Our programs

Students as Partners (SaP) at Deakin is a student engagement approach that recognises the expertise of our students in enhancing the student experience. By collaborating with students, staff can reposition their work from ‘creating for’ students to ‘creating with’ students. SaP projects conceptualise student expertise through their lived experiences as students and seek to harness those lived experiences, as well as students’ ideas, perspectives, and opinions in order to improve pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, services, or resources.

We have currently have five programs within our Students as Partners suite that connect Deakin students in varying levels of our partnership framework.

More info on Deakin's partnership framework

Equity-First Microgrant Projects

The Students as Partners Microgrant program engages students and staff in a formal partnership as they work in project groups that improve learning, teaching, assessment, curriculum and policy at the University. Students are casually paid to co-create and co-design with professional and academic staff members across the calendar year.

All projects must directly hire students from stipulated HEPPP equity backgrounds and/or aim to improve the student experience for students from those cohorts. The HEPPP equity categories cover domestic, undergraduate students who are:

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students
Regional or rural students
Students from a low socioeconomic status (SES) background

Applications for the first intake of microgrant funding are now open. First intake applications close 5pm, 31st March 2023. Learn more here.

Students Mentoring Staff

The Students Mentoring Staff program matches domestic, undergraduate students with a disability, medical, or mental health condition to a staff member at Deakin University in a 1:1 relationship. The program, which runs in both T1 and T2, is an opportunity for staff members to directly engage with many facets of the student experience. For student mentors, it is an opportunity to be heard and help provide feedback or guidance on how their staff mentee can better support equity-students.

The program stipulates three 1-hour meetings, held on Zoom. Student partners are paid for each meeting. All students are matched with a staff member outside of their immediate course or area of study, to ensure confidentiality.

All staff members are encouraged to express interest for T1 2023. Learn more here.

Student Advisory Groups

By bringing together a group of diverse students, Student Advisors work in groups to provide valuable and ongoing dialogue, helping staff to identify common issues, test ideas and resources, and plan future initiatives.

Any Area/School can propose a Student Advisory Group. You will work with the Students as Partners team to decide on the Terms of Reference, group structure, student cohorts (e.g. disciplines, year level, campuses), style and frequency of meetings, and anticipated outcomes. Students are then recruited on an equity-first basis to hold their Advisory positions for the calendar year.

Expressions of interest to build a Student Advisory Group are now open. Learn more here.

CoLabs

CoLabs is a mechanism to support student partnership in our community. They are 1-2 hour participatory design workshops where students and staff work together to explore topics, reflect on services or programs, and generate ideas. CoLabs can be held either in-person or online.

CoLabs are distinct from traditional research methods such as interviews, surveys, or focus groups as they encourage students and staff to interact and discuss student experiences and ideas.

Student-Initiated Projects

Student-Initiated Projects give undergraduate, domestic students the paid opportunity to develop real-world skills and work collaboratively on issues and disciplines they are most passionate about. Students lead their own projects from end-to-end where they design, manage, solve and report on a topic or problem that directly enhances the student experience and improves our post-COVID recovery.

This funding scheme supports individual students or small groups to engage and follow through with their ideas, improving their career readiness and connection to the University. Project must have an equity-first focus aimed at improving learning, teaching, assessment, curriculum, resources and policy.