Student Support Services, which includes Additional Learning Support, Art & Music, askBU & Frontline Services, Careers & Employability, Residential Services and sportBU has successfully gained the Matrix Accreditation after working for two years to ensure that all areas of their service met the Matrix Standard.

The Matrix Standard is a unique quality standard for organisations to assess and measure their advice and support services. Traditionally, Matrix assessment covered careers departments and frontline information, advice and guidance services – we believe that BU is the first HEI to gain accreditation for a service this diverse.

Preparation for the assessment provided the opportunity to reflect on how people worked across the different departments, identify areas of synergy and work on integrating the departments into one cohesive team

The assessment involved 75 interviews (49 staff, 19 students and 7 external partners – the largest our assessor had ever been involved in), and looked at four elements of the service; Leadership and management; Resources; Service delivery and continuous quality improvement.

Following the successful completion of the assessment a number of areas of good practice were identified including:

• a very clear link from the overall organisational structure to individual objectives
• regular departmental wide staff development events
• good examples of innovative practice
• opportunities for personal development
• good use of shared resources and support across the service

In 2013, the library also achieved a successful Matrix accreditation and is currently the only standalone Library & Learning Support Service in a UK university to achieve this.