Interview with Dr. Sonia Galea, IDEA College Deputy Principal - Academic Affairs
Education and Background
Inspirational Influences: Which experiences from your academic journey have significantly influenced your approach to student support?
As a student, I found support to be a crucial aspect throughout my academic journey, particularly that provided by the educational institutions where I was studying, by my mentors, and by my peers. However, there were still times where I felt that proper academic support was lacking, which led me to search for support from other professionals outside of my institution. These individuals proved to be a source of inspiration in the holistic support which I offer to our students.
Ongoing Learning: How do you stay updated with the latest research and trends in education to enhance the support your department provides?
Support at IDEA College is provided not only with regards to academic matters, but also on a personal level. This entails being empathic towards students who may be going through a rough period in their life or who may be struggling to balance their professional and academic areas. For this reason, we ensure that our Support Team is appropriately trained in order to have the necessary skills to support the students in any way.
Frequent discussions with the Principal and other team members are continuously held in an ongoing effort to stay updated with the latest research and trends in education. This entails the sharing of knowledge concerning new modes of support. Furthermore, the internal staff at IDEA College attend short courses relating to various types of support, such as mental health and other areas.
As part of my role in Support I see that students are provided with holistic support, and we give importance to the students’ academic journeys. I am directly involved in supporting students during their dissertation journey. For this reason, I do try to keep up to date with innovative research methods, so as to guide students effectively, both in their proposals and dissertations.
Personal Beliefs and Philosophy
Educational Philosophy: What core beliefs drive your approach to directing the Student Support Department?
I consider that listening to our students, understanding their difficulties, guiding them in the best way possible, so as to help them reach their goal, are at the core of my beliefs here at IDEA. I highly emphasise these with my team. We spend a lot of time over the phone communicating with our students, listening to them and empathising with any physical, psychological or social difficulties they may be going through. Ultimately, I need to lead by example and also support my team in carrying out this particular function, which is very taxing psychologically and emotional level.
At the core of my beliefs is also inclusive education. One of the identifying principles of IDEA College is the inclusion of all students with regards to culture, sex, religion, language, amongst other differences. This is also prioritised within our team in our everyday functions.
Impactful Changes: If you could implement one radical change in the education system, what would it be and why?
A limitation that is continuously felt in the education system, is the lack of training in transversal skills. Research is indicating that employers are facing particular challenges when their employees lack skills particularly critical thinking, problem-solving skills, communication skills, and resilience amongst other skills. Hence, more focus on these through experiential learning is needed at any level starting from an early age.
Innovative Approaches
Holistic Support: How do you integrate academic, emotional, and social support to provide a holistic approach to student well-being?
As stated earlier, a fundamental element in the holistic support, we provide to our students, is giving them space and time to voice their concerns and potential struggles. We also design a study plan for students who are identified as struggling to balance their work and study responsibilities. Moreover, if our team deems that students may need further help and support, they are referred to other services available in the community.
To support students’ academic skills IDEA College offers free cyclical workshops, targeting brainstorming and research skills, academic writing, presentation skills, plagiarism, AI use and misuse, and dissertation workshops.
Additionally, support is also provided on a one-to-one basis. In the case of additional, individual support, we encourage the students to come to our premises and discuss any issue(s) they might have, either with me or with one of the programme coordinators.
Student-Driven Ideas: Can you describe a student-driven idea that was successfully implemented and made a significant impact?
Academic writing has always proved to be challenging for some of our students. In fact, many of our students do request individual support on this topic. For this reason, as referred to earlier, IDEA College developed and started delivering a sequence of workshops related to academic writing, eliciting highly-positive feedback from students.
Career Preparation
Skill Development: How do you balance the development of soft skills with technical skills in your support programs?
The transversal skills are not only addressed in support interventions but we encourage lecturers to keep them in mind also during the learning process including lectures, assessments, and other activities they organise. The support that is given to our students both during the workshops and also on an individual basis needs to integrate both the transversal skills and the academic skills Therefore, while students are supported academically, they are also guided with regards to teamwork, critical thinking, time management, emotional intelligence, and the creation of a balance between work, study, and recreation. Besides exposing them to the academic language and skills of various peer-reviewed studies, we also share our own personal experiences of our academic journeys.
Industry Collaboration: What are some creative ways you collaborate with industries to ensure students are career-ready upon graduation?
We collaborate with industry partners and industry experts. This is also reflected in the choice of lecturers who have extensive professional industry experience and therefore can already serve as models and give students exposure to case studies and contextualised content. Besides that where possible and relevant, we include work exposure and work placements, as well as simulated practice as an integral part of the programme of studies.
Community and Inclusivity
Fostering Inclusivity: How do you ensure that support services cater to the needs of students from diverse backgrounds and identities?
As already highlighted, the inclusion of All students is a vital principle in our College due to the fact that many of our students come from different countries and, hence, are equipped with diverse backgrounds, cultures, religions, and so forth. Inclusivity also includes catering for those students who do not necessarily have an educational background or students who have not studied in a long time. We do recognise that the needs of all the students vary from one another. For this reason, during the introduction sessions, which happen at the start of every programme, we do make sure to emphasise that support is provided equally to all students. Apart from that, the programme coordinators follow students very closely and if and when they observe some form of struggle, they contact students immediately.
Building Community: What initiatives have you introduced to foster a sense of community and belonging among students?
At IDEA College, we believe in communities of practice. In our introduction sessions, we encourage students to support each other as a cohort and create a sense of community during their academic journey. The Alumni community, which students are encouraged to join after they terminate their studies and graduate, continues to extend this sense of community beyond the study journey. To this end, the College organises social events for our alumni to create and enhance a sense of belonging and also plan other future events.
The research café was another successful initiative where academics and students, who were working on their studies or dissertations, came together to discuss their studies, the challenges of research projects, and the importance of soft and transversal skills during any research journey. This is also the case for the academic skills workshops which host students studying on different levels and cohorts, hence the peer-to-peer and the faculty-student interactions are enhanced. We value support in its widest sense and believe that it is not unidirectional. Through the community of practice, support is multiplied, and empowerment is enhanced. We are all on this journey together, so we all grow together.