1. Cross Institutional collaboration to
enhance student transition
Christine Child, LSE, Head of the Student Services
Centre
Dr Sally Alsford, University of Greenwich, Senior
Lecturer in Learning and Teaching

2. Our institutions

3. This session
• Discussion - what matters to students
• Cultures – institutional and student
• Cross institutional collaboration
• Discussion – sharing experiences, questions

4. What matters to students?
What do you think are the top three things?
• Money and registration, visas, the basics
• Their course – modules, assessment, study
department/course information
 getting started on study
• Social integration - other students & staff

5. Tinto, V (19932 : 240) Understanding Transition

6. Understanding transition
Tinto – developmental & psychological
understanding of transition
Earwaker (1992) – social & interactionist aspects
of transition
The importance of a sense of belonging (Yorke &
Longden (2008), Cook & Rushton (2008), Yorke & Thomas (2003), May &
Thomas (2010)

7. “Coordination of the efforts of faculty within and
between departments, and among faculty and staff,
academic and student affairs, should be the norm, not
the exception, of institutional action. Institutional action
must be such as to enable individuals to transverse, in a
collaborative fashion, the intra-institutional boundaries
of campus life that typically separate individuals from
each other…. Rather than working at odds, academic
and student affairs must come to see themselves as
working together, much like medical teams do, on behalf
of student retention and the personal development it
entails.” (Tinto 19932: 151 – our emphasis)

8. Collaboration
• Student experience is holistic and complex
“ (students’) needs are rarely neatly separable. For instance,
personal anxieties, career choices and intellectual difficulties
may often be tangled up together. In fact, the chances are
that they will be.” Earwaker (1992 : 129)

9. Collaboration
• From the academic point of view
• From the support services point of view
“ The structure of higher education is changing and as such it is no
longer possible to treat support services as an add-on extra, as
something apart from the main institution. Instead, with widening
participation and retention, it is important to build up strong
working relations across the institution, with other student
services and administration, academic departments, teaching and
learning strategies, staff development and induction, widening
participation activities and the Students' Union, to create a
strategic approach.” Thomas et al (2002:15)

10. Student Cultures - diversity
• Internationalisation
• Heterogeneity of students
• Heterogeneity of groups of students
• Impact of WP
• Massification
• How can we address this?

11. Student cultures – confidence and
commitments
• Motivation, engagement and confidence
• Commitment
• Time issues
• Commuter students

12. Institutional Cultures
• Autonomy of Departments/Schools fiercely
defended - don’t tell Departments/Schools
what to do
• Leadership - don’t impose demands on
Departments

13. Institutional Cultures
• Diversity and consistency
• Don’t spoon feed/sink or swim
• Shift in culture
• Masters students

14. Cross institutional collaboration
What do Schools and Student Services know
about each other?
• Cross institutional organisation and
communication at senior level
• Silo practices and culture
• Closing gaps in relation to transition

15. Cross institutional collaboration
in practice
• Schools’ responsibilities – designated staff
responsibility
• Schools as the student’s home
• Student Services responsibilities
• Students’ Unions
• Policy and reporting

16. Discussion
Quick concrete examples of what has worked at
your institution :
•What facilitates and stimulates cross-
institutional collaboration? Facilitators
•What are the inhibitors? Inhibitors
Can we use your feedback?

17. Inhibitors Facilitators

18. Conclusions
• Timescales – be realistic, invest time
• Identify and work with key people – champions,
intermediaries
• Build relationships & networks
• Be flexible
 Collaboration across the institution makes
improvements easier and more sustainable
 LSE and Greenwich – many issues in common

19. REFERENCES
• Earwaker, J (1992), Helping and Supporting Students, SRHE & Open University Press
• Lee, B & Robinson (2006), “A Creating a network of student support”, in Thomas & Hixenbaugh (2006).
• Marr, L & Aynsley-Smith, S, “Putting students first: developing accessible and integrated support”, in Thomas &
Hixenbaugh (2006).
• Roberts, @ & Steward, J “Towards the holistic university: working collaboratively for student learning”, in Weaver,
M (2008).
• Thomas, L, Quinn, J, Slack K, Casey, L (2002) Student Services: Effective Approaches to Retaining Students in Higher
Education. Full Research Report. Institute for Access Studies, Staffordshire University.
• Thomas, L & Hixenbaugh, P (2006) eds. Personal tutoring in higher education, Trentham Books.
• Thomas (2002), “Student retention in higher education: the role of institutional Habitus” Journal of Education
Policy Vol.17 No.4 :423-442
• Thomas & May (2011) “Student engagement to improve retention and success” in Thomas, L & Jamieson-Ball, C
eds. Engaging students to improve student retention and success in higher education in Wales, HEA.
• Tinto, V (19932), Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition, Univ. of Chicago
• Universities UK(UUK) (2002) Student Services. Effective approaches to retaining students in higher education. UUK
• Weaver, M Ed. (2008) Transformative Learning Support Models in Higher Education, Facet
• Yorke, M & Longden, B (2008), The first year experience of higher education in the UK. York: The Higher Education
Academy. Available at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/resources/publications/FYEFinalReport
Sally Alsford s.e.alsford@gre.ac.uk Christine Child c.child@lse.ac.uk