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University of York

Central Hall Musical Society's West Side Story. Credit: Mark Woodward

Key Objective 3: To offer all our students an outstanding and valuable experience

The University Strategy

Vision

We aim to ensure that the University of York offers an environment in which students can optimise their academic and personal potential. We seek to use our collegiate structure to enhance our students’ experience and support their academic endeavour. We want our students to enjoy their time at York and to offer them the opportunity to engage in a wide range of extra-curricular activities.

How will we achieve this?

  1. We will support students’ active participation in University life

  • We will support the Students’ Union and the Graduate Students’ Association and stimulate student participation in clubs, societies and representative bodies.
  • We will encourage academic departments to involve students in public events.
  • We will aim to design our timetable in such a way that there is room for collective participation in sport and other extra-curricular activities.

  1. We will provide outstanding pastoral, career development and support services

  • We will work with the Students’ Union, the Graduate Students’ Association, academic departments, colleges and support departments to ensure that student-facing services at all levels are well organised and well delivered.

  1. We will listen to our students

  • We will continue to ensure that our students are represented and heard at all levels of governance, including at Senate and Council.
  • We will ensure that students contribute to our quality assurance arrangements, to provide an essential insight into the aspirations and experiences of our student body.
  • We will listen to the views of students through a range of means and give a guarantee that their advice and feedback will inform our policies and decisions.  We will ensure that students are aware of actions that have been taken in response to their feedback.

  1. We will support and develop our colleges

  • We will support the colleges in stimulating academic achievement, creating cohesive student communities, and promoting students’ personal wellbeing and personal development.
  • We will support colleges to enhance their residential and non-residential provision for students beyond first-year undergraduates so that all undergraduate and postgraduates have the opportunity to be part of a college community.
  • We will use our colleges to support integration among students from different nationalities and from different academic disciplines.

  1. We will provide facilities that enhance the students’ experience

  • We will develop and improve systems that support student administration and learning to ensure that they are as efficient and ‘user-friendly’ as possible.
  • We will continue to improve our teaching spaces so that we can offer a consistently excellent and up-to-date learning experience.
  • We will continue to provide outstanding library and IT facilities.
  • We will continue to invest in our sports facilities and aim to be a leader in the development of sport.