Empowering University Initiatives Through Student Co-Production

Going beyond consultation: Co-Production with WP students across the student lifecycle Abi Cattlin, WP Officer (Continuation and Attainment) cattlina@edgehill.ac.uk Mazvita Kadzirange, Student Advisory Panel Member

Why Student Advisory Panels? To inform the design and delivery of a wide range of university initiatives Acknowledged that attainment and continuation gaps are complex and the result of a range of intersecting factors We wanted to be student led and to go beyond simply consulting with our students, we wanted to engage with them

What are the Student Advisory Panels ? Five Student Advisory Panels: - Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Students - Care Leaver, Care Experienced and Estranged Students - Disabled Students - First Generation Students - Mature Students First convened in 2020/21, expanded to five panels in 2021/22. Currently have 78 panels members including the SU Disabled Students Officer and SU BAME Officer

What are the Student Advisory Panels? (continued) We worked with the SU and Student Comms Team to promote the opportunity in Oct 2021. Students were asked to complete an expression of interest form All students received a training session in Nov 2021 which covered - What is WP/the OfS/an APP Agenda items can come from the Panel members themselves or from staff from across the university Agendas are confirmed one week prior, and students are paid for their time

What have the panels achieved? Reviewing our Chaplaincy provision- which is now rebranded as the Faith and Community service following panel feedback Reviewing our catering offer- identifying areas for improvement Developing a Race, Ethnicity and Religion staff training toolkit - with students reviewing the toolkits content and featuring in the training videos discussing their experiences Co-creation of our first Diverse Voices Alumni Q&A Series, were three Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic graduates were invited back to the University to discuss their experiences as graduates Provided feedback to marketing teams on the representation of diverse students in images used by the University Inputting into the design of our pre-entry access programme for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Students- with some panel members featuring in a promotional video for schools and colleges

What have the panels achieved? (continued) Contributed to the University-wide review of Personal Tutoring Took part in a listening workshop with the Pro-Vice Chancellor around the experiences of Care Leaver, Care Experienced and Estranged Students Reviewed the Student Disciplinary regulations Provided feedback on the Accreditation of Prior Learning Process Supported in the planning and design of a WP On-Course Support Programme Supported in the planning and design of a Mature Student Pre-Entry programme Reviewing Black History Month Celebrations, with panel members volunteering to be advisors to the Black History Month Committee Inputting into the University s new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion webpages Contributing to the #MyNameIs campaign

Pre & Post Evaluation Students were asked six questions prior to starting their role, we asked the same six questions after the last meeting of the academic year: To what extent are you aware of the University s APP? o November 2021 27.3% Extremely or Moderately Aware o June 2022 69% Extremely or Moderately Aware To what extent are you aware of the range of support services available at Edge Hill? o November 2021 79.5% Extremely or Moderately Aware o June 2022 86.1% Extremely or Moderately Aware

Pre & Post Evaluation (continued) To what extent do you agree with the following statement the university listens to my views and acts upon them ? o November 2021 43.1% Strongly agree or agree o June 2022 72.2% Strongly agree or agree How inclusive have you found Edge Hill to be? o November 2021 59% found Edge Hill to be extremely or quite inclusive o June 2022 68.9% found Edge Hill to be extremely or quite inclusive

Pre & Post Evaluation (continued) How connected do you feel to the university staff at Edge Hill? o November 2021 52.1% feel extremely or quite connected o June 2022 79% feel extremely or quite connected Overall, how much do you feel part of Edge Hill? o November 2021 34% feel they belong completely or quite a lot o June 2022 69.2% feel they belong completely or quite a lot

Pre & Post Evaluation (Student Quotes) I found it very interesting learning about the range of issues that disable students at Edge Hill had experienced. It was nice not being the only disabled student in the room It was great to hear opinions from many different people about their experiences as they provided different perspectives I feel very listened to, I feel comfortable and supported by my peers and the university, I feel like I can be honest and my voice makes a difference I ve really enjoyed being sat with peers who have experienced many similar challenges, its been very cathartic Our feedback has been listened to and acted upon to make Edge Hill an even more inclusive and accessible space

Growing the Panels Continue to increase the number of students that we are working with Professionalisation of the programme moved to having a job description, being more selective during recruitment Formalising the mechanism for staff to bring agenda items Increasing institutional awareness of the panels, be seen as the go to place

Breakout Groups How do you gain feedback from your current WP students and how do you respond to this feedback? How do you ensure feedback from students is acted upon, what are the mechanisms for accountability? Do you have opportunities for current students to collaborate on Widening Participation Initiatives? How do you manage the blurred lines of success work, when much of the doing sits outside of central WP team?

Any questions?