On Wednesday 23 January, ProtectED, a not-for-profit membership organisation which supports student safety, security and wellbeing, hosted a special evening reception. The ProtectED event celebrated the success of the work being achieved by universities, presented award certificates to founder members and also an opportunity for networking and discussion. The ProtectED accreditation is designed to assess the extent to which universities provide the services and structures that enable students to avoid problems and focus on their success.

Taking place at the House of Lords, the reception was hosted by longstanding Labour politician, academic and ProtectED patron Baroness Ruth Henig alongside founding members, The University of Salford. Guests included university representatives from across the UK, as well as policy changers and partner organisations. Speaking at the event, Director of ProtectED Andrew Wootton said: "Working with our Founder Member institutions, ProtectED will raise standards across the university sector to ensure the safety, security and wellbeing of our students. I am especially pleased that so many of the partner organisations that have advised on the research, design and development of ProtectED over the past four years have been able to join us. ProtectED is a collaborative effort, and we are proud to work with core partners like the British Council to enable a better student experience.”

Guest speakers also included Trevor Jones, Chair of the Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUSCO), who campaigns to provide advice, resources, training and events for AUSCO members to aid best practice in security management within the sector.  Dave Humphries, Acting Chief Executive of Security Industry Authority, also praised ProtectED’s ambitious agenda and commented on the future objectives being truly aspirational.

British Council’s Helen Clews, Specialist Immigration Advisor Adviser, highlighted the success of the British Council collaborating with ProtectED for a truly preventative approach and how this delivers long term benefits for international students and Universities alike. Helen introduced the Study UK; Discover You campaign, designed to promote the best of British education overseas and support the global objectives of UK universities. The campaign focuses on the experiences, knowledge and confidence that students can gain from UK study, whether in the UK, or overseas or through distance learning, online provision and other models. Helen also shared her passion to the personal gains she has experienced through becoming an active member of ProtectED including completing a Mental Health First Aid course in the workplace.

Helen’s role is in the British Council is to advise regarding visa, immigration, welfare and support issues affecting international students, and Tier 5 Government Authorised Exchange students. She also develops and manage relationships with external bodies such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Home Office, UK Visas & Immigration, UK Council for International Student Affairs, Department for Education, Education Institutions. Helen continues to manage and combine her roles and experience to work on international student safety forums and initiatives such as the publications Creating Confidence and Safety First -  personal safety guides for international students and workers coming to the UK and Creating Confidence – International Student Safety Surveys Preparation for Study in the UK.

As part of The International Education Services, The British Council are delighted to soon announce dates for the highly acclaimed  ‘Up Close and Personal with...’ - a series of engaging workshops with Helen aimed to not only to develop and enhance knowledge on supporting international students, but also to stimulate discussions. Using the ProtectED Code of Practice as a guide, the day focuses on the five most important issues which follow the international student journey.

ProtectED continues to seek pioneering universities to join the ground-breaking scheme. Universities must meet the minimum requirements for all measures outlined in the ProtectED Code of Practice, to be awarded accreditation. A confidential accreditation process involves initial assessment by a Peer Review Panel of sector experts, followed by a Verification Visit by independent assessors. ProtectED Accredited Institution status is an indicator to prospective and current students, their parents and loved ones that the institution takes student welfare seriously.

You can read more about ProtectED here: https://www.protect-ed.org/

The next event supporting student experience through wellbeing, safety and security in Higher Education is taking place on 22nd March 2019, 10am - 2pm at Barclays Eagle Lab, Manchester. This 'ProtectED Conversation' will discuss collaborative approaches to issues around student debt and the role of the student union in improving the student experience.You can regsiter here

Follow them on twitter here: @ProtectED_HEI

You can see photos from the event here