Best practice and key learning points from our latest student experience seminar

Wanting to increase engagement of their Global Café, York St John set up a pilot project to enable international students to lead the programme and create activities for students by students. These involved language taster sessions, international students sharing elements of their cultures and celebrating key events like Lunar New Year or Halloween. 

The project was a success with an increase in attendance from home and international students. 

Simon Ganderton, Student Success and Engagement Team Manager, explained that the project had overcome challenges and shared the learning points with UKCISA delegates:

“Make sure you’re aware of any formal partnerships in advance, eg we had limitations as the Global Café took place in our coffee shop – a branch of Starbucks. This formal arrangement prevented us being able to book the space exclusively as our numbers weren’t guaranteed to be high enough.”

Simon also raised the issue that perhaps by calling the programme a ‘Global Café’ it automatically appears to be aimed at international students. Read York St John’s report or view their presentation.