This is a free event. If you are interested in your institution achieving NNECL Quality Mark status, this is a great opportunity to understand the process and ask any question. Since its launch in June 2021, our Quality Mark has provided a structured, quality assurance programme for universities and colleges to demonstrate their commitment to supporting the inclusion and success of students with care backgrounds or who are estranged. The QM framework covers: the student lifecycle from outreach through to enrolment, graduation (and beyond) institutional culture and leadership continuous improvement and future planning. The Quality Mark was designed to evolve with sector changes, ensuring we cover all areas of support for our young people. This framework enables institutions to assess their current practices, identify gaps in provision, and establish areas for future development through an institutional self-assessment, which is supported and reviewed by an NNECL Assessor. In late 2024, The Lines Between conducted an independent review of the Quality Mark, which confirmed our change management programme (Quality Mark) is a vehicle for driving up educational attainment for young people with care experience and is positively impacting our learners. You can read the report published in February 2025 here.
The first meeting for the STEM working group which has been set up to share practice and ideas about ways to improve outreach activity, support access, and effectively support success and progression in STEM. This first working group session will start with a lightning talk from Kate Mulcahy from Imperial College London about their Dangoor Reach out Makerspace- a dedicated workshop created for underserved young people in the West London community local to Imperial College London. From here Kate leads hands-on programmes promoting innovation, problem-solving, transferrable life skills, STEM subjects, higher education as well as vocational and technical career routes. The space houses a variety of tools such as 3D printers, scanners, laser cutters, woodworking equipment. 159 schools in London have engaged with these programmes; more than 2,300 young people have taken part in over 880 workshops at the Makerspace. In this talk Kate will discuss the lessons learned and challenges faced in running a dynamic, cross-disciplinary learning environment. For NERUPI Members only, you should check here.
This free, interactive session will explore how personal tutoring can become a catalyst for student success—academically, emotionally, and socially. A panel of practitioners will share innovative methods and practical insights to help you strengthen your tutoring practice and better support students’ holistic development. They will explore innovative practices in personal tutoring that prioritise student wellbeing alongside academic development. Drawing on the University Mental Health Charter and the Education for Mental Health toolkit, it will share practical examples from the Undergraduate Psychology programme at King’s College London. These include playful learning activities to build belonging, approaches for navigating students’ emotional responses to feedback, and metacognitive tasks that promote self-efficacy. Delegates will discuss the opportunities and challenges of embedding mental health support into personal tutoring and reflect on the implications for our own practice and future research. This UKAT, (UK Advising and Tutoring Association)) webinar is an excellent opportunity for supervisors, educators, and researchers to reflect on and refine their supervision practices.
16 May 2025, Applied Leadership Symposium 2025, Advance HE New for 24/25, this symposium will leverage insights from recent strategic developments and work, such as the AHE leadership survey, to provide a forum for higher education leaders to discuss innovative approaches. The virtual symposium will explore new ways of working, strategies for doing more with less, and methods for thriving during periods of significant change. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with forward-thinking ideas, and challenges to existing operating models and gain evidence-based insights into effective leader practices that enhance institutional resilience and success. It is important that we contribute to the symposium discussion so that it includes leadership in issues and matters of fair access and participation, and across-the-board student success. The symposium will be preceded by a call for contributions, inviting leaders and practitioners to submit abstracts on their work as stimulus or case studies to support the discussions. The call for papers is open and closes on 10 March 2025. Submit now
Matt Griffin, Programmes and Communications Officer, Causeway Education
Will Kelly, 'Opening the Doors Conference' Coordinator, University of Winchester
Catherine Fenwick, Director, Aimhigher London