In this insightful post, Rie Shigemori, a Student Experience Assistant at the School of Economics at The University of Edinburgh, delves into their journey and initiatives designed to foster a more inclusive and engaging academic environment. Since joining in October 2022, Rie has been instrumental in revolutionising the student representative scheme and introducing significant ‘intercultural’ events, thereby nurturing a welcoming community that celebrates diversity and student voices. These efforts reflect the university’s ongoing commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, ensuring every student feels valued and heard. This post belongs to the Oct-Nov Learning & Teaching Enhancement theme: Engaging and Empowering Learning at The University of Edinburgh.
How can we create a community where students feel their voices are heard and their cultures, backgrounds, and identities are seen, valued, and embraced?
This question has always existed since I joined The University of Edinburgh in September 2021. After exploring ways to foster a sense of community as a student on a one-year Masters programme, I joined the Student Experience (SE) team at the School of Economics in October 2022. In this position, I have taken two approaches for students to feel stronger that they are valued members of the School.
Reforms of the School’s student representative (Rep) scheme
For a student to feel valued in a community, it is vital for the School community to recognise their voice and have a platform where their feedback and ideas are appreciated. One avenue for student voice to be heard is through the Rep scheme and the Student-Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC), where Reps and staff discuss solutions to improve the student experience and the University community. Concerned by the issues detected at one of the School’s SSLCs, I proposed and implemented structural reforms of the School’s Reps scheme in liaison with the School’s Director of Undergraduate Studies and the Manager of Student Administration.
Here are two key changes to the scheme:
- Increased Rep’s input throughout the scheme: including an opportunity to propose School survey questions, analyse the anonymised School survey responses, produce a report based on the feedback and share it with key School staff, and summarise feedback at the SSLC before key school staff respond
- Sufficient guidance and support to Reps from Student Experience through in-house meetings to clarify their responsibilities, boosting the Rep’s sense of responsibility and confidence
This new Rep scheme was piloted for one semester in 2022-23 and implemented for the full academic year in 2023-24. This reform is highly recognised by both Reps and staff. The staff members were satisfied with the higher efficiency and effectiveness of the SSLC. Importantly, through this reform, Reps feel more confident in their role – with more opportunities to speak up with ‘data’ – and all Reps fed back that they felt that their voice was heard more.
Co-creating an ‘intercultural’ event with students
As an international student coming from East Asia to the United Kingdom, I remember feeling my culture, background, and identities were not seen or recognised in certain spaces during my Masters. This affected my well-being and exacerbated a sense of isolation. Through student’s anecdotes, I identified that many students share similar experiences due to the lack of opportunities where their cultures and traditions are welcomed. This led me to propose a small-scale Spring Festival celebration at the School of Economics in February 2024, which is possibly the first School-hosted celebration outside of Western tradition.
This informal event was purposefully co-created by student volunteers so that they could feel a stronger sense of ownership of it. Volunteers contributed in whatever way they wished, including:
- Bringing festive food and snacks to share with participants
- Exhibiting a student-made poster that writes what the celebration means to them
- Performing live musical pieces
- Creating festive decorations at the arts-and-craft table
Joined by students and staff, this ‘intercultural’ event was an opportunity for participants to not only enjoy their practices and traditions that they are familiar with, feeling that they are seen, but also share their celebration through food, art, music, crafts, and casual conversations with those who do not celebrate the occasion.
Image credit Rie Shigemori
I hope that this blog post shines a light on how non-academic staff can contribute to building a sense of community through many approaches. “We all have a role to play in fostering belonging” (The Fostering a Sense of Belonging at our University, p.1). All staff – whether academic or non-academic – matter in the establishment of a community where the students’ voice and their culture, background, and identities are embraced, if that is what the University aspires to become.
Rie Shigemori
Rie (they/them) works as the Student Experience Assistant at the School of Economics since October 2022 and is an alum of MSc Education (Philosophy of Education) at Moray House School of Education and Sport. Rie has worked in the education sector for more than seven years and offered academic, pastoral, and career support to students in secondary education. In their current role, Rie is heavily involved in projects that aim to enhance the student experience: organising events and activities, offering guidance and support for peer-support schemes and student societies with strong connections with the School, evaluating how to gather and amplify student voice, and many more. They are actively engaged in educational activities within and outwith the university with a strong passion in questioning assumptions (“philosophising”).
