SU Forum – Hartpury
Minutes of Meeting held on Thursday 30th October 2014 in NLT2 at 1.30pm
Present: Sara De Jong, Sara Grice, Amy Hoffman Trejo, Rachel Sharp, Isabell Riley, Dan Jones, Kayleigh Reynish, Vanessa Carlson, Inga Rebbeng, Hannah Owen, Clare Kavanagh, Thomas Barton, Tom MacDonald, Sam Thomas, Caroline Cownie, Rebecca Jones, Laura Richards, Pippa Evans, Jack Roberts, Laura-Marie Murch, Ashleigh Kaye, Luke White, Rebecca Davies, Rebecca Wood, Tasmine Iles-Potter, Caoimhe Sweeney, Louise Cox
Emailed feedback provided by: Victoria Purves, Lauren Newton, Vickie Fewings, Simon Hubbard, Edward Hingley, Julia Brant,
In attendance: Janine Fox (Secretary)
001/1415 Welcome and introductions
002/1415 Election of Department Chair
002.01 Dan Jones stood for chair and was elected by a show of hands
003/1415 Deputy Department Chair
003.01 Isabell Riley stood for deputy and was elected by a show of hands
004/1415 UG member of Scholarship Committee
004.01: Inga Rebbeng stood for this position and was elected in. No other reps stood for the position.
005/1415 Co-option of Postgraduate positions
005.01 The forum agreed to the co-option of postgraduates with no objections.
006/1415 Minutes of the previous meeting
006.01 No members of the previous forum were present to agree the minutes
007/1415 Enrolment
007.01 Students agreed the layout was easy to follow
007.02 Enrolment can take longer for international students and they found there wasn’t enough time scheduled for different events if there was a delay.
Finance
007.03 FdSc AG students reported that one of the finance staff was ‘moody’
007.04 Students who joined through clearing only got their finance sorted last week
007.05 Students reported that Bursary payments have been late coming through. They weren’t aware that they could take up to 6 weeks and some sports students have had to miss level one courses as a result.
007.06 MSc ABW reported that they have been misinformed about paying up front for their course. They felt that the information from the finance team was confusing and there wasn’t clear communication within the department. Internal communications seemed to fail.
Students had to leave the enrolment queue to resolve financial issues and then queue again.
Freshers
007.07 Students suggested a 2 week Freshers’ period
Students would like day time events such as sporting events (non-elite), BBQs, inter-mural competitions etc.
Equine have team building events and other departments would like this to be done within their departments (paintballing suggested)
Students were very happy with the bus taking them to Frenchay Freshers Fair and would like this again.
The live act at the Freshers ball wasn’t very popular, but students were very pleased with the hypnotist.
Students would like more coaches to bring them from town to campus for Freshers evening events, or for events to be based in the town.
Legends shuts too early – can they get a later licence?
Can Legends open on Sundays for football?
Action: Janine to check if these are shown at the SA. Students advised to speak to Sarah Gunning or Alastair Crombie if they want to watch games at particular times so Legends can be available.
Students like it when the sports hall doors are open and Legends is more spacious.
Action: Janine to pass feedback to Sarah Gunning and to review Freshers activities for next year
Induction
007.08 Equine Science students suggest having more specific maps of the campus being sent to the new students showing particular areas of campus such as the labs which they are going to be using frequently.
Students enjoyed induction week on the whole.
Introduction talks were considered too long.
The Freshers’ timetable is very repetitive and material was then repeated in the first week of lectures, perhaps in GDP
Timetables
007.09 PE and School Sports students didn’t get their timetables until the end of the first week of lectures – they were informed this was because Hartpury weren’t sure what the numbers for the course would be.
Sports Studies Top-Up and other sports students also reported that their final timetable came to them after teaching had started.
To Note: Secretary explained to the group that the unexpected delay in the opening of the FE block had a knock on effect on the availability of teaching spaces which resulted in last minute changes needed for timetables
FdSc felt the layout may be confusing for new students.
Students report lectures being scheduled on Wednesday afternoons: Animal Management Top-Up, Vet Science Land Based and Animal Lectures finish at 1.15
Animal Science students have very short breaks between long lectures.
Sports Therapy students have lectures back to back on Tuesday the first being at the main campus and the second at the Equine Centre – they are therefore late for the start of the lecture.
Sports students have a 3 hour wait for a 45 minute academic skill sessions on Monday. The wait results in non-attendance of the session.
Agriculture students feel the professional development session is too long at 2 hours.
Sports Therapy feel the lecture is useful but don’t feel the seminar that follows is needed.
A Veterinary Nursing practical is timetabled for a small room but there are 42 students. This means not everyone has chance to practice the lab diagnostic and students feel they are missing out and unprepared for the assessment. Danielle Davies is doing what she can to resolve.
Students would like exam timetables sooner
Action: Reps asked to raise timetabling issues at SRSF
008/1415 ULC Changes
008.01 Positive
Good layout downstairs
Upstairs could be laid out better
Staff are helpful, well-informed and friendly
Students like that the ULC is 24 hr
“Better than last year”
008.02 Suggestions for improvement
Students feel the group study areas are too far away from the majority of books and they would like more tables where the books are.
Students would like more books downstairs or more group work areas upstairs
It is too noisy upstairs – people talk in the quiet workroom, use of mobile etc.
There are no plug points in the group work areas so people tend to go upstairs
Where the plugs are there are no seats
The pink chairs are too far away from the tables
Not enough PCs downstairs – too much empty floor space that could be better used
Students would like empty desks downstairs for people to bring their laptops.
It is far too hot upstairs
Layout upstairs could be better – the tables are surrounded by the books and this can be distracting (people moving around you while you are working)
Action Feedback to be passed to Library Manager
009/1415 AGM
009.01 Secretary provided update on UWESU AGM – 20th Nov, Frenchay 6pm. Deadline for submitting motions is 6th November. Guidelines for submission on uwesu.org
009.02 Reps as if voting on motions has to be done in person or can be done electronically
009.03 Reps ask if AGM can be held at Hartpury – Equine Arena suggested.
Action: Reps to feedback to cohorts about AGM. JF to pass queries to VP Education.
010/1415 HCSU
010.01 Secretary reported on the Hartpury College Students’ Union.
011/1415 Student Matters
011.01 Catering: Red and Black
Students report that staff in Red and Black can be rude at times
Red and Black is over busy and understaffed at peak times resulting in slow service.
Catering: Graze
Students have been asked to pay for separate meals even though they have paid for the meal package with their accommodation
People don’t clear away after themselves and then students sitting at the table next get blamed for the mess.
Action: Reps to pass specific details to Janine for investigation with Catering Manager
Students are unclear what is included in the meal package
Breakfast charging is unclear – sometimes 1 slice of toast is 1 items, sometimes 2 for example. It seems to depend on who is at the till as to what is charged.
Meal deals don’t last 7 days (4 x £5 meals and 5x £3.95 meals). Can they be extended to last more meals?
New students were unaware they needed to remove their boots before entering and were spoken to rudely by staff – could signs be put up outside Graze to ask students to remove boots.
Students would like to be able to pay by debit card for their meals.
Action: Not all students aware of facility to charge cards with credit – Janine to send email detailing this facility.
Not enough vegetarian dishes – they run out towards the end of service and there is no alternative for vegetarian students.
Sandwiches prices are considered high.
Students note improvement in quality of food from last year.
Too busy at peak times – staff and students buying sandwiches which they could get earlier in the day. Can a message be sent suggesting this to staff and students?
Catering: Equine
Students rate the quality and availability if food and note that the staff are very friendly and polite.
Action: All catering feedback to be passed to catering manager for consideration
011.02 Cash points
Students have trouble accessing the cash point machine at weekends (and then have no money to get to town to get cash or food!)
Students would like to know why the cash machine was moved from the canteen to Legends which has shorter opening hours.
Students would like another cash machine – one for the whole campus seems insufficient. The one in Legends runs out of money quite often.
Reps suggest having a change machine in the laundry room.
Action: Feedback to be passed to Hartpury for consideration
011.03 Study Week
Richard Smith sent an email cancelling the Animal Handling/Animal Duties course on Monday morning at 10am. The course was due to start at 9am and students had travelled in.
Richard Smith didn’t arrive for the Reptile Handling Course – students didn’t receive notification, apologies or reason.
Equine and Small Animal Vet Nursing felt there were no courses for them
There was an injury taping course which clashed with Weds afternoon sports fixtures – students thought scheduling was strange as it would be sports students who would be interested in this course.
Course on Tuesday clashed with a short notice talk on the volunteer opportunities in Africa.
Action: Janine to pass feedback to Gill Reindl
Students were aware of the reduced Swanbrook timetable for the week but were unaware that it was effective from the Friday before study week. Staff seemed caught out by this as well.
Action: Janine to check with Swanbrook
011.04 Residential
Students would like more weekend activities available: recreational sport such as hockey, tennis, table tennis
Wi-Fi in rooms cuts out a lot, although Ethernet cable works and there seem to be many blocked sites (no specific examples were given)
No Wi-Fi in offsite accommodation which students find surprising
Students commented that cleaners can be noisy in the mornings
Students would like a bus to take them from Hartpury to the supermarket at the weekend.
Action: Feedback to be passed to Hartpury
011.05 General
Students feel offended that their laptop use is monitored in some lectures.
Previously lecture notes were printed off for students. They understand that this isn’t economical or practical, but suggest that it should be free for students to print them themselves if the college is no longer offering this service.
Students would like to be able to submit assessments online
The online print credit top up service doesn’t seem to be available anymore
Action: Janine to investigate
UWESU advised all students would receive a £15 print credit following the Hidden Costs campaign. Hartpury students haven’t received this. Janine spoke to UWESU President a few weeks ago and will chase this again
Action: Janine to check situation
Students don’t receive an FE progressor bonus if they take a year out between FE and HE courses.
Action: Janine to check with Finance
International Students have asked if there can be some sort of scholarship or bursary that they can apply for
Action: Feedback to be passed to Hartpury
Some Lecture theatres are very cold
011.06 Transport
Bus service were felt to be lacking.
Action: Frequency of buses has improved over the last year. Specific feedback to be collected to check if this is still an issue
Students complain about size of speed bumps
Cost of parking permit considered too high
To note: Janine explained that the £50 annual charge is very reasonable in comparison to other universities including UWE Bristol (£150 per year). Hartpury recognise that the location of the campus and public travel restrictions mean more students rely on cars and so keep parking affordable. Students are encouraged to car share and split costs where possible.
011.07 How to Guides
General feedback was good. No suggestions for improvements were made and reps felt that they are useful to new and returning students.