What Makes the Best Learning Experience?

Since its inception, the UK Higher Education Academy has had as its core focus on the “deliver[y of] the best possible learning experience for all students” (see www.heacademy.ac.uk). As part of this commitment, the Centre for Bioscience ran a competition, open to all UK undergraduates studying for a degree in pure or applied biological sciences, for which they were invited to write an essay of 500 to 1000 words on the subject “What makes the best learning experience for you?” This article summarises the key themes emerging from the responses and goes on to develop some broader reflections on how we as bioscientists can enhance the learning experience of our students.