PHILOSOPHY POSTGRADUATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MEETING

2—3.30 PM 16TH MAY 2016

Committee Members

Present

Luca Barlassina (Director of MA Cognitive Studies)

Charlie Crerar (Postgrad Rep.)

TrystanGoetze (Postgrad Rep.)

Isela Gonzalez Vazquez (Postgrad Rep.)

Will Hornett (Postgrad Rep.)

Stephen Ingram (Postgrad Rep.)

Rosanna Keefe (Head of Department)

Damiano La Manna (Postgrad Rep.)

Jimmy Lenman (Director of Postgrad Admissions)

Ashley Pennington (Postgrad Rep.)

Komarine Romdenh-Romluc (Director of Postgraduate Studies)

Apologies:

Joanne Renshaw (Postgrad Administrator)

Minutes from last meeting and matters arising

Work space

  • The main computer room on the middle floor is now being used as a silent study area. People are happy with the new arrangement.
  • The small room in the attic is now being left unlocked by the cleaners and is being used as a postgraduate work space.
  • There is no longer any plan to share postgraduate work spaces with the undergraduates.

Pay cycle and expenses

A document with information about this has been circulated again by Chris Bennett, but things are still a little unclear. Further confusion concerns arrangements for paying postgraduate expenses.

ACTION POINT: AP will obtain the information from Sally to be circulated.

ACTION POINT: KRR will obtain information about paying postgraduate expenses.

ACTION POINT: KRR will arrange for both sets of information to be included in the postgraduate handbook.

Mole

Postgraduate tutors are now being added to the system as ‘teaching assistants’.

Postgraduate union

There are now union flyers in the kitchen, and KRR reaffirmed info about the union will be included in the induction day talk.

International Society

  • New reps have been elected.
  • Strictly non-alcoholic events are now being organized, as well as pub visits. One of these was a trip to Heeley City Farm and café, which was a success, with different people joining in.
  • Reps are taking steps to ensure that visiting the pub is not the default option after events.
  • Updates the website are in the pipeline.

MA feedback

MA students currently fill in the same feedback forms as the undergraduates for lecture-based modules. There is currently no mechanism for providing feedback for the MA seminar modules.The Committee decided it would be good for the MA students to have the opportunity to provide feedback for all of their modules. The standard questions that ask for a score out of 5 were not felt to be particularly useful as some are not directly about teaching for the module. The Department will introduce evaluation forms for MA students for all their modules from next year. These will ask for comments rather than scores. The Department will also produce a one-of annual version for this year’s MA students.

ACTION POINT: KRR and RK to draft both questionnaires and circulate to postgraduates, before producing the final version.

MA printing

There is a printer in the department that the MA students can use. It needs to be replaced with a larger machine. There is a question over where it should be located. The Committee felt that if it is located in the foyer, it is likely to cause problems around undergraduate deadlines with long queues, etc. The best place for it seems to be at the side of B23.

ACTION POINT: RK to speak to Sally about the possibility of putting it in B23.

Postgraduate seminar registers

The Department recently introduced a register at the postgraduate research seminar. The Committee was concerned that since international students’ visas require engagement with their course, international students face penalties for not attending the seminar that Home and EU students do not. Whilst the Department is planning to follow up persistent non-attendance at the seminar for all students (and it is only international students who completely vanish and do not engage with any aspect of their course that need to be reported), there is still asymmetry between home/EU students and international students that it would be good to address as far as possible. LB also pointed out that it is strange for something to be compulsory if it makes no official difference to whether someone does or does not pass their PhD. Since the postgraduate seminar is an essential part of a postgraduate education for a number of different reasons, it would be good to integrate it further into PhD requirements.

ACTION POINT: KRR to investigate making it part of the DDP requirements.

DDP e-portfolio

There is some confusion amongst postgraduates over the form this must take. It would be useful if the Department could provide some information about this.

ACTION POINT: KRR to find out further info.