Every year, Exeter Students’ Guild works on the issues that matter the most to you. The Officer team have spent the last few months trawling through student data (Exeter students’ thoughts and opinions from last year), meeting key University decision makers, and hearing student feedback to identify the issues that matter the most to you.
Student Priorities will be across one of three themes that make up much of the work that we do: Education, Co-Curricular, and Living.
EDUCATION
Your Education matters and as such we have identified 3 key areas to work on to improve your educational experience:
- Feedback
- Future of your Curriculum
- Mitigation
CO-CURRICULAR
Alongside your Education, we think the skills and experiences you develop while at the University of Exeter are really important. We’ve identified 4 key areas that we’ll work on this year to improve your co-curricular experience:
- Wellbeing
- Society Support
- Employability
- Community Cohesion
LIVING NEEDS
To be a student, you need to be able to meet your needs – research indicates that those who have their needs met at University have the strongest outcomes. We’ve identified 5 areas that we will work on to improve your living situation while studying at Exeter.
- Food
- Housing
- Health
- Safety
- Accessibility
To achieve impact on these areas, we have split our approaches into two main methods – Policy objectives and Projects. Policies seek to address the root cause of issues and aim to eliminate these problems. Projects focus on the symptoms of the problems and are how we hope to reduce the impact these problems have on you.
We want to hear your feedback on these Priorities – is anything missing, have we focussed on the right things, are our projects and policy objectives where we need to be heading? Read on to see the Projects and Policy objectives we’re working towards
EDUCATION
Feedback
The National Students’ Survey identified feedback on assignments to be an area of improvement for the University with a score of only 60.5 on the question around feedback helping students improve their work.
Policy Objective: Departments to have clear standards for feedback on assignments to aid student understanding of how to improve their outcomes.
Projects:
- Run an Awareness Campaign on existing drop-ins by Study Zone focussed on understanding feedback.
- Identify areas of improvement for feedback through focus groups and surveys.
Future of Curriculum
The University is exploring new methods to deliver the curriculum through the Curriculum For Change programme. We want to ensure that student voice is at the heart of this for the University as they explore new and innovative ways to do Education.
Policy Objective: Curriculum For Change has student voice at the centre through regular feedback opportunities and involvement in the piloting process.
Projects:
- Awareness campaign to improve student knowledge of the Curriculum For Change programme.
- Engage Academic Reps with progress of Curriculum For Change and provide opportunities for sharing feedback to improve the programme.
Mitigation
Systems such as mitigation and Individual Learning Plans help make University accessible for all as they adapt teaching and learning to be responsive to students’ needs related to illness, emergencies, disabilities, and more.
Policy objective: Review and adapt existing mitigation policies to bring into line with student needs.
Projects:
- Curate an awareness campaign on Independent Learning Plans (ILP), Pastoral Mentors, and Wellbeing Services and their relation to the mitigation process.
- Plan and deliver workshops for students and staff to develop stronger ILP processes and communications and better understanding.
CO-CURRICULAR
Employability
Many students are reliant on their part-time jobs to aid their ability to study at Exeter and graduate employability is a key consideration many students make when choosing their University – we want to focus on both the challenge of working while studying and improving outcomes beyond the University of Exeter.
Policy Objectives:
- Career Zone to improve the variety of sectors represented in careers’ fairs to ensure students have access to employers regardless of career path.
- Part-time work support is tailored to the student who needs it.
Projects:
- Collaborate with Career Zone to run networking events for students to meet part-time employers based at the University and in Exeter
- Explore what additional support students from Widening Participation backgrounds may need to aid their graduate employability.
Community Cohesion
Having a community where you can have fun, find support, and feel accepted is an invaluable part of the student experience – we want to help you find, and build, these communities.
Policy Objectives:
- Create clear spaces in the University and local government dedicated to anti-racism work.
- EDI Training for all students and staff, shaped by students.
Project:
- Work with local bars and clubs to develop proper anti-racism training and policies.
- Work with students to shape Guild anti-racism work.
- Co-create a programme of activities with societies focussing on communities.
- Give a permanent space on the Guild’s Community Hub for groups to publish resources.
- Develop EDI training with relevant student groups made available to society committees.
- Working with students to empower and amplify their voices by getting students in the right spaces with the University and key stakeholders to make the change they want to see.
Society Support
Over 11,000 of our members were members of societies in 2023/24 and societies represent one of the most established ways for students to find community while they study.
Policy Objective: Improve the systems that enable room bookings to improve the experience of those organising events.
Projects:
- Establish a mentorship programme for society leaders so they can have a space for peer-to-peer learning.
- Develop a scheme to provide additional support for new societies when they affiliate with the Guild.
LIVING NEEDS
Housing
Having stable, accessible, and affordable housing is vital to student wellbeing, and with Exeter being one of the most expensive cities for student housing, it’s vital that we have this as an area of focus.
Policy Objectives:
- Extend the University accommodation bursary.
- Create more student housing – both through new builds and through HMO conversions.
- Extend the new University guarantor scheme to International students.
Projects:
- Develop a digital hub to host student reviews of past housing experiences.
- Deliver training to students to be able to provide quality control and support other students with housing issues.
- Run an awareness campaign on the reality of student housing.
- Review the MOVESMART campaign to ensure it provides the best support for students.
- Produce gap analysis regarding student knowledge on housing in Exeter and create a plan to close this.
Health
Health remains a challenging and stigmatised topic and is a key area of students’ wellbeing.
Policy Objectives:
- Increase long-term support offering for students’ mental health.
- Ensure people who menstruate have access to menstrual products when they require.
Projects:
- Collaborate with the University to improve their appointment booking system.
- Research and complete the student submission of the University Mental Health Charter Award Application.
- Monitor the implementation of the new Pastoral Mentor programme.
- Design and deliver mental health destigmatisation initiatives.
- Form a support group for self-identifying plus-sized people.
- Support student groups in running campaigns for stigmatised aspects of health and wellbeing.
Accessibility
Every student has different barriers to accessing services – we must adapt services to respond to this.
Policy Objective: Content warning system for modules including during the module-selection process. Timetabling takes into consideration accessibility needs.
Projects:
- Develop an accessibility issue tracker that is transparent for students.
- Create resources for students to use for improving accessibility.
- Programme events with societies around destigmatization, DSA eligibility, and more.
- Develop accessibility guidance and support for societies.
Safety
No student should feel unsafe, but many do – especially those from marginalised backgrounds. We need better systems to make Exeter a safer space for everyone.
Policy Objective: Reporting processes to be more streamlined and more transparent.
Projects:
- Conduct research on bars and other nightlife to identify existing safety measures in place to create a digital interactive safety map.
- Run a 16 Days of Activism Campaign to highlight issues of safety and violence against Women and Girls in Exeter.
Food
Food is a critical need, and access to decent food is crucial to physical and mental health. Many students currently lack affordable food options that meet their needs.
Policy Objective: Every dietary requirement has an affordable meal option on campus.
Projects:
- Conduct a food review of commercial outlets.
- Adapt food intervention programmes to accommodate dietary requirements.
What do you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts about our Priorities!