Student guide

Student submissions for the monitoring of 2019-20 access and participation plans

Last updated: 12 February 2021

Talk to your university or college

Once you have canvassed the opinions of a diverse range of students, we encourage you to have a conversation with your university or college about its progress in meeting the targets and commitments set out in its 2019-20 access and participation plan.

This conversation is about being a ‘critical friend’, in order to identify successes and challenges and assist in resolving them. To be an effective critical friend you should both support and challenge in equal measure, ensuring that your challenges are helpful and constructive. The conversation you have should be open and honest, built on mutual respect and trust.

To organise the conversation, you should get in touch with the person responsible for your university or college’s access and participation plan. If you are unable to identify the most appropriate member of staff, you can email [email protected] and we can ask the person responsible for the access and participation at your university or college to get in touch with you.

We understand that you may find the idea of this conversation a bit daunting. That’s why we have provided a suggested conversation guide to help you structure the conversation. This reflects the questions we ask you to consider in your student submission.

Hints and tips for talking to your university or college

Choose the right place to conduct the conversation

If you can meet in person, make sure you meet somewhere neutral on campus. Having this conversation in the office of the member of staff you are meeting could be more daunting and make you feel less confident. Depending on the circumstances, it may be safest to meet over ‘Zoom’ or ‘Microsoft Teams’, rather than in person. Remember, although we encourage you to have a verbal conversation where possible, you can choose to conduct the conversation via email instead.

Preparation is key

It may be beneficial for both you and your university or college to send a copy of the questions you plan to ask before you meet. This will help your university or college to plan and consider its response, which could lead to a more focused discussion. Please feel free to adapt the conversation guide if you want to add or change questions.

Listen and try to understand

It is important to give your university or college the opportunity to tell you what it has and has not been able to do and explain why it may not have made expected progress in certain areas. Listen to what your university or college tells you, asking questions to enhance your understanding of what is being said. Questions will help your understanding and help your university or college think more clearly.

Be constructive and not confrontational

Where weaknesses have been identified, ask questions, try to come up with solutions and work with your university or college to identify ways to improve practice and move forward.

Celebrate success

You are acting as a ‘critical friend’, so do not forget to be a friend! Acknowledge what has gone well and ask questions about this to identify exactly what led to the success, so that it can be built on in future.

Take your time and do not be afraid of silence

Silences can feel uncomfortable but often they give people the time and space needed to think about what they want to say. Do not feel like you have to speak during every silence.

Plan but don’t script

By all means plan and make notes of the things you want to cover, but try not to write a complete script so that you can be flexible. You will probably get more out of the conversation this way.

Find strength in numbers

You might find it helpful to invite a couple of other students to the meeting. You certainly do not have to do this alone. You could divide up the responsibilities and ask a fellow student to take notes or ensure that all the relevant points are covered, while you focus on having the conversation.

Published 14 December 2020

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Student submissions for the monitoring of 2019-20 access and participation plans

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