A plan to give all De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) students the best possible experience during their studies has been unveiled.
The five-year-strategy outlines how DMU will ensure more students land great jobs after graduating; plug in to the local city network to gain vital experience and use their skills for the public good; and benefit from university programmes like #DMUlocal and #DMUglobal.
It has been created jointly between DMU staff and students as a result of workshops, exercises and discussion.
It was launched with an event held at the atrium in DMU’s Hugh Aston building, allowing students to learn about the strategy, talk about experiences which already work well and make suggestions for improvements.
Stalls arranged around the atrium introduced students to #DMUglobal, the university’s award-winning international travel programme, and #DMUlocal, the community outreach programme, through which students can use the skills they learn on their course to help with a variety of projects throughout the local area, gaining experience and making a big contribution to public good.
Over the next five years, DMU will develop methods to ensure students have a greater input in the kinds of projects, programmes and opportunities they want. Course representative positions will be created and students will be offered the chance to work on strategic project boards.
The university will build on the current Frontrunners and Graduate Champion opportunities, offering support through Employability Mentoring and creating new placement opportunities throughout a variety of industries, making sure each student’s chances of finding their dream job is fully realised.
Alongside this, the plan will see the expansion of the work done by DMU’s Centre for Accessibility Needs, Welfare and Disability teams, together with the counselling service, to make sure care for students’ mental and physical health is paramount and that DMU offers an open and welcoming environment for all students.
Keira Rounsley, Vice-President Welfare and Community for De Montfort Students’ Union, explained how the union helped deliver a great student experience.
She said: “People often think that the students’ union is just the bar but we are very much more than that.
“We have our advice team which supports students through housing, visas, finances and academic issues. We also have our sports and societies where you can have fun, get active and meet like-minded people.
“There’s Student Voice which listens to what students want and communicates this to the university and our mentoring programme, MyUniPal.”
Jo Cooke, Executive Director of Student and Academic Services, said at the launch that the strategy was the result of nine months of consultation.
She said: “This strategy has been drafted for students and that makes it unique. Not only have students been involved in the consultation but we had a student representative on our board and she has played a big part in its creation.”
Posted on Wednesday 16 November 2016