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Students around the country put the university experience under the spotlight

28 January 2008

Over the next two weeks students across the country will grill higher education experts on teaching, funding and accommodation in order to help improve the university experience for everyone.

As part of the Government's new 'Student Listening Programme', launched by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, a series of Student Juries are being held in Manchester, London, Bristol and Sheffield with ordinary students. The jurors have the opportunity to give their verdict on a range of issues affecting students today.

John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills said:

The Government believes that the views of students should have a real influence on higher education policy. We need to hear students' views so that we can help improve the university experience for them and future learners. These Student Juries will help set the agenda for the new National Student Forum which in turn will help shape the priorities for Ministers.

The Government is committed to a new style of politics and citizen engagement and a number of Citizens' Juries have already been held to debate a wide range of policy issues giving the Government an opportunity to listen to the views and concerns of a broad spectrum of people all over the country.

In the same way, Student Juries are being held to draw out the experiences of students who might not normally have their voices heard in Government and to give them direct access to experts and policy-makers.

Five Student Juries are being held between November 2007 and February 2008. The juries are intended to gather students' views on a number of issues in time for the launch of the National Student Forum, which is a major new initiative dedicated to putting students' views at the heart of Government.

Notes to Editors

  1. For more information about the Student Listening Programme, visit http://www.dius.gov.uk/press/18-10-07.html
  2. The views expressed by members of the student juries will inform the work of the National Student Forum when it is established in 2008. The Forum will be a real voice for students in Government, with the freedom to set its own agenda and explore policy issues. It will produce an annual report, to which the government has committed to respond.
  3. Juries are deliberately being composed of 'ordinary' students (i.e. not sabbatical officers or student governors) so as to facilitate a genuine debate about students' experiences and expectations.
  4. Students across the country have been invited to become jurors. They are selected at random but are intended to be representative of the wider student community (full and part-time undergraduates; postgraduates; international students and students with disabilities).
  5. The first jury has already been held (for international students) which was well attended and received; evidence that students are engaging with the campaign.
  6. The Student Listening Campaign is being actively supported by student representative organisations - National Union of Students; National Postgraduate Committee; Mature Students' Union; Skill: national bureau for students with disabilities; Open University Students' Association and the British Council - and is intended to compliment, not overshadow, the work that the Government already does with these organisations.
  7. The cost of staging the juries is being met from existing budgets, with the Higher Education Funding Council for England and DIUS hosting most of the juries at their own offices.