Action Forums update and new forum announcement

July was a busy month for our forums and groups, with meetings of the Student Ambassador, Disability, Evidence and Evaluation, The Arts and Design and Care Experienced and Estranged Students forums.

Held across the first three weeks of the month, each forum reviewed their work from the academic year and explored their themes and outputs for 2017-18. We were also fortunate to welcome a number of external organisations to speak with our members, including A New Direction to The Arts and Design forum, DnA to our Disability forum, and Stand Alone, Become and representatives from the GLA’s Education and Youth team to our Care Experienced and Estranged Students forum.

Each forum’s updated objectives and planned activity for the next academic year will be added to the AccessHE website when confirmed, but some exciting plans include:

• new versions of the successful and collaborative Life After University event (for care leavers currently studying at university) and Student Ambassador Conference in 2018;
• development of an employability resource to support skill development and progression for student ambassadors; and
• a members’ survey and sharing practice report on evidencing and evaluating raising attainment activity within schools and colleges.

We’re also excited to announce that we plan to launch a new forum for mature and part-time students for 2017-18. This new forum has been set up in response to feedback from our members who are interested to explore the area further and work collaboratively to tackle some of the main barriers facing this group. OFFA has recently described the downward trend in mature student numbers as “one of the most pressing issues in fair access to higher education” and is encouraging universities and colleges to take urgent action.

Next year’s forum dates can be found on the events page. If you have any questions relating to our forums and groups, please contact Sam Turner, London Programmes Coordinator, at sam.turner@londonhigher.ac.uk.