Programme Administration and Student Engagement teams staff ran a successful call campaign to encourage applicants with offers to enrol, providing advice and guidance to help them overcome barriers. This was extended to include student callers and swiftly became a hugely successful peer-to-peer campaign which ran throughout the year. Students were employed to proactively call students, focusing on those experiencing difficulties, or particular groups, such as international students.
Calls meant a student who could be feeling isolated had someone friendly to talk to who could point them towards an expert service if needed. Metrics were used to identify those who had yet to engage and peer-to-peer callers reached out to them. This worked well in terms of providing personalised support and gathering quick feedback. More than 1,750 calls were made in the autumn 2020 term alone, reaching more than 1,600 students and helping them feel part of the Middlesex community.
REMOVING BARRIERS TO SUPPORT
Making sure students know assistance is there is a priority. As help can be hard to access off campus, the University actively reached out using a variety of methods so students knew, as soon as they applied here, about support available, and continuing students were reminded of how we had adjusted what we do to embrace the online environment.
Complex language and processes deter students, so we streamlined our materials using plain language and focused on key actions in processes. Information overload was prevented by sending students only emails that were directly relevant to them, and our messages were reinforced by social media and via personal tutors.
The Student Emergency Fund was established to provide targeted quick help to students who were struggling financially during the pandemic. The new fund had a simplified application process and required less evidence, and had a shorter response time. This meant £1.4 million of University and government funds could be efficiently allocated to over 1,700 students.
Digital poverty can exclude students from the very learning they are here for, and was exacerbated by lockdown. We reallocated funding earmarked for devices for staff so that more than 1,000 laptops could be lent for long periods to students who did not have their own device. These were couriered to those who were unable to come onto campus. We also supported Wi-Fi access through dongles and kept some space available on campus, for those living locally, as study space.
Some students had to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival in London, many of them international students, and we actively contacted them and offered various types of support, depending on individual circumstances. We provided 650 free food parcels or vouchers to allow them to do an online supermarket shop. During isolation, students received ‘check-in’ emails to ask if they had everything they needed and to remind them of support available. All this was appreciated and made students feel welcome. Our comprehensive student support programmes during the pandemic were also recognised with a Silver Badge in this year’s Whatuni Student Choice Awards, where we were praised for working with students, removing barriers and for our proactive approach.
FOCUS ON WELLBEING
Health and wellbeing services moved online, many for the first time, including bookable appointments with counsellors and disability advisers. Twice as many triage appointments were made available, resulting in waiting times for non-urgent support significantly dropping and attendance increasing by 20%.
In addition we developed and implemented training and information sessions for student-facing staff across the University, so that they are better able to support students with various medical conditions, mental health issues and disabilities. Working with black students, we jointly created mental health and wellbeing services to better meet their needs.
We continued to develop our Care and Concern procedures. These include guidance on responding to suicide and risk assessment documentation as well as providing a safe response to domestic abuse, honour-based abuse and forced marriage. The University has a fitness-to-study policy, and reviewed the support-to-study meetings that are part of this. Importantly, we have applied to join the Mental Health Charter Programme, which brings together universities to share good practice and create positive cultures.
LOOKING FORWARD
During the year we used the learning from the pandemic, together with the priorities identified under the new Strategy, to refocus our work on student wellbeing, student journeys and the wider student experience. Comprehensive programmes during 2021 and beyond will, working with our students, refine what we do and reflect the changing needs of our students.
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Financial Statements 2020/21
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