Our new Mature Student Advisory Board
I really am going to have to try and contain my excitement while writing this!
Creating a Mature Student Advisory Board is something we’ve been thinking about for a while, and we’re so happy to see it come to life.
In the Lifelong Learning Centre (LLC) we’re always working to improve the experiences of mature students across the University but don’t always have clear pathways to understand what works and what doesn’t, where in the University they feel welcome or unwelcome, and how we can spread the word about our specialist services and support for mature undergraduates so they can make the most of it.
We’ve seen lots of advisory boards and similar structures pop up in recent years, including the International Student Advisory Board and the Disability Services Panel, which have worked brilliantly to elevate student voice and improve services, structures and processes - and we felt this was missing for the students we work with.
After doing some research into similar boards and panels across the University and having lots of really useful conversations with staff and students who have been involved with these, we decided that creating an advisory board for mature students was the right thing to do and felt it would be a huge benefit to represent the diversity of the mature student community.
“We are a strong community but can sometimes fall to the wayside - therefore the MSAB can provide a vital opportunity for new and exciting initiatives to be born.” — Carole Huntley, 3rd Year BA Professional Studies
In discussion with colleagues within the LLC and the wider University, Laura Conroy (Student Success Officer), Paul Devlin (Student Support Officer) and myself (Lauren Huxley, Student Experience Officer) created the MSAB in October 2021. We agreed a purpose of serving the diversity of the mature student community and bringing their voices and experiences to the heart of the LLC and the University more widely. The collective aim of the board is for the members’ shared expertise and personal experiences to inform and direct the development of our service offer, other services across the University, and to maximise engagement with the Centre amongst the mature student community (staff and students at the University of Leeds can view the full terms of reference for the board here).
We opened applications up to all mature undergraduate students at the University with an aim to recruit from each faculty and ensure a representation from across a range of different experiences and protected characteristics. We received 56 applications for the 15 paid positions on the board and were able to recruit students from every faculty. The applications were of an incredible standard and, reading through them, we felt that the need for this space became even more clear.
“I wanted to be involved in how mature students could be better represented within the University. I thought my experience could be of benefit to the board.” — Joe Baxter, 1st Year BA Geography with Transport Studies
We’ve held two meetings so far with the intention of holding four across the academic year, with agenda items from staff and students. Our first meeting on 30th November 2021 was an introductory session to help the board get to know one another and for them to influence and shape the purpose and future of the group. Students identified the areas they would like the board to focus on, which included inclusivity, logistics (moving, commuting, timetabling challenges), the social element of university (societies, mature student society), parenting/caring and pregnancy, disability support (visible and invisible), first impressions and welcome activities.
Our second meeting was on 2nd February 2022. Our key agenda items were engagement and activities for mature students of similar ages, the LLC service offer, a conversation with the Leeds University Union Exec and reflections on sense of belonging in student spaces. We were delighted to also have Jeff Grabill (Deputy Vice Chancellor for Student Education at Leeds) attend the meeting and speak to students about their experiences of university — the highlights and the challenges — and to discuss how his work can influence these areas.
We’re really pleased with the Board’s progress so far and we’re excited to see the impact it will have on not only the LLC but the whole University community. We currently have approximately 1750 mature undergraduate students at Leeds and this is an important step in ensuring we’re creating an environment where these students belong, feel welcome and are supported to thrive and succeed.
“I have found it incredibly interesting to hear the points of view of other mature students, especially those with different backgrounds to me. However, I have also found it really comforting when hearing from other students that have had similar experiences to me, and feel the same way about certain things, which is nice because there aren’t really any other mature students on my course so it’s good to know other mature students feel the same way.” — Ellie Pippen, 4th Year Zoology
The next meeting will be held at the end of March before the spring break. If you’d like to find out more about the board or would like to talk to us about bringing an agenda item to the next meeting, please complete this form or drop me an email at l.r.huxley@leeds.ac.uk.
I look forward to hearing from you!
