Student Engagement and partnership in Combined Honours Ruth Furlonger, Hannah Lincoln, Fae Rinaldo-Langridge, Jenni Cannon and Colin Bryson

1.Student expectations and perceptions – match to the ‘personal project’ and interest in subject 2.Sufficient challenge and appropriate workload 3.Degrees of choice, autonomy, risk, and opportunities for growth and enjoyment 4.Trust relationships 5.Communication and discourse 6.A sense of belonging and community 7.Supportive social networks 8.Opportunities for, and participation in activities and roles – to enable ownership, self-assurance and self-efficacy Influences on engagement

 Is a good thing in its own right (e.g. ethical and democratic)  Sharing control and responsibility between staff and students  Easy to do outside the curriculum  So how do we co-own the curriculum? The value of partnership

 Co-created by students – wanted a way to explore interdisplinary nature of degree and create projects authentic to professional life  Truly independent and student led - reflected in assessment  Creates space in curriculum to be completely independent and gives students confidence to take risks  Diverse and innovative projects  Students engage with subjects they're passionate about with outstanding outcomes Independent Research Project

 My degree Chinese, French and Management  My project How can I relate it to my subjects? Hannah’s Project

A Snapshot of my Project

Graduate Development Modules  Student working group on SSC designed the module  Opportunity to gain academic credit for roles in CH community – about 50% take part in module  Perfect vehicle for individuals to maximise the personal benefits from their roles  Partnership – allows for co-ownership of modules  Students feel confident to take on ambitious projects that benefit wider CH community

 Initially chose module as a way to have more time to take on multiple roles – PASS and the SSC  Meant that they were a priority and not secondary to academic work – focus on self-reflection and goal setting means roles are a much more conscious undertaking  Not just ‘going through the motions’  Project – curriculum design  Opportunity to leave a legacy, create real change, and hopefully inspire other students to do the same Jenni’s Journey

 Personal motivation and interest in civic engagement related to career aspirations  Qualitative research:  What kind of partnership? Has this changed them?  How civically engaged are the students?  Causal relationship between partnership and civic engagement?  Partnership as a microcosm of civic engagement and a transformative catalyst  Mixed results – partnership is a work in progress An Investigation into the Impact of Partnership on Civic Engagement

Over to you now…  Adopting these ideas for your own practice and context