For the third webinar in our CPD-accredited Autumn Staff Training Series, we were delighted to be joined by two guests who shared their expertise on how staff can best support the commuter student cohort.
The first was Emma Maslin, a PhD researcher exploring commuter students’ experiences, who went into depth about how Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) could help commuter students by moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach.
Our second speaker was Susan Preston, who is now an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Project Officer in the humanities department at the University of Leeds. Susan shared valuable insights from her experience as a commuter student and told her story of founding the University of Leeds’ commuter students society.
The session explored:
- What HEIs can do to best support commuter students so they can make the most out of university life
- The financial challenges of being a commuter student
- How commuting impacts the student experience, from someone with lived experience
- The best way to move away from seeing commuter students as a homogeneous cohort to avoid creating ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions
Follow the timestamps to find the content that is most relevant to you:
Use the timestamps to find the moments most relevant for you:
00:00 Introductions
01:01 How much support is available at your institution?
02:52 Commuting in a UK context
04:20 Who are commuter students
05:04 How does commuting impact the student experience?
06:45 Financial impacts of commuting
09:09 Some initial key questions
10:23 Commuting isn’t always negative
12:30 Why a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work
14:30 Supporting commuter students – a starting point
16:24 University of Leeds Commuter-led initiatives
17:04 Susie’s story as a commuter student
18:37 How can HEIs improve the commuter student experience
19:44 Network – Founding the commuter’s society
21:48 Space – Creating a space for belonging on campus
24:09 Inside the commuter’s lounge
25:15 Best practices
26:35 Some ideas to help you best support commuters in HE
28:27 Final considerations
30:05 Q&A on commuter students
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