 50% of students admit having taken time off uni,

▪ 85% of students struggling with poor mental health have had to miss a lecture or seminar because of it, and 51 % have had to seek mitigating circumstances (The Tap & CALM, 2023)

Q12

If you needed support for your wellbeingand/ or mental health, would you know where to find this from BU/ SUBU?

Comparable research found 1 in 4 (26%) students did not know where to go to get mental health support at their university (Student Minds, 2023)

888 responses

While the majority of students (69%) knew where to find support for their wellbeing/ mental health at Bournemouth University, a large proportion (one third) were not aware.

614, 69%

272, 31%

Q13

If you have tried to access the support/ services listed below, please rate your overall experience*.

Service/ Support Used Have used Have not used

*Full Question: If you have tried to access the support/ services listed below, please rate your overall experience (considering how easy it was to access, how easy it was to set up your support, how promptly you received support, and the overall quality of support received)

The only support that more students have accessed than not was ‘personal tutor’.

Among the support services, SUBU Advice was used by 44% of respondents, followed by

Student Wellbeing at 42%.

Around 24% of students haven’t accessed any of the support listed.

Personal tutor SUBU Advice Student Wellbeing Service Disability and Additional Learning Support

Achieve@BU Student Assistance Programme Faith and Reflection University Retreat

Q13 If you have tried to access the support/ service, please rate your overall experience*

The students who accessed the support services available had an overwhelmingly positive experience with only a small numbers experiencing poor support.

* considering how easy it was to access, set up your support, how promptly you received support, and the overall quality of support received

Theme 3: WELLBEING/ MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT

965 participants

Q13

Additional Comments

55 comments were made about their experience of support services.

Of these, 23 comments discussed positive experiences of the services and 29 comments were negative.

Participants commented on:

• Personal Tutors (27 comments)

• Additional LearningSupport [ALS] (8 comments)

• Student Wellbeing (4 comments)

• University Services – Generally(3 comments)

• AchieveBU (1 comment)

• Faith and Reflection Service (1 comment)

Some responses (n=10) were not specific to a particular service but were coded as ‘unknown’, and whether the comment was positive or negative.

Personal Tutors

27 of the 55 free-text comments (49.1%) were related to experience with personal tutors. Students shared 10 positive and 17 negative comments.

Common themes:

 Responsive

 Polite

 Comfortable& approachable

 Supportive and trustworthy

“My tutor is really lovely and approachable. Always happy to chat about coursework.”

 Poor communication

 Meetings

 Do not have one / unsure of who it is

“I have not been told who my personal tutor is, also was not aware of many of these services”.

“My personal tutor meetings are rare, and I do not have a developed relationship with my own so can be hard to open up about problems”.

Additional Learning Support

8 (5 positive and 3 negative) of the 55 free-text comments (14.5%) were related to experience with Additional Learning Support (ALS).

Common themes:

 Helpful

 Feeling supported

“My ALS key worker has also helped to give me weekly targets as dictated by what I am doing on my course so that I always stayon-track with my coursework”.

“I have had a lot of support with the ALS team and my personal tutor”.

 Responsetime

"Having one-to-one ALS support has helped me with planning and structuring my coursework, and it is very helpful to have someone to talk to regarding worries about coursework”.

“Additional learning support was very helpful, and I was listened to”.

““ALS response time was not great therefore I went to __ at Achieve and she helped me apply for my DSA, she was so helpful!”.

“ALS contacted me before the semester started but I haven't heard from them since regarding my accessibility modifications and PEEP, they keep telling me they will but have yet to”.

Student Wellbeing Service

4 (1 positive and 3 negative) of the 55 free-text comments (7.3%) were related to experience with Student Wellbeing.

Common themes:

 Feeling welcome

 Efficient service

 Responsetime

 Not useful for more serious issues

 Poor advertising

“Speaking to the Student Wellbeing Service, they were highly efficient at helping me and were very welcoming”.

“Completed the intake form for Student Wellbeing and have not heard back from them”.

“Counselling from student wellbeing is only meant for those with simple or mild depression symptoms which wasn’t made clear or outright stated as very few sessions are available and isn’t suitable who actually have some kind of complex trauma, they need counselling for”.

“The mental health teams are not advertised a lot”.

General Support

13 (5 positive and 6 negative) of the 55 free-text comments (26.3%) discussedall mentioned university services.

Common themes:

 Feeling supported

 Responsetime

 Unawareof services

 Poor advertising

“Having the support available has totally transformed my university experience. I was really worried about going to uni and being able to keep up with all my work with everything going on, but actually, I’m doing really well!!“.

“I didn’t know many of these services existed”.

“They never respond to emails”.

“I think the information just needs to be more concise - I’ve noticed a lot of fluffy language or unnecessary text.. all it needs is - here’s the number to call if you need help, here’s the sign-up button for one to one and choose do you want face to face, zoom or a call etc…”.

I just noticed there are many services I have not yet utilised.

Q14 Thinking about how you would like to receive support for your wellbeing and/ or mental health, indicate your preference

472,

I would NOT want this

I would definitely want this 472, 26% 387, 24% 274, 24% 226, 10%

Students by far preferred face-to-face support, followed by clear online information and were most opposed to telephone support, webinars and zoom calls for mental health support.

Face-to-face/ inperson support

Online information Educational workshops/ webinars

Telephone support On-screen support (e.g. Teams, Zoom)

Telephone support Educational workshops/ webinars

On-screen support (e.g. Teams, Zoom)

Online information Face-to-face/ inperson support

Theme 3: WELLBEING/ MENTAL HEALTH

Q14 Additional Comments

There were 17 additional comments about students’ feelings regarding mental health support.

Key themes included:

Face to Face Support (5 comments)

Workshops/ Activities (5 comments)

Variety of Support (3 comments)

FACE-TO-FACE SUPPORT

“ Face to face meetings are best actually personally people can understand and see the persons in the problems. ”

“ Face to Face is always best for me as I engage more when I am given the opportunity to connect with other people. ”

ENGAGEMENT

UNDERSTANDING

“ I think we underestimate the importance of a one-on-one face to face connection with someone to support us. Of course, this isn’t always feasible. But people have such specific problems it’s hard to cover all that in a broad pre-recorded session or a group zoom. “

WORKSHOPS & WEBINARS

“ I have extreme anxiety with meeting new people, especially with groups so it drains me a lot to go to lessons and events. ”

“ 1-1 support works best as everyone has their own individual needs. As such, I would not find workshops/webinars particularly helpful. ”

SOCIAL ANXIETY

IMPERSONAL

“ Workshops and events provided by the uni would be beneficial - relaxing events ran by SUBU like therapy dogs and art and craft workshops would be good. “

RELAXING ACTIVITIES

DIVERSITY OF SUPPORT

“ Although this is very personal preference depended, I think when all is offered, it’s going to help majority out. ”

“ Having a wide range of ways to communicate would be beneficial as it allows everyone to seek help. ”

“ Having services like telephone support makes it much easier for those who struggle with face-to-face support. ”

“ All methods to make people aware of mental wellbeing is best, as long as people are allowed to choose whether they want to attend or not. “

SUMMARY: WELLBEING/ MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT

• 67.9% of student know where to find BU/SUBU support for their wellbeing/mental health.

• Students had the most positive and negative experiences with personal tutors.

• Negative experiences were due to a lack of communicationand meetings.

• Positive experiences were due to the tutor’s responsiveness, politeness, trustworthinessand approachability.

• Face to face support is the most preferred way for students to receive wellbeing/mental health support.

• Students felt the variety of support on offer is essential, to allow users to choose their preferred method of help

My work for students (Mental Health Support)

Diversify access to mental health support through BU Student well-being services and workshops, ensuring it is inclusive, culturally competent, and reflective of our diverse student population.

• Delivered a focus group and report to PVC Student Experience and Head of Student Support & Wellbeing

• Student exam support packages

• Student wobble week events and advice pop-up

• Video to showcase what mental health/ wellbeing services are available

• With SU President: leading on a Nature Workshop

• Joint Full-Time Officer project: Dissertation de-stress week

Fatima Farha VP Welfare & Community

Students and Guarantors: November 2023

Would you use a BU scheme to provide a guarantor if this was available?

65% of students said they would use a BU scheme to provide guarantors,if it was available.

Year of study, age and fees (p<.001) are significantly associated with their desire to use a BU scheme for guarantors, if available.

If you are renting your accommodation, how easy or difficult was it to find a guarantor?

253, 27%

225, 24%

103, 11%

118, 13%

226, 25%

Very easy

Quite easy

Quite difficult

Very difficult

Not applicable

49% of students found it very easy or quite easy to find a guarantor for their rented accommodation while a quarter of students (24%) said it was Very or Quite Difficult. Year of study, age and fees (p<.001) are significantly associated with their ability to find a guarantor.

Students and Guarantors: November 2023

If you are renting your accommodation, how easy or difficult as it to find a guarantor? Responsesby demographics

Note:

• % data labels shows the ‘% of each demographicsub-group thathad each response’

• Groups with n>5 were removed from graphs, forpresentation purposes.

Most difficulty finding guarantors:

• International Students

• Students in Postgraduate Taught courses

• Students above the age of 24

SUMMARY: Students and Guarantors, November 2023

• 24% of students said finding a guarantor was quite or very difficult.

• International Students, students in Postgraduate Taught courses, and students aged 25+ found it more difficult to find a guarantor, than other students.

• 65% of Students would use a BU Guarantor Scheme, if provided

• 79.8% of students, aged 25+ would use this scheme.

• Students under 21 years old were the least likely to use this service, yet 59.7% said they would use it.

SU President

My work for students (Students and Guarantors)

• I presented the Speak Week Students and Guarantor results to senior university colleagues at the International Student Working Group.

• Bournemouth University found the insight useful and agreed the results demonstrated a clear need for BU students.

• The university has now committed to exploring how to launch a guarantor scheme to better support students who are asked to provide an accommodation guarantor.

Chike Dike