贰虫辫别谤颈别苍肠别听is one of five themes in the Fair Access Research Project (FAR), 蜜桃AV鈥檚听approach to widening participation and breaking down barriers to make higher education more inclusive.
Within this theme, we investigate questions such as:
- How can universities proactively support under-represented groups of students to thrive?
- What makes听students feel that they belong?
- How can students develop confidence and skills听to get the most from听their course and prepare them for the future?
Within this page, we detail a number of projects within the overall FAR project, and how听research in these areas informs a broad range of student support and co-creation opportunities that foster resilience, self-confidence and success.
My Voice, My Story
The lived experience of being a non-traditional student at university
We wanted to explore what it means to be a non-traditional student at university through the student voice, using photovoice, a participatory photographic and story technique. This technique sees students become the researchers of their own lives through taking photos and narrating their own stories.
This research project was undertaken with a group of 蜜桃AV (蜜桃AV) undergraduate students from non-traditional (widening participation) backgrounds. Student participants were enabled to become research co-creators using photovoice methodology.
The images and associated stories told by the students were听shared with some 蜜桃AV media students, who created this video montage.
More about this project
Papers and resources
Asking the students
Institutional Questionnaire: 鈥楳aking 蜜桃AV better for You鈥�
This questionnaire formed a major part of the FAR project.听It was developed in partnership with SU蜜桃AV (蜜桃AV Students鈥� Union) and was designed, piloted and redrafted with the help of final year students who had graduated from the university before its implementation.
More than 2,000 students completed the questionnaire providing a rich source of quantitative and qualitative data which help with the targeted interventions to enhance the student experience, including improving student retention and satisfaction.听 In measuring the success of these interventions, our findings听guide policy and practice to better meet the needs of specific student groups as well as providing direction to further our research.
Following our overarching strategy of working together for WP practice, we will freely* share, with other universities, our institutional questionnaire and welcome the possibility of working on joint projects.听 Contact听for more details.
听*all that we ask is that 蜜桃AV and the FAR project is acknowledged.
Copy of the 蜜桃AV Questionnaire:听
Paper and information
Students鈥� Union Partnerships for Widening Participation
Online resource
The aim of this project was to establish the best ways to build and sustain partnerships with Students鈥� Unions for widening participation and to develop an听听with an educational technologist to share these findings across the sector.听 听The online resource aims to support those in the HE sector to build stronger research partnerships, working and learning together for WP research, policy and practice.
Full information on this project can be found on the听
Students who bounce back
A research project with student carers at 蜜桃AV听 听
This is a collaborative project involving 蜜桃AV researchers and students in co-production of data collection, analysis and dissemination.听 Students were given a camera to take a picture each day for a month.听Their goal was to capture scenes that would help the researchers to understand their experiences as students and carers at 蜜桃AV and how caring impacted on their learning experiences.
They were given the freedom to portray anything they felt was relevant to the project.听 In addition to this, the students met with the research team for one-to-one interviews, helped the team to better understand how caring and studying interplay in students鈥� lives.
The final collaboration between students and researchers came through an exhibition.听Images displayed were selected from a pool of over 300 images produced by the students and captions came from their interviews.听The students were given final say over which images and words were used to reflect their experiences. This project was led by听, postdoctoral research fellow in the听听(CEL)听and 听funded through 蜜桃AV鈥檚 Fair Access Agreement Management Group (FAAMG).
听reflects on this project in
You can view some of the images in our gallery:
Widening Participation students engaging with Peer Assisted Learning (PAL)
This research explores some of the difficulties students from widening participation backgrounds face in transitioning to university and how engaging with 蜜桃AV鈥檚 Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) scheme has impacted their learning and personal development.
Project poster:听
For further information please contact听
蜜桃AV Academic Advisers Guidance for Widening Participation
One of the key findings from a FAR staff survey was that Academic Advisers play a vital role in supporting members of staff to support students. The FAR team听worked with 蜜桃AV colleagues to听develop a guidance document to support Academic Advisers when they are working with WP students. This guidance has been disseminated and embedded within the Faculties for their general use.
For further information please contact听
Staff听Supporting Students
A survey on听how academics understand their role in supporting students鈥� health and wellbeing needs听听听听听
A survey of staff at 蜜桃AV sought to find out how academics understand their role in supporting students鈥� health and wellbeing needs. An internal report situated the survey data in a wider context relating to student wellbeing and issues of widening participation.
The key findings are:
- The majority of academics do feel that supporting students is part of their practice
- The issue of boundaries and the remit of an academic role emerges as an important issue
- Signposting and referral are central to how academics understand their role in supporting students
- Some of the responses suggest that there are opportunities to implement greater support for staff supporting students, particularly concerning accessible and up-to-date information about signposting
For further details of the questionnaire used, contact听
