Using Frameworks to Unlock Potential Through Higher Education

Stuart has over 20 years’ experience within higher education with extensive experience in designing and developing strategic, institutional-wide change. In his role as Senior Consultant, Education at Advance HE, he focuses on both thought leadership and providing evidence-based solutions to support institutions, educators, and students. Stuart has a proven record of delivering transformative initiatives to enhance the overall student experience in academia. He is driven to empower students to reach their maximum academic potential, achieving this by prioritising their well-being, ensuring an inclusive approach, and fostering and maintaining collaborative efforts. Stuart’s experience includes over 15 years in management and leadership, he is a Principal Fellow (PFHEA), a fully certified advanced LEGO® Serious Play® facilitator, and holds an MA in Learning and Teaching and an M.St in Applied Criminology and Police Management (Cantab).

For the last five years, I have been working on a project to enhance student success in Higher Education (HE). This project has been to update and enhance the student success framework series that provides frameworks in several thematic areas designed to enhance success. The work has created numerous networks, opportunities, friends, and, being honest, some sleepless nights! When the last iterations of the frameworks was launched in 2015/16 they were very much focussed on transformative practices. For several years these had underpinned a range of activity across the HE sector, and while still relevant, the sector had evolved significantly in this time. The proposal therefore was to strengthen the evidence base that supports all the thematic areas, with a particular focus on ensuring its global relevance for the HE sector. It was also to include three new frameworks in:

Education for sustainable development
Inclusive learning and teaching
Enterprise and entrepreneurship

To supplement the updated areas of:

Transforming Assessment in Higher Education
Embedding Employability in Higher Education
Student Access, Retention, Attainment and Progression
Student Engagement through Partnership
Internationalising Higher Education
Flexible Learning in Higher Education

The update and enhancement to the series began with the first literature review published in September 2021. Across the frameworks, the reviews have been utilised alongside the integration of grey literature, policy papers, case studies, and sector feedback. The whole process has been undertaken considerately to ensure that the series remains ‘of the sector and for the sector’.

The frameworks are not prescriptive – this is an important point – while they frame the issue based on the evidence and literature, there is no desire to insist each area is adopted or that other models or frameworks are wrong. What they provide are the key elements that have been triangulated across the approach and shown to be important in enhancing each thematic area. They leverage research, literature, and sector feedback to highlight key elements for enhancing student success. Further, the frameworks are designed to cater to both those new to a specific theme and those deeply involved in research or practice. To achieve this, it is not an easy task. Throughout the project we have adopted the aphorism that ‘perfect is the enemy of good’ – indeed it is arguable that perfection cannot be achieved in each area. However, this should not dissuade us from improving practice and offering these considered dials to the sector. To highlight this point, it is worth sharing the major challenge we faced – distilling 50,000+ word reviews, hours of sector engagement, and hundreds of additional resources into approximately 1,200 words. There are many things to consider, but primarily, nuance and context can become inadvertently obscured, and language can become unclear with meanings lost. We have listened to feedback as these have been launched and edits have and will be made to simplify language and to create clearer definitions of terms. For example, we started with the term ‘educators’, which was always intended to encompass wider roles than academics, but has since become ‘educators +’ within the dials of the frameworks and the description within the text has become ‘educators and related staff’.

This introduction is necessary for those perhaps unfamiliar with the work of Advance HE, a member-led charity that works with partners across the globe to improve HE for staff, students, and society. But now to the question of what does it means to be successful in HE? The simple answer is – it’s different for everyone. Here I hope to unpack just a little of what student success can look like – none of the points are exhaustive or designed in any particular way – more of a springboard to start thinking and engaging with the range of thematic areas that enhance student success – and how universities around the world can help their students achieve it.

Success is More Than Just Grades. While good grades are important, student success is about much more. It’s about gaining knowledge, developing skills, and growing as a person. Success can involve:

Academic/Discipline Achievement: Excelling in their chosen field of study.
Careers, entrepreneurship, and further qualifications: Moving smoothly into a job, starting a business, or pursuing further studies.
Engagement: Deepening understanding of the programme and actively allowing students to participate in their learning journey.
Transferrable skills acquisition: Building valuable transferrable ‘skills’ including critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving.
Co-Curricular Activities: Enabling participation in campus life, including clubs, sports, and volunteer work.

The Right Support Makes All the Difference. HE Providers play a pivotal role in supporting success. The complete series is designed to help both institutions and educators and related staff to do just that – It encourages institutions to consider a raft of aspects that influence success, including:

The student lifecycle: From accessing HE to providing clear learning goals and effective assessments.
Skills mastery: Equipping students with the skills employers are looking for, what can support business ventures and/or further study, so they’re ready for your next step.
Mattering and belonging: Enabling students and staff to feel connected to their campus community.
Global outlook: Preparing students to be responsible citizens in an increasingly interconnected world.
Learning options: Providing students with increased choices about how, what, when, and where they learn, so they can fit studies around life.

When HE providers focus on student success, everyone wins;

Students graduate with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to achieve their goals.
Educators and related staff have the satisfaction of knowing they’re helping students reach their full potential.
Institutions attract and retain students, building a strong reputation, and contributing positively to society.

HE is a transformative experience. By working together institutions, educators, and related staff, alongside students can create an environment where everyone thrives. The framework series helps across the three levels to do this by remaining flexible whilst providing structure for a systematic approach that offers consistency, enabling students to maximise success across their learning journey, embracing the opportunities offered, and unlocking their full potential.

While the framework series is now updated, the work is not finished! We will continue to support you, our members, across the sector.

Two fabulous resources, ChangeBusters and Assessment and Feedback Superchargers have already been developed from the series. These real, practical resources are developed from the literature to enable colleagues to engage with current practice without the need to distil the reviews in their entirety.

Coming soon, we have a resource in Education for Sustainable Development and one in the 3Es of employability, enterprise, and entrepreneurship that will be published by the end of 2024.

All the frameworks make direct reference to the Professional Standards Framework 2023 supporting colleagues’ continued professional development (CPD). Our programmes and events, (where appropriate) also align with the series.

Ultimately, student success is the responsibility of all who work in HE. The research certainly points to a critical need in developing a more integrated and collaborative approach to the core areas in order to enhance success. The student success framework series provides a rationale and framing of the challenges that are often positioned within and across learning and teaching strategies. Now, I urge colleagues to think of the synergies and to maximise efficiencies, as we move beyond considering these in isolation.

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