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There is great emphasis in contemporary higher education to address the seemingly consistent issue of what students perceive to be good assessment feedback practice. Improving this aspect of the student experience continues to elude higher education institutions, as reflected in the nationally lower than average scores in the United Kingdom's annual National Student Survey questions on prompt feedback, which makes this a timely area for further investigation and discussion. To investigate student perceptions of feedback, this article examines the qualitative data from three years of student-led teaching awards nominations at the University of Winchester for the category "Best Lecturer for Constructive and Efficient Feedback." From this study, new revelations with regard to the student perception of the "best" lecturers' feedback practices have come to light, including terminology, language, and emphasis on email turnaround, rather than the actual format of the feedback itself (such as handwritten, audio, e-submission). Key findings include that students focus on the quality of the linguistic elements of feedback rather than the mode of delivery. The study also finds that students are often perceiving feedback in a literal sense, with many staff nominated based on their informal email responses rather than the formal assignment feedback often attributed to this question in the National Student Survey. In order to tease out the repetitive emerging themes for which practices students are perceiving to be "good" feedback, this article outlines the findings of this study, including the methodology and nomination process of the student-led teaching awards at the University of Winchester.

The 'See the World – Winchester' programme was funded by the UK Turing scheme in 2021–2022 and aimed to broaden the horizons of historically marginalised students who may not otherwise have had access to extracurricular opportunities such as international travel. The purpose of this article is twofold. Firstly, the authors reflect on the successes, failures and challenges involved with running internationalisation activities during a time of travel disruption. Secondly, this article presents findings from a small-scale evaluation that sought to measure the impact of short-term mobility with historically marginalised or under-represented students. The paper is useful for institutions looking to run international mobilities with students during a period of travel disruption using the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. In addition, the findings highlight the experiences and benefits to students participating in short mobilities, which include, a cultural experience, opportunity for personal growth and development, enhanced employability, and ultimately, broader horizons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term ‘student success’ has increasingly been used as the catch-all term for focusing on the student outcomes measures in higher education. In the English Higher Education context, the term is used as part of regulatory pressures by the Office for Students, to assess student retention rates across providers through Access and Participation Plans and annual reporting (B3). Student success has become an amalgamation (in strategies, job titles and now regulation) to address outcomes relating to retention, employability, access, widening participation and student satisfaction, prioritised by political direction and senior management teams. Although the definition and application of this key term differ in use at individual providers. With great pressure and dissonance surrounding this prominent term, this paper looks at the literature regarding what the term student success means in practice for students, academic programmes or professional services depending on the context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widening access and participation in higher education now celebrates decades of success in UK Higher Education (HE), particularly at undergraduate entry-level. Yet similar work at entry-level for postgraduate study is less explored, where due to the increased emphasis on Graduate Outcomes in UK HE, there is increasing demand and aspiration for postgraduate study from policy makers and students. This research note reports on a series of presentation workshops from the University of Winchester (UK), titled the 'Get into Masters' Study' initiative. These presentations were delivered in an access approach across Level 5 students to break down barriers to postgraduate study through explaining the practicalities, different options and finances relating to postgraduate study, so students are able to make an informed choice. This paper details the approach taken and topics covered to inform practice elsewhere, as students increasingly look towards postgraduate study to gain further experiences and enhance their career beyond their degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]