Our Education and Student Experience

We are committed to delivering innovative and exciting programmes to create a learning community that extends around the world. We understand that providing virtual spaces for discussion and knowledge exchange between students, academics and institutions, help us create a diverse society that can tackle the challenges of the future. Our Global Classrooms initiative is underpinned by five ‘pillars’; collaboration, global citizenship, sustainable virtual mobility, cultural competence and democratic learning. This international enterprise will not only enhance the student experience but will also give them the skills to work in a culturally diverse world. 

Find out more about Global Classrooms

We are always looking for ways to improve the experiences of our students, including ensuring an excellent on-campus living experience. We are currently seeking to increase our student accommodation by creating new and refurbished modern, purpose built living facilities. This will provide our students with the opportunity to live close to their campus and reduce the search for third party providers in the city. As well as accommodation this new development will include a reception, catered dining halls, shops and spaces for study and socialising.

Find out more about our West Park plans.

Our students are at the heart of everything we do, and we are always looking for innovative ways to enhance the student experience. We asked our students what improvements they would like to see in their day to day lives at the University and we are now building a progressive web app (WPA) that supports students from the very first day of their journey until they graduate. This includes features that give them an overview of their day, from lectures to room bookings, maps to help them navigate the campuses and help finding spaces to book for study. We’re also asking current students to test the app and contribute to its design, ensuring that they have a say in the project.

Find out more about the University of Exeter App here.

We believe effective assessments and examinations are critical to the success of our students, and following a successful pilot in Spring 2023, we will be rolling out an upgraded version of the Exeter Learning Environment (ELE) in readiness for the new academic year. This new platform will deliver an improved user experience for students and colleagues, along with new coursework management tools. Assessments can all be undertaken and marked within ELE, along with enhanced marking and feedback tools such as annotations, that make it quicker and easier to track work.

More information about this project can be found on the Assessment Reimagined site.

We are building a new Multi-Faith Centre on Streatham Campus to create an innovative space which promotes respect, community and inclusion across the University. The centre will include a 50 person Muslim prayer space, as well as areas for quiet reflection, services and multi-faith activities. We aim to create a safe space for all students and colleagues to share, and the Student's Guild, local faith leaders and Chaplaincy team continue to be involved in the plans for the new building. 

Find out more about our new Multi-Faith Centre.

A strategic priority for our Education and Student Experience theme is to expand our degree apprenticeships to support learners at all stages of their careers, we have made significant progress in this area and have also set out our ambitions for the future. In October 2022 we launched the Centre of Degree Apprenticeships, with the core aim to grow the University’s degree apprenticeship provision ensuring exceptional quality of education. Together the Centre for Degree Apprenticeships and our Degree Apprenticeship Hub aim to provide opportunities, with the goal of enrolling 4000 new apprentices by 2030. This growth will be achieved by growing new and existing employer relationships and ensuring that the curriculum offer meets the skills needs of our employer partners both now and in the future.

Find out more about our apprenticeships.

We are developing a number of online programmes which will enhance and personalise student engagement, learning and support as well as ensuring that students from all backgrounds are able to access our education at any time.  We have already developed a MSc International Business as a fully online programme. In addition, our MSc Psychology conversion course is designed to provide a flexible approach to postgraduate education enabling individuals to enhance their career without interrupting it.

Watch our video the find out more about the MSc Pyschology course

Our Transformative Education initiative, which was launched in 2021, will use the power of education to transform our students’ lives so that they, in turn, can transform the world. The new framework is based around three key pillars - sustainability, inclusive education and racial and social justice. It will include actions such as addressing climate change through curriculum, creating an accessible learning environment and tackling racial and social injustices.

Find out more