Case Study: Enhancing student representation and engagement through a

strengthened and formalised partnership approach between the University and

Napier Students’ Association (NSA)

At the last ELIR in 2011, the University was commended on its long-standing
tradition of active student engagement and our effective partnership working with
Napier Students’ Association [NSA], to deliver and develop strategic initiatives
relating to student engagement.

Over the past four years, the University has continued to build upon this strength,
committing to take further the active engagement of students, as a means of
enhancing their learning and student experiences.

Partnership working with NSA has been embedded as a core principle within the
University’s Strategy 2020 [hl] where it is stated that the University will “actively
engage our students in our plans in partnership with Napier Students’ Association”.
Further, the new Academic Strategy [hl] sets out that the University will engage
students as partners in their plans and decision-making.

To achieve this successfully requires the University to work in synergy with the NSA
and this case study details how we approach, evaluate and continue to enhance
student representation and engagement through a strengthened and formalised
partnership, and in particular through the development of an innovative Student
Partnership Agreement (SPA).

The University is pleased to present this case study which has been authored by the
NSA and which is both a reflection and product of the strong partnership which has
been established.

Strengthening and formalising our partnership approach: background

The rationale for adopting a student partnership approach, and a formal student
partnership agreement, was developed within the context of sector-wide initiatives
around the active engagement of students in their learning experience.

Since 2000, the Scottish Higher Education landscape has been undergoing a period
of considerable change. Indicative of this was the formation of SPARQS [hl] in 2003;
the publication of the Scottish Government’s green paper ‘Putting Learners at the
centre – delivering our ambitions for post-16 education” in 2011[hl]; and in 2012 the
publication of the UK QAA Quality Code which contained guidance (Chapter B5) on
‘Student Engagement’ [hl].

In response the student movement and Student Associations began to reflect on

their role and relevance to the new agenda. In 2010, NSA initiated a Constitutional

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Review and created an advisory group (Constitutional Review Advisory Group
(CRAG) [hl]) to consider the future governance and purpose of the Association.
Significantly representatives from the University and University Court were invited
onto the group, as an expression of a desire to work more closely with the University.
NSA took this opportunity to work on developing a more open, strategic and
productive relationship with the University.

During the same period, local University initiatives were being trialled and a
partnership approach was starting to emerge. For example, in 2010, the University
invited NSA to contribute to its Learning, Teaching and Assessment Statements [hl].
In the same year NSA piloted its first student-led Teaching Excellence Awards and
initiated a new model of partnership working around ‘Feedback for Learning’ in
collaboration with the University.

In 2010/11 the University employed a Student Engagement Officer to coordinate a

project around Student Engagement in Quality. The focus of the project was on
managing and leading the enhancement of existing mechanisms to encourage
student representatives to engage with quality systems and working closely with the
NSA to embed the outcomes of the Student Involvement in Learning, Teaching and
Assessment (SILTA) project.

There were also external drivers for the University. In 2011, ELIR encouraged the
University to reflect on how best to ensure the on-going sustainability of sabbatical
officers’ contribution to strategic initiatives [hl], implicit within which was a question
around the funding of NSA. In 2012, the inclusion of the Students’ Union question in
the National Student Satisfaction Survey, for the first time, resulted in a response of
only 45% satisfaction with Student Union provision, which was a significant outlier
compared to other questions and of significant concern to both NSA and the
University.

Partly in response to the NSS rating, the University gave some active consideration
to the physical environment and off-campus location of the Association’s offices, and
decided to relocate NSA onto campus at the heart of student and university life. This
move was completed in December 2012 and contributed quickly and significantly to
Association visibility among students and university staff.

Around the same time NSA began to implement its new Constitution and appointed a
Trustee Board consisting of elected officers, students and external professionals [hl].
In the new Constitution the functions of “representation” and “governance” were
separated: allowing elected student officers to focus on the political leadership of
their members, and the Trustee Board to take ownership of the Association’s
governance. The drivers around this change were to strengthen governance,
improve and enhance resilience, facilitate strategic direction and thereby to
strengthen and build our relationship with the University.

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The perspective of NSA at that time was that, while we had a long and proud
tradition of strong representation on behalf of our members, our work had
traditionally been reactive rather than actively shaping the student experience. We
felt that we could better be at the heart of the University and student community,
more central to the University’s plans, and more integrated into its strategy.

Partnership approaches and open dialogue with NSA around our aspirations were
particularly welcomed and supported by Professor Andrea Nolan who joined the
University as Principal in 2014 and Professor Alistair Sambell who joined as Vice-
Principal, in 2012 and now serves as Deputy Principal.

In early 2013 the NSA Vice-President for Representation & Volunteers and the
University Vice-Principal (Academic) entered into discussions around the
appointment of a Student Engagement Officer. The proposal was for NSA to deploy
a senior member of its staff to a role which would aim to support elected student
officers to engage students, with the totality of their student experience. This was
intended, amongst other initiatives, to address the concerns raised in ELIR 2011
around the sustainability of the sabbatical officers.

The proposal was supported and ratified by the University’s Student Experience
Committee, in May 2013. This decision empowered NSA to take forward its
increasingly ambitious agenda for student engagement through partnership working
with the University.

A partnership approach to developing strategy

The University undertook an extensive consultation with its stakeholder communities
around its evolving strategy, including dedicated campus conversations with
students led by Professor Nolan, from November 2013, resulting in the approval of
its Strategy 2020 in July 2014, as is detailed within the Reflective Analysis. In
parallel, the newly appointed NSA Trustee Board was developing its strategic vision.

The emerging NSA and University strategies had clear points of alignment, goals,
visions and values and there presented an opportunity to develop synergy in the
strategies, through mutual dialogue, while maintaining NSA’s independence and
autonomy. This process was enhanced and supported by NSA’s presentations to its
stakeholder communities, in November 2013 and September 2014, where we
described our approach, vision and rationale for partnership working with the
University.

Identifying synergy in our strategies enabled us to develop our partnership approach

as we were able to identify areas of work where we could productively work together,
as illustrated below. From this arose a detailed plan of work, which has been
captured within our Student Partnership Agreement.

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 Strategy 2020 Strategic Objective NSA Strategic Themes

growing academic reputation academic excellence

developing representation

excellent, personalised student volunteering, leadership and

experience community

developing sports and societies

internationalisation reward and recognition

diversity and inclusion

innovation, enterprise and citizenship

Development of a Student Partnership Agreement

Following the appointment of a Student Engagement Officer within NSA, the
University’s Director of Academic Strategy and Practice invited the post-holder and
the NSA Vice-President (Representation & Volunteers) to discuss how the University
might usefully work in partnership with NSA to engage the student community.
Arising out of these discussions was a proposal to develop a Student Partnership
Agreement based on the preliminary SPARQS guidance [hl].

Student Partnership Agreements (SPA) are relatively new to the sector and were first
outlined in the Scottish Government’s green paper in 2010, [hl] which proposed a
written expression of how students and their Institutions would interact. SPARQS
led on this on behalf of the Scottish Government and issued their final guidance [hl]
on the development and implementation of Student Partnership Agreements in
November 2013.

NSA took cognisance of the SPARQS guidance and was interested in the
suggestion that a SPA could act as a tool to help Universities and Student
Associations’ reflect on their interaction and how this could serve to enhance the
student experience, while offering an overarching framework and means of
assessing the effectiveness of the working relationship.

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NSA was mindful that the University had indicated for some time that it wished to
adopt an enhancement-led approach to student engagement, rather than a
transactional and contractual model of interaction, and it seemed that a SPA might
facilitate a genuine dialogue on how to work towards common goals.

Our Student Partnership Agreement enables the University and NSA to take a
strategic approach to student engagement themes, while committing us to a detailed
plan of work, which incorporates partnership working at an operational level. In its
delivery NSA is working in partnership across the University community as well as
with our student community who also have an active role within the agreement, such
as our School Representatives.

The development of the SPA has had a significant impact in facilitating NSA to
shape the academic agenda. This is evident in the University’s Academic Strategy,
where a number of the student-related objectives align directly with those within the
SPA.

The SPA gives us the flexibility to develop the themes and incorporate new themes
as they arise and so we are actively reflecting on our student experience and
learning environment, and using the SPA to manage that change. By necessity our
SPA takes an organic and flexible approach to student engagement and
enhancement because of the fluidity of the Higher Education environment but it is
also closely aligned with our strategies and locked into the University’s formal
structures for evaluation and review.

In September 2013, at the Academic Strategy and Enhancement Committee (ASEC)

[hl], Edinburgh Napier University and Napier Students’ Association agreed, in
principle, to adopt a SPA. Academic Board approved a provisional SPA in May 2014
and a final in December 2014. The SPA is now reported on at the Student
Experience Committee where it is a standing item of business and progress is
assessed against the operational plan.

Sustainability and Strategic Investment

In 2011 ELIR questioned the sustainability of Sabbatical Officers’ contribution to
strategic initiatives. The University responded to this concern with a commitment of
strategic funding to assist with the delivery of the SPA and supported the
development of a Sabbatical Internship Programme.

Our strategic funding was ring-fenced for: student engagement projects; School Rep
Residential; supporting the development of programme reps and elite athletes;
employing four new staff co-ordinators (VBase, Student Engagement, Sports
Development and Duke of Edinburgh Awards); developing a volunteering centre
(VBase) and our Sportsmark programme.

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Our Sabbatical Officers’ role descriptions were revised as part of the CRAG review
process. They were allocated more specific and targeted roles, to which they can be
held to account, while being assigned collective responsibility for strategic and
political leadership. Significantly they were removed of the burden of the
management of staff, which now lies with the Trustee Board.

Sabbatical Officer positions are viewed as a positive means of developing students’

employability and career prospects [hl]. This is because our Sabbatical Officers are
required to undertake functional and operational roles, as well as deliver on political
leadership for their members and act as governors for the Association as members
of the Trustee Board.

Our Sabbatical Officers are supported to manage their challenging and complex
roles through regular meetings with the University Principal & Vice-Principal. The
University provides each Sabbatical with a mentor and supports their on-going
professional development through affording access to University resources and
facilities, including internal and external courses and training programmes.

Student and Academic Services provide resource from within its Confident Futures
team to facilitate workshops throughout the year, and our Sabbaticals are given
access to a bespoke Careers employability session, prior to demitting office.

Our Sabbatical Officers are encouraged to develop their leadership skills through
undertaking projects with other stakeholders. For example they are all signed up for
the LEAPS programme; our VP (Reps and Volunteers) is leading a volunteer student
expedition to Cambodia in 2015 and all our Sabbaticals are undertaking the
leadership programme within the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme. Our Sabbaticals lead
on Programme Rep Training, Sports and Societies Office holder training, the School
Rep Residential and Freshers Week.

Our Sabbatical Officers connect regularly with our students in a wide variety of way
including through the use of social media, our representative structures, drop-in
sessions and ‘pop up’ Unions: where they take their inflatable green sofa to each
campus on a fortnightly basis to improve NSA visibility and encourage student
engagement with elected officers.

Our Sabbatical Officers are incentivised to engage with the support and opportunities
available through a bonus scheme agreed by our Trustee Board that is linked to the
successful completion of a Sabbatical Internship Programme, delivered by Confident
Futures and a range of other providers.

It is difficult to evaluate the overall effectiveness of sabbatical officers, but they will
get individual feedback from mentors and the Convenor of the Trustees. It is hoped
that the credibility of office, evidenced by incumbents’ positive effect on outcomes on
behalf of students, the profile of the projects they lead, as well as the career personal

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development opportunities offered to sabbaticals; will be reflected in more contested
positions, not only for sabbatical office, but for part time Executive positions.

Developing Student Representation and Supporting Academic Excellence

NSA and Edinburgh Napier University consider student representation to be central
to improving the overall student experience and to delivering and facilitating active
student engagement. As was highlighted in ELIR 2011, NSA’s core strength is
effective student representation and this forms two key strands (which are
inextricably linked) of our Student Partnership Agreement: developing representation
and enhancing academic excellence.

Our other SPA strands describe extra-curricular activities associated with the
development of graduate attributes, employability, internationalisation and global
citizenship and are referenced later in this case study.

Our intention is to develop our representative structures to reflect the University’s

strategic priorities, for example by assigning a programme focus within the SSLCs,
and to facilitate student involvement in representation by opening up additional
avenues for activity. In addition, we are developing a pathway for progression as a
student representative: from programme, to School, to Executive and Sabbatical
Officer, to support students’ personal development and representational expertise.

Academic Partners

In 2013 we piloted an academic partnership scheme to strengthen the representation

structure. One member of academic staff, per school, was recruited to champion the
programme representative system. Our Academic Partners are available to give
advice and support to academics within their School and facilitate the smooth
operation of SSLCs: trouble-shooting where necessary and referring to NSA where
appropriate.

Following the first year of implementation we sought feedback from our Academic
Partners on their role and issued guidance in response[hl], with a view to developing
the role further and embedding it within the evolving structure of student
representation.

Our Academic partners have been active and supportive including attending
programme representative training and providing feedback, as well as attending the
School Representative Residentials to deliver workshop sessions.

Programme Representation and Staff Student Liaison Committees (SSLC)

On average we recruit 300 – 350 student representatives in any given year,

depending upon student intake and the range of programmes offered by the
University.

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Uniquely in the sector, our representatives are ‘jointly owned’ by the University and
NSA: our reps are the University reps. NSA supplies the administration, training and
communications to underpin their role and the University conducts elections and
convenes Staff Student Liaison Committees. In this system our representatives have
a dual role: to hold the political leadership of NSA to account and to input into the
University’s representative structures to ensure the student voice is heard at every
level of the Institution.

Programme representatives are the life-blood of NSA and the University. Over the
years NSA and the University have committed significant resources to their training
and development, to support them in effectively undertaking their role: we are
committed to ensuring that our programme representatives are sufficiently and
appropriately prepared to undertake their duties.

Our training and communications are reviewed on a regular basis to take account of
developments within the University for example, in 2014, we modified our training [hl]
and the information in our programme rep handbook [hl] to reflect the University’s
move to ‘programme focus’.

While the business of University SSLCs is now primarily around programme issues
and the learning support environment, our programme representatives continue to
have a strategic voice on their wider student experience through their participation in
social media, student forums, student councils, working & focus groups, and the
University & NSA representative structures.

In 2014 NSA delivered programme rep training to 162 students (which represents a
slight increase on previous years), and for the first time at each of the three
University campuses. This is because we wanted to acknowledge the student
demographic at all of our home campuses and to engage some of our harder to
reach students, such as International students at Craiglockhart and Nursing and
Midwifery students at Sighthill.

In 2009, the University agreed to provide financial support to incentive programme

representatives, and to provide them with a measure of reward and also to improve
their profile and visibility on campus. We purchased branded (NSA and University
logos) hoodies for our programme representatives, and in 2013 this was developed
further to include a colour coding of hoodies per campus to engender reps
identification with their Faculty and School. This session, to further incentivise our
programme representatives to engage in their duties, the hoodies were not
distributed until after the programme representatives had successfully completed
their training and attended their first SSLC meeting.

SSLC
In 2014 NSA sought academic and student opinion on the operation and
effectiveness of SSLC[hl]. This was achieved through a questionnaire to former reps

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and focus groups with reps and staff. On balance the various communities felt that
SSLC’s were a reasonably effective means of supporting student engagement but
that the University needed to issue a statement of expectation regarding their
operation. In response, the University issued guidance, drafted in partnership with
NSA, on the operation of SSLCs.

In October 2014, ASEC agreed that all programmes must convene a SSLC twice per
trimester. A group of our School Representatives are taking this forward as a project
[hl] in 2014-15 and will report back through the University committee structure in
May 2015, but will take into consideration frequency of and attendance at meetings,
the type of business raised and the agreed outcomes; to assess their effectiveness
in terms of promoting active student engagement with the academic agenda at
programme level.

The requirement to support distant learning students’ opportunity to engage with

their experience has been acknowledged, and will be taken forward with the
development of virtual technologies in partnership with the University’s C&IT
department.

School Representation and our North Berwick Residential

In 2012/13 we perceived that there was a ‘gap’ in representation between our 300+
grass roots programme reps and the 11 members of our Student Executive [hl] who
function at a strategic level within the University, as there were no communication
routes for student representatives (other than the Student Executive) to reflect and
engage at School level and above.

We proposed to address this issue by appointing, from our programme

representative population, a smaller group at School-level to better enable us to
engage students with the strategic agendas of both NSA and the University and to
give NSA a stronger voice and profile. This has also facilitated the development of
representation pathways as outlined earlier in the case study.

In 2013 NSA piloted, with the support of the University, a School Representative
Residential, which took place over a weekend, with the agenda focussed on key
strategic initiatives. This pilot demonstrated that our students are interested in the
broader strategic themes and are keen to engage with this agenda, as evidenced by
Sabina who applied to become a School Representative again in 2014:

Will be a highlight box.

“The main reason I want to continue being a School rep with the NSA is
because I have enjoyed the networking and connectivity I've experienced
within the university amongst staff and students alike.

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 I signed up last year to be one because I wanted to be involved in making a
difference and changing as little or as much as I can in any way possible at
my time at university.

Being a programme rep since first year, I knew the potential responsibilities as
the 'middle' person could rise up, and I just wanted to expand and contribute
more on that by joining the 32 school reps. I've made really good friends and
helpful contacts through this - especially from the North Berwick trip.

I am proud to represent Napier University to the world but also the other way
round, represent Napier University students to its own faculty and
administration.

The support and confidence that you get in being part of this is also a big thing
for me as it inspired me to sign up for Get On Board last year and I even
applied for a board position in a young women's charity through it.

I have seen change happen within the university through the help of my fellow
reps and I want that to carry on and continue being a part of it for as long as I
can.

Being a school rep also gives you a little extra advantage of more voluntary
experience on your CV, which I'm all about.

Having always volunteered in something one way or another since I was 16, I
find this a win-win situation as it gives me a better chance of employability as
well as being a part of something much bigger than an individual student
experience.”

We learned from our School Representatives’ feedback [hl] in 2013 that we needed
to be more focused in our approach to the residential and more specific with the
projects on offer. This was incorporated into the development of the residential
programme for 2014.

We added an application process whereby students were required to supply a 300

word statement on their reasons for applying for the position, as a means of
assessing commitment and understanding. As demand exceeded the places
available, NSA and the University utilised these statements as a means of appointing
School Representatives, according to agreed criteria.

Based on the feedback from 2013, the University agreed to provide strategic funding
for an extended residential to allow our 32 School Reps and 11 members of our
Student Executive, the opportunity to engage more fully in the topics and workshops.

As in the previous year, the majority of workshops were delivered by University

academics with input from NSA and SPARQS. The programme focused on the

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University’s strategic initiatives[hl], particularly around feedback, internationalisation,
student representation and employability.

We used the opportunity also to consult with our School representatives on the
Reflective Analysis and Case Study through the provision of a facilitated
workshop[hl].

From this our School Reps agreed to take forward a number of projects to
demonstrating enhanced student engagement. To be completed after the Residential
on 17-19th October 2014

NSA Student Executive

Our Student Executive consists of our three full time Sabbatical Officers, two
representatives per faculty, an activities officer and an equality and diversity officer.
This structure was agreed as part of the CRAG process as a means of ensuring that
our student demographic and all campuses are represented.

NSA seeks to empower our Student Executive by placing them on a range of

University committees at Faculty level and above. Our Student Executive also has a
leadership role for their constituents & campuses, and faculty-based officers work
closely with our sabbatical officers to deliver on political leadership.

Our Student Executive representatives have historically been given access to

support and development through the provision of an Executive Residential and now
also attend the School Rep Residential.

Developing Academic Excellence

We consider high quality student representation to be an important factor in

developing academic excellence within the University. For example, in 2014 we
asked groups of our School Representatives to take forward two new initiatives
around the theme of academic excellence: Feedback for Learning[hl] and Students
as Colleagues[hl]. Both these projects are being taken forward in partnership with
the Director of Academic Strategy and Practice at Edinburgh Napier (ASPEN).

Enhancing Student Engagement through extra-curricular activities.

Representation is one way in which to engage our students, but our SPA
encourages and requires wide and deep engagement across the totality of the
student experience.

The University and NSA recognise that student engagement goes beyond the
classroom and that we jointly have an important role in encouraging engagement in

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sports, societies and volunteering. These types of activities are valuable because
they help students develop graduate attributes and employability skills, but also help
build a sense of community and an Edinburgh Napier University identity.

‘Developing Sports and Societies’ and ‘Volunteering, Leadership and Community’

are two key themes within our SPA.

With the injection of strategic funding from the University NSA has been able to
commit resource to developing an innovative ‘Sportsmark’ [hl] pathway and open a
Volunteering centre which has been branded as VBase [hl]: Give Back, Feel Great,
Get Ahead! Sportsmark and VBase are closely linked and will support students to
professionalise their involvement in these activities by following a prescribed
pathway for engagement, excellence and employability.

VBase

In utilising VBase our students will be able to capture their volunteering activity,
evidence their skill development and apply for reward and recognition. VBase will
also enable NSA to evidence and quantify enhanced student engagement and share
this data with the University.

VBase was launched to the University community on 19th September 2014 as a

physical and virtual volunteering centre accessible to all Edinburgh Napier students
irrespective of where they study or volunteer. It offers all students a holistic and
strategic pathway through volunteering.

We have developed, through a service level agreement with the University, skill-
audited routes for particular types of internal volunteering, such as representation,
mentoring and sports/societies office-holders, as well as generic pathways for
students who chose to volunteer in their communities.

Our students have access to an Employability and Volunteering Coach (EVC) whose
role it is to support students by offering employability guidance prior to, during, and
upon completion of their volunteering opportunity.

The University supported this initiative by refurbishing a prime location on the

Merchiston campus for VBase and allocating to us the EVC.

The success of VBase will be evaluated by student participation rates, feedback from
designated “partner” charities and those involved in different activities on the various
university-community and wider-community pathways offered by VBase.

From 2015 University staff will also be able to access VBase.

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Sports and Societies Development

The University supported NSAs strategic and charitable objective to develop Sports
by incorporating this into its Academic Strategy (Student Experience) and
responding to NSA’s long-standing campaign for Wednesday afternoons free from
teaching. The University has taken advantage of the flexibility within the timetable by
scheduling Confident Futures, Careers and Study Abroad workshops to give but a
few examples.

The Sportsmark system that is being rolled out across NSA’s sports clubs in 2014/15
is aimed at improving the internal organisation and running of clubs, ensuring their
longevity beyond the current team of club office-holders, and driving the ambition of
the clubs to succeed competitively and recreationally, in terms of student
participation rates and national leagues points for sporting success in British
University and College Sport (BUCS). Strategic funding for elite sportsmen and
women should also contribute to the latter.

In 2014 NSA experienced unprecedented sign-ups for Sports and Societies. Tbc
once all sign ups completed.

Reward and Recognition

The fifth theme within our SPA is the development of reward and recognition
schemes to incentivise students to engage; acknowledge and value their contribution
and evidence their activity for the purposes of personal, professional, career
development and employability.

The University has committed to implement HEAR 6.1. and NSA (as part of the
SPARQS working party which developed guidance [hl] on programme
representatives HEAR accreditation) piloted a scheme in 2014/15 to capture the
work of our student representatives to inform the University’s discussions around
implementation.

Sports and Societies office holders are already being recognised through the Saltire
Awards accreditation scheme and the intention is to roll this out further using the
technology available within VBase.

NSA has applied for Duke of Edinburgh Accredited Centre status, through VBase,
and this will be launched in January 2015. This will enable NSA and the University to
offer Duke of Edinburgh awards to our students, and support our and the University’s
diversity and inclusion objectives. The Duke of Edinburgh opportunity is available
around the world and our international students, as well as our home students, will
be able to begin or complete their awards while studying at Edinburgh Napier
University.

The University Business School piloted in 2013/14 a ‘Get On Board’ programme in

partnership with the NSA Young Trustees Society. The aim of the programme is to

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encourage and prepare potential ‘young’ trustees (all of us under the age of 57!) to
apply for thousands of vacancies currently available on trustee boards within the
Scottish 3rd sector, and charitable organisations.

The Get on Board programme offers academic and professional credit for Business
School student participants but this has not been rolled out to the wider student
community. The University’s proposal for 2015/16 is that the programme is made
available to all Edinburgh Napier students through VBase, which will be in a position
to deliver and accredit the professional qualification, in partnership with the Business
School.

Diversity and Inclusion

The final theme is Diversity and Inclusion and the University seeks to engage all of
our students, regardless of their background, mode or location of study.

NSA responded to the University’s concerns regarding the diversity of our Freshers’
Week provision and in 2014 we offered a more diverse range of activities [hl]. Of the
34 events we provided, 24 were accessible to under-18s and proved to be popular
with our International, European and mature students. Acknowledging that some of
our diversity events would not be commercially viable the University committed
financial resource to support events such as a Chinese Banquet for 200 students,
and a 50th Anniversary Scottish Dancing Tea Party, which attracted in excess of 100
students.

As part of our programme we reached out to our European students, studying here
for one trimester. In partnership with the University’s study abroad team we offered a
‘Sunshine on Leith’ film night at the Merchiston campus which attracted 150 students
and part of the purpose of the evening was to encourage our home students to take
up the opportunity of outward mobility.

The participation of our International and European students in so many of the

Freshers’ Week activities has provided NSA with a rich source of data to explore
their motivations and engagement [hl].

In partnership with the University’s Faith and Diversity Officer, NSA is taking forward
a School Rep project around delivering a multi-faith, community event in December
2014.

Our Sabbatical Officers and Student Executive have committed through our
‘Diversity Wheel’ [hl] to support and promote the inclusion of all students, by taking
responsibility for specific groups. For example, our President is convening the
International Society, our VP Sports & Societies, the LGBT Society and our VP Reps
& Volunteers is leading on an expedition to Cambodia.

Since the inception of our new Constitution, NSA has had a Diversity and Inclusion
Officer position on its Student Executive. In 2014 this voluntary position was

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contested by three candidates, which reflects the level of interest and engagement
we are developing within the student community.

Challenges

The interests and aspirations of the University and NSA are closely aligned and our
partnership working will lead to closer synergy. There will be occasions though when
each partner needs to work independently and indeed when robust criticism might be
appropriate. In these circumstances open communication, understanding of
boundaries and explicit statements within strategic documents will be key to ensuring
that NSA remains independent and autonomous.

NSA must also remain in a position to encourage and support the student voice
irrespective of whether the views expressed are palatable to the University.

The University is in a period of change and development, which will possibly result in
the restructuring of Faculties. It is important that NSA can adapt to these changes
and reflect this in its own structures. One restriction on our ability to do so is that our
Constitution requires 10% of the student population to vote for any changes. For
example, NSA is keen to change its name to ENSA but we have struggled to obtain
the necessary engagement with this referenda from our student population.

Clearly our agenda, as expressed through our SPA, is hugely ambitious and places
considerable pressure on NSAs’ small staff team and sabbatical officers to deliver.
The continued support and financial investment from the University will be a critical
factor in our success.

Reaching, representing and supporting our distance learners, part-time students,

students who study overseas and to some extent our students at Craiglockhart and
Sighthill continues to be a challenge. Partial solutions are likely to derive from the
investment in virtual technologies as a means of communication but also to deliver
services remotely. VBase for example, has been designed to allow our non-campus
based students to utilise the service on an equivalent basis to those who have
physical access.

Craiglockhart and Sighthill present challenges because students come onto these
campuses to study but with no social facilities in the surrounding area, tend to leave
without additional engagement. The University has worked hard in recent years to
invest in additional social space at these campuses, and responded in particular to
complaints around the refectory area at Sighthill.

NSA is endeavouring to offer more services at both campuses and has initiated a
range of activity such as pop up unions, Wednesday afternoon sport at Sighthill,
programme representative training at all campuses, and Freshers Week events at
Craiglockhart such as Scottish Dancing and Freshers Fair.

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NSA has always provided its ISAS service at the three campuses. We are currently
exploring the option of extending this service to the Bainfield residences in the early
evening as a means of reaching students who cannot attend appointments in office
hours. NSA is actively utilising the Bainfield Bar area for society meetings for
example LGBT use the space to socialise and put on film nights.

The Effectiveness of our approach to enhancing student representation and

engagement

The approach to enhancing student representation and engagement through a

strengthened and formalised partnership approach has certainly had a significant
effect on NSA: we are now much more empowered in actively shaping the student
experience. The development of the SPA has necessitated meaningful dialogue with
the University. The resulting alignment of our respective strategies will support the
successful implementation to the benefit of our students.

NSA has a much higher visibility and profile within the University than had previously
been so. For example, at a recent staff conference: Ambitious for our students;
Ambitions for ourselves, focused on Strategy 2020, the plenary session was a
‘Fireside discussion’ between our NSA President and the University’s Deputy
Principal.

The strengthened partnership approach is beginning to reap benefits. Between 2012

and 2014 the satisfaction score around the Student Union increased by 10% (to 55%
in the 2014 NSS results). While we recognise that this score is still under the
Scottish national average score (67%) and remains an area for development, we are
confident that as students continue to benefit from the diverse and wide-ranging
initiatives led by us, in partnership with the University, that satisfaction scores will
continue to improve.

At our most recent Freshers’ week event we saw a significant [hl] increase on
student sign-up to clubs and societies (from 2013) highlighting increased levels of
engagement with NSA from our wider student body.

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