Brigid and I attended our second Aldwych meeting on Friday and Saturday. Brigid blogged an introduction to what the Aldwych group is and why we benefit from it here and I would like to follow on from her post by talking about the issues we discussed and how we will work together over the coming year.

As unions traditionally send their Education Officers and Presidents to the meetings the focus is mainly on academic issues. The major discussions were around HE funding, postgraduate students, internationalisation, the relationship between research and teaching and widening participation. We discussed how the Aldwych group can play a proactive role in the tuition fee review and ensure that widening participation and fair access are on the top of the agenda. Over the two days we exchanged a lot of best practice and campaigning know-how which will undoubtedly come in useful over the course of the year. For example, we discussed the results of the recent National Student Survey seeking to find common problems that we can address as a collective. Here, I am especially keen to explore how excellent research can best feed into the teaching process.

Additionally, there were sessions looking at the future of the group and the operational aspects of the year ahead including how to best interact with the Russell Group and the media. There was an interesting presentation and debate on the topic of internships, linking them to the widening participation agenda and how to ensure that employers do not exploit students and recent graduates.

If you want to keep up-to-date with the activities of the Aldwych group then you can follow them on Twitter.