Teesside students co-present at Higher Education Academy Conference

Two final year School of Arts & Media students co-presented a conference paper at the Higher Education Academy's (HEA) 5th Annual Art, Design & Media Creative Learning and Teaching Conference at Ravensbourne in London.

Third year interior design students Jennifer Wood and Helen Ng co-presented their paper, on students supporting students, alongside Teaching Fellow Richard Sober.

They reflected on their own experiences through the programme, designed to help new first year students cope with starting University by creating student-centred resources or support as International Buddies.

They were invited to speak by Carolyn Bew, the new HEA National Art & Design Discipline lead, and the day began with a networking session where they were sat with, among others, Aaron Porter, former head of the National Union of Students and Professor Bruce Brown, Chair of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework for Art & Design.

After presenting their paper they received high praise from the delegates. Jenny Embleton, of the HEA, said: ‘The verbal feedback has been very good and your input to the event is very much appreciated. I am really glad that the students were involved and it is fantastic to see how empowered they were by the experience.’

In the afternoon they were asked to comment from a student point of view in a lively discussion about the National Teaching Fellowships scheme, and what the future should be for rewarding teaching in higher education. Jennifer suggested that it isn’t just about teaching, but about student support and the whole student experience and praised how Teesside balances the academic and the pastoral so well.

Helen said: ‘I'm really happy and grateful that I got this opportunity to be part of the HEA Conference and it has been a brilliant experience. I didn't realise the enormity of what we had done though.’

Richard said: ‘The students represented the University brilliantly. They were articulate and professional and delegates commended their presentation. It’s great too that the HEA appreciates, as we do at Teesside, that we can enhance the student experience by working in partnership with our students and giving them a voice to share their ideas.’

Earlier in the year, another interior design student, first year Harriet Armstrong, co-presented a paper at the European First Year Experience conference at Manchester University and took part in a question time panel made up of senior academic educators from around the world, taking questions from a 300-strong audience of delegates.

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