Higher Education Student Support Champion
In June 2022, the Department for Education (DfE) announced the appointment of Nottingham Trent University Vice Chancellor, Edward Peck as the first Higher Education Student Support Champion (HESSC). On University Mental Health Day 2024, the DfE asked Edward to extend his role until June 2025.
The role of the HE Student Support Champion was created to help universities support students thrive in their studies and to ensure they can access appropriate help as and when they need it.
Edward has engaged with providers of higher education – both universities and colleges – sector agencies, students, and parents to discuss challenges and opportunities, and to share best practice on approaches to keeping students engaged with all aspects of campus life. This includes how to spot the early warning signs of those who are struggling with their studies or with their mental health.
If you wish to contact Professor Peck directly, please email hessc@ntu.ac.uk.
Priorities
During summer 2022, the Student Support Champion undertook an extensive consultation with the sector to define the priorities for his work. These themes are derived from these conversations, as well as ongoing discussion with the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education. This dialogue will continue as the programme develops and progress is made on this important agenda.
Discover more about upcoming priorities and guidance available to help universities support students:
Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce
Edward now chairs the HE Mental Health Implementation Taskforce (HEMHIT) which was established in June 2023 by the Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education in response to the Parliamentary debate calling for the creation of a statutory duty of care. The HEMHIT’s role will be to oversee the development and delivery of the measures announced by the Minister, including:
- Develop a plan for better identification of students in need of mental health support and a clear user journey for accessing that support (a summary note of the roundtable held on this topic).
- Support the adoption of common principles and baselines for approaches across providers, including through charter memberships.
- Develop a ‘Student Commitment’ for more sensitive student-facing policies, procedures, and communications in the sector (a summary note of the roundtable held on this topic).
- Support sector engagement with the national review of students suicides in higher education and explore methods for achieving greater timeliness and transparency on suicide data.
Resources:
- The Taskforce published its first report in January 2024
- Edward provided further information on these measures in a briefing to Vice Chancellors, Principals, and Chairs of University and College Councils in July.
- More information about the HE Mental Health Implementation Taskforce (HEMHIT)
- More information about the National Review of HE Student Suicides
Student Support Re-design and the Student Needs Framework
Edward recognises that the student support landscape is complex, and evidence on what works is still being established. We have collaborated with Universities UK’s Student Policy Network and AdvanceHE to develop the Student Needs Framework, which defines the fundamental needs of students and provides a framework for HEPs to use when considering how they re-design their student support to deliver a comprehensive, coherent and evidence-based system.
The Framework is published on the AdvanceHE website and will be accompanied by case studies illustrating how the Framework is being used in practice.
Phase two of this work will begin in May 2024, which will include further collaboration with AdvanceHE to develop additional resources for HEPs to employ when undergoing transformative student support redesign. This work will build from emerging good practice that is being generated from the wider work of the HE Student Support Champion and the HE Mental Health Implementation Taskforce.
Resources:
Transition to HE
Over the summer of 2023 Edward chaired a series of roundtables, in partnership with Unite Students, to discuss the changing needs of school and college learners and how having more information about students might improve HE transition activities. Summary notes from these three roundtables can be found below.
A key component of this work for 2024 will include how best to facilitate information sharing between educational institutions as students transition, including through the use of pre-enrolment surveys and the UCAS application.
Resources:
Student analytics
Student analytics are going to become ever more sophisticated, predicting as well as reporting on student engagement and wellbeing.
So far, the work has focused on highlighting the key data that are needed to develop descriptive and predictive analytics for engagement and wellbeing monitoring. In March 2023 we published with Jisc a Core Data Specification for Student Analytics, which can be found below.
The topic of wellbeing analytics now forms one of the strands of the HE Mental Health Implementation Taskforce. For more information please refer to that section of this page.
Resources:
Information sharing
This work will tackle how colleagues working in the sector should share information when there are significant concerns about a student.
So far, we have published guidance on effective data sharing between Private Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) providers and HEPs, which can be found below. Additional guidance for Students’ Unions and HEPs will be published later in 2024.
Resources:
HE Student Support Champion termly sector updates
Contact us
Contact us with any comments or feedback at hessc@ntu.ac.uk.