NEON Summit: Students’ Unions and Widening Access – Effective Partnerships

NEON Summit

  • Date

      18/04/2018

  • Location/Venue

      Central Manchester (venue tbc shortly)

  • Time

      9:30 am - 4:00 pm

Book this event

Wednesday, 18 April 2018
9.30 – 16.00 (Registration from 9.30 – 10.00)
Central Manchester

Students remain a vital part of widening access work and their support with a range of initiatives has a huge impact on the learners with whom they interact. The NUS President, Shakira Martin, has said she wants “a renewed and extended focus on widening participation and access” and called for fair access to become “the priority we need it to be”. Many Students’ Unions are already carrying out innovative work to widen access but widening access practitioners in higher education institutions (HEIs) must look to support their endeavours and work in partnership with them thus ensuring a coherent approach.

Confirmed Speakers
Amatey Doku, Vice-President for Higher Education, NUS
Representatives from The University of Manchester Students’ Union
Representatives from Kings College London Students’ Union
Martin Webster, Operations Manager, NEON
More speakers to be announced shortly

This one day conference will look to facilitate discussions between Students’ Unions and widening access practitioners. It will highlight examples of best practice and help participants to recognise the benefits of working in partnership to achieve our shared goal of equality of access.

Who should attend?

  • Students’ Union Managers
  • Students’ Union Officers
  • Heads of Widening Participation
  • Widening Access Practitioners
  • Student Volunteering Managers

Preliminary Programme

9.30 – Registration
10.00 – Welcome and introductions (Steve Kendall, Char of NEON)
10.10 – Widening access – What needs to be done? (Amatey Doku, VP of HE, NUS)
10.40 – Effective partnerships (findings from survey) – How can Students’ Unions and institutions work together (Martin Webster, Operations Manager, NEON)
11.05 – Break
11.20 – Breakout Sessions: Examples of partnership working to widen access.
12.15 – Lunch
13.10 – Keynote address – Fair Access or Widening Access?
13.40 –  Breakout Sessions: Examples of partnership working to widen access
14.35 – Break
14.50 – Ensuring success and moving forward– Delegates to discuss barriers to effective partnership working and ideas about how these can be overcome to ensure success.
15.45 – Summary and close