University of Huddersfield

Intervention for Success

Led by the University of Huddersfield, Intervention for Success is a project involving four partner higher education providers to address barriers to student achievement. 

Intervention for Success is a collaborative project between the Universities of Coventry, Huddersfield, Lincoln and Manchester Metropolitan University.  

It focuses on tackling differential achievement, by developing practical activities and resources that will support students at risk of leaving or not achieving their potential. 

The interventions will be available for all students, but draw on national and institutional research about how best to support, for example, commuter students, students from disadvantaged social groups, students from vocational backgrounds and some categories of black and minority ethnic (BME) students.

Intervention for Success will develop and share ways of using data to more accurately identify students potentially at risk of leaving their courses early or of not fulfilling their full potential. It will also produce a new and more effective initial diagnostic test to develop and refine understanding of the needs of these groups of students.

An online programme with associated interactive materials will be designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of personal academic tutors so that they are more confident in implementing interventions to boost student academic skills and confidence. This will include a digitised guide for personal tutors, which directs them to academic resources, both generic and subject specific.

These resources will enable students to more effectively engage with and tackle challenging concepts in a range of disciplines. Inclusive in terms of form and content, they will be designed for independent study and available to personal academic tutors for use with their tutees.

Supporting ALL students’ sense of belonging is also an important focus of the project, which will offer guidance for students and families with regard to university life, open days or evenings for students and their families, timetabled independent study sessions supported by academic skills tutors and small scale social activities for staff and students.