Last week, we held our first-ever Student Voice Conference. Bringing together students from different communities of Royal Holloway to discuss important topics, decided by you. The debates, interactions, and insights that occurred throughout the day were brilliant, we hope everyone who came along found it a useful space to share their thoughts and ideas. For those who were unable to attend, here is a quick summary of what went down.
Last week, we held our first-ever Student Voice Conference. Bringing together students from different communities of Royal Holloway to discuss important topics, decided by you.
The debates, interactions, and insights that occurred throughout the day were brilliant, we hope everyone who came along found it a useful space to share their thoughts and ideas. For those who were unable to attend, here is a quick summary of what went down.
The workshops
The conference itself spanned the week with each day featuring a different activity.
Maia Jarvis (VP Education) co-led a workshop on personal tutors alongside Tracy Bhamra (Senior Vice Principal for Staff and Student Experience). One of Maia’s main manifesto points was to improve the personal tutoring system. We discussed the differences in what’s currently being delivered, what should be covered, and the perceived role of a personal tutor.
Alex Parry (VP Societies & Sport) co-led a workshop alongside members of Students’ Union staff from across Trading Services to discuss different aspects of Students’ Union Services. When looking at the offerings at the Union Shop including fruit, vegetables, vegan and vegetarian options, as well as the current meal deal. Entertainment and events covered the acts, with discussions of an introduction of an interactive element to shape nights. Finally, we discussed the use of space and availability of food and drink at Tommy’s Kitchen.
Henn Warwick (President) led a workshop on student safety, supported by Sophie Bury (Student Advisor). Solutions to improve safety include dedicated welfare spaces, improved security, late-night event safety, the opening of the back gate, lighting, and improving complaints systems.
Maia Jarvis co-led a workshop looking at proposals to improve both the Academic Representation and Staff Student Committees, alongside Phill Dowler (Student Voice Manager). This workshop looked at the structure of the system, as well as how we can make representation more effective. Look out for more on this soon!
Alice Goode (VP Wellbeing & Diversity) led a workshop on mental health and wellbeing, supported by Sophie Bury. Tactics to support and tackle mental health included the introduction of out-of-hours support, remote learning, free and ongoing therapy, and drop-in sessions as well as an anonymous chat service.
The panel
We finished the week with a panel discussion on the topic of ‘Access and Participation’, which explored belonging and what the plans, required by the Office for Students, actually mean to students. Our panel included; Maia Jarvis, Vice President Education, Alice Goode, Vice President Wellbeing & Diversity, and Sunday Blake, Associate Editor for WonkHE.
What is Access and Participation? Access and Participation plans set out how higher education providers will improve equality of opportunity for students from underrepresented groups (e.g. low-income, black and global majority, mature, care leavers, disabled) to access, succeed in and progress from higher education!
Questions around the mechanism of this and its relevance to education sparked interesting debates and discussions. A huge thank you to all the panelists involved for providing interesting perspectives on all the questions.
Looking ahead
It was a fantastic conference, provoking exciting and interesting discussions. Thank you to everyone who came along, it is by no means the end.
In the coming months, we will release a full report of both the outcomes of Speak Week, the conference itself, and what we hope to achieve.