UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD STUDENTS UNION Student Representation Staff Pack. Kimberley Ashworth, Student Representation Coordinator

Transcription

1 UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD STUDENTS UNION Student Representation Staff Pack Kimberley Ashworth, Student Representation Coordinator

2 UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD STUDENTS UNION Student Representation Staff Pack Contents Page 1. Introduction The Student Representation System The role of Student Representatives What we can learn from Student Representatives? Recruitment Training Supporting Student Reps School Representatives How does a School Representative differ to a Student Representative? Meetings Guidelines for Staff Student Committee Meetings Dealing with issues Working with Student Reps Recognition for Student Reps Blackboard Student Representation Calendar Useful links... 8 Appendix 1 Mock agenda... 9 Appendix 2 Action Plan

3 1. Introduction This handbook aims to provide ideas and guidelines to recruit, inform and support Student Representatives, in order for you to gain the maximum benefits from them and them from you. The Student Representation System has a key part to play both in terms of the quality processes at the University and also maximising the student experience; as it creates a forum for the students to express their opinion on the issues which impact on their learning experience. Our aim is to coordinate an effective Student Representation System and to ensure quality representation and the exchange and dissemination of information amongst relevant agencies within the University and the Students Union. We feel that it is important to raise awareness of the Student Representative System from the start of the academic year, encouraging students to take an active role in the quality assurance process of their degree course. The Student Representation Coordinator works in conjunction with the University to ensure that we have a fully effective and active Student Representation System in place. 2. The Student Representation System We want to make sure that all students have the best experience possible when it comes to studying at Salford. The Student Representation system can help with this - it s a way of making sure there is two way communication between Salford students and the University. The system ensures that students have an opportunity to voice their opinions about their course and involves student representatives working with the University to achieve a positive outcome. Every year at least one Student Representative has to be elected per course per year. This can vary according to the size of the course as larger courses can nominate more than one student if needed. The Student Representatives are advised to raise all academic related concerns at staff student committee meetings, and all other non-academic related concerns, for example, catering facilities and car parking with their the Students Union. The School Representatives are appointed to represent student issues within each School, taking overall issues rather than dealing with course issues. They receive a series of incentives for work carried out and are supervised by the Students Union. 3. The role of Student Representatives Student Representatives should ideally be pro-active students. As well as becoming the channel between staff and the student body regarding academic opinions and issues. Student Representatives should: 1 Join the New or Returning Rep Academy 2 Read the Student Rep Handbook 3 Be sure to communicate and feed back to your peers Speak to students on your course about Academic positives and negatives Keep us informed (School Reps, Students Union and the University) 4 Join the Student Rep Activity Group Attend Students Union events throughout the year 3

4 3.1 What we can learn from Student Representatives? The positive partnership between staff and students offers a means for the improvement of the students experience at the University. It begins by creating an ethos of enthusiasm and progress with regards to the Student Representation system, as well as acknowledging the crucial role staff play in fostering effective Student Representation in their respective school. Student Representatives need the meeting forum to let members of the programme know how they feel about the way in it is being run or about University life in general. They can also help you in gathering student opinion and pass on messages to students. Finally, we all need to recognise how beneficial the system is for every student in this University and especially the personal development of those representing their peers as Student Representatives, which can not only tie in with their PDP, but also help them gain essential key skills that employers are looking for in graduates. 4. Recruitment For Semester , the deadline for Rep recruitment is Friday 18 October 2013 at 4pm. Please note that this is the absolute deadline for the information being entered into BANNER which means that the actual recruitment of Reps i.e. promoting the role, using the slides provided, nominations/selection must take place well before this date. It is important that the students in the group elect their Student Representatives so that they can choose the most appropriate candidate who will have the support of his/her fellow students. It would be best if a consistent and fair election process be used throughout the School, a show of hands or ballot is the norm. However it is appreciated that this doesn t always happen as there may only be one person who puts themselves forward or they say that they will do it because no-one else is willing. Ways of persuading the students to get involved include talking about the benefits, as not only does it look good on their CV but they are also improving the overall student experience by finding out from students what works and doesn t work on their course. There are some measures that can be taken to try to combat this, these include: Presenting the Student Representation Induction Slides Using lectures to introduce and promote the system to all students. It is particularly useful if this can be done during the students first lecture. Please note: The Student Representation Coordinator would be willing to attend lectures at the beginning of the semester. Alternatively a returning representative could be asked to speak about what the role involves and the achievements of the previous year. Encouraging all staff within the school to emphasise the importance the role that the Student Representation System can make to their experience at the University. In particular the opportunity it creates for them to get their voices heard, to raise issues relevant to the student experience as well as the skills and benefits that it offers those who take on the role of the student representative If you have any other ideas as to how we could improve the recruitment of representatives or would like to share information about the practice in your school we would like to hear from you. Please then forward the recruited Student Representative names onto the School Operations Manager for them to input into Banner before the deadline on Friday 18 October 2013 at 4pm. 5. Training Training is provided by the Students Union to support the Reps in their role and is designed to help them deal with issues that the students in their group may raise. It is important and useful for all new or previously untrained reps to attend compulsory training sessions and any returning reps to complete online refresher training. Those who don t attend the compulsory training and 3 Staff Student Committee Meetings WILL NOT receive a certificate at the end of the year. The dates of the training sessions will be available from the Student Representation Coordinator. 4

5 6. Supporting Student Reps Once a representative has been elected/nominated it would be beneficial if you could: Have a key contact in each of the schools/disciplines that is responsible providing information and liaising with the representatives about the 3 Staff Student Committee Meetings All Student Reps will receive a copy of the Student Representative Handbook from the Students Union Inform them of the date, time and venue of their first Staff Student Committee Meeting. Keep them updated of meeting dates throughout the year. Please copy the Student Rep Coordinator into the s as well Provide them with the minutes of the previous Staff Student Committee Meetings, so that they know which issues will be on the agenda, or have been raised in previous meetings During the first meeting make sure that there are introductions of all those attending (the new Student Representatives and staff) Guide the representatives through the structure of the meeting and provide explanations of issues or information which may be relevant. (A bad first meeting can be crucial to nervous representatives who may decide not to re-attend) Keep Student Representatives updated with minutes of meetings, agendas and general information by agreed method of communication. It would be a good idea to send a follow up reporting on the progress of action points discussed at meetings so that the Representatives can keep the students up to date on matters in hand. Encourage any good ideas that the Representatives may come up with in relation to communication with and feedback to their fellow students or with each other Encourage the representatives to take part in the training offered by the Students Union. The first training session is obligatory and they have to attend this to get their certificate at the end of the year Reinforce the importance that their role plays within the School. Suggest and encourage your representatives if they want to organise social events for the group 7. School Representatives The role of School Representative improves and facilitates communication between the Student Representatives, the Students Union and the University. They will be responsible for managing the communication route of student issues on programmes and working with Student Representatives and staff; to ensure that themes arising out of staff student committee meetings at programme level are managed and fed into the appropriate channels within the University and the Students Union. They would work in conjunction with the Student Representation Coordinator in the Students Union. 7.1 How does a School Representative differ to a Student Representative? They receive a series of incentives throughout the year, whereas Student Representatives act on a voluntary basis. The distinction in terms of what they do is that they don t attend Staff Student Committee meetings but work closely with the student reps to take issues to the Higher Level meetings. They also work closely with the Students Union and the University on a range of other initiatives. 8. Meetings Student Rep training will be centred this year around the meeting itself focussing on etiquette and which issues should be raised at the Staff Student Committee Meetings. There will also be focus on challenging student apathy. There are some recommendations below based on examples of good practice elsewhere in the University to increase and maintain attendance of your reps at your group meetings. 8.1 Guidelines for Staff Student Committee Meetings Firstly, inform them of the date, time and venue of their first meeting and keep them updated of meeting dates throughout the year. There should be three meetings a year, which take place in November after all training has taken place but not to clash with the Student Rep Conference on Wednesday 27 November 2013, between February and Easter and between May and July. Each School should have three Staff Student Committee Meetings (SSCMs) where staff and student reps meet together for discussion and consultation about the Schools programmes of study and other matters relevant to the quality of students academic experience. Relevant programme directors and tutors shall be included in the membership. On joint programmes there should be academic representatives from both programmes 5

6 Student members, (called Student Representatives) shall be elected by the year group they stand to represent at the start of the academic year. Prior to the election first year representatives should be briefed on the role of the SSCMs Student Representatives shall be given full access to relevant facilities to ensure they can keep the group they represent informed of the decisions and actions of the SSCMs The Head of School or his/her nominee shall chair the SSCMs. This nominee can be a student or member of staff. The chair is responsible for any decisions reached by the committee and that specific action points from the meetings are carried out The secretary of the SSCMs shall be nominated by the Chair (typically a programme administrator) The secretary shall inform student representatives and staff about the meeting and issue an agenda and previous minutes at least two weeks before the meeting. If Annual Programme Monitoring Enhancement (APME), Module Evaluation Questionnaires (MEQs) or other reports are to be discussed at Staff Student Committee meeting it is useful if this information is provided to students beforehand. If the students and staff can access this information beforehand it will reduce the length of the meetings, which may in turn maintain student attendance. Full minutes shall be kept of every meeting, including a note of action required. The minutes shall be circulated to every member of the SSCM no later than two weeks after the meeting. Introductions it may seem quite an obvious thing but sometimes people forget the welcome and introductions. Guide the Representatives through the structure of the meeting and provide explanations of issues or information which may be relevant. The experience of the first meeting can be crucial to whether or not a representative decides to re-attend Tea and biscuits it has been raised that due to budget constraints, this may not be possible. However if you do have the facilities it is a good idea, and has been found that incentives do help raise student attendance at meetings. It also acts as recognition of the time that they are dedicating. Writing up and the dissemination of the minutes and action of meetings can help the student reps to keep a track of the issues. Please include the Student Representation Coordinator on the distribution list for this information. Keep all members updated with minutes of meetings, agendas and general information by an agreed method of communication. It is a good idea to send a follow up reporting on the progress of action points discussed at meetings so that the Representatives can keep the students up to date on matters in hand. At the end of this pack there is a mock agenda, which should be used as a template for your meetings. If possible, APMEs/MEQs should be made available beforehand so that discussion is brief at the actual meeting. In some Schools this is done through Blackboard or on the School intranet site. If the students and staff can access this information beforehand it will reduce the length of the meetings, which may in turn maintain student attendance. The template is intended as such and can of course be changed to suit the business of the day. 9. Dealing with issues In order to keep track of issues raised, it is suggested that all action points be recorded in the form of an action plan so that staff and students can keep track of the issues which they have raised. There is an example of how this can be done on page 11. If you could include your School Representative and Student Representation Coordinator in the distribution of this paper it would ensure that issues are taken to the next level. Any non-academic issues should go directly to the Students Union who will raise them at College level and who will then raise the issue with the relevant University department. These measures have been suggested in order to alleviate the problem of issues becoming stagnated and remaining unresolved year after year. If you are aware of any issues that cannot be dealt with at the Staff Student Committee meeting, please contact the Student Representation Coordinator. 9.1 Working with Student Reps The Student Reps should be made to feel welcome in all meetings as they are a member of that meeting as much as anyone else. They may not be aware of University acronyms and buzz words so a little extra time and care to explain procedures would be beneficial to all members. Please do remember that Reps are volunteers and dedicating their spare time to helping other students in their group. Any recognition for that would be appreciated such as a get-together at the end of term or special thanks at the end of the year. 6

7 If a student(s) in the same group as the Rep is unhappy with their performance, it is only the students in that group can call the Rep to account. They can do this by proposing another candidate or by a vote of no confidence. If you feel, or a student feels, that the Rep has stepped out of line please contact the Student Representation Coordinator. 9.2 Recognition for Student Reps Every Student Reps can join the Rep Academy which offers a series of incentives to recognise their good work. They also have the opportunity to be nominated as Student Rep of the Year for outstanding contributions. A nomination form has to be completed by the student reps peers will then be forwarded to a Students Union Committee who will determine who receives the reward. 10. Blackboard Creating a page on your school Blackboard with a list of their names, addresses and perhaps their photo would be extremely useful for both you and the Student Representatives. A forum so that they can exchange ideas with each other would also be helpful. The site could also hold a discussion board, you could make previous minutes and action plans available and also you could post APMEs/MEQs on there before the meetings take place to ensure that the meetings length is kept to a reasonable limit. 11. Student Representation Calendar Below is a list of dates for student reps for the academic year: Monday 16 September Friday 27 September 2012 Semester 1 Student Rep Recruitment September to October starters Generating interest amongst students (lecture shouts, notice boards) Display recruitment posters Recruitment talks in every School by lecturers and Students Union Student Representative Elections Before Friday 18 October 2014 at 4pm All Semester 1 Student Representative names forwarded onto the School Operations Manager for them to input into Banner before the above deadline. Monday 21 October Friday 25 October College of Health and Social Care Student Rep Training Monday 28 October Friday 1 November College of Science and Technology Student Rep Training Monday 4 November Friday 8 November College of Arts and Social Sciences and College of Business and Law Student Rep Training Monday 11 November Friday 6 December Staff Student Committee Meetings for Semester 1 Wednesday 27 November Student Representation Conference 12.30pm 4pm - (no SSCMs to take place) Monday 27 January 2014 Friday 11 April 2014 Staff Student Committee Meetings for Semester 2 Monday 27 January 2014 Friday 11 April 2014 Semester 2 Student Rep Recruitment January to March starters Generating interest amongst students (lecture shouts, notice boards) Display recruitment posters Recruitment talks in every School by lecturers and Students Union Student Representative Elections Wednesday 19 March 2014 Student Representation Conference 12.30pm 4pm - (no SSCMs to take place) 7

8 12. Useful links As a Student Representative, it is likely that you will be asked about help and support available to students at Salford. The following information may be useful. Students Union Sabbatical Officers President Mishal Saeed president-ussu@salford.ac.uk Arts and Social Sciences Vice President Todd Hewitt VPCASS-USSU@salford.ac.uk Health and Social Care Vice President Jasmine Pokuaa VPHSC-USSU@salford.ac.uk Science and Technology Vice President Alex Thorp VPST-USSU@salford.ac.uk Students Union Advice Centre The Students Union Advice has two advisors and they offer a service that is independent of the University. They can advise on a range of academic related issues, be it academic appeals, personal mitigating circumstances, disciplinary issues, complaints etc. Julie Southern (Academic Advice) Tel: J.A.Southern@salford.ac.uk Carol Lee (Academic Advice) Tel: C.Lee1@salford.ac.uk Website: Students Union Staff Contacts Kimberley Ashworth (Student Representation Coordinator) Tel: student-representation@salford.ac.uk Website: 8

9 Appendix 1 Mock agenda 1. Attendance and Apologies for absence The names of attendees should be noted and any apologies for absence given. 2. Minutes of the previous meeting The committee should receive the minutes of the previous meeting which should be checked and confirmed as a true record. 3. Actions/matters arising This item should cover report on progress / completion of actions and matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting 4. Teaching (including the dissemination of good practice and programme and module evaluation), Assessment and Feedback Module/Programme Evaluation Reports should be presented by staff, followed by discussion of issues raises or noted that there are no new evaluation reports available. Other issues related to teaching brought by student reps or staff including content issues with Blackboard should be dealt with under this item. Any issues from staff or students regarding the smooth running of assessments, comments on timeliness and quality of feedback should be dealt with under this item. It should be reported if there are no issues to be raised. 5. Academic Support, Personal Development and Student Feedback on Personal Tutoring This item covers any issues raised by staff or students relating to the provision and uptake of academic support or supervision. Reports or issues concerning provision of personal development activities including PDP, personal tutoring, Mathscope, Wordscope will normally be covered under this item. It should be reported if there are no issues to be raised.. 6. Proposed changes to programmes Summary Programme Leaders may report details of proposed changes to programmes under this item. If there are none, it should be noted that no changes are proposed. 7. APME/PPRR/ External Examiner Reports APME reports or PPRR reports by programme, when available, will normally be presented at the semester 2 meeting. External Examiner annual reports from previous year (Sem 1 meeting) should be presented under this item. 9

10 8. Organisation and Management Any issues relating to registration, availability of information, communications or timetables should be raised under this item. It should be reported if there are no issues to be raised. 9. Learning Resources (including Library, IT, Blackboard and other teaching/learning resources) This item covers student and staff issues relating to resources including technical issues with Blackboard and any issues raised by representatives from the Library, ITS or Estates. It should be reported if there are no issues to be raised. 10. Employment and Employability Reports and comments on any Curricular and Co-curricular placements, employability provision or events arranged for students by Schools or by Student Life should be reported here. This item should also be used to cover student issues on availability and content of employability provision. It should be reported if there are no issues to be raised. 11. General Student Feedback This item should be used for students to include issues or examples of good practice that have not been covered elsewhere. It should be reported if there are no issues to be raised. 12. Any other business This item should be used for any additional items to be raised not included on the agenda. 10

11 Appendix 2 Action Plan University of Salford - School of [ ] [division] Staff Student Committee Meeting Date - Time and Place Action Plan [20_] Issue raised Action to be taken and by whom Action taken and date completed 11

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