A blog post for all those interested in Student Engagement and Inclusion in Higher Education

By Elisa Valentin

A few months ago, I received an open call to join a reflective research project on students’ perceptions of generative AI in education led by UCL Arena researcher Jesper Hansen and Faculty Learning Technology Lead (UCL A&H) Abbi Shaw. Having mulled over that question throughout my master’s, I jumped at the opportunity to reflect on my own and hear about other students’ experiences. Fast-forward to September, I had the honour of sharing my experience as a participant in this project alongside Selin Abdik (see her blog about her experiences) at the RAISE (Researching, Advancing & Inspiring Student Engagement) conference in Leicester. This blog post is a reflection on this experience.

Over the course of my studies, I have encountered numerous ways of questioning systems of power and how to act within them. The RAISE Conference was one such space where I got to hear from those researching and working to advance inclusion and student engagement in Higher Education. Hearing from a mix of student engagement leads, faculty leads, student union officers, activists, and students like me felt like sharing perceptions of what the ‘elephant’ looks like, except that, unlike the parable of the six blind men, we were actually united by the commitment to improving student engagement and inclusion.

Placing Care at the Heart of Education

Dr. Iwi Ugiagbe’s keynote set the stage for this year’s topic on Equity in Attainment and Student Success. With the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis as background, the racial and ethnic achievement gap is increasing. In parallel, students’ expectations of and engagement in higher education have changed. Not only this, the challenges that higher education institutions face regarding student engagement differ based on their unique geographical and institutional context and their student body.

Among the topics raised were the need to adapt learning spaces, focus on delivering quality teaching, and mediate the external factors affecting attendance and achievement, such as costs of living, commuting, and caring responsibilities. This was all part of a broader reflection on what ‘education for the 21st century’ and the ‘post-covid’ model should look like. Presenters and participants did not shy away from relating this to structural inequalities and injustices. Through these discussions, it became clear how the questions of student engagement and achievement are intimately connected to questions of care.

A clear message I left the conference with was the need more than ever to place care at the centre of educational approaches and redefine ‘student success’ in academic and professional terms. To do so, we must start by seeking and hearing students’ voices to inform solutions and co-creation and involve them in improving and solving the diverse issues that concern them. This does not mean putting the onus solely on students to do this work. The RAISE Conference had some good examples of how student-led or student-staff collaboration gives centre stage to the voices it aims to empower.

The Power of Student Voice

From initially contributing as a research participant to co-presenting alongside Abbi and Jesper and attending the conference, it was powerful and validating to feel that people looked positively upon Selin and my input and even sought it. Equally powerful and a source of pride was witnessing fellow students being vocal about their experiences and sharing their projects at the conference.

The MedRACE Project left a notable impression on me as an example of what student voices coming together and receiving an attentive ear can achieve. Presented by medical students from the University of Leicester, MedRACE is a great example of a successful student-staff partnership that has grown over the years, working to foster equality in the medical curriculum and address racial harassment.

In the words of one of the student presenters: ‘We’re at the forefront of experiences, so we can highlight issues to staff.’ This encapsulates the need for student voice. Who else is better than the primary concerned to know what is needed for our education experience? Nonetheless, as the students repeatedly stated: ‘We could not have achieved all this without the help of our staff’.

Methods that Bring Value

Any project or initiative that seeks to improve the conditions of students should therefore strive to have them take an active voice on the issues that concern them. The question, then, is how to reach students when they are not engaging as much?

Effectively engaging students (or any target group) requires them to feel that there are benefits to getting involved.

Drawing on their experiences of doing anti-racism work in sports societies, doctoral researchers Rhianna Garret and Iman Khan made the case for the value of student-led advocacy in developing valuable skills for employability. Starting from the observation that ‘it’s really hard to do critical thinking and problem-solving out of context’, their point is that students can pick up valuable transferable skills from getting involved in issues they care about. Crucially, these advocacy initiatives must be institutionally backed and connected to an employability approach to yield such benefits.

The presentation highlighted the need to see students as agents rather than passive beneficiaries and, as a consequence, the need to also hold them accountable. Connected to this is the idea that students should be taught that they can and should be compensated for their work, notably when this generates an emotional or psychological cost.

Another way to encourage student engagement is through adopting research and data collection methods that bring value to the participants themselves. While surveys and questionnaires have their place to gather input, they can provide a thin understanding of a phenomenon. This can feel especially frustrating when grappling with questions of student satisfaction and expectations as a module leader, programme director or at the faculty level. On students’ end, this kind of practice can often feel extractive, of little value, or perceived as unlikely to achieve much change.

This brings me to my last point, which was the object of my participation in Abbi and Jesper’s research. As a student and former academic representative, I can speak from personal experience about the value of creating spaces to exchange with staff and faculty on topics that are relevant to me and to the broader student body.

For certain ‘controversial’ topics, such as the use and perceptions of AI, disconnecting these spaces from the academics that teach and assess you on a daily basis increases trust. Equally, using alternative methods of inquiry, such as reflective research, co-creation or ‘embodied’ methodologies, can be perceived as more enriching by participants as it is an opportunity to gain insights on a topic relevant to their life and contribute to shaping the debate.

Final Thoughts

Through this experience, I developed a greater understanding of the power of the ‘student voice’ and the impact we can have as students on people in the room, probably beyond what was anticipated! Of course, this requires being (en)able(d) to make it into the room in the first place. The key is, therefore, to create spaces and opportunities for students to share their thoughts and get involved with issues that they care about in a way that can benefit them personally and professionally. Students must be given opportunities to join these spaces and be vocal about their need for them. This requires dedicating adequate resources to creating these spaces and exchanges.

Here are three takeaways I invite you to consider:

• We should approach issues of engagement and inclusion from a perspective and pedagogy of care.
• To increase student engagement and inclusion, seek initiatives and methods that bring value to all involved. Practices that invite reflection and contribute to an experience that participants might value intrinsically are especially interesting.
• To my student peers, your voices and experiences matter, let them be heard

As a recent UCL IOE graduate in Educational Planning, Economics and International Development, I am passionate about researching education equity, its connections to the ‘poly-crisis’, and what achieving quality education might look like depending on each context. A legacy of my Arts and Sciences (BASc) studies, I enjoy applying my ‘research imagination’ to investigate interdisciplinary issues. 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisa-valentin/?locale=en_US

RAISE 2025 will be happening on September 4-5 September at the University of Glasgow.

In May 2024, an email popped into my inbox that would unexpectedly lead to a great academic experience: presenting at a national conference on student engagement. In the email from Abbi Shaw and Jesper Hansen, they were looking for students to take part in their research about how Arts and Humanities students engage with and think about AI. As an undergraduate Arts and Sciences student with an interest in artificial intelligence, faculty research being conducted about our perceptions of AI as students intrigued me, so I expressed my interest in being a part of this research. Fast forward to September, I was a student co-presenter at the 2024 RAISE (Researching, Advancing & Inspiring Student Engagement) Conference at the University of Leicester.

After expressing my interest in participating in the research, we were tasked with writing a series of reflections on five key questions and then joining a focus group to discuss them with other students. The questions were not just technical—they asked us to reflect on our personal relationships with AI, from the role it plays in our academic work to how we see it shaping our future careers. The questions were designed to enable us to dig deep into our feelings about generative AI, with questions about what reflections the term ‘generative AI’ triggers, or about how AI shows up in our daily life, or even in our studies at UCL. The introspective nature of the questions made me want to answer them and hear about what the other participants said.

A few months later, I received an exciting email from Abbi and Jesper about another opportunity: to be a student co-presenter at the RAISE Conference at the University of Leicester. If you have never heard of RAISE, it is a conference that focuses on research around student engagement, with themes like accessibility, equity, and celebrating diversity. This year’s theme was “Equity in Attainment & Student Success,” which was very fitting with the nature of our participation in this research. The purpose was to amplify student voices and make them part of the broader academic conversation. At the time, I did not know what the conference was about or what to expect from presenting, but I wanted to give it a go. So, Elisa Valentin (who has also written a blog on her experiences) and I joined the team as student co-presenters and had the chance to extend our participation.

Our presentation at RAISE focused on UCL’s ongoing efforts to incorporate a wide range of perspectives—from both staff and students—into the research process. Elisa and I shared our experiences of participating in faculty-led research, talking about how meaningful it was to be seen not just as participants, but as active contributors to the project.

Standing up there as a co-presenter, I realised that this kind of student engagement—where our insights are valued on an equal footing with those of staff—is exactly what conferences like RAISE are all about, and it fits into this broader discussion of co-creation. Co-creation was indeed a recurring theme throughout the conference, and it became clear that involving students in shaping their own learning is not just beneficial—it is necessary. Whether it is redesigning assessments, building inclusive learning environments, or making decisions about course content, there was a strong push for universities to break down traditional hierarchies and engage students as equal partners.

At the conference, there were people from various universities, all with different experiences and backgrounds, who gathered to discuss how we can reshape higher education. One of the parallel sessions that stood out to me was the one about “Why are students not attending in-person classes post-COVID-19?” by Conor Naughton (Education and Student Experience Manager at the University of Nottingham), Tom Lowe (Assistant Head of School (Student Experience), School of Finance and Accounting at the University of Westminster), and Tania Struetzel (Director of Student Success at Southampton Solent University). This session, delivered as an interactive workshop, explored the students’ perceptions of the necessity of in-person attendance after the pandemic. The majority of the room was academic staff members, and as a student, it was interesting to hear the academic staff discuss what they think the reasons for students’ low attendance to in-person classes might be.

As I listened to the discussions on post-COVID attendance, I realized just how complex student engagement is. While many staff members pointed to flexibility and convenience as factors, I found myself thinking about the importance of mental health, diverse learning preferences, and the need for universities to adapt. It was reassuring to see that the conversation was not about ‘blaming’ students for lower attendance, but about rethinking how we deliver education in a way that truly meets the needs of today’s learners.

This whole experience left me with a deeper understanding of equity in education, and how essential it is for students to be included in the shaping of our academic environments. It was pleasant to see so many educators and students working together to reimagine what inclusive education looks like. From being involved in the research to presenting at the RAISE Conference, this experience has shown me that students have a pivotal role to play in shaping not only our own learning journeys but also the broader academic landscape.

Author Bio: Selin Abdik is a second-year BASc Arts and Sciences student at UCL, specialising in the interdisciplinary application of technology. Selin has a strong interest in how technology can drive innovation and create impactful change across various fields. As a co-presenter at the 2024 RAISE Conference, Selin contributed insights on student involvement in research and policy changes within higher education. You can find out more about Selin’s work via Linkedin.

This project was supported by funding from UCL’s Centre for Humanities Education. The author wished to express their thanks to UCL CHE and the Randolph Quirk Endowment.

RAISE 2025 will be happening on September 4-5 September at the University of Glasgow.

Mazal Oaknin, Alejandro Bolanos-Garcia-Escribano, Haydn Kirnon and Marga Navarrete won the UCL Faculty of Arts & Humanities Education Award 2024 team award for enhancing belonging. This dynamic and tight-knit team has nurtured several projects in collaboration with SELCS staff and students to tackle major issues in higher education, such as the BAME awarding gap. Read on to learn more about their work!

Hi Mazal, Alejandro, Haydn and Marga – many congratulations on receiving the Faculty Education Award for enhancing belonging! Please tell us a bit more about yourselves and how you would describe yourselves as educators. 

We know each other very well as we’ve been co-teaching language and translation modules in SPLAS (Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies) since 2017. We worked hard to redesign the Spanish language programme that we had inherited, but what must be highlighted is that we are part of a very tight-knit team. Our personal lives – our personalities, ideas and beliefs – are very much entrenched within our professional lives, and we believe that our bond and cohesiveness can be felt in the way we teach and work.

From a pedagogical point of view, we have strived to align our teaching methods and materials to ensure progression across the three academic years of the BA in Spanish. As co-teachers of the compulsory modules on Spanish language in general, and pedagogical translation in particular, all undergraduate students of Spanish (as well as those who pursue postgraduate studies at SELCS/CMII) are taught by us at some point. This gives us an excellent opportunity to get to know our students closely, though it also allows us to identify challenges and discuss areas of improvement.

You’ve been working on a three-year project at SELCS titled “Turn on the heating! Tackling the BAME awarding gap by beating the ‘cold climate’ in our classrooms”. What a fantastic title! Can you tell us more about what inspired you to come together to work on this project? What did you observe about BAME/BIPOC students and the way that they encounter the educational system that inspired this project and its formulation?

In our teaching, we have also aimed at achieving best practices and we always endeavour to cater for our students’ needs. Our language groups are relatively small (12–15 students) and participation is highly important and strongly encouraged. Throughout the years we have become aware of the increasingly diverse racial profile of our students, and scholars such as Jason Arday, Kalwant Bhopal and Shirley Anne Tate have made it abundantly clear that the system fails to take into account the different needs of our students in terms of not only the curriculum but also student-staff rapport, pastoral care and teaching dynamics, among other key elements. This is something we had intuitively observed already and that has been validated by other scholars working on EDI-related topics in higher education.

In particular, the work of Shirley Anne Tate has been a source of inspiration to us. We were really empowered by her talk addressing the BAME awarding gap, in which she mentioned students’ “lack of sense of belonging” and the “cold climate” in higher education. Our research expertise lies beyond sociology, but as experienced educators these are issues that we had witnessed in SPLAS, so it became immediately clear that we had to do something to tackle them.

The project’s main goal is to reduce the awarding gap among BA students in Hispanic Studies through a series of multi-level initiatives over three years. You have done this through multiple initiatives, including electing BIPOC student reps. Can you tell us more about the process of working with students to identify and address ongoing issues? What are some challenges and possibilities that emerge from this relationship?

We worked very hard to submit competitive bids to fund our project. Our funding has been almost exclusively used to pay students for their work at a rate that would reflect the emotional labour that we believe is intrinsic to the role. We felt it was crucial to recognise their time and efforts.

In terms of the emerging possibilities, the relationships we have established with students have been transformative and deeply enriching, both personally and professionally. This project has led to many other student-teacher collaborations and to an increasing interest in pursuing PG studies among some student collaborators. Also, the lessons learnt are allowing us to fine-tune not only our materials but also our class dynamics, personal tutee meetings, research, etc. to make them more inclusive.

One ongoing challenge that we have identified is the possible reluctance of some students to identify publicly as BAME/BIPOC and so engage with the project by becoming BAME/BIPOC student representatives. There may be concerns that, in so doing, they become visible or set themselves apart from the rest of the student body in a way that, to them, may feel disadvantageous. Addressing this matter continues to be one of the aims of our ongoing research.

Motivation is key to the project, and it has been the impulse for all project members, staff and students alike. There have been administrative challenges throughout, which has been a considerable drawback. And, of course, there are significant time constraints, given that staff participation is a voluntary and non-remunerative task that has been taken on in addition to a packed teaching/research schedule.

Unfortunately, there have been administrative hurdles that have impacted negatively on the development of the project. Although this has meant having to axe or postpone some tasks and initiatives, the project has also made us more resilient. We have learnt to do more with less.

You have also organised termly workshops that bring together SELCS teaching staff and external experts on the awarding gap. Please tell us more about the topics you’ve discussed, and some of the more memorable discussions or repeated themes which have emerged from these workshops!

A few social events were organised by our student reps. We as project members supported these events.

Apart from the student-led events, we offered workshops and talks led by world-renowned scholars who work on EDI-related topics in higher education. We were grateful that the speakers were all very enthusiastic about our initiative. They recognised the need for a project of this calibre.

Of particular importance is the fact that some topics were commonly addressed by the speakers in their talks, including the need for greater awareness of intersectionality and some of the most pressing issues HEIs are currently experiencing, including (lack of) sense of belonging, the degree awarding gap, unconscious bias, etc. Many of our colleagues have found these workshops inspiring and useful.

A list of our events is below:

• “The degree awarding gap: What do we want? Elimination. When do we want it? Now.” (Angela Jackman, 14 May 2024)
• “How has Black Lives Matter affected racism in education?” (Kalwant Bhopal, 2 May 2024)
• “Speaking Truth to Power …. and other Cautionary Tales” (David Dibosa, 29 February 2024)
• “Against mastery: teaching and thinking in the neoliberal university” (Pavan Mano, 12 September 2023)
• “Advancing the Dialogue on the BAME Awarding Gap” (Jason Arday, 13 June 2023)
• “Making a SPLAS: Why I’m Still Talking to White People About Race” (Haydn Kirnon, 8 March 2023)
• “Creating an inclusive teaching environment” (Madeline Young, 2 November 2022)

Among the questionnaires that students filled in, we have observed positive reactions to our efforts.

Can you tell us more as well about the BAME student-staff support network that you have organised? How would you describe the community that has been grown within this network?

Our reverse mentoring programme has proved successful in subverting the traditional student-staff dynamics, thereby allowing for more authentic collaboration and relationships on an equal footing. Student mentors took the lead in setting up regular meetings with staff mentees, and these took place in neutral spaces outside campus, including cafés, galleries, museums, parks, etc. This contributed to students’ empowerment, boosted confidence and motivation, and a greater sense of belonging. The relationships formed will continue after this project as our aim is to keep providing professional and academic guidance.

We as project leads soon became aware of the need to get everyone together and share ideas and reflections on how things were going. Therefore, we organised monthly social lunches for mentors and mentees to meet and discuss their involvement and to build a greater sense of community. At the end of the project, we also invited all participants to join us for dinner.

We are particularly proud of our students, some of whom have already expressed their motivation to pursue further studies and continue collaborating with us. The mentor leads are currently working on materials such as a toolkit and a reverse mentoring guide under our supervision, which will turn into their first academic publication. This has sparked their interest in research, so we have encouraged them to go down this route and consider PhD studies.

As a group, can you also tell us a little bit about what you’ve learned from navigating these issues as a team, rather than as individuals?

We have learnt from each other by brainstorming and sharing common concerns. Given the nature of this project, we chose not to impose very rigid deadlines or milestones and instead opted to allow for further flexibility. The project evolved organically following our discussions with the students, and we took actions accordingly. We encouraged each pair to define their own objectives and tackle the issues that were more pressing to them.

We ensured that our project remained open to everyone, and it soon sparked interest among colleagues and students, so we were incredibly happy to welcome new collaborations that were motivated by everyone’s approachability and friendliness. By doing this, our project has become a safe space for everyone involved, of which we are particularly proud.

What are some of your observations about current translation and modern languages curricula? In what ways has your research informed your teaching, and vice-versa?

From the outset, we joined efforts to reconsider the materials that we used in class. Because our SPLAS Translation and language modules have a pedagogical function, we made a concerted and holistic effort to revamp not only the selection of authors, but also the topics discussed.

We discussed how this research has informed our teaching practice in a recent article published in language and translation journal Alfinge: https://journals.uco.es/alfinge/article/view/16370

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