Posted 25 June 2025

The National Education Opportunities Network (NEON) Summer Symposium 2025 was held at the University of Salford on 18 and 19 June. This year’s theme was ‘My Hometown – The importance of place in widening access and student success’. 

Two members of Go Higher West Yorkshire (GHWY) staff who attended the Symposium reflect on its key themes and their personal highlights.  

Find out more about the Symposium.  

Tahera Mayat, GHWY Collaborative Outreach Officer 

For me, the Symposium addressed a few key sub-themes. The first of these was belonging and mattering. A panel discussion entitled ‘Collaborating for Change: The role of Local and Regional Partnerships in Education and Opportunity’ mentioned that Higher Education (HE) providers should look at what their strengths are. I feel this is key to fostering a sense of belonging among students. Leeds Conservatoire, one of GHWY’s members, was named in the panel as an example of a specialist institution. Each HE provider has something unique.  

A second theme was under-represented groups. As someone who co-ordinates GHWY’s work on under-represented groups, I was particularly interested in insights in this area, with one being around Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It was suggested that it might be harder for this group to access basic needs, such as food and accommodation. That, in turn, impacted on belonging, esteem and self-actualisation. This was for a talk around information, advice and guidance highlighting that telling students to do what they enjoy can differ from reality. 

I attended a talk entitled ‘UCAS – Our Next Chapter’ by Ellie Rowley. This included their new Widening Participation questions on, for example, Free School Meals (FSM) and the FSM fee waiver for 2025 entry onwards. There was also a research talk titled ‘Understanding the recruitment decisions of students from Black backgrounds’ (Zara Lawson, Alterline Research Ltd). They found social media key as individuals see peer networks as information sources. 

Finally, there was the impact of part-time work. My own experience of HE was students did part-time work alongside their studies. Now it is seen as something students do at expense of study in order to live. For example, one delegate mentioned commuting students work part-time whereas previously commuting was seen as a way to save money and mitigate the need to work. UCAS is undertaking research on the impact of part-time work on outcomes.  

Susan Darlington, GHWY Partnership Assistant 

It felt fitting that NEON hosted this year’s Symposium, which addressed the importance of place and belonging, at the University of Salford. The campus is located on the edge of Peel Park, which is one of the first public parks in England. It was intended to be an inclusive space for everyone, which is an aim with which many HE providers are currently grappling. 

The importance of student voice in fostering a sense of belonging was highlighted in ‘My Hometown is where I belong! The Power of Stories to Enhance our students’ sense of belonging and success’. The practical workshop, led by Dr Karen A Lipsedge (Kingston University), encouraged a creative approach to support students on their educational journey. She showed how literary analysis can be used to help young people interrogate their place in the past, the present, and to imagine their own future. 

The value of partnership working was also one of the Symposium’s key themes. In his welcome speech Professor Nic Beech (Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, University of Salford) spoke about the importance of creating a ‘collaborative advantage’, whereby organisations work together to improve outcomes, opportunity and equity for everyone. This is an approach that GHWY has already adopted; working with its 13 members to reduce inequalities in HE access and success. 

There were plenty of examples of good collaborative practice throughout the Symposium. These included ‘Future Writers – A collaborative approach to supporting attainment in GCSE English’. Emma Deeks and Theo Blackburn (both from Future U) presented on the creative writing project, which encourages students to understand the power of transferable skills such as oracy and communication. This has similar aims to our Uni Connect’s Think and Go Higher Programme, which was discussed by Outreach Officers Max Smith and Sam Higgs. 

In the light of ongoing financial challenges in HE, there is a greater need than ever to collaborate to enable better outcomes and inclusivity for young people. Allan Milne (Salford City College Group) noted that when collaboration is done right, it can provide more solutions and opportunities than when working independently. It was inspiring to hear how organisations are rising to address this challenge with such passion and drive. 

What we will do next 

After hearing John Blake (Director for Fair Access and Participation, Office for Students) talk about the regional access partnerships – call for evidence, we were keen to find out more. Tahera therefore attended a briefing session about it on Monday, 23 June that outlined what questions people can input on it. 

The research talk on recruitment of students from Black backgrounds prompted Tahera to check webpages they mentioned (one on Black Asian and Minority Ethnic students and another on Muslim students). As we are developing a Transition Pack for this group, she will reach out to the University of Sheffield to see what else we can learn from them. 

We will also continue to be driven and guided by student voice in our development of resources and activities. In order to develop this further, we would be keen to draw on the power of collaboration to adapt the story-based method outlined by Dr Lipsedge to enhance students’ sense of belonging in HE. 

 

Tahera Mayat, GHWY Collaborative Outreach Officer, and Susan Darlington, GHWY Partnership Assistant