The University of Bradford Students’ Union is inviting proposals from experienced providers to carry out student insight research and to help develop a new strategy.
The University of Bradford Students’ Union is inviting proposals from experienced providers to carry out student insight research and to help develop a new strategy. The Students’ Union is about to enter a period of significant change, and this work is the first step: understanding what students want from their Students’ Union, what would make them engage with it, why some do not engage at present, and where it should focus next. We want the research to be forward-looking and to test ideas with students, including services and activities that other Students’ Unions run, rather than starting from a blank page. The Students’ Union is particularly keen to hear from the students it has served least well, including commuter, international, mature, non-traditional and currently disengaged students.
The findings will form the evidence base for the new strategy and the decisions that follow from it.
What we need
The work has four parts: insight research across the student body, including a survey, in-person fieldwork and focus groups that deliberately reach the students who are usually unheard; consultation with University stakeholders; clear analysis and reporting, broken down by student group; and facilitation of the workshops that turn the findings into an agreed strategy.
We want the research to be provocative rather than passive, testing options and examples of what Students’ Unions elsewhere do, so that students respond to real possibilities rather than a blank page. The in-person element matters to us: we want some of the research done face to face, with students met where they are, so we hear from more than those who reply online. We are open to how that is best done and welcome bidders’ ideas. The Students’ Union is looking for practical insight and clear recommendations it can act on.
Budget
Up to £24,000, inclusive of VAT, expenses and the cost of any participant incentives, covering the whole scope. The Students’ Union will weigh quality of approach above the lowest price, though as a charity managing its resources carefully, value for money matters.
Timescale
The Students’ Union intends to move at pace: appointing in mid-August 2026, starting in late August, reporting the findings by early November, and concluding the strategy workshops by the end of November 2026, leaving December 2026 and early January 2027 for the Turnaround Board, the Trustee Board and key University leaders to sign off the new strategy.
How to express interest
If this sounds like the right fit, get in touch and we’ll send you the full invitation to tender, which sets out the detailed scope, deliverables and evaluation criteria. Completed tenders should reach the Students’ Union by midday on Monday 10th of August 2026.
Contact
To request the full invitation to tender, or to discuss the work first, please contact Andy Morwood, Interim CEO, at a.morwood@bradford.ac.uk.