Local Student Orientation Day
Published: 11 September 2014
The second Local Student Orientation Day took place on Friday, September 12th. The event aims to support new students who live at home and commute to campus, adult returners, those students who have previously been in care, and those who have attended a WP programme.
The second Local Student Orientation Day took place on Friday, September 12th. The event aims to support new students who live at home and commute to campus, adult returners, those students who have previously been in care, and those who have attended a WP programme. This group captures the majority of our MD40 entrants, the event being a relatively new initiative to aid their transition into University life.
Traditionally these students do not participate in Freshers’ Week, develop social groups, or access academic support networks as much as other students do, and consequently are at a greater risk of withdrawal. The Local Student Orientation Day – managed by the Widening Participation Team within the Recruitment and International Office - forms part of a wider schedule of enhanced engagement with these students during their first and second year. A small team comprising academic and service staff, in conjunction with the SRC, are taking this targeted approach forward, supporting the wider work of the Retention & Success Working Group.
The inaugural 2013 event was a sell out, with over 300 students attending, and, once again, despite an increased capacity of 650, the 2014 event was oversubscribed. The day itself involved WP staff and tutors, current students, Student Learning Service staff, College Advisors of Studies, the SRC and Mature Students Society, facilitating College-based groups of new students with morning sessions from College Advisors, Effective Learning Advisors, current students and the SRC. The afternoon saw the new students split into different groupings for a tailored range of sessions, including moodle familiarisation and an orientation quiz, with all of them coming together in the Unions for pre-Freshers’ Week activity, organised by the SRC, GUSA, QMU & GUU.
If you have any questions about the Orientation Day, or would like more information, please contact Jonathan Jones (Deputy Director: UK Recruitment & Widening Participation, RIO), on extension 3616.
First published: 11 September 2014
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