This case study is an output from the Academic Skills Development Project. It examines the impact of academic skills support at Somerville College, demonstrating how student-centred provision addresses critical development needs within Oxford’s demanding academic environment.
View the case study (PDF file)
Conducted April-June 2025, this evaluation employed a participatory mixed-methods approach that positioned students as evaluation partners rather than research subjects. The study surveyed 65 students using the validated Academic Skills Questionnaire (ASQ), engaged eight students in collaborative Theory of Change workshops where they designed pathways from challenges to solutions, and gathered perspectives from 17 academic staff. A student adviser served as co-analyst, providing what evaluation methodologists term “collaborative sense-making” that bridged quantitative patterns with lived experience insights.
Key findings reveal several critical patterns in academic skills development:
- The confidence translation challenge: students report high general academic confidence but lower levels of confidence for specific task execution, particularly self-motivation and time management
- Career guidance effectiveness: highest engagement rates with transformative impact from personalised, one-to-one support that contextualises academic skills development.
This evaluation contributes methodological and practical insights to understanding academic skills development within Oxford’s collegiate system. The convergence of evidence across three independent data streams – quantitative survey, collaborative student workshops, and staff perspectives – provides robust validation while revealing systemic issues around academic expectations that underlie many apparent skill deficits. By demonstrating how participatory evaluation approaches surface insights that traditional assessments might miss, the study offers a model for ongoing institutional learning that positions students as partners in enhancement, making it a valuable resource for colleges seeking to strengthen their academic support provision.
