Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education (Oct 2023)
Addressing the awarding gap, fostering belonging: developing enhanced academic skills support for our Birmingham Scholars
Abstract
In academic year 20/21, the University of Birmingham launched the ‘Birmingham Scholar’ programme as part of its Access and Participation Plan (University of Birmingham, 2019). This is a university-wide programme, supporting undergraduate students from under‐represented backgrounds, to achieve their full academic potential. This presentation explored the central role of our Academic Skills Centre team in supporting the Birmingham Scholar programme, since its initiation. Alongside the support we provide to all our taught students, our team also run a centralised, enhanced programme of academic skills and peer support for all Birmingham Scholar students. Currently, this includes tailored workshops and online guidance, enhanced opportunities for personalised one-one support and a dedicated, cross-discipline Peer-Assisted Study Scheme to aid with first-year transition and belonging at university. Through this enhanced programme, we aim to improve student success for our Birmingham Scholars by increasing their academic confidence, fostering a sense of belonging, and developing future skills along the way. Attendees to the session discovered: • The development and delivery of our enhanced academic skills support offer so far, including evaluation of its successes and challenges. • Preliminary quantitative evidence which suggests the Scholar programme may help to reduce awarding gaps by improving degree outcomes for Scholars who engage with the programme. • Our future aims for the programme. These include goals to increase engagement with College academic Access and Participation leads to further embed and target our academic skills offer, provide a more holistic range of support by collaborating more widely with colleagues in areas such as our Careers Network, and foster further opportunities for peer-to-peer support.
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