Annual Academic Year Review 2007-2008 (17th edition)
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- 20.2.3 Economic and Social Engagement
- 20.2.4 Student and Staff Experience
- 20.2.5 Physical Environment
- 20.2.6 Governance, Management and Relationships
- 20.3 Career planning and development
- 20.6 Health and Wellbeing
20.2.2 ResearchUnder research sections of the department has adopted more of a research methodology approach to investigate the impact of its services or in the consideration of introducing new services. The department commenced discussions with the Head of Sport and Recreation in relation to supporting research into the university becoming a ‘health promoting’ university, and a member of staff attended one of the research sand-pit workshops focusing on wellbeing. Research has also been funded by the Sussex Learning Network into the delivery of employability within partner colleges with a particular focus on foundation degrees. The findings have been used in meetings with partner colleges and the Careers team. An interim report on ‘eating disorders’ has been produced by the Falmer counsellor who continues to work with the NHS on the delivery of this work. The nurse has contributed to a paper produced by the Health Protection Agency covering the investigation and outcome of the gastro infection incident following a foam party in Eastbourne. 20.2.3 Economic and Social Engagement@ctive student increased their number of volunteering opportunities as part of the department’s work within economic and social engagement. A new initiative was the creation of LEADER (local employers acting on disability, equality and race). This group supports smaller employers to provide good practice within the field of diversity. The Careers team organized more employer presentations jointly with academics. The two university nurseries are viewed as lead settings within the community and used by the local early year’s network for good practice placements. A wellbeing day coordinated jointly with CLT used community organisations and local employers to spread the message to students and staff. The Chaplaincy has expanded work within the community with local projects such as the ‘Voices in Exile’ refugee group. The Chaplaincy and choir also hosted a 60 strong gospel choir from Germany. The department has also noted the increased need to refer students to support within the community regarding their mental health. 20.2.4 Student and Staff ExperienceWithin student and staff experience the department has noted that more staff are requesting support, development and/or advice when working with students. The department has developed an ‘at risk’ group which supports members from other central departments as well as its own staff to discuss their concerns about individual students and for the relevant central departments to work collaboratively in providing the most appropriate support. Links with academics regarding such students remain strong and dialogue often occurs between academics and student services staff over individual cases. The department has developed an introduction to student services workshop for staff, and has redeveloped the staff mental health workshops which continues to be well attended but mainly by central department staff. The following individual reports all indicate increases in the provision of services both in one-to-one support but also in workshop type provision and on-line either through one-to-one guidance or information and advice. This contributes significantly to the university’s retention and progression objectives. A new workshop for students with dyslexia proved very successful and the aim is to do more for this group of students as both they and BME students show a higher proportion of unemployment six months after graduation. The gender equality scheme was produced for both students and staff by the Equality and Diversity officers, and work has been ongoing to role out impact assessments for policies, to monitor the disability equality scheme and to commence a raising awareness campaign for the university around equality and diversity. The student week memo has been revised and induction activities for students are organised with schools as far in advance as possible to ensure Student Services contributes effectively and efficiently to the overall induction of new students. 20.2.5 Physical EnvironmentThe physical environment developments within Moulsecoomb have focused on enhancing the service where feasible within this protected building. A new reception for disability has been developed and the careers centre has been revamped to allow employer and other workshops to take place. The department has contributed to university sustainability and environmental initiatives and views such initiatives as inextricably linked to wellbeing and the socially purposeful elements of the corporate plan. Some examples are the nurseries including recycling as part of the children’s curriculum and the wellbeing adviser working closely with the university sustainability forum. A review of the Student Centre at Eastbourne has taken place and although there are some improvements which staff would like to see student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. 20.2.6 Governance, Management and RelationshipsIn respect of governance, management and relationships the Welfare team has reviewed the access to learning fund guidelines and created a panel which reviews appeals made by students. The nurseries have developed a new health and safety regime with the Health and Safety department and drawn up guidelines for hygiene in relation to food handling with the help of the Catering department. The department continues to be represented on the differential fees working group in monitoring the effectiveness of financial packages for students including bursaries and the welfare team work closely with the finance department in relation to student debt. 20.3 Career planning and developmentCareers counsellors undertook 167 career development workshops to courses across the university and Partner Colleges, the majority of which were arranged through the Career Planning Agreement. Another 16 workshops were delivered on inductions to new students and to employers and partner organisations representing an increase of 14% overall on last year. In December all students who had been seen in the first term were surveyed on their reaction to the guidance or information they had received from the Careers Centre. The findings were extremely positive except from postgraduate students which resonated with the Taught Postgraduate Survey later in the year which gave low scores to Careers Centre provision. This will be addressed next year with a research exercise of postgraduate students to find out more precisely what isn’t being provided. The Careers Centre Manager undertook a stakeholder analysis to support the production of a new strategy for the Careers Centre. This was extremely useful with many people responding and in particular from the PVC Business and Marketing who wrote extensively on how the Careers Centre could be working more with graduate employers. Finally another research project has been to investigate a more effective database for the Careers Centre to record its work with students and provide CRM functionality for the numerous employers and community organisations it works with. There has been an enormous amount of work undertaken with employers ranging from processing their vacancies to inviting them to participate on the employer-mentoring programme, Momentum, and attend Careers fairs and presentations. Similarly regular engagement was undertaken with employers and community organisations that provide volunteering opportunities. @ctive Student enjoyed another hugely successful year with 195 volunteering placements which were 60% above their target. The overall aim of the Careers Centre is to provide a universal service and from its analysis of the destination statistics be aware of students or courses where extra support may be required. In general the team carried out 1476 interviews to students at the university which is an increase of 8% on last year, and 245 interviews to graduates, students from other universities and pre-entry guidance which again is an increase of 21% on last year. In the destination statistics released in July 08, relevant to the cohort who finished in 2006-7, Brighton’s Employment Indicator at 92.2% missed its benchmark by 1.4%. From some early analysis the increased number of unemployed (15) was spread across the piece. However nearly 20% of the students recorded as unemployed seeking work were registered with the university as disabled compared to 12% disabled in the university population as whole. Student groups such as this and others identified in the destination statistics will be targeted for extra support. 20.4 ChaplaincyThe Chaplaincy continues to offer pastoral support to students and staff, worship and prayer opportunities and occasional retreats, and provide volunteering opportunities for students to work within the community. The Chaplaincy display at the Fresher’s Fair in Brighton was for the first time located alongside other faith groups within the university community as an extension of the success of the inter-faith forum. The chaplains provided guided meditation as part of the university wellbeing day, and delivered death and bereavement workshops to health care students. The Roman Catholic chaplain took part in a fact finding visit to China with a view to setting up support for Chinese students in Higher Education in the United Kingdom. 20.5 DisabilityThe Disability Team supported 1849 students in 2007/08 (1749 in 2006/07 and 1592 in 2005/06). The service was once again beset by a high turnover in staff in all four key areas of dyslexia, disability, mental health and administration. Further developments in staffing saw the introduction of a new Support Work Coordinator position which will play a core part in the allocation of day to day support for students. Eastbourne benefited from two new staff based there, but also with responsibility for UCH, Hastings College, Conquest Hospital and Sussex Downs (Eastbourne). The Team also ran a one day Learning Support Conference for suppliers of learning support with over 60 attendees. Overall, the team has noticed that some schools in particular are struggling with the numbers of adjustments required especially around exam time, so they are keen to work with schools looking at ways this can be addressed. Staff would like to be more proactive in their work and the liaison with schools but keeping on top of the increasing number of enquiries and work with students has meant that not all staff have achieved the degree of liaison they would like. The service supported 1269 students with dyslexia (1188 in 2006/07 and 1045 in 2005/06) including 435 who were assessed or declared during the 2007/08 academic year. 20.6 Health and WellbeingThe medical services continue to be operated by four GP practices that are linked to the university. Eastbourne is the only site to retain a university employed nurse and registration rose by 123 students taking the total to 583. As well as the usual health issues the nurse treats a considerable amount of sports injuries. Only 3 cases of mumps were confirmed which appears to point to a reduction in this area. In the past few years there has been a noted increase in the number of cross referrals between the Counselling service and Medical services for students presenting with some level of mental health difficulty. The nurse at Eastbourne also offers support to vulnerable students and works closely with the GP’s in order to offer appropriate support to the students. Unisex, the joint university sexual health, drug and alcohol advice and information service devised a Christmas Chlamydia Cracker campaign in the week starting 3rd December with visits to residences and university sites in Brighton and Eastbourne where over 150 students were screened for Chlamydia. The Hastings Health Fest' was the first event of its kind at UCH. It was coordinated by Unisex and various departments and external organisations participated in the day. More than 100 students attended this event with the general consensus being that this was a big success.
Over 50 members of staff have attended the Mental Health Awareness sessions which are run by Counselling and Disability. Feedback from these sessions is generally good with staff usually appreciating the space to consider the challenges faced in their daily roles particularly when faced with difficult situations which may relate to student distress. 20.7 NurseriesThe nurseries throughout the year provided care and education to the children of 20 student parent/carers (including 4 international students) and 47 staff parent/carers. They also offered learning opportunities and work placements to School of Education students on early years courses. The Phoenix nursery achieved an outstanding Ofsted inspection relating to the quality and standards of nursery education, which means both university nurseries fall into the top 3 - 4% of day care providers in the country. Phoenix nursery celebrated its 10th year of operating and has developed its music area and worked with the Brighton and Hove children and Young People Trust project which develops early phonological awareness in children. One World nursery developed their schematic play and one of the parents has established a community area on studentcentral to share information and ideas. Students from the Schools of Education, Engineering and Computing Mathematical and Information Science all used the nursery for their research projects. Fees have had to rise considerably this year and will have to do so in the next year in order to cover extra costs. Extra holiday entitlement for part-time staff has increased the amount of pool-worker and agency cover required. 20.8 CounsellingCounsellor individual interviews remain the principal focus for the Counselling team and the number of clients accessing the service has increased slightly to 812 compared to 803 clients in 06/07. In addition to this 190 sessions of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) was delivered and 178 students attended counselling workshops. The numbers confirm that group work for some students is more attractive and accessible. The challenge remains in finding the most relevant times to run workshops. Campaigns have focused on mental health wellbeing, the most recent of which has been the SoS (Support over Summer) which has run on the Falmer campus. Provision has included a regular ‘drop in’ slot together with group work sessions. Students from all sites have been eligible for this service and tutor feedback has been encouraging The Counsellors work hard in ensuring the ever increasing requests for mitigating circumstances are responded to as quickly as possible and the ‘drop-in’ service has helped with this. For the second year the Eating Disorder group has run in the collaboration with the NHS. There is an intention for this area to be expanded upon which fits with a national trend in HEI’s. Being Perfect was a three session training programme developed and rolled out during semester two. Forty two students attended this workshop, 97% of the feedback responses were positive. This provision will be further developed and rolled out again in the coming year on both the Brighton and Eastbourne campuses. Six Honorary Counsellors enjoyed placements within the service, again feedback has been generally good and interviews conducted by these students’ offers a significant contribution to the service delivery. Developments in the coming year will include the furthering of electronic information both in terms of e-counselling and also the rolling out of a self help programme, the latter of which is being developed by a newly appointed member of staff to the Counselling team (January 2008). 20.9 WelfareThe Welfare Team saw 4240 students (3827 in 2006/07 and 5096 in 2005/06) providing advice, information, assistance and advocacy on a wide range of issues facing students at the university, including financial, benefits, immigration, personal, legal and consumer issues across all five university campuses. The service also became part of the national Money Doctors project run by the Financial Services Authority offering money management guidance to students through a range of media. One aspect of this was taking part in Brighton money week with the Brighton and Hove City Council, where road shows were provided at each site and information was hosted on studentcentral. The service had 1437 enquiries (1086 in 2006/07 and 866 in 2005/06) from non-UK students registered at the university and over 100 from prospective students requiring advice. Main areas of enquiry were immigration 78% (56% in 2006/07 and 74% in 2005/06). Fees and funding issues accounted for a further 13.63% This shows both a large increase in enquiries from international students particularly in relation to immigration. The university also allocated funds to deal with disabled non-UK students with additional support needs. A total of £21,000 was spent in this area, a decrease of £10,000 on the previous year. 407 students (360 in 2006/07 and 350 in 2005/06) attended the 2007/08 Orientation Programme both during the Pre-Sessional programme and during the week long programmes in Brighton and Eastbourne. Feedback from students was very positive and has been used to develop the programme for 08/09. Funding issues remained most prominent but decreased slightly with 53.25% of students requiring advice and assistance of a financial nature (61.23% in 2006/07 and 63% in 2005/06). Funds spent in 2007/08: (£) 07/08 (£) 06/07 Nos. 07/08 Nos. 06/07 Access to Learning £523,645 £529,512 1150 996 Fund Opportunity £9,000 £40,000 11 40 Bursaries Bridging Loans £10,250 £18,465 178 313 Opportunity Bursaries have been gradually phased out from 2004/05 to be replaced by Local Authority (LA) grants; however the university offers transitional protection to those original bursary holders who are still on course. Access to Learning Fund (ALF) allocation was approximately £742,000 in 2007/08. However for the second year running spending on students significantly decreased due to the introduction of higher LA grants and university bursaries which were treated as income for assessment purposes. This has seen a subsequent national decrease of around 30% for the coming academic year. Bridging Loans offer students a short-term ‘crisis’ cash payment of between £50 and £100 per week. 20.10 Forward PlanningThe department plans to take forward developments within the curriculum furthering areas such as wellbeing, volunteering, employability, cultural awareness and learning development. The Disability team is developing a post which will focus on support for disability within the curriculum and will be seeking to work with some schools to pilot this approach. The nurseries will be implementing the new early year’s foundation stage learning objectives. Within the research area of the corporate plan the department is planning to write-up the research on eating disorders. A Positive Pharmacy project is planned using wellbeing indicators. The department will be involved in the research undertaken by the International Health Development Research Centre looking at the university becoming a Health Promoting organisation. The department has also been successful in securing a modest amount of money from UKCISA to research the international perspective and cultural awareness within teaching and learning. Under economic and social engagement new developments will be the Careers Service working with business services in the production of a pack for our services to employers. They will also be installing a multi-functional CRM database specifically for employer work. A volunteering post will be based part-time at UCH. The momentum project will be expanded to all students who need support through employer mentoring and the Career’s Centre plans to do more employer liaison as part of its overall aim. Student and staff experience will continue to be the principal focus for the department’s work. New activities will include a mentoring scheme for students with mental health difficulties, taking forward the Money Doctors project, to re-write the department’s equal opportunities policy and impact assess relevant policies, and to seek re-accreditation for the delivery of its services to students and achieve the quality kitemark it achieved three years ago. Further provision of the CBT service to students is anticipated as well as extending the ‘Being Perfect’ sessions to students. The health and wellbeing day will be extended to all sites with activities run by a group of central departments. In relation to staff, the department will be working with the staff development group as part of a project looking at a central department and a school’s staff development work. It will also continue to offer relevant training and support to staff including developing some clinical supervision for student support guidance tutors in their role with the counselling team. The nurseries will be developing the early year’s professional role supported by ‘graduate leader’ funding. The physical environment work will include the development of the student centre as part of Falmer 4/5. A further focus will be the likely introduction of a CRM database for the disability team and taking forward e-guidance and e-counselling. The nurseries will develop a long-term plan with the Estates department regarding the outside play areas, as part of Ofsted requirements for seamless inside/outside learning. Finally governance and management aims will be to continue to monitor the effectiveness of delivery of services to students and staff, to support sustainability, to develop funding arrangements for students and to deliver health and safety objectives. Directory: reg reg -> Board of Historic Resources Quarterly Meeting 16 June 2016 Sponsor Markers Diversity reg -> Port Cambeltown dated 8th April 1830 Name reg -> Contents september 2009 I. 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