The National Forum takes part today (Wednesday 19 June 2019) in the European First Year Experience Conference 2019 (EFYE19) and is leading a post conference event ‘National Think Tank on Student Success in Higher Education’. This post conference event is led by the National Forum, in partnership with CIT, with international expert input from the board of EFYE and the conference keynote speakers. More information on this post conference event can be found below.
Earlier this week, the National Forum facilitated two conference workshops ‘Using Data to Support Student Transitions into the First Year: Explore How Learning Analytics & Big Data can be Integrated into Real World Practices’ and ‘10 things we Learnt about Transitions into/through Higher Education in Ireland’.
EFYE2019 takes place in Cork Institute of Technology on June 17, 18 and 19 June 2019. It marks the first time the EFYE conference comes to Ireland. The theme of EFYE2019 is A Good Start is Half the Work.
The National Forum is a proud sponsor of this conference.
Post Conference Event: Wednesday 19th June, 14.30 – 16.30
A good start may be half the work, but what is the other half?
Within the Irish context, student success has been identified as a key priority by the Higher Education Authority, by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, and by individual higher education institutions. However, understandings of what constitutes student success differ both within and between contexts and this can affect how related policies and practices are shaped and how higher education is experienced by students.
This lively collaborative session will be led by the National Forum, in partnership with CIT, with international expert input from the board of EFYE, the conference keynote speakers -John N Gardner, Betsy Barefoot, Sally Kift and Gemma Irvine, and student perspectives. The discussion will be informed by the ongoing work in Ireland and beyond on developing understandings of student success in national settings. The session will give participants the opportunity to learn about, and contribute to, a collective understanding of how student success can be fully fostered and sustained in Irish higher education. The session will provide opportunities for delegates to discuss and share their own approaches and priorities from their local and national contexts and will explore how we can develop an enabling higher education culture that is fully committed to student success and why it is important to do so.
Questions that will be considered include:
- How do we, or should we, define student success across the student lifecycle/for all students?
- What is to be achieved in making student success a priority for policy and practice in higher education?
- What elements should be central to a national understanding of student success? Have these shifted at all in the context of an uncertain world of future work/society?
- Are there fundamental system changes that are needed if student success is to be fostered?
- How can we make such a national understanding of student success applicable within and adaptable to local contexts?
- What needs to be retained/built upon/ given up within the current system if student success is to be fostered?
- How do we measure impact and assure that gains in student success can be sustained over the longer-term?
