Successful Catalyst Fund bid
Thu, 09 Mar 2017 11:08:00 GMT
THE University of Huddersfield is working in partnership with three Universities on a £485,000 project designed to ensure that students confronted by extra hurdles can get the most from their studies. The special challenge of living at home and facing a long commute to and from university will be Huddersfield’s focus during the two-year scheme and Huddersfield will also lead on co-ordinating and evaluating the project.
The money comes from the Catalyst Fund administered by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The goal is to drive innovation in the HE sector and HEFCE issues regular calls, inviting universities to submit bids to receive funding for special projects. One of the latest was titled 'Addressing Barriers to Student Success'. Huddersfield assembled a partnership with the Universities of Lincoln, Manchester Metropolitan and Coventry.
HEFCE has now announced that the Catalyst Fund bid was successful and the four universities in the partnership will each concentrate on different challenges faced by certain students to develop interventions that personal tutors can deploy to enable students to achieve the success they deserve.
"Huddersfield will focus on activities that we can use to support our commuter students, who live at home. We have a higher than average number of these and they face particular challenges," said Professor Christine Jarvis, who is the University of Huddersfield’s Pro Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning.
About half of Huddersfield’s students live at home during their degree studies. This is one of the highest rates in the UK – 20 per cent is closer to the average – and although most commuter students do well, it is a recognised national phenomenon that they face special difficulties, said Prof Jarvis.
Journey time to and from university, plus a possible lack of space and facilities for study at home, can be among the factors that provide a barrier to success for commuter students.
Now the University of Huddersfield – with the Catalyst Fund award – will develop interventions to provide support when it is needed.
“This is not a research project. It’s a doing project, designed to make a difference. We want to see real changes in student achievement at the end of it," said Prof Jarvis.
