Funding awarded for research to inform designing education of the future and promoting inclusion in universities

Researchers from the University have been successful in applying for Advance HE’s Collaborative Development Fund 2024 which supports academics to navigate change and overcome challenges by encouraging innovation, collaboration and the sharing of effective practice.  

The fund offered grants to tackle important sector challenges through collaborative working, generating and shared learning and new solutions that work in a diverse range of teaching and research settings. 

• The University of Chester’s Centre for Academic Innovation and Development (CAID) has been awarded funding under the Advance HE theme of Designing Education for the Future for its project ‘Reimaging curriculum across a whole institution: A strategic toolkit and practical recommendations.’ The project partners are the University of Hull, Southern Cross University (Australia) and the University of South Wales. 

This Advance HE theme looks at how, as the higher education landscape evolves, institutions must adapt their offerings to meet changing student needs, employer demands, and societal challenges. This theme explores innovative approaches to curriculum design, pedagogy and institutional models for the future of higher education. 

The CAID bid was inspired by current challenges in the higher education sector that are prompting many universities to adapt their approaches to curriculum design and delivery. Over the last year, The University of Chester has been engaged in an institution-wide curriculum (re)development process to address those challenges and enhance student experience, retention, attainment, recruitment and employability. Through the funding awarded by Advance HE, the evaluation of the process used at Chester will now be used to identify recommendations and useful resources to support successful institution-wide curriculum development that other institutions in the UK - and beyond - can benefit from.   

• The University has also been awarded funding under the Advance HE theme of Protecting inclusion in times of change for the project ‘Developing a framework for meaningful equality impact assessments underpinned by co-production principles for holistic use across the HE sector’. 

This Advance HE theme looks at how the sector is grappling with the challenge of managing a wide range of EDI priorities amidst a tightening financial situation. The funding will go towards creating more integrated approaches that could reduce duplication of effort and make better use of resources. 

The University of Chester project (involving a team from Chester and the University of Hertfordshire) applies an evidence-based approach to understanding obstacles to effective use of Equality Impact Assessments (EqIAs) across higher education, exploring the benefits of co-production to inform development of an impact assessment framework focused on active change underpinned by the staff/student voice. 

Dr Claire Stocks, Head of Academic Practice and Development in the University’s Centre for Academic Innovation and Development (CAID), who is leading the curriculum redesign project said: “We are very excited to work with international colleagues to be able to share useful lessons and practical resources that could support other HEIs with whole-institution change. Our strategic toolkit will showcase some of the great work being done at Chester, and the expertise of our collaborative partners will help us to ensure that our learning can be of benefit to others.”

Chantal Davies, Professor of Law, Equality and Diversity in the School of Law and Social Justice at the University, who is leading the EDI work, said: “In a rapidly changing and challenging landscape, it is more important than ever that inclusion is at the heart of higher education. This project will seek to understand some of the challenges and obstacles to use of equality impact assessments across the sector and applying principles of co-production suggest a fresh evidence-based framework for assessing impact which is proportionate, accessible and effective. We are very excited to have the opportunity to work with colleagues from across higher education to build an approach to impact assessment which is focused on meaningful and sustainable action to address inequalities.”

Captions: Photo 1 - Professor Chantal Davies.

Photo 2 - Dr Claire Stocks.