A guest posting from Elliott Lancaster
- Education Officer/Trustee – Keele University Student’s Union
- Trustee/Director – Staffordshire Wildlife Trust
- Managing Director – Utter Rubbish Ltd
- Accounting and Finance (First Class Hons)
Presenting at the Open University was a fantastic experience. It was truly insightful to gain an understanding of the approaches used by other institutions. It was fantastic to see the breadth of student involvement in all forms of education collaboration and programme co-design. I was truly blown away by the range of activities taking place, which even included a hackathon focusing on the health and wellbeing agenda. One of the key highlights for me was watching Ruby Granger, the opening keynote for day one. It was truly inspiring to understand her student journey at the University of Exeter, where she spends a significant amount of time supporting other students with her inspirational study tips and ‘study-with-me’ sessions on YouTube.
I thoroughly enjoyed the event and would strongly encourage other students to take part in the future. Personally, I gathered a considerable amount of substantive feedback as part of the discussion on my presentation about Keele’s Elective Pathways. I am really looking forward to attending the next CAN conference at Birmingham City University in 2020. I know that this will be a great event with a series of thought-provoking debates and discussions.
Keele University has a steep history in embedding student opportunities throughout all that we do. This year we are celebrating our 70th anniversary and I believe that our Students as Partners initiative shows that this commitment is stronger than ever.
Therefore, it is my pleasure to announce that Keele will be hosting the 2021 Change Agents’ Network Conference in partnership with Jisc. Organising this conference will be extremely rewarding, ensuring that students are a fundamental part of the decision-making process. I can’t wait to tell you more about this soon…
Message from Sarah Knight, Head of change: Student experience, Jisc
“Jisc is delighted to be working with Keele University on hosting and organising the Change agents’ network (CAN) 9th annual conference in 2021. The CAN network is now self sustaining and shows the continued commitment to student partnerships across further and higher education. Student partners are driving forward curriculum change within their institution and having a real impact on students’ experiences. We look forward to working with Keele University in planning the 2021 CAN conference.”
