SESSION OVERVIEW
This session presents a case study in cross-institution collaboration between student associations, exploring how shared approaches to recruitment, talent development, and knowledge exchange can strengthen student experience outcomes.
Thierry St Quintin draws on their unique dual role across Arc (UNSW) and TUSA (UTAS) to examine how recruiting staff with diverse, transferable experience — and supporting them to work across organisational contexts — can enhance the strengths of both organisations.
Using the establishment of student experience initiatives at UTAS’s Rozelle campus as a central example, the session will demonstrate how practices from a large, volunteer-driven metropolitan university can be adapted to a smaller, distributed student association environment. In turn, it will highlight how the agility, close-knit culture, and student-centred approach of a smaller organisation can influence and enrich practice in a larger one. Just like the SEN Value, ‘We Build Community’, this partnership between Arc and TUSA is also all about fostering a uniting both organisations to deepen their communities on campus, but also inter-organisationally. This creates a rich synergy and working environment encouraging fresh approaches and support networks that extend beyond the local team. In a way, every day is a SENCON for Thierry, as new ideas, artefacts and approaches can be applied between TUSA and Arc.
Attendees will gain insight into:
- How collaborative recruitment approaches can identify and attract adaptable, high-impact staff.
- The value of cross-pollination between student associations, including transferring ideas, programs, and ways of working.
- How leveraging the complementary strengths of different organisations can create more distinctive, localised student experiences.
- Practical examples of applying shared learning to build student connection and belonging in new or under-served campus environments.
The session will also reflect on the enablers and challenges of this model, including role design, autonomy, and sustainability, and consider how collaboration between student associations can move beyond informal networks to become a deliberate strategy for sector-wide improvement, including but not limited to sharing resources, information and practices. The universality and commonalities that can be found in our strategic plans and core values also demonstrates that we are more than two separate institutions that share a worker; but demonstrates that we are a NETWORK, bolstering our approaches to support our students.
Session Outcomes:
- Understand how cross-institution collaboration can strengthen recruitment, including identifying transferable skills and experience across student association contexts
- Recognise how different organisational strengths (scale, culture, structure) can be leveraged to improve student experience outcomes
- Gain ideas for adapting successful initiatives across contexts, particularly from large campuses to smaller or satellite environments (and vice versa)
- Identify strategies for building a more connected, collaborative student association sector, rather than operating in silos
- Reflect on how collaborative approaches can enhance staff development, resilience, and sense of belonging, alongside student outcomes
PRESENTER
Thierry St Quintin (they/them) works at two separate student associations of different scales, in distinctly different roles: At Arc, Thierry is a supervisor for 8 student editors that lead the three student publications, Gamamari, Blitz and UNSWeetened. At TUSA, Thierry manages the Food Hub and runs events at the satellite campus situated in Rozelle, Sydney. These dual roles provide Thierry a tool set that greatly supports all students they interact with… and also ensures that they’re never not busy!