Care-leaver students are incredibly hard working, creative and intelligent, and they are important members of our university community. However, we know care-experienced students can face complex challenges throughout their educational journey, as shown in the national data and research that point to significant gaps in access to and success in higher education. We believe it is our responsibility to enable care-experienced students to overcome these challenges to reach their full potential and realise their aspirations.
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The University of York was one of very few universities to include an access target for care-leavers in their access and participation plan. This wasn’t a decision we took lightly. As the number of care-leavers studying at York is small, it is hard to robustly analyse gaps in access, success and progress. We also know, from the incredible students at York, that care-leavers and other independent students all have the potential to succeed in higher education.
A holistic, seamless approach to the student journey
So, how do we do this at the University of York?
As we develop and improve our work for care-leavers, we follow a few principles.
First, we strive to move away from support focused only on care-leavers. We have broadened this out to reach care-experienced and estranged students.
We strive for a seamless student journey from pre-application, transition and on-course to graduation and beyond. The aim is a university experience for independent students that matches their peers’. This means our dedicated staff work together with colleagues from across the university to reduce barriers and stand as advocates and allies of independent students.
Collaboration and partnership are core to much of what we do, co-creating our supporting package alongside our students, experienced and expert practitioners, carers and families. This collaborative approach to delivery also includes how we evaluate our work; we bring the student voice into the iterative process of development.
Most importantly, and specifically requested by our students, our work has to be holistic and bespoke to the specific and complex needs of independent students.
In the accompanying video, Fran Hornsby, a student support and advice coordinator and dedicated contact for care-experienced and estranged students, talks about how to provide holistic, bespoke and specific support for students. She explains how her work centres around the aim of demonstrating genuine care for the students she works with and how she goes about doing that.
Fran Hornsby is a student support and advice coordinator and dedicated contact for care experienced and independent students; Rebecca Clark is head of access and outreach, both at the University of York.
The University of York’s submission “A whole-university holistic approach to supporting care-experienced people” was shortlisted for Outstanding Support for Students at the 2022 THE Awards.
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