Academic Council
10th November 2016
Room 2091
- Welcome
Heidi Vistisen (HV), Student president, welcome the 15 class reps in attendance.
- Student President Update
The last Campus Life Forum gathered feedback from students on access to IT on campus. Since then there has been drop-in sessions in the atrium for students.
HV informed Class Reps that she contacted the LRC regarding the room booking system and is waiting for an update.
A review of the effectiveness of the Wednesday Afternoon Free policy is due in February 2017. HV will provide class reps with an update in due time.
CallumRoberston was elected Environment and Ethics Officer on Friday 14th October. HV reminded class reps that the Postgraduate Officer role was still vacant as well as the Postgraduate Taught student representative position on the Student Experience Committee.
Upcoming dates:
-The Equality and Diversity Forum will take place on 15th November.
-NUS National Demo will be on 19th November. Any student interested in joining, should inform Heidi Vistisen. A coach is available to go to London at a cost of £5.
- Timetable
Many concerns had been raised by Class Reps regarding timetable at the last academic council. HV met with the timetable team and provided feedback to class reps.
To access timetable on phone or tablets students should use the outlook app.
Some students have classes from 9.00 to 5.00 with no break. This should not be happening, all students should have at least one hour break around lunch time. Further investigation is going to be carried. Students who have classes with no break should inform the Student President and email .
In some occasions, students have a timetable different from staff. Students are encouraged to check their timetable on outlook regularly. If the timetable on the Hub is not accessible they should contact their programme leader. If the timetable is different on the hub from outlook the students should contact timetable team.
Students and staff may be available at same hour slot but no class is being scheduled. This could be because no classroom is available, or classrooms are available but not cancelled on the system, or classroom and/or staff members are only available every two weeks, or more than one lecturer are scheduled to deliver the module over the semester.
Students may have large gaps between two classes. This is not something the university would change as students are expected to be full time students and therefore study all day.
Students who commute are concerned than change in timetable can happen very shortly before a class meaning that they would only notice the change once on campus. It was asked if a text reminder system could be in place. HV will forward this to the university.
HV informed students that she was going to work with the timetable team this year to work on ongoing issues and improve the system. Class Reps who would like to raise any issue with timetable should contact
- Class Reps feedback
Room booking is overly complicated and takes long, students do not find it easy to access. Class Reps asked if this could be accessible on an app. HV advised that she will feedback to the room booking team. Meanwhile students are advised to check screens for room availability as these are accurate.
Students are unhappy they can no longer have a temporary swipe card when they forget their smart card. They consequently cannot swipe in class and this is logged as a missed class. HV advised that last year, temporary cards were issued to students, however this added a huge admin workload. It was therefore decided to stop issuing temporary cards to students who forget their smart card.
It was reminded that the Electronic Registration of Attendance is in place to monitor attendance and student engagement with their programme. The objective is to increase student retention.
- Next academic council
The next meeting of academic council is due on 9th February 2017. HV advised Class Reps to contact her should there be any arising issue before then.
- Employability session
Colin Duffus, career advisor, delivered a short session on employability and how to create a CV. CD outlined how he had been involved as a student rep in his university days and how much he had enjoyed it. Class Reps were asked to list all the skills and attributes they gain from being CR. CD put these on the screen to highlight how many transferable skills Class Reps gain. Class Reps then had to rate themselves on a piece of paper how sufficient they were in all these areas for their own benefit. Following that CD finished with a handout for CR to plan their personal development with a reminder that being a Class Rep is useful for their CVs.
Minutes Written:
14th November 2016
Cecile Guilloteau
Welfare and Representation Co-ordinator