Fashion Business and Technology Year Manager Support and Community Team (School of Natural Sciences. Leader: Rachel Parker-Strak)

This team’s submission detailed how they developed the Year Manager system for all of their undergraduate cohorts from 2019. The purpose was to create a collaborative and cohesive space for building a discipline identity whilst transmitting key information to students. The Year Managers hold a series of weekly meetings with themed topics to build resilience, confidence and a sense of belonging which is important when making the transition to Higher Education. For the 20/21 academic year a key objective was to create a virtual community and work in partnership with the students, encouraging them to influence the content of the sessions. The sessions disseminated key information at the right time and place, taking into account their diverse cohort and the individual journeys and challenges they may face.

There was a rise in attendance, engagement, dialogue and community from previous years and Year Managers experienced improved relationships with students from the outset, building stronger connections due to seeing them on a regular basis. Based on attendance, engagement and feedback the students found the sessions to be successful and effective, allowing them to grow in self-awareness and confidence. It allowed students to work in partnership on the development of their experiences, opportunities, knowledge and skills. The team are keen to share their experience with the HE community and have already presented their findings at the British Academy of Management MKE Teaching Practice conference in June 2021.

You can read more about the team's activities in the blog post Communication and community - utilising the Year Manager system on the Institute of Teaching and Learning blog, TEA: Teach, Explore, Apply.