Please can you describe your journey in the world of Student Experience and Engagement?

I’ve worked in HEIs for 14 years and initially this was in front line roles in Student Administration, Placement Coordination and Student Support.  As my career progressed, I found myself moving into roles that were more focused on Student Policy and Student Experience.

Gradually I moved into managing teams, and leading areas that focused on Student Support and Wellbeing, Student Experience and Engagement. I’ve been lucky enough to have a journey that has allowed me to contribute towards student experience in four different HEIs and in varied roles and levels.

What is your current role, what does your team do and where is it placed in the University of Northampton?

I am currently the Head of Student Services at the University of Northampton, located within the Directorate of Library, Learning and Student Services.  Student Services at UON comprises of our Student Information Desk, Student Support and Advice Team, Financial Guidance Team, ASSIST (Disability Service) Counselling and Mental Health Team, the Multifaith Chaplaincy and the Safeguarding Team.  It is an incredibly varied department with a huge amount of expert and skilled staff and is an absolute pleasure to lead.  There is never a dull moment in Student Services!

In your experience, how do you best engage students?

In my experience it really depends upon the message you are trying to share, the type of support you are offering and most importantly, how students want to engage with services.

Sadly, in some areas there is still a stigma around accessing support and there are now increasing practical barriers to break down too, such as language barriers, students with busy and complex lives and the cost-of-living crisis, to name a few.  Therefore, we try to promote our services at any given opportunity- at Open Days, in welcome and induction, via regular drop-ins, campaigns and events both online and via social media.  With all of these we activities we seek feedback and suggestions and generally demonstrate to students that we are an approachable bunch.  Where face-to-face support isn’t someone’s thing, we have online options, self-help resources, videos… The ‘Student Experience’ is so individual to each student, and some face significant challenges during their time with us, so my teams work hard to reach out to students and normalise accessing support- this is a key life skill and comes as part of the package when coming to University.

Before this, you’d been working at Aston University in an Interim role, how did you find taking the leap to move to work at another HEI?

Having spent so long at UON (since 2017) it was a daunting prospect to jump ship for a different role.  But, in reality, colleagues at Aston were incredibly welcoming. I’ve seen that there are far more similarities in organisational structure and culture than there are differences and we are all facing very similar challenges across the sector at the moment.  Being at Aston for that short time allowed me to see alternative ways of approaching challenges, experience elements of Student Experience and Engagement that I hadn’t before and build a wonderful network of new colleagues, many of whom I am still in touch with.

What advice would you give others thinking about a move?

Firstly, think about the skills you have developed in your current role, the skills that make you an asset and the ones that you enjoy exercising, then think about how you could take those into a new role or to another university- or even another industry completely. 

Also, try to identify areas of work that interest you or gaps in your experience that a new role might fill.  You could seek feedback from senior colleagues on this.  Sometimes a sidestep is just as worthwhile as a step up and there might also be opportunities to develop within your current role, so look out for different projects as well as roles and take advantage of opportunities as they come.

Something that I was told prior to making a move was that as a sector, all universities are working towards the same moral purpose, so when it comes to making an impact sometimes it’s helpful to think bigger than just the institution you’re working in, in terms of what you can contribute to student experience and engagement (thanks to Prof. Shân Wareing for her wisdom!)

When recruiting in this space, what do you look for?

I love to see people who demonstrate a real passion and enthusiasm for their area of work, so I look for breadth of experience gained in a career, across teams, working on projects and engaging with CPD.  In my opinion, that enthusiasm is vital when working with students.

When I am recruiting and managing people I am aware that I might only keep someone in a role for four or five years- and that is okay if throughout this time they have been given opportunities to grow, master the role and make an impact.  It is important to be interested and make space for team members to develop their own interests within a role as well as meeting the needs of the organisation- they’ll be an asset to the team and the institution in the time they work with you.  

What have you achieved in your career that you are most proud of?

Leading a team of Sexual Violence Liaison Officers (SVLOs) at UON and building that service from the ground up, from the initial working group in 2018 after the HEFCE Catalyst Fund through to now, preparing for the E6 OfS Condition of Registration, having a dedicated Sexual Violence Liaison Coordinator, a full team of SVLOs within a new Safeguarding Team, delivering consent campaigns, working with external organisations, (including the amazing Consent Collective), developing conversations around healthy relations and working to reduce sexual violence and domestic violence in our communities.

I am incredibly proud of the team’s work and the impact they have had and will continue to have on our students’ wellbeing.

How do you prioritise self-care for yourself and with your team in what can be emotionally exhausting work?

In student support roles, it’s vital to practice what we preach, this involves building self-care into our time. I find that overall, having a good sense of ‘team’ is key, as well as creating opportunities to informally debrief with one another.  Checking in with staff regularly is important, as well as creating a space to share ideas and experiences.  For staff who are working closely with trauma then access to clinical supervision is essential. 

Personally, I have benefited throughout my career from access to incredible mentors and if I have a challenging issue to work through then I lean on those mentoring relationships.  For the emotional impact – dog walks are helpful, as is cooking or a podcast. My current favourites are ‘Lucy & Sam’s Perfect Brains’ and ‘Dish’.

So, on the theme of food, what are the three components (drink/sandwich/snack) you’d choose in a meal deal for a work lunch?

Boring answer here- but UON has recently brought back the salad bar and that is my go-to!

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The Consent Collective, co-founded by Dr Nina Burrowes and Cynthia Ellis, is dedicated to promoting consent education and preventing sexual harassment. Their work with their university partners helps in the delivery of impactful programmes of work across campus to respond to and prevent sexual harassment and sexual misconduct.

One of the key resources provided to the education sector is Consent Collective TV, which is an online content library that helps to educate university communities about consent, sexual harassment, and healthy relationships.

Consent Collective TV provides an impressive variety of engaging and informative content, including expert-led short-form videos, longer-form discussions, their podcast gameshow, ‘How to be good in bed’, all adding to the purposefully varied range of content to help engage the varied audiences across campus. This variety of content is designed to help universities integrate meaningful conversations about consent across their existing channels, be that as part of induction, or campaigns, support pathways, reporting pathways, training, consent workshops and more. By offering this range of embeddable content, Consent Collective TV empowers each university to use the content in a way that supports their specific areas of work as well as build year-long messaging around these topics.

With a skills-based approach at the centre of all the resources The Consent Collective provides, not only do they educate but also empower individuals to take responsibility for their own actions and to support others through the learning process, making them a true partner in the effort to create safer, thriving educational environments.

Do visit Consent Collective Academy too, for their expert-led and specialist range of digital courses.

Visit The Consent Collective to find out more about the range of resources they offer, and feel free to get in touch with Cynthia at cynthia@consentcollective.com. A conversation with them is always inspiring and may help you in your work too!

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A huge thank you to Anna for sharing her journey with us, if you’d like to share your journey, tell us about a project you’ve worked on or nominate a colleague who has been working on something amazing, then you can sign up here.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Consent Collective, then please sign up to our Coffee Break Catch Up on 10 October (3pm) where we will be joined by The Consent Collective for a session on Good Practice – Preventing and Responding to Sexual Harassment on Campus. We hope to see you there!

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‘Celebrating Member Success’ interview conducted and written by Nissy Cheema – Deputy Coordinator, Student Experience and Engagement Special Interest Group

Autumn 2024