In this section:
Widening Participation
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Widening Participation
What should be considered?
- Support Networks - There is data to suggest that social inclusion is a key factor in retention.
Students who feel included as part of a community and have a good circle of supportive friends
battle through major difficulties while those who do not give up and leave
when academic, personal or financial problems present themselves.
- Induction - Student relationships and social groupings are very fluid and easy to
establish in the first few days at university or college but are more difficult for
an individual entering the group late. Students should be encouraged to
attend all induction periods at institution, unit and course levels and
any initial gathering if they are in Halls of Residence or flats. Joining
a course late can make inclusion more difficult.
- Accommodation - Students living at home may find social inclusion more difficult as they
are isolated from other students at weekends and miss out on
evening/night-time interactions. A mutual support or social group for home based
students could encourage wider friendship networks and social gatherings.
- Practicals, Tutorials and Group work - Within the course it is good to have an early activity which makes students
talk to each other to accomplish some task (e.g. working as a group of
4 in a lab class or to deliver an assignment) and early meetings of tutorial
groupings also help. Dividing students up randomly for group work can also encourage students to mix and increase their social circle.
- Student Activities - The opportunities available at university or college to participate in a great number
of different activities should be emphasised to students early on as the
groupings in which they participate outside the course provides another
set of contacts. The importance of being able to demonstrate a
range of skills through taking part in e.g. clubs, societies and voluntary work should be clearly stated and the
influence this has on employability.
- Clubs/organisations - Students from minority ethnic groups may find there exist within the
university union organisation clubs or other groups which provide appropriate
activities and support, for example, international student groups, Christian Society or mature students groups.
Resources
STAR - Student Transition And Retention programme produced a series of booklets aimed at the issues of induction, retention, and transition. The booklets were sent out to Centre for Bioscience Representatives during the summer of 2007. The STAR booklets are also available on-line.
Student Life page of FRESHER
NUS online
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