WUSCA 2022 Submission Award

The Whatuni  Student Choice Awards (WUSCAs) are back, with preparations currently underway for a return to  an in-person celebration on 24 May at East Wintergarden, Canary Wharf.

The awards, now in their 10th  year, are a true reflection of the student voice and  the invaluable impact that  higher education institutions have on the lives of those they serve. This year also sees the return of  the  Whatuni Student Bursaries programme. 

After a successful inaugural year in 2021, we’re delighted  again  to offer institutions the ability to showcase their  fantastic  work  via a submissions process, the winner of which will be given the opportunity to reward  5 of  their deserving WP students with a total  of  £10,000 of bursaries (£2,000 per student).

In addition to the submission award winner, we will also be extending the bursaries to the winners of the following WUSCA categories:  University of the Year,  Postgraduate and Small or Specialist, allowing us to support students across the Whatuni bursaries programme in 2022.

This year’s Whatuni Submission Award category is Outreach & Widening Participation, and will be awarded to an institution which has developed comprehensive outreach and widening participation initiatives for prospective students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Submission Award will be judged by our Whatuni Student Advisory Board, a specially chosen panel made up of prospective and current university students.

The judges will be looking for bold and innovative initiatives that provided access and engagement to WP students across the 2021/22 academic year.

• Thursday 24 Feb 2022 - 00:01 am: Submission Award applications open

• Thursday 31 March 2022 - 11:59 pm: Submission Award applications close

• W/C 11 April 2022: Shortlist announced

• Tuesday 24 May 2022: Winner of the Submission Award category announced at the 2022 WUSCAs event

1. Overview

1.1. There will be one submission-based award (“Submission Award”) included in the 2022 WUSCA. This award is judged by the Whatuni Student Advisory Board, a group of sixth-form, college and university students. 

1.2. Institutions can submit an entry for each category of award but must submit a unique application for each category that fulfils the relevant criteria for that award. 

1.3. Each entry submission must contain as a minimum the following:   

• Answers to the Submission Award category questions set out below  

• 1 logo of the applicant institution in a high-resolution EPS/PNG format (or other format agreed with IDPC) 

• A minimum of 1 piece of visual evidence in support of your answers i.e. video or photos plus optionally any additional creative or reporting evidence, examples include: a campaign URL, campaign stills, videos of project outcomes, a status report etc. 

Please send your entry submission, along with the required assets, via the link at the bottom of this article, or else email wuscas.submissions@idp.com. Please ensure any large files are sent to this email address as links in the body of the email, not as attachments. Please do not send any files as We Transfer links, as they expire within 14 days. Please use a non-time-based large transfer platform like Dropbox, Google etc.  

1.4. Each award submission must relate only to current students studying for NQF level 5 programmes or higher at the applicant institution. 

1.5. The Awards Terms and Conditions will govern all entries to and the operation of the Awards. All entries must be made on the basis that the application confirms the acceptance by the applicant institution of the Awards Terms and Conditions. 

1.6. The applicant institution must have all necessary permissions and consents required to deliver all material included as part of the application, and provide all personal information of individuals included within the application, to IDPC and to give to IDPC the rights to use the materials and personal information as set out in the Terms and Conditions.   

 2. Judging Panel 

The 2022 Whatuni Student Choice Awards will be judged by a specially chosen Whatuni student panel made up of prospective and current university students (“Judges”). The Judges will be selected by IDPC.  The Judges will rate each eligible entry against the category criteria, and will select the shortlist, including a winner, being the institutions who in their discretion are most able to demonstrate or convey outstanding performance relative to their submission category.

3. Marking Criteria 

Each application will be marked against common marking criteria that will be set by IDPC and the Judges in advance of the assessments of entries. 

4. Category and entry criteria  

Outreach & Widening Participation 

Awarded to an institution which has developed comprehensive outreach and widening participation initiatives for prospective students during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Please answer the three questions below (maximum 300 words per question)  

1. Please provide an outline of the outreach and widening participation objectives and initiatives your institution implemented to engage prospective students during the COVID-19 pandemic, where normal face-to-face activity was restricted. Your objectives should be SMART. Outline how you used data to identify the un-engaged and under-represented communities to determine your objectives and activity.  

2. Please outline details of the innovations your institution undertook to reach and engage with under-represented students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Provide evidence on how you obtained and used data to support your strategy, and how student collaboration was employed to develop your action plan.  

3. What was the outcome? Please provide details regarding the results of the outreach and widening participation initiatives with evidence of success. Results should be based on quantitative and qualitative analysis which can also include individual case studies if appropriate. Illustrate how these initiatives can continue to be used throughout the full enrolment process and beyond, and how they can be developed for successful implementation for effective outreach programmes in the future, post-pandemic.   

Judges will be looking for bold and innovative initiatives that provided access and engagement to WP students across the 2021/22 academic year.

Please note: The Award will consider programmes/initiatives that led to students joining in the 2021/22 academic year, but the initiatives themselves can have taken place during the 2020/21 academic year.

Please included evidence, where applicable, of how you worked with students to

1. Understand the problem

2. Design the support programme/s

3. How you evaluated the impact on student satisfaction