The Student-led Year-long Induction: Empowering Incoming Students at Edinburgh Napier University

1. ‘The Student-led Year-long Induction’ sparqs Conference 2019 SPEAKERS: Liz Scott Gary Donaldson Shelby Brown Emily McTaggart #enuestablish

2. Liz Scott Head of Widening Participation Edinburgh Napier University Introduction and reasoning behind starting the ESTABLISH project

3. Group is 100% run by students with no university staff involved – created to offer you support before you start uni and through-out your first year! You’re welcome! :P Invited to a join a closed Facebook group as soon as you are offered an unconditional firm offer! Group is run by a team of current students with first-hand knowledge of being a student at Edinburgh Napier – any questions will be answered quickly by those in the know! If a current student (or indeed any of your fellow incoming students) can’t answer your question you will be signposted to exactly the right contact within the university! Meet other new students even before your first day on campus – both virtually and in person – a chance to build social networks before you start your studies! Yay! Once your first semester begins get the opportunity to join a smaller group with one current student who will offer tips and tricks through-out the year based on their own experience! Get insider tips from the current students including how they handled all the first day nerves, how to build your timetable and which societies they are a part of! Invites to cool events – usually including free pizza – including Google Garage Workshops/Edinburgh Fringe performances/Socials!

4. Tweet about us! #ENUESTABLISH • Gary • Summer 2017 overview – start of 100% student-led induction project • Lessons learnt • Summer 2018 planning stage • ‘Early engagement and a sense of belonging’ • Summer 2018 overview • Summer onwards – Establish Mobility Trip • Successes and challenges

5. ESTABLISH Citizens fully in charge of planning, policy and management Citizens in dominant or veto-wielding positions over certain matters Shared planning through jointly-owned structures

6. We’ve been asked to speak at: • QAA Quality Matters 2018 • TSEP Enhancing Student Engagement Conference 2019 • sparqs Conference 2019 • QAA Conference 2019 • RAISE Conference 2019 • SEDA Spring Conference 2019 • European First Year Experience 2019 • … and we have been asked to present a dedicated Learning and Teaching Enhancement seminar at ENU in May 2019

7. The ESTABLISH team • Rachele • Alice • Shelby • Anjali • Molly • (Emily joined slightly later!)

8. ESTABLISH: Social Media Content

9. ESTABLISH Mobility Trip • Emily

10. 2018 Survey Results Are you glad that you joined the Widening Participation Facebook Group before starting at the University? 95% of incoming students within the group said YES.

11. What do you think is good about ESTABLISH? • The current students are willing to help in any way they can. • Having somewhere to ask all the little questions you have before you start and everyone is really friendly. • Easy to find information and help. • A feeling of being welcome to a new group. • It allows you to ask questions and knowing someone will help you if you need it. • Usually a fast response to any help we need. • Met friends prior to starting. • Updates and opportunities available, sense of support. • Somewhere to ask questions and be able to get a quick response and not have to wait on the phone for ages for a simple question. • It made it very easy to get answers on any queries and concerns before starting uni, and it also came from the perspective of students.

12. There’s a lot of support there. • It is a very open group and everyone on it is very friendly and willing to help out with problems that people have. • Met loads of new, nice people. • It made it very easy to get answers on any queries and concerns before starting uni, and it also came from the perspective of students. • Great community for new students. • It allows new students to find out more about the university, ask questions and find out about events as well as meeting other students before starting. • Having more senior student provide information. • A lot of questions have been posted on the page which were the same questions I had so I was able to look at the comments and find out information.

13. Overall, how would you rate the 100% student-led ESTABLISH? Average of 9 out of 10 Do you think being involved in ESTABLISH has made your entry to the university easier to handle? 90% said yes it had One comment stood out in particular… “By participating in ESTABLISH I felt welcome well before I even walked through the doors of the Uni”.

14. Would you suggest to a student joining the university in 2019 who is considering joining ESTABLISH to do so? 98% of incoming students said that they would

15. “Thank you, I would have been having a meltdown about half the stuff I was worrying about without this group”

16. The benefits ripple… • Edinburgh Napier University • ESTABLISH Team Lead • The ESTABLISH team • The Widening Participation team

17. Tom Evans Senior Widening Participation Officer – Access & Success Edinburgh Napier University “The development of the Establish Student Network has revolutionised the way we engage with our students. WP students can often be reluctant or anxious to engage with us as members of staff. Having a student voice that can signpost them to support services, help them navigate university systems, or even just offer reassurance that the issues they are facing have been experienced by other students who have overcome them, can really take a lot of the stress out of that difficult transition to Higher Education” #enuestablish

18. 2019/20 plans • Signpost 2018 entrants to newly created Facebook page • Opening of ESTABLISH: Autumn 2019 Entrants Facebook Group – recruitment and pre-production • Continuation of ‘Mini Groups’ through-out current academic year (‘What worked for us’) • Further training of current team (plus new recruits) – Google Garage/Mental Health etc • Utilisation of further platforms as they grow • Far greater focus on video content and podcasts • Building of Establish YouTube channel • Second half of ESTABLISH mobility trip • Succession planning and implementation/paper writing/public speaking opportunities

20. ESTABLISH: contact • Liz Scott • Head of Widening Participation • l.scott@napier.ac.uk • Gary Donaldson • Establish Team Lead • g.donaldson2@napier.ac.uk FOLLOW US: @enuestablish @elizabethscott222 @gary_j_don #ENUESTABLISH