University News Last updated 30 April 2013
Birmingham City University’s pioneering work in student engagement is being showcased in a new book launched this week.
‘Student Engagement – Identity, Motivation and Community’ sets out the University’s commitment to partnership and student-centred learning and contains 15 chapters collaboratively written by 43 students and staff at Birmingham City University, showing clear and true examples of student engagement in a university setting.
Liam Burns, President of the National Union of Students, introduces the book, in which he applauds Birmingham City University for their pioneering Student Engagement work. He said: “This book represents an incredibly powerful attempt to shed light on what partnership could look like in a 21st-century institution.”
Through a variety of student engagement projects with the values of partnership and collaboration at the core, Birmingham City University aims for its students to be at the heart of design and delivering learning development. Elgan Hughes, President of Birmingham City Students’ Union, added: “The Students’ Union, together with the University, have championed the growing role of students within their learning experience for many years now and we are delighted that this book brings our book together in a true showcase of real student engagement activities.”
And the work that Birmingham City University is leading in goes much further. Over the last four years the University’s award winning Student Academic Partners (SAP) Scheme has employed students alongside staff member within projects to develop the learning community. Building upon that success the University has recently supported projects underneath the Student Academic Mentoring Programme (StAMP) and Collaborative Projects (Co-Lab) umbrella.
“Just recently we have employed our 1,000th student within our ‘Opportunity Student Jobs on Campus’ scheme. And earlier this month we held our second Student Led Learning and Teaching Awards which celebrated winners and runners up of over 270 nominations submitted by students,” added Elgan Hughes.
Published by Libri Publishing Ltd, ‘Student Engagement – Identity, Motivation and Community’ is available to purchase online from Amazon.
Elgan Hughes added: "I was fortunate enough to be a part of this whole project and I’m very proud to see the chapter and book I was part of, being published.
"For me as a student having my thoughts, experiences and lessons written down and published is a really big deal, and don’t underestimate how much this will mean to me and my fellow students. This is what Birmingham City University and the Students’ Union are becoming very good at, creating opportunities for students they wouldn’t necessarily have the chance to take before.
"We have got a real history of working in partnership with students and what we have produced is a great example of why. There is a real quality to this book. The fact that students have played such a significant part in documenting their role within the University adds real value and weight to the stories the book tells.
"There has been a real shift in the culture of seeing students as valued partners, I think the partnership between the Students’ Union and University has had its part to play in that, and it’s great to be able to communicate and tell that story in this book."