Student Retention and Success Symposium

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Event overview

This Advance HE symposium will provide an open and supportive environment within which to share and discuss contemporary practice and initiatives in student retention and success; providing evidence-informed examples and ideas for university staff and students to address the challenges of attrition, retention and student success in higher education. The symposium will address the following themes: Engagement The Campus Systems, Services and Processes Understanding our students. There is a call for papers inviting speakers, presenters and participants to consider how practices can be enhanced to reduce attrition, assist with transition stages and ensure students achieve their objectives.  The event will include a keynote speaker alongside participant-led workshops and presentations.  

The future for international students in the UK: Competitiveness and recruitment, student experience and employment, and HE sector opportunities and strategic priorities

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Event overview

7 June 2023, morning, online: ‘’ This online conference is bringing together key stakeholders and policymakers to examine the next steps for strategy on international students in the UK, looking at recruitment and competitiveness, and providing the best experience, including employment opportunities. This morning conference follows ongoing conversations in government on potential reforms to the student visa against the backdrop of policy development around meeting UK skills needs and addressing levels of net migration.  The conference will be a timely opportunity to consider: the role of international students in UK higher education, including in funding and financial sustainability current trends and dynamics of international student recruitment priorities for the sector and government going forward. Sessions in the agenda include: international students in UK: their role in higher education going into the future strategic and financial issues: HE sector dependence on international students – cross subsidisation – priorities for domestic funding recruitment strategies: international market trends, dynamics and emerging markets – UK competitive advantages – tailoring strategies to build on provider positioning, mission and strengths student experience: expectations and how they can be met – support – tackling harassment and isolation – priorities for teaching – international competitors and best practice careers and employability: visa changes and immigration rules – international students in UK skills strategy – internship and work experiences – improving Careers Information Advice and Guidance. Speakers include: Anne-Marie Graham, Chief Executive, UKCISA; Lord Jo Johnson, Former Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (2015-19); Dr Alexis Brown, British Council; Dr Janet Ilieva, Education Insight.  

How to Influence Whitehall and Westminster

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Event overview

This one-day, online session from Government Exchange aims to help you to understand who the people are that have power and influence in Government and Parliament and how to influence and communicate effectively with them. Learning outcomes include how to understand: what influence looks like and how to increase it the relationship between Parliament and Government how to access Parliament and influence its work, including APPGs, PQs, Select Committees, and Private Members Bills the different parts of the legislative process and how to interact and influence them when the most effective time is to try and influence policy using formal and informal channels how to engage in the policy process at an early stage the importance of different media and how to leverage them which people are most important to engage with, and how to gain access and communicate with them.  

Intersectional approaches to support student mental health

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Event overview

The webinar gives an opportunity to hear from seven Office for Students-funded collaborative student mental health projects developing innovative and impactful approaches to student mental health.  In 2020, the OfS awarded £3 million in funding to 18 projects to trial innovative mental health interventions in different higher educational settings over a two-year period. The programme seeks to identify effective approaches in supporting groups of students with characteristics identified as increasing the risk of poor mental health or groups of students who might experience barriers to accessing support due to their course, mode of study, or other characteristics.  As the programme draws to a close, a selection of projects share their experiences, including what has worked well, challenges encountered and evaluation findings. University of Central Lancashire Creative Mental Health Framework: reducing mental health stigma for the LGBT+ community.   University of Westminster UniVRseExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window): Co-developing, evaluating and implementing a virtual reality intervention for first-generation university students with social anxiety Coventry University Mental Health: resources for hard-to-reach student groups Wavehill WavehillExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window), the independent programme-level evaluators, will also present their interim findings across all projects.