information for higher education institutions
How Randstad can work with your organisation
Randstad has been engaged in providing student support since 2002. Over time, it’s become apparent that people or departments charged with managing student support, tend to want to adopt one of two broad approaches. There’s what is called a “partnership agreement”, or alternatively a “specialist matching service”. These are described below and if you’re interested in working with Randstad, one of the company’s specialist teams will consult with you to design, develop and implement whatever kind of arrangement, structure or style of support best suits your institution, and the individual students involved.
What is a “partnership agreement” and how does it work?
In a “partnership agreement”, Randstad creates a joint service together with your disability team. This service is developed by conducting an in-depth analysis of the existing disability service and discussing what challenges your institution may be facing. During this analysis, Randstad assesses how its team can complement and enhance your service further.
Broadly speaking most partnership agreements involve the institution outsourcing to Randstad some or all of the following areas:
- advertising for and recruiting all disability support workers
- induction, training and employment of workers
- payrolling support workers and managing all legislative accruals and benefits
- invoicing funding bodies
- production of financial management information
- support with developing documentation and processes
Under these partnership agreements the institution retains the matching and on-going pastoral care of the student within the existing disability team. This kind of service allows the institution to focus its efforts on providing the best possible support to its students as well as increasing the number of students able to access the services.
Working in partnership with Randstad also enables the institution to broaden the types of services it is able to offer to its students. Randstad’s service is funded via the Disabled Students Allowance in line with statutory regulations and is therefore provided at no cost to the university.
What is the “Specialist Matching Service” and how does it work?
With “specialist matching”, a student is referred directly to Randstad. The team here will review the award letter and the needs assessment report and will then take on the management of all the practical aspects of providing the support that’s needed. It means that a consultant here will work with the student to select a suitable support worker, and then they will manage and organise everything day-to-day. At the same time, Randstad will take care of all the administration. The service is funded via the Disabled Students Allowance in line with statutory regulations and is therefore provided at no cost to the university.
What disabilities do Randstad’s student support workers deal with?
People with a range of disabilities may qualify for funding for student support. Examples would include visual, auditory or vocal impairments, physical disabilities, specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, asperger’s, autism and mental health impairments.
What roles do Randstad support workers fulfil for students?
The support which Randstad’s support workers provide will be tailored to the student’s individual needs as outlined in his/her needs assessment report. The kinds of roles which Randstad currently fulfils include:
- Notetakers
- Electronic Notetakers
- Library Assistants
- Readers
- Mobility Support
- Study Buddy
- Transcription Services
- Proof Readers
- Mental Health Mentors
- Specialist Tutors (covering dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia etc)
- IT Trainers
- Study Skills Tutors
- Language Support Tutors
Student Support can also provide other roles as required on a case-by-case basis. The only roles which aren’t covered relate to personal care but support of this kind can be organised through Randstad Care, which has teams which specialise in providing assistance of this sort.
How many universities and colleges do you work with?
Randstad is the market leader in providing non-medical helpers to disabled students at Higher Education Institutions in the UK. The company is also the preferred supplier to the Open University supporting disabled students in the home.
How many students do you provide support to?
Currently, Randstad supplies student support to over 12,000 students across the UK.