Recognising students' contributions
Recognising students' contributions
Making the whole experience valuable
Whether a paid or volunteering role, there are many ways to help students feel good about their engagement and get the most out of the opportunity. It’s important to create an experience that feels meaningful from start to finish. This means:
- Clear Purpose- ensure students understand the value of their role and how it contributes to a wider goal
- Visible Impact- show how their work makes a difference - whether to peers, staff, or the broader community
- Personal Growth- highlight the skills and confidence they’re building through their involvement
- Community- involve students as part of the team
- Show Appreciation- celebrate achievements and encourage students to showcase their work e.g. on LinkedIn and other social media if they wish
Paying students:
Students need to be treated as paid workers if they are expected and obliged by prior agreement to:
- Attend and carry out a job at expected times, or on an hourly basis
- Carry out specific work allocated by you
- Complete agreed tasks to an agreed standard.
- Follow given instructions
Like with any other employment, student candidates should demonstrate they meet the role requirements to be appointed. This may be through a short interview process.
Setting the pay rate:
Pay rates for student staff should fairly reflect the responsibilities, required skills, and nature of the role. Calculate the rate in the same way you would for any member of temporary staff, based on the Warwick pay scales (there isn't a student rate).
When determining a rate, you should consider key factors such as the complexity of tasks, the level of supervision provided, and any training or preparation needed. For further guidance, the example roles may be useful or speak to your HR business partner.
Important to note
These grades are intended as a starting point and should be adapted where necessary to reflect the specific demands of the role. The more responsibility and ownership, should equate to a higher spinal point within the grades.
Volunteering:
In contrast to paid role criteria, volunteering implies there is an expectation, but no obligation, for students to turn up. The student’s non-attendance on the day doesn’t derail the activity going ahead; it can happen the same without them. There is:
- No obligation on the student to turn up
- No obligation to carry out specific work or accept specific tasks
Volunteering engagements are not payable, but you may wish to recognise students contribution with a gesture of thanks such as a voucher, and you should cover their travel or other expenses where relevant.
Examples of volunteering tasks include could be taking part in a workshop or completing a survey.
If you're looking for further advice, please contact
Incentives
If you’re using incentives for students such as a prize draw or voucher this needs to align with the University’s Financial Regulations.
Prize draws
All prize draws must follow the University’s approved Terms and Conditions and compliance with legal and advertising standards agency compliance.
Vouchers
Vouchers must be offered in compliance with the Universities Financial Regulations and the MRS Code of Conduct.
- A maximum of £25 voucher per participant
- In this instance, there is no cap on the number of vouchers per event or activity
Vouchers are supplied through Edenred:
Staff should be advised to distribute the vouchers in the same financial year they are purchased.
Food and drink
We always recommend recognising students' time, this is particularly important if what you're doing will take a long time. In addition to any thank you gestures or prize draws, we would also recommend providing refreshments, especially if you activity falls over a mealtime.
Important Contacts
If in doubt, contact your FinRegs champion, who will be able to advise more directly on your individual circumstances!
Small ways to show appreciation
To help students feel part of the team, we introduced our team of paid Student Inclusion Officers to the department early on via an informal welcome lunch. Everyone brought their own lunch so it was low effort and cost, but it was great at setting the tone and providing an opportunity for everyone to meet and connect informally.
Izzy Gatward, Inclusive Education Team
Small ways to show appreciation
When developing the new central academic skills provision, we ran two workshops with students to gather their views and opinions on what the resource should look like. To encourage attendance, we gave everyone a £10 voucher to spend at the food outlets around campus and provided pizzas. It went down really well and we had lots of people turn up.
Siobhan McHugh, Dean of Students Office
Small ways to show appreciation
We recently recruited for some student co-creators and were in the fortunate position of having too many applicants for the role. I made sure to carve out some time to offer everyone we interviewed some feedback - both via email and the offer of an in-person/teams call. For many, this was their first professional interview! It helped show we appreciated everyone's interest and time and also gave the candidates some tangible things they could work on for the future.
Michelle Watson, Student Experience Division
Warwick Award
Involving students in your project provides them with a valuable opportunity to develop skills and gain experience. At Warwick, students can earn a digital badge and accumulate points towards the Warwick AwardLink opens in a new window — a formal recognition of their extracurricular contributions beyond academic studies.
If your project falls under the category of co-creation, there is already a section for this in the Warwick Award.
If the co-creation role doesn't suit your project, you can enquire with the Warwick Award about gaining recognition.
Students are also eligible for a LinkedIn badge when they complete a co-creation role and the Warwick Award requirements.