Peer-assisted student support: A new approach to learning

The Great Britain Committee of Enquiry into Higher Education (1997) highlighted the significant role that higher education would be required to play in providing the United Kingdom with individuals that could consistently meet the demands of a global market place. Higher education institutions have been entrusted with the task of removing existing barriers to learning and implementing initiatives that will enable students to achieve beyond current expectations. A current initiative by the University of Glamorgan aims to meet some of the challenges laid down by the Great Britain Committee of Enquiry into Higher Education (1997). Peer-Assisted Student Support (PASS) is a scheme directed at facilitating student-centred learning. The initiative encourages students to take responsibility for the learning process in terms of academic achievement and social development. This article offers a unique insight into the scheme, detailing demographic and subject attendance patterns during Semester B of the 1997/98 academic year. Furthermore, the research undertaken also builds on previous work investigating the effect of support mechanisms on academic performance. The article reports that the scheme is primarily dominated by female attendees and students in the under-21 age group. Moreover, whilst the research substantiates previous claims that schemes such as PASS have a positive effect on academic performance, the nature of academic appraisal within the context studied suggests that this generalisation can only be extended to coursework-related assessment.