Last week we launched our 2021 – 22 impact report. Student Hubs has spent the last 15 years mainstreaming student social action to support active citizens now and in the future – and last year was no different.
We worked with 1313 university students, 116 community partners and over 2000 community members across our five Hubs. Not only that, we also delivered two short term projects: The Open University in Wales and Leeds Conservatoire. Bringing our work to even more students, partners and participants across the UK.
In this blog we wanted to share our three lessons learned, quoted from page 31 of our 2021-22 impact report.
Onto a good thing? You can’t just stay put
What worked 5 years ago will not necessarily work today. The world moves and as an organisation we have to move with it. This means continuous listening, reflecting and adapting. This lesson has been particularly prominent coming out of two years of lockdowns and changes to education, as we have seen the needs and experience of the latest cohorts of students to be (unsurprisingly!) different to their predecessors – as well as changes in community need. To stay relevant and impactful flexibility in approach is key.
That said, know who you are
We exist as a charity with a clear vision and mission and over the past year as we’ve reflected on our future and our strategy it has become clearer than ever that everything we do should be to help us achieve that. There might be nice to haves, there might be tangentially related things, but ultimately we are the experts in student social action and we should focus on that – where we can facilitate the biggest change.
As always, students continue to impress us
It is so inspiring working in the youth and student sector. The passion, insight and energy of is undeniable and even coming out of the shared experience of the pandemic students continue to impress us with their personal resilience – and their desire to support others and make change.
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Check out our full 2021-22 impact report to hear more about the impact Student Hubs had last year, and our learnings along the way. To discuss working together in the future furthering our mission of mainstreaming student social action, reach out to our Partnerships and Development Director, Fiona Walsh, at fiona.walsh@studenthubs.org.