Our Humanities Excellence in Student Experience 2035 plan, and how colleagues can help

16 Oct 2026

Alvin Birdi, Faculty Vice-Dean for Teaching, Learning and Students, and Alec Severs, Students’ Union Faculty Executive Officer, outline our Excellence in Student Experience 2035 plan for this academic year, and what colleagues involved in teaching, learning and student experience are being asked to do to support the plan’s actions.

Dear colleagues,

As the academic year gets under way, we wanted to share our plan for improving the student experience, as we all have a role to play in making sure all our students have the chance to thrive during their time with us.

Looking back at our NSS 2026 results

The 2026 National Student Survey (NSS) results showed further progress across Humanities: our overall positivity score rose to 82.2%, an increase of 1.5 percentage points, and scores improved across all seven core themes. This reflects the care, expertise and sustained work of colleagues across our Schools and Faculty. It also gives us a strong foundation from which to keep improving.

Our shared plan for student experience

This year, our work forms part of Excellence in Student Experience 2035, the University-wide framework for improving the quality, consistency and organisation of the student experience.

Our Faculty of Humanities plan translates the University priorities into practical actions for Faculty and School leaders, Heads of Department or Division, Programme Directors, course unit leaders and colleagues involved in teaching and student support.

We recognise that the NSS is just one important measure of success within a broader evidence base, including the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey, Educate MCR (run by the Students’ Union), student voice, programme and course unit evaluation, and other local insight. As such, our plan concentrates on overall improvements to student experience, not just for undergraduate students, through meaningful and co-created change that supports learning and belonging.

In Humanities we will prioritise some key areas by:

• celebrating good practice and sharing ideas for effective teaching across Departments and Schools;
• enhancing our assessment and feedback through evidence-led approaches, paying attention to the appropriate balance between formative and summative assessments, feedback quality and the communication of expectations around the use of AI;
• increasing our co-creation with students to improve student empowerment and voice; and
• embedding a consistent and well-organised student experience with a specific focus on joint programmes.

What we are asking colleagues to do

The plan will only succeed with Departments, Schools, Faculty and University working together. It is designed to create consistency while respecting local needs.

Heads of School and Heads of Department or Division should ensure the plan remains a focus in local teaching and leadership forums, use evidence to agree priorities and liaise with Faculty where appropriate.

Directors of Teaching and Learning and programme leaders should work with colleagues to consider how existing work already being undertaken (such as the Course Unit Framework) can be used to improve assessment and feedback, student voice, programme organisation, communications and consistency, including for joint honours provision.

Course unit leaders should:

• ensure Canvas courses follow the agreed template;
• have published full summative assessment details by the end of week 2;
• provide clear routes to consultation hours;
• check that links and information are current;
• create an assessment screencast covering how to succeed, relevant employability skills and the use of AI; and
• offer an early-semester opportunity for students to say what they would stop, start or continue, then close the feedback loop by explaining what will change, what will not and why.

All colleagues should try to identify opportunities for working in collaboration with students, sharing effective practice, and contributing to peer review and enhancement activity.

The Humanities Teaching Academy Student Experience Excellence page sets out the full range of Faculty actions and supporting resources. Please read the sections most relevant to your role and use them in local planning and conversations with colleagues.

Final thoughts

Teaching and learning should be a rewarding experience for our students and for the colleagues that teach and support them. We are both committed to working together to achieve meaningful improvements in our educational provision and we look forward to collaborating with colleagues and students across the Faculty in this work.

Best wishes,

Alvin and Alec