A strategic approach to education informed by consultation with our staff and students
Education is a fast-moving and strategic priority for research intensive universities, such as Imperial.
It is important that our community have their say and feel able to influence our approach to our overarching objectives and our individual projects. As such, please find details of past, present, and future consultation and feedback opportunities hosted by the Education Office or associated teams.
Past Consultation Opportunities – Learning and Teaching Strategy Refresh
Background
Five years since the launch of the Learning and Teaching Strategy (LTS) programme in 2017, and having overcome many of the immediate pressures presented by the global COVID-19 pandemic, there was a unique opportunity during the 2022-23 academic year to reflect on our experiences and refocus the core aims of our strategy for the future.
The pandemic presented a complex set of challenges for the provision of education and the wider student experience, but it also provided an unparalleled opportunity to accelerate the university's ambitions in educational delivery through transformation to a multi-mode environment. It also expedited opportunities for staff to employ technology in novel ways to efficiently deliver education without compromising quality. Imperial students had to adapt to new ways of accessing their education while simultaneously facing new challenges in adapting to a changed world. They needed to overcome barriers presented by disrupted education and emerge from their studies into an uncertain economy globally, and careers which will demand a new composite skill set, one which prioritises emotional resilience, flexibility and creativity alongside exacting technical knowledge.
Approach
To ensure that the LTS remained relevant, we embarked upon a project to articulate the ambitions of our staff and students, and to collect their feedback on the approaches adopted to meet the LTS priorities.
To capture a diverse range of views, consultation was conducted using a multi-modal approach, allowing the Imperial community to share thoughts and reflections on the focus of the LTS and give feedback on how the College was delivering its aims for education. It included: ‘Town Hall’ meetings, an online survey, a ‘pop-up’ consultation at the Festival of Learning and Teaching, a discussion with the Heads of Department and a workshop held with the Faculty Vice-Deans of Education. In total over 230 individuals provided inputs. Additionally, the results of NSS and PTES surveys acted as a source of insight for the consultation. Imperial College Union (ICU) were consulted throughout the process and provided valuable perspectives to guide the development of the objectives.
Results
When asked what an ‘excellent education’ meant to them, participants most frequently replied: ‘inclusive’ and ‘skills’, often in close conjunction with ‘transferable’. Also appearing frequently were: ‘Supportive’, student-centred’, ‘research-informed’, ‘collaborative’, ‘engaging’ and ‘innovate’. These most frequent responses were well aligned to the strategic priorities for education as articulated in the LTS.
Participants were also asked to rank the LTS priorities in their own order of importance. ‘Discovery-based degrees that challenge students to achieve their full potential’ and the way in which students are taught were ranked as the most important of our priorities by the greatest number of respondents. The use of our physical and virtual spaces, the expansion of continuation opportunities and diversifying our student body were rated of lower importance by some respondents but this reflects an expressed notion that generally individual students and members of staff have less agency and ownership of these areas.
Furthermore, participants were asked to rate how well they felt the College was achieving the LTS priorities. Respondents tended to rate the university as doing well in achieving discovery-based degree programmes, providing a diverse range of assessment and feedback approaches, and using a range of experiential teaching and learning opportunities. Conversely, respondents tended to rate the College as not doing well in using physical and virtual space creatively, fostering collaboration across disciplines and expanding continuing education.
When asked what the Imperial community needed to do to achieve a participant’s own vision for excellence, teaching approaches and curriculum content were most frequently cited in comments, closely followed by assessment. Workload for staff and students were cited as a key barrier for excellence, as was facilitating communities for staff and students.
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