HEA host workshop on student success led by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Posted: 1 May, 2018

Student Success is not an absolute term. Not only does it mean different things to different students, it applies in a variety of ways to each student over the course of their studies. Given the breadth of backgrounds and circumstances of our students, there is more to success than graduating with First Class Honours.

Student success is everybody’s business. An effective institutional student success strategy requires the input and guidance of stakeholders from throughout, and even beyond, the institution. Not only does this include students, teaching and learning staff, senior managers, retention and engagement officers, access officers, , student supports and library staff, it also extends to constituencies that are often overlooked in terms of their role in student success such as IT, admissions, administration and finance.

This highly participative workshop, hosted by the Higher Education Authority and led by Professor Philip Winn, interim Director of the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, will allow attendees to explore what an effective student success strategy might look like in the context of the need for a whole-of-institution approach. What concrete steps and approaches would best enable development of a deliverable student success strategy?

The workshop will reinforce the importance of approaching student success with a lens that focuses on how students successfully overcome the challenges that face them, rather than concentrating on the circumstances that can sometimes overwhelm them. We will also look at how institutions can best use their learner data as an evidence base that can highlight opportunities for enhancing students’ success at an institutional level as well as dynamically and proactively identifying students that may benefit from targeted support.’