Education Zone (31st January 2019)

Sam welcomed everyone at the meeting and mentioned that the reports would be uploaded within the minutes and circulated.

NSS: Sam mentioned that students can fill in the NSS from Mon 7^th January; however, this is a more complicated process for the university. Sam gave information about the NSS dates and the NSS briefing. He emphasised that they should all promote engagement and not point students to particular answers.

Semester 1 teaching: Sam said that he would like reps to be involved in the project and when he finds more information about the project he will contact reps.

Study spaces: There is no new information but Sam will remain involved in the conversations. It was mentioned in the Education Zone that even though students can book rooms, they cannot access some rooms in the University. Sam said he had contacted the university members before about that issue but he said he would talk to security so that all rooms can be accessed during exams, and that he would sit down and discuss the matter again with university members.

Recorded Lectures: Sam said that conversations about recording lectures continue. The group started a conversation of whether recorded lectures are truly useful. It was mentioned that in cases where they are, reps can push it on SSLCs. FSS Faculty Officer, wondered whether that was an issue with Business School, as the School has a lot of non-native speakers of English and said he would have a conversation about that with Business School University staff members.

Officer reports will be uploaded within the minutes and circulated.

1. FSS FO

2. JH Officer 

3. FEPS FO

4. FAH FO

Sam said that we have not filled any other PGR representative roles. Regarding events, he suggested that PG committee could organise events, however, SUSU could also have core events as well (e.g PG breakfast event). The group did not have any objections to this suggestion.

FSS Faculty Officer said that he was looking into having an SSLC for PGRs. Medicine Faculty Officer said that Medicine already do that and it is going well.

Sam mentioned that in round 2 of grants all the money from the Zone was given away and that he had emailed the results. He informed the rest of the members that there is a 3^rd round, however, it tends to be a more quiet grant. He clarified that grants go to societies and that MedSoc is different.

Sam informed the group that he visited Bournemouth Students’ Union (SUBU). He said that it is a very different Union, and that there are many good lessons we could learn. He said that we might need to change a lot of things, but that could be a good thing. Sam was asked in which areas we perform better than SUBU, and he answered that we have a better relationship with the University.

Sam talked about the feedback system that SUBU use. It is a single online system to provide feedback which is distributed to their academic representatives as well. It is similar to ‘You Make Change’ (YMC).  The group talked about changes that could be done so as to make YMC better. For example, it was suggested that when the feedback on YMC is more specific it could go to the relevant Faculty Officers or School Presidents. Another body (Senate or Democracy Zone) needs to be involved with the proposed changes. Sam also suggested that academic representatives can upload feedback from students on YMC.

Sam mentioned that in Bournemouth the Union building is new and it is all study space. He also said that while there were discussions of making Bar 2 a study space, this is not considered a good investment as the building will be refurbished within the next 2 years. Sam discussed that the library are aiming to be open 24-hours for the whole term and extending hours for Avenue. It was discussed that this would make things more consistent and it would be reassuring whenever students have exams to know that the library is a place they can go to. It was also mentioned that there are facilities that students are oblivious of (e.g library group study room), SUSU’s meeting rooms and Halls’ study spaces. Sam suggested talking to the library and SUSU Comms team to promote study spaces more.

FM Faculty Officer said that they are trying to make improvements in their library. They want to re-organise things to open the space. They are planning on getting rid of the journals and empty shelves and put seats, however, this will cost a lot of money.

iSolutions: Adrian showed an iSolutions leaflet and asked the rest of the group to look through it and to give feedback within the next 2-3 weeks.

Course Rep change: Sam mentioned that in SUBU they do not have course reps, but their reps are called student reps (representatives of student body). They are there regarding all aspects of student experience, such as the library, IT, transport. Sam mentioned that if students at Southampton had one point of contact for all that would be good. It was discussed that in most cases our reps already do that, so it would be more a matter of changing the name than the role. The group suggested different things, like course reps being re-trained by all the FOs together, or that it could be a good idea to teach reps the difference in meetings. It was also mentioned that we should get more out of reps, change the expectations and make clear the responsibilities; maybe assign them specific tasks. Sam will organise a working group to re-examine the role and responsibilities of Course Reps.

Academic Integrity: Sam had talks with the Advice Centre about Academic Integrity (AI). The Advice Centre have pulled together a working group with the University, and there are many good ideas, but lack a SUSU stance on the AI problem. Sam mentioned that 90% of the instances are avoidable, and it was commented that there is a great impact on the students’ wellbeing who have to go through this process. The Library has said that our reps have been good at giving advice and sharing resources. Sam said that he will work on a statement on AI and circulate it to the Zone for approval.

Elections: Sam reminded the group about SUSU’s spring elections and let them know that we have new sites officer roles.