Business and Management - Frenchay
Business and Management - Frenchay
SU Forum Unconfirmed Minutes
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 3rd February at 13:00-14:00 in 4B021
Present:Dana Riedener (BM), Tom Mannides (BM), Daisy Lyons (EM, PG), James Charles (BM, 3rd), Brendon Amos (BM), Rebecca Browning (BM), Bethan Broadbent (BM), Mathew Butt (BM), Naomi Lee (BM (LCO)), Rachel Davies (M, 4th), Priscilla Eke (MC, PG), Akusu Rukeme (BM, PG), Uyen Nguyen (MC, 2nd), Mohit Mani (BMwM, 3rd), Elly Bennett (TM, 3rd), Victoria Clubbe (BM & HRM, 3rd), Emma Lader (BM&M, 1st), Emily Austin (B&M, 2nd), William Fisher (B&M, 2nd), Daisy Roach (B & HRM, 3rd), Kelly Smallcombe (B&HRM, 1st), Kate Beazley (BMwM, 2nd), Duing Pham (IM, PG), Ruby Goodship (BMwM, 3rd), Lucy Crodu (M, 3rd)
In Attendance:Sarah Hickie (Secretary,UWESU)
Apologies*: Muhammad Ahmad, Samira Abokor, Nathan King, Mai Tuyet Le, Charlotte Jackson, Nicole Graveson
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021/1415Welcome and introductions
021.01Lauren Conen (Departmental Chair) welcomed Reps present to the third and final SU Forum of the year.
022/1415Minutes of the previous meeting
022.01Minutes from previous meeting were agreed.
023/1415Matters arising from the previous meeting
023.01Chair explained that VP Education had compiled all the student feedback gathered from across SU Forums and taken this to Deputy Vice
Chancellor Jane Harrington and the Pro Vice-Chancellor Jo
Midgley.They were grateful for the feedback and it was decided that VP Education would author a discussion paper. This work is ongoing.
023.02Reps didn’t have a lot to report back as many SRSFs had not taken place yet.
023.03However in relation to 015.05 Reps reported the issue had been raised with Jenny Lloyd.
023.04In relation to 015.08 this consensus was raised by student Department Chair at ASQC. BM HoD agreed that this was a format that was useful to students and was something he would expect staff to be using, as adding comments to a word document can be quite straight forward. Other staff present did point out that sometimes feedback isn’t tied to specific sections of writing and is a more overall comment say about writing style and that on these occasions this format doesn’t really work.
023.05In response to 015.09 students got their feedback on time and in time to reflect on it before the Jan exam, therefore they did not need to raise this issue.
024/1415Report from Departmental Committee
024.01No student Reps present had attended Departmental Committee so not report could be given at this Forum.
025/1415Report from SRC and ASQC
025.01Student Chair of Department gave a brief report on SRC and ASQC which she attended.
025.02In relation to SRC she explained that Derek Norris (Deputy Director - Strategic Business Engagement, ITS) had attended to give an update to students on developments to UWE IT in response to student feedback. These included reducing planned maintenance weekends from two a year to four and making these outside of main term time, rolling out Wi-Fi to all rooms on all campuses and the move away from thin client PCs through replacing all to thick clients. He agreed more and more timely promotion of free Microsoft 365 download was needed.
025.03In relation to ASQC she explained the committee discussed the feedback she raised on feedback. They were due to discuss APTs particularly in relation to student retention however this was put on hold to allow for the committee to better align with VP Educations project and student feedback from SU Forums and take this into account.
026/1415Student Communications and Information Provision
026.01Student Rep from 3rdyr Tourism Management felt that infopoint and Student Advisors were the first point of call and that students generally knew to go to an infopoint if unsure who to go to.
026.023rdyr Marketing Rep reported that students are very well signposted by course leaders Jenny Lloyd and Sara Bird. They do brilliant induction talks at the start of first and second semester and include signposting about where to go in all sorts of situations whether students are stressed or wanting to change module or need study support etc. The Rep suggested that as a form of reinforcement this slide/slides could be included at the end of every lecture – not to be talked through, as they appreciate teaching time is precious, but to just be on the screen as people leave the lecture. The room agreed this was a brilliant idea.
Action:Reps to raise at Departmental Committee.
026.03Rep from PG Events Management said that students come to her a lot but she is quite happy signposting them. She is on a small course and felt this might contribute to the peer to peer approach.
026.04Rep from 2ndyr Business Management reported she goes to either Dom ??ortheir APT.
026.05Rep from Business Management and Marketing said they also generally go to their APT but have gone to careers for support with placements. They did comment that they felt they had to ‘ask around a lot’ to find out where to go though.
026.06A Rep made a point that lecturers are quite overworked and overloaded with requests for guidance or signposting or support and that they should be more of a backup option, after students try to find information and signpost themselves.
026.07A Rep suggested that UWE create a ‘Student Wellbeing’ tab which would link off to information about and contact details of all forms of student support (not just specifically the Wellbeing service).
026.08Another Rep suggested a kind of flow chart or infographic that visually shows what departments/people/services provide what support and to who and who to contact them. All Reps felt that these options were of benefit to students who were shyer and didn’t want to ‘ask around’ or go to their APT or other staff. They also felt this was good as people didn’t have to come onto campus to find what they need.
A Rep raised that a challenge to making the infographic would be the sheer scale of UWE and the vast number of support services. However, they felt it was worth trying to get right as having this infographic would ‘do wonders for students perception of the University’ as they’d be able to see all the support they do provide in a transparent way. They felt the infographic should be used as posters behind glass across campus as would be visible there as well. Reps suggested they could be tailored to particular campuses or faculties with regards to specifics (such as the ASC in FBL, or the location of an infopointetc). They felt only certain bits would need to be tailored.
026.09In response to the fact the ASC was mentioned a Rep said she had been to a brilliant session by the Library but feels they are underused. She believes as FBL students are fortunate to have the ASC and it is quite clearly marketed they opt to go to there, when in fact some Library sessions may be more relevant.
Action:Rep to pass praise to Library Services if haven’t already.
026.10A Rep from 3rd year Human Resource Management raised the fact that surely your APT is the first point of contact for any issue as they can then tell you who to go to about it. The room generally felt this was logical however this then relies on a student’s relationship with their APT being good and appointments being made and kept. Some Reps raised they knew students had APTs who weren’t arranging appointments or they don’t feel their APT is very approachable, there were also times APTs had been changed a number of times which was challenging for their relationship with them.
Action:Feedback relevant to APT to be passed to VP Education to help inform discussion paper.
026.11Reps felt support with knowing where to go for support is most important in first year when new to the university. This was because students don’t know the staff team/their lecturer well enough to ask them for advice or they may be less confident as new to UWE. Often new students don’t feel they can ask someone for help if they aren’t sure who to ask.
026.12Generally Reps felt that online communications about support are clear, but noted if students aren’t proactive they may not find them.
027/1415Reflecting on the Rep role
027.01aWhen asked about the best parts of the Rep roles Reps felt that being in the loop and very involved was a best bit.
027.01bThey also felt it pushed you to be proactive in all aspects of student life.
027.01cReps felt that in their role they get to see a level of transparency that students who aren’t Student Reps don’t get to see. They felt however UWE needed to work harder to be transparent for all students.
027.01dReps felt good about being able to make changes, especially quick wins. They also liked being involved in the implementation of changes.
027.01eReps like feeling that they are approachable.
027.01fA Rep raised that they liked being able to post to myUWE. They had only have two responses but did feel it was of benefit. There was a discussion about the fact they didn’t feel students check their myUWE announcements as much as Blackboard announcements and they asked if it was possible to switch to allowing Reps to post to Blackboard. Secretary explained she believed this had been discussed with the University as Reps team agreed BB would have been preferable. She said she believed the University had good reason why this wasn’t possible and she would get back to Reps after checking what this was.
Action:Secretary to find out why we were only able to get myUWE announcements for Reps and not Blackboard announcements.
028.01aMoving on to discussions about barriers they faced in the role a Rep said a big barrier was students not checking UWE emails and the fact they aren’t give students personal emails as a Rep. There was a discussion about use of UWE emails and Chair explained UWE wanted all students to use their UWE emails and for staff to not have to email personal ones. Secretary reminded the room that currently Reps aren’t given all their cohorts email addresses as this isn’t a list the Reps team can access easily nor are they sure they can give these out due to data protection. Usually Reps are told to discuss this with academic staff with the caveat that if they do get any email addresses this will be UWE emails. She also explained myUWE announcement permissions training was to be used to address this.
028.02On a different but related note the Chair felt UWE need to do a campaign about students using their UWE emails, and that this could involve signposting to IT support is students need help accessing them or forwarding emails on to a personal address. One Rep said her course was sold checking UWE emails as all important comms go there and if they don’t check it they will become out of the loop could miss assessments and could achieve below their capabilities.
Action:Chair to discuss with UWE Communications Officer.
028.01bA Rep felt that their biggest barrier had been trying to get anything improved for their students regarding timetabling.
028.01cA few Reps felt that the Rep system needed a bit more standardising, to ensure all Reps and staff made the most of it. They suggested an example being standing up in class and introducing themselves as a Rep. They felt rather than suggesting this at training all Reps should be expected to and academic staff should be expected to ask them to and or introduce them.
028.01dA Rep suggested that Reps need help to get their face out there, so students have a face to a name/email address. They felt including their picture alongside their email on the Reps tab on myUWE was needed. Secretary advised this may be tricky from an IT perspective but was on the Reps team’s radar. She told the group about Department in FET whose staff had made large posters, behind Perspex, with Reps photographs, programmes and email addresses and installed them in the block where the courses are taught.
Action:Reps to raise at Departmental Committee.
028.01eOn the back of the point about standardisation and the example of introductions Rep suggested that a stock slide for them to use when introducing themselves and what they can offer students would be useful. This could then be editable by themselves to be more tailored to their course. They felt including examples of past Rep wins, especially at local level would be useful but felt this was currently hard information to get hold of. Secretary agreed this was hard to always track and capture and that the team were exploring Rep handovers, the 13month Rep term as options to improve this handing over of successes. Other ideas would be to talk to staff about Rep wins.
028.01fA Rep admitted that a barrier she had faced was due to her not always reading all emails. She had missed out on myUWE training and she felt this might have been due to her not seeing the email. She concluded this might be because she assumed the email was in fact from UWE, as she feels she reads emails that clearly have Student Reps in the subject but sometimes ignores other ones as she gets so many emails. She suggest Rep team always start subjects with Student Reps or something else clear.
Action:VP Education and Student Reps team to consider all feedback on the role and recommendations made at SU Forum.
029/1415Student Rep Conference
029.01 The secretary informed Reps present of the forthcoming Student Rep Conference. All Reps are invited to this year’s Conference, which will be held on Friday 27th February in the ECC on Frenchay Campus. The day will last from 11:00 - 16:00 (although Reps can just attend the morning or the afternoon) and a free buffet lunch will be provided! There is a choice of 3 workshops to attend. This day provides a wonderful opportunity to enhance Reps skills and share their experiences of the year so far. Reps can find more information Secretary briefly explained these workshops.
030/1415 Student Rep Notices
The Secretary ran through the rest of the Student Rep Notices…
030.01Nominations for the Student Rep and Student Led Teaching awards are still open. Nominations can be made on the Student Rep webpage, along with full details of criteria for each category.
030.02 The National Student Survey (NSS, for final year undergraduates) and Student Experience Survey (SES, for all other years) are now open. All students are encouraged to fill in their survey and have their voice heard. In addition to this, there are prize draws for iPad Minis for those who complete their relevant survey plus the Students’ Union will receive £1 per completed survey for your new SU building.
030.03Secretary explained that myUWE announcement training had been offered and drop in type sessions run across campuses with mixed success and attendance. She explained that for next year the team hoped to launch this training sooner or incorporate within fundamental Rep training. She asked if this was something Reps would still be interested in and if there was a need for further sessions. There was limited interest due to the timing of the year.
030.04 UWESU Elections are now open! Any student can run for one of the full time sabbatical positions or one of the part time office positions in the forthcoming UWESU Elections. Full details about each role and the nomination process are on Nominations opened on 3rd February and close 26th February.
031/1415Student Matters
031.01A Rep who recently returned from placement now has an APT assigned. However, this person is someone they haven’t had much interaction with since first year and they feel they are at a disadvantage because of this. They feel they know their dissertation supervisor better and vice versa and asked if there could not be some cross over, and them have the same person for both.
031.02A Rep from 3rdyr Business and Management strongly disagreed with this suggestion. They felt having two points of contact was better than one as doubled the chances of a student getting on with one of them and feeling able to ask for signposting. Rep from 3rdyr Tourism and Management agreed as a clear difference is also needed between roles and if they needed to give feedback on how they are getting on with their dissertation supervisor they could go to their APT. Secretary asked the Rep who initiated this conversation if they felt they just wanted more time with their dissertation supervisor, hence wanting in affect more time with them. They said not necessarily they just felt they knew them better and also they were assigned one sooner on returning.
031.03A Business Management 3rd year Rep felt that it is up to students to initiate contact and they shouldn’t be spoon fed. However Reps agreed APT as a concept needing ‘pushing more’ at 1st year. A 1styr Business Management Rep also commented that this proactive approach is actually at odds with how APT is marketed, as it is marketed as quite formal and students ‘have access to an APT for a ‘set amount of time’. Reps felt the allocation of time made it less clear students could or should be proactive in seeking help.