Professor Barbara Dooley:

The point about clubs and societies is really well made. We had in-person induction this year for all of our incoming students. It coincided with our freshers week, which had all of our different societies and clubs display their stands. There was huge engagement. All day long, students were coming to induction and going over to the areas where all of the societies were looking for members. There was major participation. From talking to the registrars' group within the IUA and international colleagues, I am aware that there has been a huge uptake in the context of students coming back to campus. This is despite the accommodation crisis, which I acknowledge is there. Our campuses are really alive this year for the first time. Students felt they could come to campus and see the value of being there, of coming to class, learning in person, working with their fellow students, developing and joining clubs and societies. That connection was taken away during Covid. There has been an appetite to come back this year. From talking to college principals and others in the universities, I know that has been the case. As a university management team, we engaged earlier in the year regarding the strategies we would put in place in order to get people to come back. We thought we would need to work harder; we did not realise that students were going to vote with their feet. They wanted to be with us. It was then up to us to provide them with a high-quality experience in the context of why they should be there with us.