QAA Scotland appoints a new student Enhancement Theme leadership team

QAA Scotland is delighted to announce the recruitment of a new Enhancement Theme Student Lead for academic year 2022-23. Heather Innes from the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) succeeds Ondrej Kucerak who moved on from the role earlier this year.

Heather is currently the President of the UHI Students Association (HISA) and has seven years’ experience in the student movement, having been involved with HISA, NUS Scotland and a number of other organisations. In 2021-22, Heather was the UHI representative on the Themes Leadership Group (TLG). She was also a member of the Student Led Project team, giving her hands-on experience of this vital part of QAA Scotland’s national Enhancement Theme activities. Heather is passionate about continuing to support work underway to develop the tertiary education sector in Scotland and in particular supporting accessible learning, and the rights of students to learn in whatever mode is most accessible to them.

Joining Heather as Deputy Student Lead is Hitanshi Badani from the University of St Andrews. Hitanshi has been involved with Enhancement Themes work at the University of St Andrews since 2021 where she assisted with a longitudinal study assessing student reception of online, hybrid and in-person learning environments. She has also been involved with student representation as a member of the University of St Andrews Rector’s Committee where she worked towards making student activism more accessible. She is particularly interested in decolonisation and inclusivity - not just in educational curriculums, but also in methodologies of gathering, assessing and implementing feedback.  

QAA Scotland is also pleased to announce that joining Heather and Hitanshi as student representatives on the Scottish Higher Education Enhancement Committee (SHEEC) are:

• Micaela Levesque - University of Glasgow
• Molly Knight - Heriot-Watt University
• Aasiyah Patankar - Queen Margaret University