Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Giving students a greater voice in Higher Education
In 2008, SHM was commissioned by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) to manage and support the National Student Forum – an innovative initiative to give students a greater voice in English Higher Education. The Forum provides Government and other policymaking agencies with direct access to students from a wide range learning backgrounds and ensures that the student voice is heard at the level of national policymaking.
The Forum forms part of a wider student listening programme being undertaken by Government, which included a series of student juries to capture the views of HE students and feed them into the policymaking process.
SHM initially designed and delivered the student juries that were used to contextualise the Forum’s discussions and to shape its initial agenda. We subsequently worked with members to establish the Forum’s ways of working, provide ongoing facilitation for working events at which the Forum is regularly joined by ministers and are responsible for developing the Forum’s annual report – to which Government has a formal commitment to respond.
SHM ensures that Forum members are empowered and motivated to influence policy and education initiatives by:
Giving students a greater voice in Higher Education
In 2008, SHM was commissioned by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) to manage and support the National Student Forum – an innovative initiative to give students a greater voice in English Higher Education. The Forum provides Government and other policymaking agencies with direct access to students from a wide range learning backgrounds and ensures that the student voice is heard at the level of national policymaking.
The Forum forms part of a wider student listening programme being undertaken by Government, which included a series of student juries to capture the views of HE students and feed them into the policymaking process.
SHM initially designed and delivered the student juries that were used to contextualise the Forum’s discussions and to shape its initial agenda. We subsequently worked with members to establish the Forum’s ways of working, provide ongoing facilitation for working events at which the Forum is regularly joined by ministers and are responsible for developing the Forum’s annual report – to which Government has a formal commitment to respond.
SHM ensures that Forum members are empowered and motivated to influence policy and education initiatives by:
- creating a sense of cohesion that transcends the diversity of individual students
- implementing ways of working that are co-developed and owned by the Forum
- unlocking Forum members’ personal motivations so that they are inspired to continue to contribute considerable time and effort on a voluntary basis
- established itself as a credible source of independent advice for Government on key issues for users of the HE system
- inspired individual higher education institutions to improve their provision in response to Forum recommendations
- enabled a collaborative dialogue to take place between ministers and students to improve the experience of students
