Concluding thoughts on the REACT Programme

Abstract

REACT, in many ways, has been about diversity: of type of institution; of students’ setting and intake; of current level of activity in relation to student engagement; of approaches to change, of roles and expertise of partner staff; of the particular purpose and activity of the ‘hard to reach’ engagement project undertaken and the stakeholders involved. As a consequence, and because the authors for this issue were encouraged to write in ways they considered appropriate rather than being given a standard template, the content and style of every paper are very different and each needs to be read for its own individual story. There are three agendas, however, which are fundamental to the REACT programme and outcomes. Each of these is discussed in turn: building evidence through a culture of evaluation and research; ‘hard to reach’ students and the notion of ‘reaching out’; the management of change in the context of REACT. The discussion reflects the learning of the REACT team, gained from working alongside the collaborative partner institutions, and includes comments from the independent evaluation undertaken by GuildHE to support points made.