Help shape our Student Partnership Agreement by voting for your priorities for the next three years.
UHI and HISA are developing a new Student Partnership Agreement (SPA). SPAs are widely used by institutions and their students’ associations to create an understanding of how they can work together to enhance the student experience, and on what priorities.
As we develop our next SPA, to run from 2026 to 2029, we need the help of UHI students to identify those priorities. So from 10am on Monday 30th March to Wednesday 1st April at 4pm you can vote here from the nine themes outlined below.
This list of themes was developed from various sources across UHI over the past year or so. These include student survey results such as the National Student Survey, Early Student Experience Survey, Student Satisfaction and Engagement Survey, Postgraduate Taught and Postgraduate Research Experience Surveys, and the UHI Transformation student survey; feedback from the Student Voice Rep system; reports from the UHI Red Button; HISA Awards nominations; and various related UHI and HISA strategies and projects. These suggested areas of development are on top of the great many positive things that UHI students also have to say about their learning and wider student experience.
You can choose your favourite three SPA themes from the list below, and vote here. The top three choices will then become the themes of UHI’s Student Partnership Agreement over 2026 to 2029, and UHI and HISA leadership will work together to develop actions.
Our shortlist is...
More contact time in teaching.
Survey results tell us that students value our staff, but would like more contact time with lecturers, whether on-campus or online.
More engaging and varied approaches to online teaching.
Data tells us that students are seeking a wider range of successful approaches to online engagement, including more consistent use of Brightspace and easier access to discussion boards to interact with other students.
A strengthened student community.
Community can mean very different things to different students – it can mean the ability to meet on campus or online outside of the teaching timetable, it can be about how students are supported to easily meet socially or as part of clubs and societies, or it could be a desire for academic and subject based community. Feedback suggests there are particular dimensions to community for part-time, disabled and postgraduate students.
Better responses to issues in IT and physical spaces.
A significant theme in student feedback is about IT infrastructure and the physical estate on campuses. This includes comments about everything from software to printers, lifts or inadequate heating. Students also report a lack of water, microwaves for student use and quiet study spaces; and have many comments about the quality, price and opening times of on-campus food services. There is also feedback from halls of residences about the conditions of student accommodation.
Improved public transport to campuses.
Comments here relate to poor bus service reliability, a lack of acceptance of digital student ID cards, and safety issues on public transport and in waiting areas.
Improved administration of learning and teaching.
Students often report a variation in quality, timeliness and nature of feedback on assessments, and some patchy delivery of placement experiences. Many students also care about discriminatory and offensive language at times used in classes.
Better student communications and responses to feedback.
At a time of considerable change in the UHI student experience, students want to know that the information they receive about these changes is clear, and that when they give their views that their feedback is clearly being acted on. There are also comments about how changes to learning and teaching arrangements are communicated in a timely and clear manner, and about changes that mean a difference between what was promised in a learning experience and what was delivered. Students involved in representation activities also talk about the need for a meaningful student voice in decision-making and governance.
Action on the cost of living.
At a time when retention is a major priority for UHI, and when the cost of living is affecting many students’ ability to travel to campus, to eat well and to juggle work, family and studies, students want to know that there is practical support for them to access and succeed in their studies.
You can have your say in this choice from Monday 30th March at 10am until Wednesday 1st April at 4pm. Vote here!
At the same time, HISA is holding a referendum on its membership of the National Union of Students.