Our latest blog comes from our CEO, Joe McGinn. He delves into the world of how universities can support students from underrepresented backgrounds.
I’m sure I could see the window of my old seminar room as I approached University Place. I was back at the University of Manchester for our launch workshop for LifeCycle - our student success programme that supports students with the transition in and out of university.
Although I’ve spent a lot of time in Manchester since I graduated some 15 years ago, I hadn’t been back to this part of Oxford Road, and so the nostalgia was coming thick and fast.
As always with these trips down memory lane, your eye is scanning the local landmarks for consistencies and differences. Joshua Brooks and The Deaf Institute still looked open, Sound Control and Jabez Clegg were now student accommodation. The cars on Oxford Road were completely gone - but the buses still looked frequent and packed. The most striking change was I saw a few students wearing a t-shirt with no coat or jumper - in November in Manchester!
As I went inside and got ready for the students to arrive, I reflected on the progress that Manchester and the wider Higher Education sector have made in that time.
I was fortunate to receive a scholarship to study at Manchester, having come from a low-income household and being a ‘first-gen’ student. It was a brilliant example of widening participation in action and something I’m still enormously grateful for.
But, of course, getting into university and making a success of it are two different things. I had an exceptionally positive and happy three years at university and made friends I’ll have for life. But I found the transition to university study very difficult. Part of the reason, I think, was that I’d come from a sixth form that still felt a lot like school. Teachers chased you for work and there were consequences if you didn’t do it. University was completely different. Suddenly nobody was chasing me. I was expected to manage my own time and take individual responsibility for my own learning. I wasn’t able to do this and ended up failing modules in both my first and second year.
To be clear, I was an adult and had agency over my learning. But I know the challenges I experienced weren’t unique. The transition from a highly structured school environment to the independence of university can be difficult, particularly for students who have don’t have family members who have been through the experience themselves.
Looking back I don't think I needed someone telling me to work harder or attend more lectures. What I needed was help developing the self-awareness and accountability to do those things for myself. And that's why I’m really proud of the work we do with our LifeCycle programme. Rather than giving students the answers, we try to help them work through their own challenges and take ownership of their goals and progress.
It's been fantastic to see universities like Manchester increasingly recognise the importance of supporting students from underrepresented backgrounds not just to get into university, but to thrive and succeed once they're there. And as I watched the students arrive for their first LifeCycle workshop, I couldn't help thinking how much I would have valued that opportunity 15 years ago.
