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Should I stay or Should I go? Students perspectives on Credit

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By Samuel Dent, University of Sheffield

A report released by Sheffield University examines student perceptions about mobility and credit transfer and calls for the Office for Students to approach its new duty on this issue using a student-focused perspective, with the view that higher education providers could better facilitate transfers when the need arises.

According to the study, students see mobility as a student welfare matter; if a student realises they may need to change not only a course but an institution – often due to personal circumstances – current support offered by universities across the sector is limited.

Student feedback claimed that better mobility can help a student move to a university more suited to their changed needs, rather than ‘dropping-out’ of HE altogether. Currently students fear transferring to another university will be difficult, will devalue their degree and make them look unreliable, with lecturers equally expressing concerns about the intellectual integrity of a degree ‘broken’ across locations.

The report makes several recommendations to better help students in need, and had the support of FACE Chair Professor John Storan, who said:

This report is a very welcome addition to the debate about student mobility and credit transfer. Providing valuable insights into student perspectives the report identifies seven key recommendations. These are aimed at HE providers, Government, stakeholder groups as well as the Office for Students which has a duty to monitor the provision of arrangements for student transfer. A timely report indeed.”

The full report can be read here: https://goo.gl/Z1X26k, and questions about the report can be made to the lead Author Samuel Dent:  S.Dent@sheffield.ac.uk, @SRDent89

A heavy load – carers in HE

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By Tom James and Jenni Woods, Kingston University

The weight felt by young carers as they struggle to cope with the pressures of caring for family members has been highlighted by a Kingston University student’s award-winning project, A Heavy Load.

Illustration Animation BA (Hons) student Lottie Fox-Jones, created a scaled up version of a soft toy, filled it with sand and stuffing then asked visitors to attempt to lift the model or place its elongated arms around them. The piece challenges the audience to put themselves in a young carer’s shoes, and has made Lottie the first double winner of the Creative Conscience Gold award.

The challenge of caring for a close family member in childhood is a subject close to Lottie’s heart. “My brother Harvey, now 19 years old, has Angelman syndrome – a rare genetic condition that causes severe learning difficulties, seizures and sleep disorder, and in Harvey’s case a mental age roughly equivalent to a 9-month old baby,” she said. “The piece represents the physical and emotional weight of caring for someone much larger than you,” she added.

A Heavy Load shines a spotlight on the issues facing young carers. There are more than 375,000 young adult carers in the UK aged 14-25, but many young people begin caring for others at a much younger age. “An often overlooked group of carers in the UK is those aged five to eight years old,” Lottie continued. “They are thought of as being too young to be the primary caregiver, but in my experience they often have an enormous amount of responsibility and do indeed carry a heavy load,” she said.

In 2015 Kingston University extended its KU Cares programme to include specific outreach activities, on-course support and a travel bursary for young adult carers. Kingston’s Associate Director of Widening Participation, Jenni Woods, said it was important that this group are supported in accessing higher education. “The implication of being a young adult carer and the associated pressures can impact significantly on a young adult carer’s education, personal wellbeing and lead to financial hardship. KU Cares seeks to support students both pastorally and with some financial assistance,” she said.

The challenges and barriers that exist for young carers in their progression into and through higher education were highlighted in a 2015 report by The Carers Trust, Supporting Students with Caring Responsibilities (2015). The Office for Fair Access has named carers as a specific target group in their guidance to HEIs and providers are encouraged to consider services to support the access and success of these young people when writing their annual access agreements. Information about the support available to young carers is also included on the UCAS website.

University of Worcester Suicide Safer Project

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By Professor Jo Smith, Professor in Clinical Psychology and Suicide Safer Project Lead

By Ross Renton, Pro Vice Chancellor (Students) and Suicide Safer Project Chair

Student suicide is, thankfully, a rare phenomenon but when it occurs, its impact on friends, family and a University community can be devastating. Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed a rise of 50% between 2007 and 2011, from 75 to 112, despite the number of students as a whole increasing by only 14%. These figures across UK Universities may be relatively small but are likely to underestimate actual student deaths by suicide due to recording/reporting anomalies, such as students committing suicide away from University, outside of term time or once they have de-registered from University. Many University counselling and mental wellbeing services report seeing around 10% of their student population a year and this has been increasing at about 10% annually (BACP UC Survey, 2015). A recent NUS survey in December 2015 found that 78% of students reported having experienced a mental health problem over the last year; with over 33% having suicidal thoughts and with 33% not knowing where to access support.
 
At the University of Worcester, thankfully, incidents of student suicides are extremely rare. However, two and a half years ago, Professor David Green, Vice Chancellor, was asked by the then High Sheriff of Worcestershire, Nick Wentworth Stanley what the University of Worcester was specifically doing to prevent student suicide. In response, a multi-agency ‘Suicide Safer’ Project Group was established, led by Professor Jo Smith who had been recently appointed to the University Professoriate. A project team was brought together including members of the University Executive, representatives of local government from Worcestershire County Council Public Health, Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust and third sector organisations with interest and expertise in suicide prevention, including local Samaritans and Community First. A core principle of the Project has been collaboration and the importance of a multi-agency approach to successful mental health and suicide prevention efforts.

The Project Team identified three key intervention targets: Suicide Safer University, Suicide Safer City and Suicide Safer County and three key strands of work: Education of current students, future graduates, university staff, in contributing to “suicide safer” environments; Support for students and staff to maintain wellbeing, awareness and availability of early support services; risk identification and support to reduce risk; crisis support services in conjunction with local partner organisations; support for those affected by suicide and suicide survivors; Research including local audit and data collection, evaluation of project elements and a contribution to the understanding of suicide and suicide prevention through a programme of qualitative research University research resources.
 
We have worked closely with colleagues from the National Union of Students (NUS) and the student mental health charity Student Minds in a programme of work. This included the student suicide roundtable in December 2015 and a joint media campaign on this year’s University Mental Health and Wellbeing Day (March 3rd 2016) with the theme of #HeadsTogether, championing what we can do to support students and staff wellbeing and encouraging conversations about transforming the state of mental health at university. This included an article entitled ‘Student Mental Health: A new model for Universities’ which described our work at University of Worcester and was published online in the Guardian Higher Education Network on 3rd March 2016.

The University of Worcester is one of a small number of universities nationally with an identified suicide prevention strategy and we are working with other universities and national charitable organisations to support similar developments at other Universities. We have partnered closely with colleagues from the Universities of Wolverhampton, Ulster, York and Exeter on student suicide prevention activities, including practice development, training and research partnerships.

For further information about how you might become involved with the Suicide Safer Project work email Professor Jo Smith: j_smith@worc.ac.uk

The STAART project: Support Through *AccessAbility Retention and Transition

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By Dr Melanie Thorley, FACE Executive Member

The STAART project provides support for disabled and diverse students who have accepted a place to study with us. STAART is part of the University’s *AccessAbility project, which provides information and guidance to disabled, dyslexic and diverse students considering a university education. Whilst the project has been supporting disabled and diverse students since 2007, this is the first time we have adopted a blended approach, combining our outreach and inreach under one umbrella support mechanism. Our work complements the disability and dyslexia team (wellbeing@gre.ac.uk) who continue to provide academic support. Our ambassadors are mostly concerned with supporting our STAARTers (students enrolled in the project) by providing peer support.
 
Our *AccessAbility ambassadors, current University of Greenwich students or graduates with their own disability or diversity, provide support and first-hand experience of university life. As part of the project, our ambassadors also work with students in local schools and colleges, and we can offer STAART support to local disabled and dyslexic students from Year 11 onwards.

Disability and diversity includes the following:

  • A mental health condition such as anxiety or depression.
  • A specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia or dyspraxia.
  • A developmental disorder such as autism or ADHD/AD.
  • A progressive medical condition such as multiple sclerosis, cancer or HIV.
  • A sensory impairment which could affect the ability to see or hear.
  • A long-term health condition such as epilepsy or rheumatism.

Why do we offer support to disabled and diverse students?
University life can be challenging. Many new students are moving from a structured environment at home or at work, school or college to a situation where they will need to balance independent study with their other commitments and social lives. For disabled and diverse students, these challenges can be more extensive, so good preparation and organisation is important. With STAART, we support students through this transition.
 
What support is available?
There are several ways to access STAART support. Students can:

  • Follow our Facebook or Twitter accounts for news and information or to talk to us and fellow students.
  • Attend a transition day before the start of term for a tour of the campus and library, and to meet our *AccessAbility Ambassadors.
  • Book a place at one of our Wednesday afternoon or Saturday morning workshop or one-to-one sessions, for study tips, advice and the opportunity to meet other new students and the *AccessAbility Ambassadors.
  • Join our private Facebook groups for peer-to-peer support.

How to join:
Disabled and diverse students at the University of Greenwich, students who are intending to study at Greenwich in the future and local disabled and diverse students (year 11 onwards) can join the project via the following link:
https://greenwich.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/staart-2016​

Alternatively, if you would like more information about disability and dyslexia and higher education, and what our *AccessAbility Ambassadors and myself are doing, you can follow us on the following:

Facebook:   University of Greenwich – STAART
Twitter:       @GRE_STAART

There is currently no end date as this is a rolling project and students can join at any time. If you have any questions, or would like clarification on STAART, please contact the project lead:
 
Dr Melanie Thorley
M.Thorley@gre.ac.uk
 
Please share with others who might be interested in the Project. Thank you for reading.