The Ideal Student project aims to better understand what is expected of university students. Implicit and unspoken expectations, especially from staff, can result in diverse but patterned student experiences, and contribute to wider social inequalities and reproductions.

We aim to map out the student characteristics that are valued by staff and students themselves across different disciplines. By understanding how the ‘ideal’ learner is constructed in specific contexts, staff and students can better recognise and address differences in their expectations.

We have written a little more about the concept of the ideal student. Feel free to read about the use of the survey as a teaching activity for induction or module introduction, as well as details of our publications (including our virtual book launch). You can also tell us about your ideal student.