“It was actually a godsend that they launched the cash scheme just as we were forming our payment plans. It enabled us to pay all of the money over quickly to the students and for them to draw the money down easily, while we also weren’t facing restrictions such as sorting out processing details and checking bank account information.”

University of Salford’s Student Experience and Support Division Helen Parker, Student Inclusion and Engagement Manager in the Student Success Team, says: “Our role is to constantly monitor the success of students from under represented backgrounds. We look at the award gap, continuation rates, completion rates, and consider what we can do to minimise any barriers that the students might face.

“At the time when we first brought the JS Group on board, there was a sector weakness: no great tracking of how students spend their money through bursaries and specialist support funds. We felt that the best way to tackle this was to bring in the JS Group team and use their dedicated online store where students can spend their money (with their learning in mind) and which allows tracking of how that money is actually being spent.

“We got positive feedback from the students and from the lecturers, who felt that it was a really good idea for encouraging their students to obtain the materials they needed and they could help to recommend particular bundles of materials useful for a specific course.”

Helen also leads on the University’s Access and Participation Plan – the formal record of how the University of Salford is helping to engage and to support students from non-traditional backgrounds.“We can actually report back to the Office for Students on how dedicated funds, intended to support these students, are being used. That is very valuable data and insight. We are evolving this and perfecting this over time to examine the closer link between student funding use and its impact on student engagement and performance.”

When asked about the working relationship with the JS Group, Helen says: “I think that they are very customer-focused. They are very genuine people and they do inspire trust. They are also innovative: if you have an issue then they will find a solution for it.”