Our outreach activities play an important role in sharing learning and supporting our understanding of the sector and the issues affecting students and higher education providers. This year we continued to offer online opportunities for providers and student representative bodies to engage with our outreach programme, as well as resuming in-person activities.
Workshops
We offered two online workshops for student representative bodies and staff working in a student advice role. These sessions focused on student casework and explored approaches to advocacy and supporting students with complaints. We also heard from student representative bodies that have established partnerships to deliver advice and support to students at other local providers and we discussed different models for supporting students at partner institutions.
The sessions were well attended with 90 participants. Attendees told us that it was helpful to learn more about our process and approach to complaints and how our Good Practice Framework and guidance can help advisers to support students through internal processes. They found it valuable to share experiences with other advisers in a supportive environment and feel reassured that they are facing many of the same challenges. For us, it was especially useful to hear more about how advisers are making greater use of online tools to offer students access to support, and the pros and cons of this approach.
“I found this workshop really worthwhile and appreciated the chance to network and share information and experiences.”
Webinars
In 2022 we delivered 17 webinars in total (including the webinars to support the review of the Good Practice Framework section), attended by 532 participants.
Our webinar programme for the year had a focus on academic misconduct. We offered both introductory webinars on this topic and more in-depth discussion of case examples. We also ran a new discussion webinar with our Points of Contact and other relevant staff in providers. This gave participants the opportunity to explore different approaches to handling complaints relating to academic misconduct and to share issues they encountered and good practice they have developed. We have since published a casework note and case summaries on complaints relating to academic misconduct.
We also offered webinars on complaints about accommodation, and to introduce new members to our Scheme.
Participants valued the opportunity to learn more about good practice and our approach and to share practice with others, and found the sessions a useful prompt to look at their provider’s procedures and evaluate practice against our published guidance.
“It was really interesting to hear from peers in the sector and what they do in practice. And also to be reminded of all the [OIA’s] resources.”
Visits
In 2022 we resumed our in-person visits, meeting with 13 providers and 11 student representative bodies.
Visits are an opportunity for providers and student representative bodies to hear more about our work and to talk with us about current patterns and trends in complaints and appeals. We don’t carry out audits or inspections of procedures or processes during visits.
Visits are also an opportunity for us to listen to and learn from student representative bodies and providers: the concerns and challenges they have and what is working well, the unique features of individual providers and the makeup of their student body, and their experience of our service.
Student wellbeing was a common theme of our discussions. We heard that whilst students are still seeking help with specifically academic matters, there has also been increased demand for advice about practicalities of day-to-day life. Colleagues from providers and student representative bodies expressed concern that it is increasingly challenging for students to balance the demands of their studies with other demands such as paid employment and domestic responsibilities, and that for some this is affecting their ability to fully participate in student life.
We also talked with providers about the Good Practice Framework: Requests for additional consideration (mitigating circumstances) and the approach they are taking to self-certification beyond the pandemic.
“You really made my team feel listened to and honestly that's been half the battle! Thank you again for all of your support. I've always been a big cheerleader for the OIA but now I have a thousand more reasons!”
Student discussion groups
We ran a number of our student discussion groups throughout 2022, including with international students, disabled students and students from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.
The groups enabled us to hear directly from students who had not complained to us, to help us understand more about students’ experiences, and were also an opportunity to raise awareness of our work and how we can help.
The discussions highlighted the unique nature of each student’s experience as well as common issues. The students we spoke to offered a nuanced and balanced view of their experiences. Many spoke positively about their engagement with academic staff, but several described members of staff being too busy to offer feedback or to support students effectively. Some students said that they felt overwhelmed by the amount of information available to them at the start of their course, and that they didn’t always find sources of support until later than would have been ideal.
We are grateful to all the students who have shared their views with us.
Student adviser discussion groups
In 2022 we launched our student adviser discussion groups, which we run in a similar way to our student discussion groups. These build on our existing engagement with student advisers. Participants valued the learning and networking opportunity and the chance to share their experiences and learn about practice elsewhere. We have also benefited from the groups, learning from advisers’ depth of knowledge and experience of supporting, advising and representing students who have complaints and appeals.
External events
In addition to the events we host ourselves, we also speak at events run by other organisations. Some of these events are mainly for those who manage complaints and appeals at providers. Others have given us the opportunity to talk to a wider audience about the service we provide, and about learning from complaints. We have taken part in events hosted by a wide range of organisations including the Academic Registrars’ Council (ARC), College and University Business Officers (CUBO), the Committee of University Chairs (CUC), Independent HE, the Institute of Government and Public Policy, the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT), the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and Universities UK (UUK), as well as contributing to the Advisers and Caseworkers in Students’ Unions conference and the National Union of Students (NUS) SU22 event.
We hosted a joint in-person event with GuildHE. This included an exploration of how interpersonal behavioural issues and non-academic misconduct can be addressed in the context of small cohorts of students, and subject areas which involve a significant amount of close group work such as dance and drama.
Other engagement
We had outreach calls or online meetings with a range of individual providers and student representative bodies. These conversations have often been really valuable two-way learning opportunities. We are always happy to answer any queries about our Scheme or good practice guidance, and we welcome conversations about emerging issues or anything else it may be useful to discuss.
