Event report: Student Retention and Success Practitioner online meeting
On 16 June, Linking London held the second Student Retention and Success Practitioner online meeting of the academic year chaired by Michael Hill, Assistant Professor in Learning and Teaching at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
After a warm welcome from Michael Hill, the meeting began with three colleagues sharing their experiences of induction during the first weeks of students' courses and to set us up for the breakout sessions. The group heard first from Ciara Howard, Student Alumni and Engagement Officer and Amanda Nunn at Middlesex University, who presented to the group on Transition and Welcome at Middlesex University including their pulse survey that's sent to enrolled students and their new 'Ready for Anything' programme which was introduced in 2020.
We then heard from Kristina Ellis, Access, Participation and Inclusion Projects Manager at Kingston University, who presented to the group on Welcome and Induction at Kingston University on how they support transition students, their Headstart programme and the four key elements of their Welcome Week including the Online welcome module, Course Induction, Welcome Programme. Lastly, as Donna Pike, Head of Higher Education from South Thames Colleges Group was unable to attend, Sue Betts presented the prepared slides on HE induction including how they carry out induction and the challenges and opportunities.
After a short comfort break, the group went into breakout groups and using Jamboard discussed how our inductions of the first six weeks of a course could support and be improved around the themes of student wellbeing, taught and assessed work and getting to know the institution, its staff and students. A full write-up of the discussions can be found on our Partner Area.
Following this, partners were able to discuss about possible topics for future meetings and what issues would be beneficial for institutions to discuss further on. At a previous event it was flagged it would be useful to discuss student wellbeing, the role of mentoring and facilitating interaction between students to combat isolation.
The next Student Retention and Success meeting will be in the Autumn term, date and time TBC.
Presentations, recording and meeting note
View the presentations, recording and meeting note from the day.
This link will take you to the new Linking London Partner Area SharePoint site. You must be a Linking London member to access this section of the website. If you do not have access, please email Linking London.