Civil Service challenge gives students insight into policy-making

Students at Teesside University have gained first-hand experience into how major policy decisions are developed and implemented as part of a partnership with the Darlington Economic Campus (DEC).

The 12 students took part in a six-week Policy Challenge which saw them split into three teams to develop policy ideas which were then pitched to a panel of civil servants at the DEC.

The students were studying a range of undergraduate and postgraduate disciplines including BSc (Hons) Criminology, BSc (Hons) Sociology, MSc Criminology, MSc Social Research Methods, BA (Hons) History, BA (Hons) Politics, and the Master of Public Administration.

Over the course of the six weeks, as the students honed their policy ideas, staff from Teesside University shared their expertise across a variety of different topics including equalities, value for money, environment and climate change and working with ministers.

The students then presented their policy ideas to the panel of four judges at the conclusion of the six weeks.

The ideas developed by the students were:

• A low carbon, electric bus scheme for the Tees Valley linking existing transport nodes with the Teesside freeport • A concessionary travel scheme for young people, students and apprentices across the Tees Valley • The revitalisation of the Tees Valley metro – repurposing an existing freight rail line in East Cleveland for passenger travel

The Tees Valley Metro team was judged the winning policy by the judges, although it was noted there was little to separate the teams.

One of the judges, Scott Richards, a Senior Strategy and Policy Advisor at the Department of Business and Trade, said: “The standard was really high, the presentations were great.

“You could really see the passion in people’s proposals that they put forward. There was some really great evidence and research that underpinned them as well.”

Dr Christopher Massey, Principal Lecturer (Learning & Teaching) in Teesside University’s School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Law, said: “The Policy Challenge has been an incredibly exciting opportunity for students at Teesside University.

“They’ve been working on real-life, live projects trying to come up with new policy ideas for local and national government at the DEC.

“Our students performed exceptionally, especially given the tight six-week timeframe.

“The work involved a large step into the unknown for many of them, and they passed with flying colours, receiving glowing feedback from DEC staff.”

Student Stewart Grainger, who took part in the Policy Challenge, said: “I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s opened my eyes to a number of aspects of what it’s like to work in the Civil Service.”

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