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Our Priorities 2020/21

We have agreed an overarching focus of ensuring a high-quality blended learning experience that enables our students to succeed and stand out, whatever their chosen path upon graduating. To help us move in the right direction, Education Executive identified six strategic priorities, four of which will move forward in 2020/21 and a further two strands that will continue into 2021/22.

1. Student Success and Inclusion

We will agree our institution-wide approach to improving participation and outcomes for all students and organise our capacity across teams to deliver this together. Central to this approach will be ensuring that the barriers faced by different groups are widely understood and tackled - especially as we learn, teach and assess differently than ever before. This will build on progress to date in improving to access to Warwick and maximise the opportunities for all of our students to succeed and stand out.

In practice, our attention is likely to focus on:

  • developing a framework for change in academic and professional services departments that sets out practical steps to close the black attainment gap and improve outcomes for student with disabilities and/or from lower-socio economic backgrounds.
  • building our learning community where students feel a strong sense of learning and belonging.
  • aligning the focus of central teams on shared priorities led by the Dean of Students Office.

    2. Enabling High Quality Blended Learning

    We will facilitate the right conditions for engaging blended learning across all subjects and levels of study. We will move at pace in the short-term to maximise student success in 2020/21 but will consciously learn from this and set a direction for the digital education at Warwick in the long-term.

    In practice, our attention is likely to focus on:

    • practical support for students and staff to feel confident in this new environment.
    • supporting students to connect digitally with and feel part of their learning community.
    • becoming more resilient and flexible as we navigate fast-changing external contexts.
    • embedding a joined-up and coherent approach to online teaching and learning across the University, with a plan for making the most of the tools that have been prioritised.

    3. Assessment

    We will implement major changes to the ways we assess student learning, from the design and diversification of assessment strategies through to the policy, process and systems that underpin assessment delivery. The student and staff experience of assessment will improve significantly, and the resilience of our approach will stand in good stead for unexpected challenges.

    In practice, our attention is likely to focus on:

    • implementing an end-to-end assessment management solution.
    • building on progress to date to enhance the design, delivery and diversity of online assessment.
    • completing priority elements of the remaining policy work from the Review of Assessment.
    • integrating assessment-related policy into a user-friendly Code of Practice for 2021/22.

    4. Enhancing our students’ employability and supporting them to stand out

    We will continue the development and delivery of a rich and varied range of co-curricular activities and opportunities for students, and support to enable them to harness these to stand out in the challenging graduate recruitment market.

    In practice, our attention is likely to focus on:

    • building student awareness of and engagement in Warwick Core Skills.
    • integrating Warwick alumni in supporting the employability of current students.
    • increasing the depth and breadth of student engagement in Enterprise learning.

    Longer-term planning and policy development for implementation from 2021/22

    5. Our Undergraduate Curriculum

    Through this year, we will bring together the ambitions for our undergraduate curriculum as articulated through the Education Strategy and its supporting plans, ready to deliver a number of curriculum refreshes each year from 2021/22 onwards.

    In practice, our attention is likely to focus on:

    • bringing together agreed strategies and policies (e.g., Credit and Module Framework, Employability Strategy, Internationalisation Strategy) into a single documented framework to inform curriculum design.
    • designing integrated support for academic departments drawing together the expertise across teams (e.g., IATL, Academic Technology, ADC, Student Opportunity, EPQ).
    • agreeing timescales for staggered curriculum refreshes each year from 2021/22 and the role of the ITLR in this.

    6. The postgraduate taught learning experience

    We will bring the postgraduate taught student learning experience to the fore of institutional work on Education, ensuring that we have a shared understanding of the distinctive PGT offer we are working towards.

    In practice, our attention is likely to focus on:

    • engaging PGT students and the wider University community in understanding the strengths and opportunities for enhancement in our PGT provision.
    • agreeing a plan and priorities for enhancing the experience of PGT students.
    • developing an online tool (PGT Portal) for students and staff to access information relevant to PGT study in one place.