Championing inclusivity and togetherness, building a community where every student feels that they belong.
Connector Programme
Involves students and staff working as equal partners, collaborating to improve the student experience at Sussex.
Through co-creation, Connector team projects include developing careers support, embed technology in learning, and designing new course modules. Connector projects make a real difference to Student Connectors, Staff Connectors and the University community.
Find how staff can join the Connector Programme.
Find how students can join the Student Connector Programme.
Spirit of Sussex Award
Celebrating students’ co-curricular and voluntary achievements. By taking part in different activities, such as part-time work or volunteering, students can gain points towards either a bronze, silver or gold Spirit of Sussex Award. This is formally presented at Graduation. The Award gives students the flexibility to settle into university and try new experiences at their own pace.
Students can start collecting points from the start of their degree and continue to earn points for participating, organising and leading activities up until they graduate.
The award enables students to:
- quickly feel part of university life and the wider community
- meet people with shared interests, skills and professional aspirations
- work towards a goal beyond their academic degree
- enhance the student experience by actively contributing to university life
- develop professional and personal skills such as self-reflection, collaboration and networking to help prepare them for life after your degree
- create lasting memories and recognition of all their experiences at Sussex.
Find how staff can support the Spirit of Sussex Award and faciliate it in your work.
Find how students can take part in the Spirit of Sussex Award.
Student Voice
We believe that student voice is essential in shaping our University and making it a fair and inclusive environment. We run programmes and initiatives to help ensure the students’ voice is heard; these include surveys such as mid and end of module evaluations, the Student Rep scheme in collaboration with the Students’ Union, as well as more bespoke activity and creative sessions.
Through this work, we aim to empower all of our students to become storytellers and use their voice to enhance their experience at Sussex.
Academic Skills
Having the skills to enable academic success are an important part of the student experience and we have a dedicated team of support staff to enable this for students. We help students to develop the skills which are essential for academic study.
Visit the Skills Hub pages or view our workshops.Topics include: critical thinking, note-making, reading and research, time management, essay writing, referencing.
Belong at Sussex
It’s normal for students to feel uncertain about how they fit in at university. This is why we have developed Belong at Sussex, a programme of activities designed with Connectors to help students foster a sense of belonging at our university. With events like Mature Students Skills Day, Disabled Students Coffee Meet and Belong at Sussex Community Lunch, we are looking to help build a community for our students.
Find out more about Belong at Sussex on the Student Hub.
Brilliant Club Academic Mentoring
We have partnered with the Brilliant Club in this academically-focused programme. Students are offered a minimum of six one-to-one or two-to-one academic mentoring sessions, partnered with postgraduate mentors who work with the Brilliant Club.
Mentors work together with students to help them to achieve their academic goals, from time management, to revision skills. The six-week cycle runs once per semester.
We particularly want to support students from underrepresented backgrounds with this programme, but applications are open to all students currently studying at Sussex.
Coaching Programme
We partner with life coaches that are external to the University to provide a minimum of six free sessions of one-to-one life coaching to our students. Coaches provide support for students to reach their goals, tricks on how to tackle difficult situations, and a safe space for students to be listened to. We particularly want to support students from underrepresented backgrounds with this programme, but applications are open to all students currently studying at Sussex.