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Student Listening Programme

In October 2007, DIUS launched the Student Listening Programme, designed to amplify the student voice in Government.

The Listening Programme has four elements:

  • All DIUS Ministers are touring Higher Education Institutions, taking part in question and answer sessions with students
  • A new Minister for Students, Baroness Delyth Morgan, has explicit responsibility for speaking up for students' views and interests in Government
  • A National Student Forum has been established, in partnership with student representation and advocacy groups, to provide a student perspective on emerging policy areas, to help to evaluate the impact of existing policy on students in different circumstances and to initiate discussion on areas of potential policy development
  • A series of five “student juries” has been held around the country, giving students an opportunity to hear from sector experts, to speak out about their own experiences of higher education, and to vote on the issues they think should be top priorities for policy makers and the National Student Forum

The Student Listening Programme is part of the Government's commitment to a new style of politics and citizen engagement, giving the users of public services opportunities to have their say in how these should be delivered. The Listening Programme builds on mechanisms such as the National Student Survey, now it its third year, which has become an accepted and respected means of capturing student views on specific aspects of their academic experience.

Student Juries

DIUS held four Student Juries, each made up of students from a range of backgrounds, institutions and subject areas, in London, Bristol, Manchester and Sheffield in early 2008, along with an additional jury specifically for international students in London in November 2007. An independent company prepared reports on all five juries. These were provided to the National Student Forum members at their first meeting at the end of February 2008 to inform their discussions, and are now publicly available on the DIUS website on the Student Juries page.

National Student Forum

The members of the National Student Forum have been drawn from nominations put forward by the following bodies:

  • The National Union of Students
  • The National Postgraduate Committee
  • The Mature Students' Union
  • The Open University Students' Association
  • Skill: the bureau for students with disabilities
  • The British Counci

These organisations have worked with DIUS to ensure that the membership of the Forum is broadly representative of the student population.

The Forum also has an independent Chair, Maeve Sherlock.

The National Student Forum sets its own agenda. It will produce its first annual report in the autumn, to which Ministers have pledged to respond publicly.