Wednesday 18-03-2026 - 15:49

Welcome back to In The Loop!

In this edition, we’re bringing together key insights from Student Voice Meetings, surveys, and conversations with students across campus.

From everyday academic experiences to wider challenges affecting student life, your feedback is helping us build a clearer picture of what needs to change and what’s already working well.

And with this feedback, we’re actively encouraging teams at the university to ensure that any meetings about student voice are recorded for The Union to continue this work.

This quarter, we’re focusing on some of the biggest themes you’ve raised: your academic experience, settling into university life, financial pressures, travel and commuting, and improvements to study spaces like the library.

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Belonging & Making Friends 💛 ⏰

What we heard:

+ Struggling to make friends and settle into life in Manchester led to feelings of loneliness

+ Isolation and loneliness have a direct impact on satisfaction

+ Loss of satisfaction leads to feelings of wanting to drop out

Social opportunities can feel unclear beyond the first few weeks. You also consistently tell us that structured interaction helps make everything feel a little bit easier.

What we’re doing / encouraging:

+ Promoting social interaction in classes such as group work and ice-breakers

+ Encouraging community-building activities

+ Running events for everybody right here at The Union

+ Promoting the Union as a social space all year round

 

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Support Services & Wellbeing ⏰

Social opportunities can feel unclear beyond the first few weeks. You also consistently tell us that structured interaction helps make everything feel a little bit easier.

What we heard:

+ We’re overloading you with information during Welcome and Induction

+ It’s simply impossible to remember all of it

+ This leads to not knowing where to go later in the year when support is needed

What we’re doing:

+ Promoting Support services throughout the year

+ These services include: wellbeing and counselling to cost of living advice and specialist support teams (URL)

+ As well as actively encouraging reminders around exams and deadlines

+ Promoting the Union as a social space all year round

 

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Money & Cost of Living 💸

January and February continue to be particularly challenging months financially and we know this because our Advice Centre has handled over 100 enquiries relating specifically to this matter.

What we heard:

+ Financial pressure is a major challenge

+ More students are living at home

+ Part-time work is harder to find than ever

+ Budgeting is HARD

What we’re doing:

+ Providing a budgeting spreadsheet accessible for all right here (URL)

+ Improving access to financial support funds like the Success Fund (URL)

+ Increasing transparency around course costs by working with the university

 

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Travel & Commuting 🚎

What we heard:

+ Travel costs are high, and many of you avoid using it at all because of these costs

+ Sometimes you can spend up to £45 per week 🫣

+ Long delays, overcrowding during rush hour and confusion around tickets are major issues

All the above can affect your attendance and well-being.

What we’re doing:

+ Campaigning with The Greater Manchester Student Partnership for cheaper student fares

+ Working with local leaders like Andy Burnham and presenting this evidence as part of ongoing discussions about the future of student travel

+ Pushing for clearer travel information and discounts for students

 

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Teaching, Courses & Academic Experience 🧑‍🏫

What we heard:

+ Teaching quality and course organisation are among the biggest concerns

+ Some students feel inconsistencies in how modules are delivered and managed

Access to learning resources and academic support varies across courses

What we’re doing:

+ Analysing Student Voice Meeting feedback to identify key issues

+ Sharing insights with faculties to improve teaching and delivery

+ Developing systems to track trends and ensure action is taken

 

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Spotlight: Library & Study Spaces 📚

What we heard:

+ It was difficult to browse books and access other resources

+ Study spaces were not very comfortable

+ Finding your way around the spaces was difficult
 

In early 2025, the Library Improvement Project was launched to directly address these issues.
 

Since then, the team have:

+ New and comfortable furniture

+ Defined study zones

+ Clearer signage so you can find your way around more easily

+ Better accessibility

+ Returned creative art books for browsing

 

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