ID145 Champion Keele's local area

The Idea

North Staffordshire is amongst the most deprived areas in the UK, with young people growing up in some of the lowest areas for participation in Higher Education. Of those who do progress to university, many commute to a local provider as a means of providing an affordable way of accessing university which enables valuable connections to home to be maintained. Commuter students have limited places to go in between lectures, struggle to engage in extracurricular activities, and can struggle to feel a sense of belonging. For Keele, local commuter students are those living within North Staffordshire, who commute via bus or car, and remain living in the same dwelling as they did prior to university entry, usually the parental home. 

Belonging is felt long before a student reaches university, and so Keele needs to be active and visible in the local area to foster this sense of belonging for local students throughout their schooling. This idea links directly to the University achieving its ambitions around civic engagement, APP and Widening Participation objectives, and becoming a place-based university. The feedback presented here draws from my doctoral research undertaken between 2019 and 2026 with local students at Keele to demonstrate how Keele can better champion the local area and its people. I propose a coordinated institution-wide response starting with the actions below to show that local is not lesser. 

Why This Idea Should Be Considered

Firstly, my research shows Keele’s local commuter students are driven and motivated individuals who have persevered to access university (Baines, 2024). They have a determination to succeed which the university should recognise. Keele can continue to foster this determination by providing opportunities for them to succeed even further through HE. My  participants describe the local area as a city in decline, with no opportunities, nothing to do and trapped in a cycle. The university can contribute towards changing that, it can provide employment opportunities, community activities and routes out of that cycle. Local students are defensive of the city and report speaking up against other Keele students who had poor perceptions of the city and its people. One student described a situation where an academic championed Stoke-on-Trent which gave them the confidence to do it themselves. In standing up for the local area and its people, the university improves student experience. 

Secondly, the knock-on effect of championing the local area not only improves the sense of belonging of those students from North Staffordshire, but also of those students who have moved into the area for their studies. It creates an atmosphere that our location is valued, and ultimately improved perceptions of place supports student recruitment and institutional reputation. 

Thirdly, seeing others like them in HE, helps local students believe university is a place for them. This can be in the form of a lecturer with a shared accent, hearing student ambassadors reference familiar places, or careers talks from people from the area. After receiving a talk from a university graduate who attended his school, one local student said,  

it gave the impression that if someone who went there can do it, we're at the same place, we can do it sort of thing… Especially with a place like Stoke, I think you need to hear that. No matter what background or where you’re from, you can achieve it. It's definitely an important thing to hear [Max, local student]. 

We know the power that championing the local can have so why wouldn’t we take this idea forward.

How We Would Implement This Idea

Quick(ish) wins to strengthen belonging: 

Staff training – evidence informed by research conducted with local students – to help staff understand the demographic of students and to challenge the thinking that all students are residential. 

A Commuters Lounge – to address issues of commuters having nowhere to go in between lectures, a social lounge could be created with access to microwaves, lockers, and water in a central campus location, similar to the refreshments zone in the library, but with a focus on comfortable seating and creating social interaction. See examples from University of Winchester and University of Leeds. 

A “come on in” campaign for late arrivals to lectures – addressing commuters fears of turning up late after sitting in traffic or being unable to find a parking space. This could be as simple as a poster on lecture theatre doors saying, ‘come on in, it doesn’t matter if you’re late’. Students should be treated like adults. See example from University of Essex. 

A sense of belonging survey – to be sent out at regular intervals to benchmark and see progress in belonging for all students, importantly questions must not only relate to residential students to ensure we collect relevant feedback from local commuters. 

Free parking provided to commuters - making use of car parks away from central campus e.g. plot 7. Until bus routes are improved, commuters need to be supported to park on campus. 

Enhance messaging to include local students - “You said we did” emails linked to outcomes for non-residential students. 

Reverse mentoring - have commuter students mentor senior leadership to enlighten them on their experiences and involve them in creating solutions.   

Medium term: 

Keele would implement school outreach led by student and staff “local champions”, fund campus visits and Steps2 programmes for all disciplines, and letter campaigns from local students to local school pupils. - see example from King's College London. This would be done in partnership with the OfS-funded Uni Connect programme, already undertaking this work at Keele, Higher Horizons. 

Marketing would highlight commuter and local student success equally, focusing on their work ethic rather than disadvantage. 

Affordable overnight stays would be offered, making use of rooms left empty due to declining demand for year-round campus accommodation. This would allow commuters to experience elements of the university experience not currently accessible to them and reduce the stress of running late during exam periods. Moreover, relax policy so that it is easier for students to stay over at a friend’s accommodation on campus, allow rooms to have a camp bed, spare bedding, essential toiletries and towels. 

Longer term: 

With local employers, Keele should build on existing work to showcase strong graduate pathways across all disciplines. 

As local students don't commute by train, Keele would work with bus companies on free passes and express services across Stoke-on-Trent, building on work already being done in Newcastle-under-Lyme. 

‘Keele in Stoke’ venue - We may not be able to build an express public transport route up to campus, so can we instead take campus to our closest city? This could be in the form of acquiring new buildings or making even better partnerships with the University of Staffordshire to share teaching facilities.

What Success Would Look Like

1. A sense of belonging survey that is regularly filled out by students, with high scores for belonging for all students. 
2. Keele frames student success as an equitable graduate environment with opportunities within the university’s location, rather than mobility away from local students’ roots. 
3. Students progress to local graduate employment that is well paid and within their discipline. 
4. Keele is outwardly proud of its location and local people. We are known for our thriving local partnerships and looked to as a role model in this area by other HEIs.