John Cabot University Student Government

John Cabot University Student Government

Academic Forum Report

Event: Academic Forum

When: Wednesday October 10, 2012 8-9:30pm

Where: Tiber Campus Cafeteria

Attendance:

Around 50 students

Student Government

Professor Alessandra Seggi from Communications Department

Purpose

All forums follow the guidelines set out by the Student Government constitution, specifically forums are a tool that the Student Government utilizes to gain more of a consensus on issues surrounding the university. Once, Student Government commits to a forum a variety of issues can be brought up however it is the purpose of the Student Government to fixate on the issues that are most prominent amongst students. Forums provide an outlet for students to debate and learn from as well as another medium to construct a purposeful dialogue. A dialogue that is crucial for the administration so that it can receive other sources of information on the issues that affect the university student body. This therefore further aids the purpose of Student Government in being a liaison amongst the student body and administration so that we can foster a strong communication within the John Cabot community.

Details

Student Government Academic Affairs committee organized the forum

Expenditures: Zero

Outcomes

Students came together to voices their opinions and concerns regarding specific facets of Academics here at John Cabot University. Within the platform to voice, students were also able to learn that solutions to certain issues could be resolved amongst themselves making this forum very unique in its purpose. Students not only came together to discuss certain topics, but also aided each other in learning more about the functions of certain university tools.

Library

Issues of reserved books

-E-books as reserve – 24/7 hours of access and solve issue of space in the library

-Some students prefer to have hard copy rather than e-book

-Issues of Internet connection at home and printing credits to print chapters for e-book

-Not so many professors offer e-book as required/recommended reading

Graduate School preparation books in the library

-GRE, LSAT- not updated since 2008/9

-Students need more books to practice the test questions

-One LSAT prep book has only 3 practice tests

-Could Career Services, provide more support on directing students to testing centers abroad as well as possibly donating updated versions of the GRE and LSAT prep book in the library? During the forum it was mentioned by a representative of the library that Career Services previously donated such books.

-School research method should be taught to all freshmen

-Since prep courses are not usually offered in a university, could there be a greater possibility of a proctor of the LSAT or GRE at John Cabot University? There are centers located within Rome however it could be beneficial to the whole of the student body if like in any universities within the United States, tests could be proctored at the university. In the past, there had been one such instance in regards to the LSAT, other than that there was nothing else that had been heard of.

Language Courses

-Students definitely want to have more options for foreign language studies

-There is a fact that native English speakers and people who went to English-speaking high school need to take two language courses as graduation requirements

-Many Italian students end up taking French as language requirement

-Spanish could be new choice since many American have studied in their high school and they can improve their skills

Note: Another solution that was brought up within the forum was an agreement to be made by an institution within Rome that could offer language courses to students at JCU. This would provide more insight into the growing interest, if the interest indeed would support the introduction of a new language within the JCU curriculum.

-Do a survey during advising week to see what student want to study

-Russian student body is growing thanks to recent exchange connection. If we consider this fact, it might be nice to have Russian class/student tutoring/conversation partner system. It would also create nice opportunity to mingle with them.

-JCU has two direct exchange programs with universities in Korea. It would also nice to have Korean courses for prospective exchange program candidate students from JCU and people interested in Asia as well as tutoring opportunities for Korean exchange students.

More major electives

Literature course

-Not only English, but also more variation of international literature studies

ex. Russian, Japanese

-Concentration within the major

ex. Department of International Affairs

-Middle East, Asian, EU, African and American studies

Department of Communications

-Media studies, Cultural studies, Journalism, Digital art production courses

American University Rome has two different concentrations within communicationsdepartment, BA in Film and Digital Media and Communication

Economics Major students

-There are not enough courses. Some people are taking independent study because of this issue.

Issues of Communication Major

-More practical courses as major requirement, not theoretical classes

ex. Newspaper editing, 2D/3D design, Advertising design, Film making as advanced video production class, Google research analysis

-Media thesis or project work portfolio should exist as senior graduation requirement

-Portfolio shows ability of student to grad school/company

-Media-related company requires portfolio as well as CV at job interview

-Inadequate facilities within JCU ex. Computers, digital gadgets, graphic novels

-JCU is an international university, so more global/cultural/social study courses should be offered ex. Cultural/Social Anthropology, Interpersonal Communications

-Job opportunities should be offered in JCU for students in photography/graphic design/journalism class

Note: Overall a consensus seemed to come across that students of communication would prefer if not a Portfolio Requirement the ability to be linked with internships that would essentially aid them in building a portfolio. This could be of difficulty in assuming that the internship obligation would require knowledge of Italian and some students may not be capable to take on such an experience. Without portfolios it does seem that students are having a difficult in pursuing further education and job opportunities within the field.

Communication among students, staff and faculty

- Class of 2013 students received email from register office about petition for graduation three days before the deadline.

The main concern that arose from this incident was that students had no time to meet with his/her advisor and secure the checklist as adequate. All students received the email, regardless of their credit standing. The email did not serve to explain the difference form students under the Wales Program had to carry out. Some students were concerned that the checklist should have been filled out with advisors. An overall consensus was that it should not have been sent out last minute, many students would have enjoyed receiving warning from the period of August giving them adequate time to work on the list and consult their advisors.

Many students suggested that since an Academic Calendar is widely available, it would be beneficial to have such a calendar available via intranet for the Registrar’s office. The calendar would note important dates regarding advising, graduation petitions, drop /add period, etc. Such would give proper notification to students and avoid such last minute issues. It also provides accountability for students in regards to their personal university obligations.

Other Issues that might be directly linked to the Registrar:

- Enough graded course work to consider class withdrawal – some professors have/give back midterms after the withdrawal day. The dean cannot force professor to have midterm in certain time, but it is hard to consider withdrawal without any graded course works.

- Classroom schedule – art class professors and students are having trouble with finding a classroom to have midterm exams. Also, sometimes classrooms are used for school event and professor and students are forced to change the classroom without enough teaching materials/chairs

-All academic departments should have an Academic Department meeting with all students and professors once in every semester to talk about future development of the department, what kind of courses students want, feedback for the courses and major-related information sharing.

-Make up day should be emphasized in the first day of the class and by course syllabus

-In case of bad weather conditions and transportations strikes, school should update announcement frequently in my JCU or by email.

Advising

Clearly the dilemma with advising is the lack of enough full time faculties, but with the recent additions, some advising problems should have been fixed. One that seems to be a reoccurrence however is in Communications. Supposedly students have new advisors, but their advisors are not necessarily Communications-oriented. The main concern is in the area of developing a portfolio for many Communications major students if they consider pursuing further education or job opportunities. Also, absence of his/her advisor should be announced at the beginning of the semester

School Facilities

Mac Computer in Guarini/Tiber campus

As we had previously discussed the situation with the Macs and students who needed to use the computers for specific classes, somewhat of a solution has been discussed. In the former Admissions room, lockers have been set up however there is a room in the back that is not frequently used by students. It is a study space, and to avoid keeping the Mac Lab open, would it possibly be easier to transfer three computers to this specific room? The only addition would be some lab assistant to be able to monitor the room so that students that need the computers are able to have access to them. Especially since such computers had been purchased for specific classes. This would give students the option of using the computers in Guarini during the weekend for project purposes and possibly save costs.

-Group work takes a lot of time and researches -especially for video production class

-Applications/software are not updated

Attendance policy

- The issue of being adults and being held accountable for our own attendance has been brought up. Especially when students are sick at times and may not visit a doctor for a smaller problem just to get an excusal note.

- Doctor availability in Italy for non-Italian student is difficult situation

Money, Scholarships and Value of JCU

- Students want to know budget report (tuition breakdown) of university

- If we see the increase of use of specific area, it is understandable to pay raised-tuitions

- Scholarships are way to attract prospective students, but JCU is giving too much

-Italian students go to JCU about three years while Americans and many of other internationals go for four years and paying housing and expensive transportations

- GPA standard for scholarship is low – many people get scholarships easily

- Images of JCU before entering and after are completely different

ex. Class size, availability of professors and supports

Writing Center

-Policies of one-hour maximum/ once in a week have been seen as a limit by students who would prefer more access to the writing center whether it be through a professor or student-tutor

-Professors don’t have enough time to read/correct all pages

-JCU has many non-native English speakers

-Thesis students also use writing lab-through Professor Cox mostly

-It is hard to make appointments during midterm/final weeks

-Writing Center should be open on Friday

-More professors and hours are needed

-Email appointment takes time. Availability/Vacancy of appointment should be visible on My JCU and appointment making should be easier possibly via a calendar similar to the library’s calendar to reserve the group study rooms in the back.

-For students that are not necessarily interested in working on their writing but need a brief look over paper, one student mentioned that at some universities in the USA the writing center did do through a program where students would email papers, a send-back of an edited paper

Submitted 14/10/2012

Yumi Kaneko

Student Government Chief of Staff

Co-writer

Liridona Malota

Student Government President