Promoting student led education

This paper will discuss the encouraging outcomes of a small scale study in which students were encouraged to actively contribute to various aspects of their education. It will share an innovative Student Led Education Initiative that emerged by extending the author’s teaching practice. First year undergraduate students were encouraged to actively contribute to various aspects of their education. The rationale behind this was to inspire students to lead the way in their education. The initial outcomes are positive which implies that these ideas may indeed be worth exploring and extending, perhaps modifying the approach to make the entire process even more efficient. The population of university students is becoming increasingly diverse as British universities continue to host students from across the globe. The variety of cultural, socio-economic and academic backgrounds of students manifests itself through diverse expectations and requirements. Further, the recent Higher Education White Paper may lead a new era of change with the focus on students as they become increasingly aware of the potential of university degree courses to improve their employability which is of growing concern to them, especially with the imminent rise in tuition fees. Students are becoming better informed because of the transparency in university performance information readily available through the National Student Survey.