News

As we look forward to the AMOSSHE National Conference 2021, we're delighted that one of our keynote speakers will be Phil Packer MBE, Founder and Non-Paid CEO of the British Inspiration Trust (BRIT). Phil will discuss his extraordinary story and the achievements of the BRIT Challenge.

Phil has invited every UK university and college to enter teams in the BRIT 2021 Challenge to support young adult mental health and fitness throughout the UK. Due to COVID-19 restrictions the BRIT 2021 Challenge has been extended to 1 July 2021. Universities and colleges now have until 16 May 2021 (the last day of Mental Health Awareness Week) to register teams. If you haven’t seen this super opportunity for all your students and staff to participate, here's a step-by-step guide for how to take part: The BRIT 2021 Challenge.

The BRIT 2021 Challenge is an inclusive event and free to enter. It's been designed so that students and staff of all abilities can participate either at home or on campus. This is an inspiring feel-good fundraiser and Phil encourages AMOSSHE members and others in higher education to embrace this opportunity for the following reasons:

• Registration is free, and with a little coordination and promotion, all students and staff can take part, whether on campus or at home.
• Phil has partnered with Student Minds, PAPYRUS, Nightline and the Charlie Waller Trust so they will all benefit from the vital funds raised.
• Universities UK, amongst many other education governing bodies including the AoC, Colegau Cymru, Colleges Scotland and the National Union of Students are partnering with BRIT to embrace, champion and promote their BRIT 2021 Challenge.
• There are many fundraising events and causes that our institutions support, however this is a unique and visionary opportunity for every UK university and college to showcase our collaboration and collective strength in support of young adult mental health.
• Phil is inviting British sporting icons (Olympians, Paralympians, sports personalities, adventurers and explorers) to choose a university or college and inspire and enthuse our students and staff to take part. This is also a great opportunity to re-engage with sporting alumni. By registering a team, sporting icons can then engage students with video messages and through social media. At a time when we all need some inspiration, this has huge potential for success if we all get behind the challenge.

The BRIT 2021 Challenge was officially launched on 22 of January (Sporting icons, educators and students unite to support young adult mental health at every UK university and college). Since then, almost seventy institutions have entered teams and over eighty British sporting icons have joined the BRIT Ambassador family to support our students and staff. With our collective support as leaders of Student Services in UK higher education, this will undoubtedly be a success.

You can now book your places for all of AMOSSHE's remaining professional development events for this academic year, including the AMOSSHE National Conference 2021! All these events take place online during the day in the British Summer Time (BST) time zone.

Creating an anti-racist culture: the role and impact of Student Services

This conference explores how Student Services leaders and their teams can tackle racism and create an anti-racist culture in higher education, through strategic planning, service delivery and practical initiatives.

We're so excited about our lineup of inspiring speakers for this event, including Stuart Lawrence (activist, campaigner and author), Professor David Richardson (University of East Anglia), Nkasi Stoll (Black Student Wellbeing Study, Black People Talk, King's College London), Yannick Yalipende (Black People Talk, University College London), Samantha Budd (National Union of Students), Dr Arun Verma (Advance HE), Khadija Mohammed (University of the West of Scotland), Professor Sir Geoff Palmer, Professor Rowena Arshad (University of Edinburgh), Professor Randall Whittaker (Leeds Arts University) and Dr Gurnam Singh (Coventry University).

When: Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 April 2021

Cost: £109 for AMOSSHE named members or £149 for non-members

Book here

Self-care in Student Services: looking after yourself and your teams

We all know that working in Student Services can be challenging at the best of times, with stressful situations to manage and workloads that can often feel overwhelming. The changing contexts brought about by the pandemic have only piled on the pressure. With our focus on the wellbeing and welfare of students, it’s easy to downplay or neglect our own self-care. It’s hard to support ourselves when trying to support others – but we’ve got to walk the walk as well as talk the talk! This practical workshop for Student Services leaders in higher education provides ideas, techniques and perspectives to help you support your own mental health and wellbeing at work, as well as that of your colleagues.

Join us to explore how you can support yourself and your colleagues when managing stressful situations directly (handling difficult people or traumatic situations, pressure to perform or deliver, disrupted work-life balance) and also when encountering other people's stress and distress. Take part in activities designed to develop your approach to self-care, and learn ways to ensure that your teams are as well considered and supported as your students. Discover for yourself how creativity can enhance your wellbeing, and share your experiences and ideas with peers in a supportive, positive space.

When: Wednesday 19 May 2021 from 09:30 to 13:30 (BST)

Cost: £59 for AMOSSHE named members or £99 for non-members

Book here

AMOSSHE National Conference 2021

The AMOSSHE National Conference 2021 is an opportunity to reflect on the energy, creativity and commitment of Student Services, establish strategic connections, and take our achievements forward. The conference is an inspirational, collaborative space for Student Services leaders to share expertise and good practice, develop strategy and skills, and build professional networks.

The key themes for this conference are reflections, connections and ambitions:

• Reflections – let’s take time to review what has taken place in higher education during the year, including our understanding of the student experience, and how different kinds of students have been impacted in new and unexpected ways. Let’s evaluate and appreciate the innovative work that Student Services teams have undertaken, adapting quickly and flexibly to the demands created by the pandemic and emerging sector issues.
• Connections – the impact of the pandemic, as well as social movements such as campaigns to tackle racism, inequality and sexual harassment, have emphasised the importance of collaboration and networks. It’s vital to ensure that our students and colleagues are connected and meaningfully engaged. Let’s identify how Student Services can work with colleagues and communities within and outside higher education through co-creation, evidence-based understanding and action learning.
• Ambitions – let’s look forward to the future of Student Services, drawing on all we’ve learned and the connections we’ve made. What are our strategic ambitions as Student Services leaders? How can we leverage the high-profile attention on our work this year to establish innovative approaches and responsive services that enhance and develop students? Let’s consider how we further establish ourselves as positive, proactive leaders, developing skills and finding solutions.

When: Wednesday 14 to Friday 16 July 2021

Cost: £185 for AMOSSHE named members or £225 for non-members

You can take your pick of all the sessions over the three days, and you'll get recordings of all the presentation-based sessions afterwards!

Book here

Here's the AMOSSHE bulletin for winter 2021: a roundup of AMOSSHE news, events, and more (click image to view - PDF 4.7 MB).

This bulletin features updates on AMOSSHE's work this winter to support and enable our members and the wider higher education sector. Find out about our guidance for supporting students abroad, produced in collaboration with peer associations and institutions. Also, find insights into our research and professional development about student digital poverty and intersectionality.

Check out our list of upcoming events, including a conference about creating an anti-racist culture in higher education. And don't miss the chance to share your expertise by leading a session at our National Conference in July.

The bulletin also features updates from AMOSSHE's annual sponsors, whose support helps us deliver our programme of work and who help keep us in touch with developments and research in the sector.

AMOSSHE's next online professional development event for Student Services leaders invites you to take a fresh look at your disability services in the context of a post-pandemic world. What are the implications of learning virtually for disabled students? What do we need to consider for returning to a post-pandemic campus? And how does a blended learning approach impact how we support disabled students?

Find out more

Rethinking disability services for a post-pandemic world takes place on Wednesday 10 March 2021 from 09:00 to 12:30.

This online event is an opportunity to think strategically about the future and review current practice. The pandemic introduced many changes to higher education life very quickly, including widespread virtual learning and changes to on-campus study (including social distancing and wearing masks). This event reconsiders, from a disabilities perspective, both established practice and solutions that were introduced rapidly, to ensure that going forward our services are responsive and reflective of needs.

The event costs:

• £59 for AMOSSHE named members
• £99 for non-members (other employees of an AMOSSHE member organisation, individuals, not-for-profit and corporate organisations, higher education providers not associated with AMOSSHE)

And you don’t need to pay VAT for AMOSSHE events.

All delegates will receive a recording of the event afterwards, as well as any presentations or resources (whether you're able to attend on the day or not).

This is affordable, high quality professional development for you and your team, with the opportunity to discuss topical issues with your sector peers. We hope you'll join us!

Book now

The AMOSSHE National Conference 2021 is an inspirational, collaborative space for Student Services leaders to share expertise and good practice, develop strategy and skills, and build professional networks. We want your proposals for informative and stimulating virtual workshops or presentations that will engage delegates and contribute to everyone’s understanding and professional development.

The AMOSSHE National Conference 2021 takes place from Wednesday 14 to Friday 16 July 2021. The conference takes place online to enable participation from across the UK, as well as drawing on expertise from around the world.

Submit a proposal

What's the conference about?

In the 2020/21 academic year Student Services and sector colleagues have responded to unprecedented challenges with energy, creativity and commitment. Supporting and enhancing the student experience is the key driver of all this hard work, and AMOSSHE’s role is to support and enhance the professional excellence of this mission. The AMOSSHE National Conference 2021 is an opportunity to reflect on this year’s good practice, establish strategic connections, and take our achievements forward.

The conference team is looking for inspiring virtual sessions that contribute expertise, share ideas and stimulate discussion. For example, you and your colleagues may have undertaken initiatives or research that others can learn from; you may have inspiring success stories to tell; you may have worked with other organisations to successfully overcome a challenge or develop new opportunities for enhancing student success; or there may be challenges that you want to explore in a structured way in order to share good practice and develop new strategies.

All the sessions must address topics of interest to Student Services professionals, and we especially welcome proposals for sessions that explore our conference themes of reflections, connections and ambitions:

• Reflections – let’s take time to review what has taken place in higher education during the year, including our understanding of the student experience, and how different kinds of students have been impacted in new and unexpected ways. Let’s evaluate and appreciate the innovative work that Student Services teams have undertaken, adapting quickly and flexibly to the demands created by the pandemic and emerging sector issues.
• Connections – the impact of the pandemic, as well as social movements such as campaigns to tackle racism, inequality and sexual harassment, have emphasised the importance of collaboration and networks. It’s vital to ensure that our students and colleagues are connected and meaningfully engaged. Let’s identify how Student Services can work with colleagues and communities within and outside higher education through co-creation, evidence-based understanding and action learning.
• Ambitions – let’s look forward to the future of Student Services, drawing on all we’ve learned and the connections we’ve made. What are our strategic ambitions as Student Services leaders? How can we leverage the high-profile attention on our work this year to establish innovative approaches and responsive services that enhance and develop students? Let’s consider how we further establish ourselves as positive, proactive leaders, developing skills and finding solutions.

Why submit a proposal?

The AMOSSHE National Conference needs the imaginative input of the higher education and student support sectors in order to be truly relevant and productive for Student Services professionals. Your participation shapes the agenda and ensures that the conference is relevant, useful, and inspiring.

Leading a workshop or presenting your work at our conference is a good way to explore new ideas, get feedback on your work, develop your professional confidence and standing, and start new discussions. For Student Services professionals, being part of the AMOSSHE National Conference programme is a prestigious professional development opportunity. You can raise your personal profile, draw attention to your work, benefit from peer perspectives, and develop new networks of colleagues with similar interests and areas of expertise.

What's the deadline?

Please submit your proposal for consideration by 17:00 on Monday 12 April 2021.

Find out more

Today AMOSSHE published guidelines for the managers of support services in UK higher education provider organisations about supporting students who are studying abroad.

Use these guidelines to help you refine your service provision, support your student-facing colleagues, and communicate with students.

These guidelines were collated from input by working groups and reviewers representing AMOSSHE The Student Services Organisation, HUCS (Heads of University Counselling Services), UMHAN (University Mental Health Advisers Network) and various higher education providers.

AMOSSHE is hosting a webinar for Student Services leaders to discuss student digital poverty in the context of Student Services. What does digital poverty mean for different students (access to wifi, equipment, software, skills)? How are different student groups impacted? How can Student Services best support and engage these students? How do we manage student needs and expectations, and change our service models to account for these?

Book now

Digital poverty in the context of Student Services takes place on Friday 22 January 2021 from 10:30 to 12:00 (GMT).

This professional development event explores the various contexts of student digital poverty, shares learning and good practice in response to this emerging Student Services issue, and suggests approaches for the future.

The full programme is now online. Speakers include:

• Dr Graeme Atherton (Director, NEON - National Education Opportunities Network)
• AMOSSHE Executive Members Anji Gardiner (Director of Student Services, University of Hull) and Lesley O'Keeffe (Registrar, Brunel University London)
• Jonathan Baldwin (Managing Director - Higher Education, Jisc)

The event costs:

• £29 for AMOSSHE named members
• £49 for non-members (other employees of an AMOSSHE member organisation, individuals, not-for-profit and corporate organisations, higher education providers not associated with AMOSSHE)

...and you don’t need to pay VAT for AMOSSHE events.

All delegates will receive a recording of the event afterwards, as well as any presentations or resources.

Find out more

Here's the AMOSSHE bulletin for autumn 2020: a roundup of AMOSSHE news, events, and more (click image to view - PDF 3.7 MB).

This bulletin focuses on the hard work and dedication of Student Services professionals this autumn. While the start of the academic year is always a busy (and often stressful) time for Student Services, this is 2020, so the challenges have multiplied like never before.

Despite the pressures, AMOSSHE members have found time to contribute to sector-wide research about their work this autumn, and enhance their professional skills and knowledge. This bulletin gives an overview of all this, as well as details of our forthcoming professional development opportunities.

The bulletin also features updates from AMOSSHE's annual sponsors, whose support helps us deliver our programme of work and who help keep us in touch with developments and research in the sector.

AMOSSHE is hosting an online professional development event for Student Services leaders to explore how we can appreciate, embrace and anticipate our students’ intersectionality and think about diversity in a more meaningful way.

Book now

Intersectionality and Student Services: thinking and doing differently takes place on Friday 4 December 2020 from 09:00 to 13:30 (GMT).

Student Services leaders in higher education are used to thinking about the needs and perspectives of different student groups, particularly the protected characteristics of ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and gender. But every student is different, and these categories overlap, blend, clash and change over the student’s journey. Join us to discuss different perspectives on intersectionality in order to help you raise awareness, guide your teams and design your services to better reflect and support your students.

The event features a mix of presentations, Q&A, interactive workshops and networking discussion. Sessions include:

• A keynote from Amatey Doku (Consultant, Nous Group), an experienced communicator with a passion for public policy. Amatey has worked with senior leaders across higher education at a government, sector and university level. He enjoys tackling difficult problems and encouraging others to think outside the box. He also champions the need for qualitative experiences to be at the heart of an evidenced-based approach to solutions.
• Losing sight of Black women in intersectional student data - Kevin Guyan (Researcher, Advance HE) underscores the specific history of intersectionality (developed by and for Black women), the multiple ways it materialises in higher education data practices and how our actions need to acknowledge and honour intersectionality’s radical roots.
• The role of UCAS in supporting students from diverse backgrounds - Nicola Turner (Policy Executive, UCAS) gives an overview of how UCAS is supporting the sector to understand how characteristics and circumstances can intersect to create hidden challenges.
• Intersectionality and race: a new approach for higher education Student Services - Robiu Salisu (Student Inclusion Officer (BAME), University of Bristol) explores the importance of adopting an intersectional lens to form a new approach when supporting students.
• Understanding and enhancing the LGBT student experience - Sean Russell (LGBTQ HE Consultant and Founder, Get Out Stay Out) and Ross Strong (Stonewall Project Manager, Birmingham City University) lead a workshop to explore the varied LGBT experience, especially in the context of intersectionality, and how Student Services can be more inclusive by examining the student life-cycle through an LGBT lens.

The event costs:

• £59 for AMOSSHE named members
• £99 for non-members (other employees of an AMOSSHE member organisation, individuals, not-for-profit and corporate organisations, higher education providers not associated with AMOSSHE)

And you don’t need to pay VAT for AMOSSHE events.

All delegates will receive a recording of the event afterwards, as well as any presentations or resources (whether you're able to attend on the day or not).

This is affordable, high quality professional development for you and your team, with the opportunity to discuss topical issues with your sector peers. We hope you'll join us!

Find out more

How can Student Services in higher education do more with less?

AMOSSHE is hosting an online professional development event for Student Services leaders to explore how to deliver more with less resource, and get less stressed in the face of more demand.

Book now

More with less? takes place on Wednesday 18 November 2020 from 09:30 to 12:30 (GMT).

This is an opportunity to discuss the challenges of more service provision in new contexts, a growing remit, increasing demand for services, and higher expectations of customer service, efficiency and effectiveness. Also, how to maintain team morale when faced with less budget, time, space and staff.

The event features a mix of presentations, Q&A, interactive workshops and networking discussion. Confirmed sessions include:

• A speaker from SUMS Consulting gives some insights into how institutions have tackled the need to deliver more with less. This session discusses some of the senior level challenges that impact Student Services delivery, and challenges that have become even more prominent since the pandemic.
• Kate Dodd (Lead Consultant, AUA Consulting) discusses how Student Services can be more efficient with time and resources in light of shrinking budgets and higher expectations.
• Dave Wilson (Mental Health and Wellbeing Manager, University of Cumbria) discusses piloting a One At A Time model in a Mental Health and Wellbeing Team. Dave explains how the team used data to compare and contrast the old way of working with the new model. Find out how the project slashed waiting times, reduced staff stress and increased student outcomes, while seeing an increase in referrals with no additional resources.
• Angela Gardiner (AMOSSHE Executive Member and Director of Student Services, University of Hull) leads a facilitated discussion session to share approaches to delivering more with less, including influence and collaboration within your institution, technology solutions, and external partnerships and resources.

The event costs:

• £59 for AMOSSHE named members
• £99 for non-members (other employees of an AMOSSHE member organisation, individuals, not-for-profit and corporate organisations, higher education providers not associated with AMOSSHE)

And you don’t need to pay VAT for AMOSSHE events.

All delegates will receive a recording of the event afterwards, as well as any presentations or resources (whether you're able to attend on the day or not).

This is affordable, high quality professional development for you and your team, with the opportunity to discuss topical issues with your sector peers. We hope you'll join us!

Find out more