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September 2023 update from Professor Edward Peck, Higher Education Student Support Champion

Mental well-being of students (Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce)

Since my last update in July, I have chaired the first two meetings of the Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce; read its objectives, outputs and papers. I will report on the Taskforce’s progress to Minister Halfon in December 2023 via an interim report.

On adoption of good practice, I am working with Student Minds and relevant sector membership bodies (UUK, Independent HE, GuildHE and AOC) to consider the most effective ways of HEPs demonstrating their implementation of good practice. I hope to provide more detail in my next sector update.

The Taskforce is considering methods to support early identification of students who may be most at risk. Utilising data analytics is one effective approach, although there are others to appraise. The Taskforce is hosting an open roundtable on 25 October between 14:30-16:30. If you would like to attend and contribute to this discussion, please contact ben.mccarthy@ntu.ac.uk.

The Taskforce will be holding a roundtable on 3 October between 12:00-14:00 on developing compassionate policies, processes, and communications. This will inform the development of the Student Commitment, as part of continuing engagement with the sector to identify good practice. If you would like to attend this roundtable or share a case study, please contact sandra.binns@ntu.ac.uk.

The Department for Education is currently tendering for a provider to undertake the national audit of student suicide case reviews. After the contract is awarded, we will convene a working group to consider the basis on which HEPs will share their reviews; confidentiality will be a major focus here. If you have comments or questions at this stage, please contact ben.mccarthy@ntu.ac.uk.

Finally in relation to the Taskforce, Jenny Shaw has joined the team on part time secondment from Unite Students. Jenny has been consulting widely to identify additional areas of work that might be considered by the Taskforce and Minister. I will look to say more about this in my next missive.

Student support service re-design

The Student Needs Framework has been published on the AdvanceHE website. An accompanying blog describes the background to the Framework and how it can be used to facilitate conversations that might help HEPs re-think student support.

AdvanceHE and I will soon be commissioning case studies from HEPs to illustrate how the Framework is being used. If you are a member of AdvanceHE and are interested in contributing a case study, please contact sandra.binns@ntu.ac.uk.

Colleagues can engage in the AdvanceHE Connect online community, where these case studies will be posted, and continue to see and share good practice.

I will meet with members of the UUK Student Policy Network in the coming months to discuss four specific priority areas:

  • How can HEPs develop compassionate approaches to student policies, processes, and communications?
  • Are we making progress in embedding data analytics?
  • What is emerging practice and evidence for approaches to tutoring that support personal development and enable pastoral support?
  • What are the most effective models of student-to-student support?

I will share the outcomes of these discussions on the AdvanceHE website and I want to thank both AdvanceHE and the UUK Student Policy Network for their continued collaboration in this project.

Transition to higher education

Over the summer I chaired a series of roundtables, in partnership with Unite Students, to discuss: the changing needs of school and college learners; and the information sharing processes that might improve HE transition activities. A summary of the debate will appear on my website in early October.

There was consensus that the student mental health challenges that HEPs are seeing post-Covid do not originate just in the pandemic and are likely to be sustained. Schools are putting in place extra measures to support pupils which will increase their expectations of support in HEPs. They are generating ever more understanding of their needs which is largely lost during their transition to HE.

The roundtables established a number of ways that this understanding might be passed on and/or gathered by HEPs before and when students enrol. I am going to examine the potential of these further during the autumn term.

Another topic related to the downsides of the predominant, and almost unique, UK pattern of young people moving long distances to enter HE. The benefits to students of studying local to their place or origin (whilst perhaps moving into student accommodation at some stages) may be underrated: continuity of their support networks, both personal and professional; potential to reduce outgoings and continue current employment; and familiarity with place. To what extent might the introduction of the LLE encourage more young students to study over a longer period, decelerating (rather than accelerating) their degrees? Should we be promoting this option? Please share any immediate thoughts with sandra.binns@ntu.ac.uk. I will return to this topic in the new year if it generates interest.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Professor Edward Peck