education and student experience strategy 2016-2020 strategic_v4.pdf · the education and student...

The UK’s European university

EDUCATION ANDSTUDENT EXPERIENCESTRATEGY 2016-2020

1The UK’s European university

VISION

The Education and Student Experience Strategy underpins one of thethree key strategic objectives in the University Plan 2015-2020. TheStrategy sets out how Kent students and staff will work together topromote and ensure student success through inclusive, inspiring andpositively challenging opportunities. Our objectives are ‘to attractexcellent students ambitious to learn, to ensure an excellent educationalexperience, both curricular and extra-curricular, and to producegraduates equipped for personal and professional success’. We envisagean outstanding learning environment, with a portfolio and curriculumupdated and relevant for today’s and tomorrow’s student; a diversestudent body with members supported to achieve their potential;innovative and technology-enhanced teaching of uniformly highstandard across subjects and campuses; and employability embedded in the curriculum. We aim for greater consistency and clarity in ouroffer and our practice, and for greater coherence between the curricularand co-curricular aspects of student life, through which students gain a sense of belonging to intersecting communities. Graduates will havegained and will exhibit attributes including curiosity, integrity andaccountability, and global awareness, which will help them gaininfluence, respect and success in their chosen futures. In the spirit of partnership and engagement, this Strategy will operate closelyalongside the Kent Union Education Strategy, and up to 2020, we will work together towards a genuinely co-produced strategy forEducation and Student Experience at Kent.

Professor April McMahon DVC EducationOctober 2016

2 University of Kent/Education and Student Experience Strategy 2016-2020

CONTEXT ANDKEY THEMES

The University Plan 2015-2020 stresses that ‘Kent’scommitment to its students has never wavered,ensuring they are inspired, challenged and educatedin the broadest sense’. It is therefore appropriatethat aspirations in the current Plan follow directlyfrom such earlier commitments. We aim to be a top20 University by ensuring direct and clear linksbetween teaching and research or professionalpractice; by investing in facilities that enhance andenable all aspects of the student experience; and byvaluing and assuring equality, diversity andinclusivity.

The Kent student experience remains centralto achieving this vision. Our students are thefuture. By working in partnership with thestudent body to build an excellent studentexperience, thereby enhancing opportunitiesfor students to achieve success, we areshaping their future and securing our success.This is not only our responsibility, but also ourprivilege.

Teaching and learning are now comingcentre-stage through the Teaching ExcellenceFramework (TEF), the revised National StudentSurvey (NSS) with its increased focus onacademic communities, student voice, andstretch and rigour in the curriculum, andnational projects to define, measure andanalyse Learning Gain. For an ambitious andhigh-achieving University like Kent, confidentin its offer but always striving to improve, theNSS, TEF and similar surveys and measuresallow us to benchmark our performanceagainst our peers and to identify outstandingsuccesses and areas for development. These

Tim Crocker


instruments are not ends in themselves, butmeasure aspects of our education provision at which we should want to excel: studentsatisfaction and engagement; student-facingfacilities and services; a respect forprofessional, technology-enhanced and up-to-date learning and teaching; and anenvironment that attracts, nourishes anddevelops the best people. Around 80% of the University of Kent’s income comes fromstudent fees and associated grants. So whilstresearch is crucial to our reputation, it ismaintaining student numbers and studentsatisfaction, and ensuring our studentsrecognise the value of strong links betweenteaching, research and professional practicethat will keep Kent sustainable. Our challengeis to raise the profile of teaching bycommitting to create an environment whereteaching excellence is valued equally toresearch and their interaction provides a worldclass experience for students.i While thischallenge exists in any case, it becomes animperative given the increasing public focuson teaching through the TEF.

In one way or another, it is everyone’s job inthe University community to recruit and retainexcellent students who are able to benefit frombeing at Kent; assure and deliver excellentteaching; and enhance the environment forstudent support, academic and co-curricularexperience. Many academics produceoutstanding research and enjoy doing soenormously – but it is also true that manyacademics have come into the professionbecause they were inspired by their ownuniversity teachers and supervisors. It is up to us to ensure that we pass on to our ownstudents that enthusiasm for, enjoyment in,and engagement with knowledge andlearning. Professional services staff, in theirinteractions with students, also add value toboth curricular and co-curricular activities, aswell as enriching the sense of community onour campuses. By supporting and trainingstaff (where required or requested), we canensure both good quality and consistency ofexperience across our provision. Likewise, byworking with the student body and Kent Unionon improvements to student representation,student feedback and academic communities,we create a virtuous circle of attracting strongstudents who themselves contribute to andenhance our community.

Equally important in creating positive studentexperiences are the recognition, support andinvestment given to co-curricular activities andachievements through sporting, musical andother societies, volunteering, and paid workwithin and beyond the University. These areboth life-enhancing, and are where friendshipgroups between students are formed. Wemust therefore develop, publicise and invest in further opportunities for work, internships,partnerships with employers, placements,activities and societies, and in equality ofaccess to such opportunities for all ourstudents on all our campuses.

Students should be able to expect theiruniversity to provide clear, inclusive,accessible and comprehensible frameworksfor their learning and teaching. Clearly, they donot expect everything to be exactly the sameacross different disciplines – but nonethelesswe do need to work towards greater clarity,coherence and consistency of practice. Thereis superb good practice in many areas at Kentthat needs to be shared better; but there arealso unexplained and unnecessarydifferences in practice that must be reduced

As a University community we aim to be both inspiring and challenging. Kent willdemonstrate through success in NSS and TEF and collaborative work with Kent Unionthat student satisfaction can and should sitalongside genuinely stretching academic work at the highest level. We do not believethat students need or want their educationalexperience to be made easier – on thecontrary, the best and most ambitiousstudents understand that high achievementinvolves being intellectually challenged andsometimes feeling stretched. It is up to us to provide tailored support, both academicand pastoral, to enable all Kent students from all backgrounds to understand theseadvantages, and to work towards the graduateattributes that develop from them. Part of thatsupport comes from students’ sense ofbelonging to inter-generational academiccommunities, which we aim to strengthenthrough the review of our curriculum to ensure there is intellectual common ground for students as well as appropriate levels of choice. These developments must beunderpinned by the provision of appropriateacademic and social spacev that can supportstudent-led academic societies and relatedco-curricular activities.

CONTEXT AND KEY THEMES (CONT)

to promote student engagement andsatisfaction. We will work to achieve: • Coherence between the curricular and

co-curricular elements of student life;• Clarity of our curriculum offer through

effective communication at all stages of thestudent journey, with a clear differentiationof our different campus communities, eachpromoted on its own merits;

• Equality of opportunity for all studentsthrough inclusive teaching practices;

• Co-production with Kent Union and studentrepresentatives of a well-supported andclearly articulated framework within whichstudents can construct their own uniquestudent experience.

As with recruitment and teaching, studentsupport and success are everyone’sresponsibility at Kent and just as vital to ourfuture sustainability, so we must ensure staffare confident their efforts and achievements in these areas will be recognised in theirprofessional and career development. Aconcerted effort to reward, recognise andencourage outstanding contributions toexcellence in education and the studentexperience, for both academic andprofessional staff, must be built into all areasof management practice and HR policiesii topromote a cultural shift at Kent.

As a University community, we are extremelyfortunate to have the additional resource of the first Kent Union Education Strategy(2016-2020)iii, which indicates the thoughtfulcommitment and welcome challenge of ourstudent body. The key aims and aspirationsabove, and the KPIs and themes forimplementation below, draw significantly on the themes in the Kent Union EducationStrategy. Staff and students will work togetheron a range of groups and committees,including Kent Union’s own Education andStudent Experience Board (with invited staffmembership) to ensure the links between thetwo connected strategies become strongerand closer.

Our Strategic Priorities, interwoven in the outline above, map onto the five main themesof the Kent Union Education Strategy (2016-20):

1 Teaching excellence – to share best practice; support teaching qualifications for staff;enhance support and training for GTAs and sessional staff; encourage teachinginnovation and improve access to learning resources through our online learningenvironment; develop a range of accessibility initiatives and a more accessiblelearning environment for all students.

2 Consistency of academic experience – to close retention or attainment gaps (egbetween BME and white students); provide equivalence of experience for students onour Medway campus and European Centres; develop flexible modes of delivery usingdigital technology (specifically, lecture capture).

3 Student engagement – to improve the engagement of student in the LearningCommunity through academic societies; plus better course representation (StudentVoice) and monitoring how student feedback enhances students’ learning and theirexperienceiv.

4 Modern curriculum – to increase the number of four-year programmes with a year inindustry or abroad, embed Learning Opportunities iv to develop a more inclusivecurriculum with key skills and opportunities for work experience; provide support tobuild graduate attributes for future career success and employment.

5 Assessment and feedback – to provide clear, high quality and personalised feedbackpromptly to help students improve performance; through implementation of theAssessment and Feedback Policyv with increased management of assessment online,combined with improvements to the Academic Adviser system.

This will engender a shared sense of purpose and approach to education that will buildrelationships and value the different contributions that all students and members of staff(from academic Schools andprofessional services) make to the educational experience.Alongside this, and with the endorsement of Kent Union, we introduce a sixth theme tostress initiatives supporting broader student life at Kent, in the interests of enhancing theoverall student experience:

6 Student life – to provide opportunities for social and leisure activities, accessible to allstudents. These will stand alongside the academic environment and communities,together maximising the ‘cultural capital’ of studentsvi supported by life in college andresidential communities, student-facing facilities and services, including those focusedon general health and wellbeing.



OBJECTIVES

Strategic objectives Provide a relevant, attractive and viableportfolio of programmes

(1) Challenge and support students inrealising their ambitions through activeengagement with their studies and fullparticipation in the academic community

We will ensure that the University’s portfolio oftaught and research degree programmes isbalanced, viable and intellectually challengingby:• Using market intelligence to plan and

maintain Kent’s recruitment position in thesector;

• Addressing student and employer needs,whilst retaining breadth and flexibility ofchoice;

• Using a diverse, but inclusive, range ofpedagogies that support a diverse studentbody and promote curriculuminternationalisation;

• Ensuring that all programmes are informedby research and professional practice andinclude both international and employmentperspectives;

• Supporting student transitions into theUniversity community and disciplinevii;

• Improving student retention and successthrough a blended and targetedprogramme of academic, peer and pastoralsupport.

Improve the success of student/graduateperformance

(2) Increase students’ employment prospectsand promote lifelong learning through theprovision of flexible and diverse learningopportunities

We will promote effective strategies forcurricular and co-curricular provision toenhance the skills, internationalisationviii andemployabilityix of our graduates by:• Attending to the values and attributes of

the Kent Graduate in all our programmes; • Ensuring employability skills can be

embedded in, or combined with, alldisciplines;

• Fostering student mobility throughinternational and employment opportunitieswithin and outside the curriculum (egplacements, internships, summer schools,relevant work experience) across all our UKlocations and European centres;

• Recording all curricular (transcripts) andverifiable co-curricular activity through theHigher Education Achievement Record(HEAR) and celebrating student success;

• Using Student Success (EDI) initiatives in allschools to reduce student achievement orattainment gaps for those with protectedcharacteristics.

The five strategicobjectives of the Educationand Student ExperienceStrategy for the period2016-2020 build upon thestrengths and progress ofthe previous Learning andTeaching Enhancementstrategyand respond tothe key strategic aims ofthe University plan:

1 Provide a relevant, viable andsustainable portfolio of programmesthat is internationally attuned andattractive to high quality students

2 Improve the success of studentperformance by equipping graduatesfor personal and professionalsuccess

3 Deliver an excellent studentexperience at Kent that is anexemplar of good practice in thehigher education sector.


(4) Develop and sustain well-resourced,inclusive learning environments that supportour educational provision and enhancestudent life

We will deliver an integrated range of studentsupport services that guide academicachievement and personal development, andenable graduate successx. We will provide anexcellent student experience by: • Developing and investing in teaching and

learning spaces, as well as student-facingservices (accommodation and socialfacilities), in response to staff and studentneeds and feedback;

• Building more effective and accessiblestudent communities in colleges, clubs andsocieties and establishing a social networkof Residents’ Support Officers (student-staff) in college accommodation and ParkWood;

• Exploring plans to co-locate and integratestudent-facing support services;

• Actively promoting student health andwellbeing and improving studentengagement in health, leisure and sportingactivities;

• Raising awareness of disability and mentalhealth support and improving the range ofservices available to students;

• Creating more and different types ofspaces to meet the diverse needs ofstudent communities, including quiet, socialand activity spaces.

(5) Encourage the engagement of staff andstudents in raising academic standards andquality

We will support the achievement ofinstitutional objectives and enhance allaspects of teaching quality and the studentexperience by:• Developing the University’s quality

management systems to maintain highacademic standards;

• Monitoring implementation of core policiesand procedures to ensure that all studentshave an excellent experience and aretreated equitably;

• Revising quality management processes inresponse to external reviews (eg QAReviews) and outcomes of TEF;

• Using student feedback at all levels(including both internal and externalsurveys (eg NSS/Kent Union reports) toensure that the student voice informs theenhancement of the opportunities availableto students;

• Working in partnership with Kent Union toimprove the student representative systemto ensure that our academic excellence andstudent experience continues to be anexemplar in the sector.

Provide a student experience that is anexemplar in the sector

(3) Embrace innovative and inspirationalapproaches to teaching, assessment andsupport that foster student learning andsuccess

We will support innovative and inclusivepractice in learning, teaching andassessment, including digital and assistivetechnologies, to enhance student engagementand outcomes by: • Increasing teaching qualifications and/or

relevant other experience for all staff andstudents who teach;

• Recognising and rewarding staff forexcellence in education through awardsand promotion, to raise the profile and valueof teaching;

• Improving the digital literacy andscholarship of staff and students tomaximise the potential of blended learning,by providing guidance and training to staffand students in the use of digital andassistive technologies;

• Equipping staff and students to usetechnologies effectively for teaching,learning and student success, tocomplement in-class time, enhance accessand deliver innovation;

• Ensuring students are aware of and benefitfrom strong and productive links betweenteaching and research, scholarship andprofessional practice;

• Applying the Assessment and FeedbackPolicy to improve student performance andsatisfaction;

• Re-invigorating the Academic Advisersystem to enhance personal andprofessional development of students.

Develop learning environments that enhancethe student experience

Deliver academic excellence in partnershipwith students


IMPLEMENTATION

The success of this Strategy is closely dependent upon the University’sbroader commitment to the development of the physical estatexi, digitalinfrastructurexii, student skills and support servicesix. Together theseresources will build strong academic and co-curricular communities andcreate a culture that promotes a sense of belonging and enhances bothstaff and student success. Staff will be encouraged to be innovative andcreative in their teaching and support of learning through collaborationsbetween academic schools and professional services; and Universitypolicies and practices will be developed to ensure that excellence is bothshared and recognisedii.

To support the implementation of thisStrategy and its integration with otherinstitutional strategies, consultations at theEducation Board and Student ExperienceBoard will be progressed further throughthe Faculty Education and StudentExperience committees and forums.

Discussions will continue with Kent Unionand course representatives. Additionalsupport for Schools and staff in relation toengaging with key themes of the Strategywill be delivered through relevant sessionsat several University networks and forumsxiii

throughout the academic year. Schools will

be encouraged to reflect upon theirengagement with this Strategy as a result of their annual monitoring reviews to informtheir future plans for educational provisionand student experience.


KEY PERFORMANCEINDICATORS (KPIs) –TARGETS (2020)xiv

• Recruitment statistics – increase student numbers at Medway by1000 FTE and European centres (by 50%) with EU (up to 15%) andinternational students (up to 25%) of our student population

• Tariff entry – top quintile of UK Universities• Retention* & progression – >95%; all campuses• Achievement – 1/2i (<5% BME gap)• National Student Survey* – top 20• Destination leavers survey (DLHE)* – top 20• Academic teaching qualifications (ATQs) of staff – 80%

Using appropriate benchmarking data for the above, plus: • External examiner reports – maintain quality & standards • PSRB accreditation reports – successful renewal• Quality Assessment Review – enhanced quality & student experience • Teaching Excellence Framework (metrics)* – TEF 2 (2016/17); to TEF

4 by 2020.

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATIONi University Plan (2015-20) ‘an excellent education, delivered by world class researchers’

ii Kent People Strategy (2015-20) ‘We will develop our reward and recognition arrangements to encourage and incentivise the attributes weneed in our people and support the achievement of our ambitions and reward initiative’

iii Kent Union Education Strategy (2016-20)

iv NSS 2017 – to address new questions on Learning Community, Student Voice and Learning Opportunities

v Assessment & Feedback Policy (2016-20)

vi Arts & Culture Strategy – in preparation

vii Widening Participation Strategy (2015-20)

viii Internationalisation Strategy (2016-20)

ix Employability Strategy (2013-16; 2017-20)

x Graduate Student Strategy (2016-20)

xi Estates Strategy (2015-25)

xii Information Services Strategy (2014-16; 2017-2020)

xiii eg Learning & Teaching, Quality Management & Enhancement (QME), Personal Academic Support (PASS) Networks; e-Learning Forum

xiv Targets (2020) taken from University Plan

University of KentThe Registry, CanterburyKent CT2 7NZ

www.kent.ac.uk

DPC 123056 01/17

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