Part of a growing global movement in higher education, the Students as Partners program by UTS Library empowers students to actively improve the university experience for themselves and their peers. Students propose, lead, and implement a project in a particular area of focus, working individually or as part of a small team in collaboration with a UTS staff partner.
The culmination of these projects is an annual showcase where students step up to talk through what they’ve learned and achieved through their grants. In a series of impeccably-timed 7-minute summary presentations, we heard the highs and lows of student-staff projects on parenting, placements and career pathways, learning on Country, communicating PhDs and seeking inclusivity in attendance policies – to name just a few. Here are some highlights from the 12 presentations shared at the 2025 showcase.
Future focused: linking learning to industry and workplaces
One of the most dominant themes across the presentations was a focus on being well prepared for future work and careers. Students identified pain points including difficulties swapping nursing placements and out-of-date workplace communication guidance, with solutions ranging from apps and AI simulations, to communication workshops and re-designed Canvas modules.
- Clinical placement swap platform (policy & process review): Jessica Pan, Massimo Fathulla and Natalie Nguyen built a platform which served 250 users and 1800 placement swap requests; 91% of students said they would use it again, and the platform has been handed to the Clinical Placement Unit (CPU) and IT team to manage.
- AI agent industry simulations (teaching practice): Kayla Duncan and Eloise Spencer designed Canvas modules featuring realistic business simulations powered by AI agents to create “learning that feels like a real job”; 70% said they were likely to enrol in the AI module, and the resources have been handed over to UTS Business School for piloting and scaling.
- Career pathways & progress (academic support): Peter McKenzie developed a Canvas hub with volunteer opportunities, job boards and peer experiences to improve employability support for Sport and Exercise Science students; the hub will be handed over to the WIL team.
- Communication in the workplace (academic support): Joshua Liam Buxton, Kelly Thai and Phan Nguyen converted outdated workshop content into interactive Canvas modules with infographics, H5P activities, and accessibility features; the modules are ready for handover to HELPS and Careers to maintain and promote.
- How to present and represent (academic support); Ghaiath Almustafa developed a workshop to equip PhD students with tools to communicate research effectively and confidently, creating a blueprint for future integration into Canvas.
Supporting student equity and inclusion
Student presentations also demonstrated a passion and determination to support inclusive and equitable learning at UTS. The teams identified unmet needs across teaching practice, academic support and learner engagement impacting diverse groups of learners, including parents and students with disabilities, with practical implications for university policy and practice.
- Supporting student parents at UTS (academic support; inclusivity in learner engagement): Paskalina Faidiban and Napoleon Charles Kambu identified gaps in support and informed practical recommendations for orientation, childcare, and communication with students who are balancing study with parenting; the project also produced a collection of personal stories to amplify student voices.
- Improving students with disabilities’ experience at UTS (policy and process review; inclusivity in learner engagement): Jennifer Latif and Juliette Latif used a collaborative auto-ethnography approach to surface gaps in support for students with disabilities and over-reliance on registered accessibility needs; their findings will input to a number of areas, including career guides and action plan for access and inclusion.
- Learning on Country (teaching practice): Kate Kelly and Nour El-Zmeter organised an on Country workshop to support understanding of indigenous epistemologies in teacher education, with recommendations for integration into UTS teaching programs.
- A framework for inclusive class attendance policies (assessment practice; inclusivity in learner engagement): Evangelina Darmaputra and Laura Veasey identified systemic inequities in attendance policies which impact students with chronic health conditions; their framework for inclusive attendance policy recommends more flexibility and consistency in implementation, and has been passed on to the Academic Administration Working Group (AAWG) to support attendance and participation policy.
Re-thinking learning spaces and places
A number of presentations focussed on academic support across various contexts, ranging from online learning content and student support services to barriers impacting student use of labs and workshops. Teams proposed changes through learning design and user experience, in some cases powered by AI, and in others by changes in process (extended hours and simplifying bookings).
- Enhancing online learning through modular active content (academic support): Jihoon Choi and Kimgech (Yong) Pov developed an AI-powered prototype to convert long lectures into short, modular, interactive learning; they noted increased engagement and positive feedback from students.
- Student use & perceptions of FEIT labs and workshops (academic support): Jeremy Chu and Mike Engelsman researched barriers to access and engagements in engineering labs, revealing gaps in awareness, inconvenient hours, and safety risks from DIY projects; recommendations included extended hours, simplified induction and centralised information for students.
- Student centre chatbot (academic support): Ayush Prajapati, Jongmin Kim and Muneef Azwad developed a chatbot to reduce wait times and improve service efficiency at the UTS Student Centre; their solution is ready for handover to the data analytics team for implementation.
Working together to tackle the tough stuff
Understanding how the university works and how you can navigate it is a really important part of affecting change, and that’s what I like about the Students as Partners program. You’re supported by somebody who doesn’t solve the problems you’ve identified, but helps push you into the right places to find the people…
Professor Kylie Readman, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education and Students)
None of these projects were easy, but as Kylie Readman pointed out in her closing remarks, navigating such challenges through student-staff partnerships makes all the difference – to the process, to the learnings, and to the eventual outcomes. Students highlighted difficulties that are familiar to many workplaces, including shifting timelines, technical issues, huge learning curves, scalability, data gaps and resource constraints. The impacts of their work will be felt in many ways, not only in tangible project outcomes, but in the personal reflections and practical skills gained along the way.
To learn more about the SaP projects and program, visit the Students as Partners webpage. If you are a UTS staff member and are interested in being involved as a Staff Partner for the program next year, you can fill in the EOI form and the team will reach out. If you have any questions, please contact sapprojects@uts.edu.au
Feature image by Barak Remalli (UTS Library)
All projects highlighted here were funded by the Students as Partners Project Grants program.
