Student engagement

Student engagement is central to the success of higher education. Engaged students learn deeper and therefore perform better as a result, and enjoy their experiences at university more. This is recognised in the Curriculum Framework:

Programmes are planned to ensure that students are well prepared and actively engaged in their learning and are designed to make use of learning hours and to encourage and enable careful planning of independent study time.

A number of factors may contribute to student engagement. Offering students more choice in their assessments, both in terms of research design and assessment method At the heart of the Curriculum Framework, however, is engaging students as partners in designing the curriculum:

Students are actively involved in shaping the curriculum and are supported through their studies by a variety of academic and pastoral support services.

The process of curriculum review offers an excellent opportunity to get deeper student engagement in the design of the curriculum. You may be able to involve students in the process, negotiating a curriculum that benefits both partners, and bringing them into design decisions, making them more transparent.