How Leeds students helped create international postgraduate support resources

Updated Sep 07, 2026

Updated, 7 September 2026: We checked the complete paper and clarified the successive cohorts and activity counts. The project produced and shared resources; it did not demonstrate improved retention, wellbeing or trust through a controlled evaluation.

What the project involved

Alison Leslie and Clare Wright describe a 2022–25 project at the University of Leeds involving international taught postgraduates from two schools. Different cohorts contributed across the three years; this was not repeated follow-up of one fixed student sample.

Year one had 24 survey responses and a two-person focus group. Year two had 43 survey responses, an eight-student timeline activity and a seven-student co-creation workshop. Five students joined the final-year workshop.

Participants described difficulty navigating extensive guidance, the timing of support and the value of staff explanations. Students helped produce resources for peers and staff, including guides about communicating with lecturers and making connections. The authors report use in induction, recruitment and tutor training.

This is a small participatory case study. Resource production and reported uptake do not establish that support became more effective or that student outcomes improved. The paper discusses power differences and the researchers’ dual roles as practitioners working with students.

Questions for support teams

Our suggested starting point is to ask students to describe when they needed information and whether they could use it. A resource may exist without being easy to find, timely or clear. Investigate the task and context before deciding that more material is needed.

Where students help design a response, make the purpose and their influence clear. Invite feedback on what the proposed resource misses, and consider students who could not join the activity. Avoid treating one workshop as the view of an entire international cohort.

Assess both the process and the resulting resource. Who used it, what did it help them do, and what remains uncertain? The comment-analysis governance checklist can help plan how accounts are handled. These are our local evaluation suggestions, not a survey schedule or causal support model tested by this project.

Reference

Leslie, A. and Wright, C. (2025). Stepping Up, Standing Out: A Longitudinal Case Study on Engaging with International PGT Student Voices through Co-Creation in UK Higher Education. Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 7(1). This is the full paper’s title; the journal landing page uses a shorter version. Open paper.