Dr Dawn Lees

Centre represented at Inside Government HE national conference

Centre for Social Mobility member Dr Dawn Lees will be speaking about a university widening participation initiative at an Inside Government national conference ‘Raising student engagement in Higher Education’.

Dr Lees, Curriculum and Work-Related Learning Manager, will be presenting ‘Study skills and student engagement to support academic learning’’ at the event in London on June 6 in London.

Among the achievements of the project were:

• Launching a Study Zone in 2018, where students can attend personalised 1-1 appointments with trained advisers, attend small group study skills sessions and develop personal learning strategies.
• Employing Academic Skills Advisers to deliver bespoke workshops, enabling students to engage with university staff beyond core lecture material and developing key academic skills.
• Building a comprehensive Peer Support programme of over forty Peer Assisted Learning and Peer Mentoring Programmes, working both within disciplines and groups of students such as Care Leavers and mature students.
• Running the Students as Change Agents and Partners programmes which give students the opportunity to propose changes and lead projects which implement these changes, directly impacting their own education.

Dr Lees, who leads the Academic Skills and Student Engagement Team, said it was partly thanks to the Centre for Social Mobility that the project was funded.

“The Academic Skills and Student Engagement team supports students to develop their study skills, influence their own learning and make a positive contribution to the university,” she said.

Date: 22 March 2019