EDUCATION AND THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
Our priorities are to:
Attract and retain academically gifted and highly motivated students from a wide range of backgrounds, creating a diverse and international University community.
We will recruit our students solely on the basis of their ability and potential to succeed within the learning environment that we offer. To this end, we will ensure that our admissions processes are open, fair and transparent. We will encourage applicants from non-traditional backgrounds and a variety of progression routes. We will recruit high-quality overseas students from a range of countries, working where appropriate with international partners. Our intention is to maintain our undergraduate population broadly at its present size, while growing our postgraduate student numbers.
Provide an education of the highest quality that is research-led and focused on the needs and expectations of our students.
We will offer intellectually challenging taught programmes informed by our excellent research base. Our curricula will be dynamic, flexible and internationally relevant, embracing innovation and delivered and assessed using the most appropriate methods and technologies. We will encourage students to participate as active partners in their own educational experience and to become self-confident independent learners. We will support our postgraduate research students while also encouraging them to become independent researchers in their discipline. We will provide academic support for our students through the provision of academic personal tutors and other specialist support for learning, as required by individual students.
Ensure students have a fulfilling, demanding and intellectually stimulating experience while at University, that prepares them for employment and worldwide opportunities when they leave.
We will embed within our programmes the skills and learning opportunities that enhance the future employability of our students and prepare them for a globalised environment. In addition to our professional programmes, we will offer opportunities for all students to learn about and acquire skills for enterprise as well as to study issues of global importance such as environmental awareness and sustainability. We will offer students opportunities for personal development through their subjects of study and embedded within their courses, by taking part in social, sporting and cultural activities beyond their curriculum and by acquiring and making best use of work experience and study abroad. We will foster an appetite for lifelong learning in our students.
Provide effective and enabling educational leadership and structures that support educational enhancement.
We value education and research equally and students can expect to be taught and supervised by academic staff who are committed, enthusiastic and excellent teachers and researchers. We will continue to provide academic staff with appropriate training and reward for teaching through our People Strategy. Education at Bristol will continue to be actively championed and well led at University and faculty level, with key faculty roles and committee structures playing a vital part in leading, implementing and monitoring our Education Strategy as well as having an important quality assurance function. We are committed to assuring the quality of education at all levels, with students, academic staff and support services working in partnership. Enhancement and sharing effective practice are fundamental to this process. We will listen to students’ views and encourage their participation in the development of policies for quality assurance and enhancement of our educational offerings. We will strive to ensure that the environment for teaching and learning is free from discrimination and unfair treatment.
Ensure that learning takes place within a high-quality environment that enables both students and staff to achieve their full academic potential.
We aim to provide students with the best environment for their education. We will ensure that resource planning enables us to provide high quality learning infrastructure that takes account of emerging pedagogies and the learning needs of students. Our information, library and student services will work collaboratively to provide the highest quality support for learning and scholarship, within a modern and appropriate environment. We are committed to providing an efficient student-centred and increasingly online student administration service. Our teaching will be based on a robust and sustainable financial model that enables educational infrastructure needs of all kinds to be met.
Our progress and achievements against these objectives will be measured through:
- Student feedback from the National Student Survey, International Student Barometer, Postgraduate Research Experience Survey and internal surveys, as well as regular dialogue through committees and other fora.
- Feedback from the academic Departmental Review process and from Faculty Quality Assurance Teams.
- Performance in the QAA Institutional Audit and other external quality assurance reviews.
- Monitoring of internal strategic performance indicators relating to student recruitment and widening participation; student retention; the student experience and graduate employability.
Further information about our objectives, planned actions and performance indicators with regard to education and the student experience can be found in our Education Strategy and related sub-strategies.