University Focuses on Excellent Student Experience

The University of Lincoln, UK, has confirmed its intent to work with its students to develop a blueprint setting out how the excellent student experience at the University can keep improving.

The University will produce a Students Futures Manifesto, which maps out how the student experience at Lincoln can be enhanced. The document will be developed in collaboration with current students at the University and the Students’ Union, ensuring that it captures the realities of campus life.

The Manifesto will see a list of actions created that fit into the following six themes, which have been identified by the University Partnerships Programme (UPP) Foundation’s Student Futures Commission, which launched its final report at a House of Commons reception last week.

1. Support for students before they reach university
2. An induction into university life for each year of study
3. Support for mental health and wellbeing
4. A clear outline of the teaching students will receive and the necessary tools to access it
5. Activities inside and outside the curriculum that build skills, networks and communities
6. A clear pathway towards graduate outcomes

The manifesto will be a public statement of the commitments the University is making, and showcase the positive initiatives being undertaken. It will be co-produced with students and led by a member of the University’s senior leadership team who reports directly to the Vice-Chancellor.

Liz Mossop, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Student Development and Engagement at the University, said: “We are committed to ensuring that our students receive the best possible experience they can when they study with us. In working in partnership with our students and our Students’ Union to craft and own this manifesto, we can make sure that we do this is in the most comprehensive way possible and ultimately create a document which helps us and our students to maximise and fulfil their potential, both during their time with us and in their eventual careers.”

Commenting on the University of Lincoln and the 20 universities which have already made the pledge, Chair of the UPP Foundation Student Futures Commission, Mary Curnock Cook CBE said: “A Student Futures Manifesto, co-created and co-owned by students and their university, will be a powerful expression of intent about what students need to support successful lives and careers. They will help to rebuild the full student experience through a partnership between universities and their students. It is a testament to the University of Lincoln and the wider HE sector’s commitment to successful student futures that 20 universities have already taken on this challenge.”

Richard Brabner, Director of the UPP Foundation – the charity which established the Commission, added: “The UPP Foundation established the Student Futures Commission to support the sector in light of the disruption everyone has faced during the pandemic. We wanted the Commission to be supportive, constructive and challenging. Student Futures Manifestos are exactly this – a positive call to action to put student needs first.

“We are delighted Lincoln has made this pledge and expect many more universities to do so in the months ahead.”