undergraduate academic representation handbook 2010-11smallproof

8/8/2019 Undergraduate Academic Representation Handbook 2010-11smallProof

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Undergraduate Academic Representation

Page 1imperialcollegeunion.org/trainingimperialcollegeunion.org

Undergraduate Academic

Representation Handbook 2010/11


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Page 2imperialcollegeunion.org/training

ContentsContents 2

Introduction 3-4

Why Become a rep? 5-6

Personal & Proessional

Development

6

Recognition 6

Year Representatives (Roles &Responsibilities)

7-11

At the beginning 7

During the year Dealing with issues 8

Disseminating inormation 9

Monitoring 11

Departmental Representatives(Roles & Responsibilities)

12-15

At the beginning 12

During the year Managing Year Representatives and

sta contact

13

Sta-Student Committee (SSC)

meetings

14

Departmental society 15

Academic Aairs Ofcers (Roles& Responsibilities)

16-17

At the beginning 16

During the year Faculty Representation Meetings 17

Communication 18

Support and Resources 18Feedback 19

Meetings 20

Suggested agenda template or all

Sta-Student Meetings

21

Useul Contacts 23

Version 1.0 - 01 September 2010


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Introduction

Welcome to your new wonderul

career as an Imperial College student

representative. This handbook has beendesigned not only to assist you in being

the best rep you can be, but also to show

you how to make the most o this year!

Over 8,500 undergraduate students

study at Imperial College. Students

work in groups but ultimately each

student is in their own situation, carries

out their own tasks, and experiences

their own interactions with College.

Problems arise every day and without

representation students are powerless to

resolve signicant issues. This handbook

has essential inormation, advice and

guidance that will help you through your

year as a student rep. There will be times

when it can either give you the answer

or show you where to go or help. It is

designed to be used throughout the year

Representation brings power to the

students. As a rep you have been

allocated the authority and control to

bring up issues which College is not

aware o, and step on their toes (not

literally!) over issues which have not beenresolved. At Imperial, a sophisticated

undergraduate academic representation

structure brings power to each

student through Year Representatives,

Departmental Representatives and

Academic Aairs Ocers. Student-sta

meetings solve some problems, and

dealing with other problems requires the

help o other parts o the representationsystem.

Alex Dahinton

Deputy President (Education)E: [email protected]

T:020 7594 8060, extension: 45646

Andrew Keenan

Representation Coordinator

E: [email protected]

T:020 7594 5387, extension: 45387


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The double arrow lines are there or a

good reason - two-way communication iscompletely undamental to a successul

year o representation! Any break in the

above structure means either issues

students raise are not brought up in

higher committees, or the students

become unaware o the hard work being

done by their reps.

Heres to a successul year!

Alex Dahinten and Andrew Keenan

The ollowing fgure illustrates this

structure:

Deputy President

(Education)

Academic Affairs Officers (AAO)

Year Representatives

Union President

Faculty Union President

Departmental Representatives

Representation Coordinator

Students


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Why become a rep? What will I get out o it?

One who earns leadership o the masses

by working ceaselessly or peoples

welare nally realises that he has beenrewarded with many added advantages.

Atharva Veda

Be assured: the primary reward o being

a representative is in the satisaction o

having made a dierence. Not just by

helping your ellow students overcome

diculties but also by infuencing

opinions and decisions directly aecting

your year/department/aculty. The

changes you make will be apparent in

your and your ellow students courses.

It takes a stagnant institution to be ree

o problems or resolution and there

will always be a need or academic

representation. The most satised,

ullled students will still have issues toraise, and it is oten the very best, most

eective sta who will take advantage

o our representative capabilities the

most. The College itsel is aware o

the importance o an eective student

representation system, and is supportive

o your eorts i students cannot

raise the issues which prevent constant

improvement o Colleges academic

oerings, then who will?


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Personal & Proessional Development

But theres even more in it or you.

Alongside the knowledge that you will

have made a dierence to how well you

and your peers have been taught, being a

rep is an ideal way to work on your own

development which means your time as

a rep can have benets long ater youve

crossed the stage in the Albert Hall.

These benets can be both personal and

proessional, and can be an invaluable

boost to your employability. Being an

eective rep will mean being procientin teamwork, time management,

interpersonal communication, and

problem solving. The best thing is, you

arent learning these in the abstract you

will be experiencing them rst-hand with

real consequences, and employers value

that above almost everything else.

More inormation on what being a rep

can oer you, and how to develop your

skills, will be available rom the Union

website.

Recognition

This year, we have introduced a

special award or the most dedicated

representatives. On top o receiving

Union colours, you will be singled out

as the outstanding rep in your aculty.

The award can be won by either

Departmental or Year Reps, and eachFaculty will have one winner or each.

We will be looking at attendance to the

various meetings throughout the year,

as well as general enthusiasm towards

representing your peers. Even i you do

not win Faculty Rep o the Year, you

can still be nominated or Union Colours

or Hal-Colours!


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Whichever kind o representative you are,read through this entire section and make

sure you understand the responsibilities

o each member o the representation

structure.

I you are a Year Rep, you will have

most likely been elected recently in

the rst ew weeks (back) at Imperial.

Congratulations! In brie, your duty is to

represent all students in your year within

your College Department. You report

to your Departmental Representative,

passing dicult systemic problems up to

them and eeding your communications

and achievements back to the students in

your year.

As a Year Representative, your duties are

straightorward but vital. You are the only

representatives in direct contact with the

students you are serving and thereore

act as their rst point o call when

problems arise. You are instrumental in

academic representation, as the primary

means o communication between the

representative structure, College staand the student body.

At the beginning

Year Representatives(Roles & Responsabilities)

Your rst task is to make yoursel knownto your year. Your maniesto and election

was not enough: once you are elected,

you must make your role absolutely clear

to your year so that they can use your

power eectively.

Start o by sending an email to

everyone in your year group (talk to your

Departmental Administrator to nd out

how to do this). It may be best to orward

the email to them and ask them to send

it. In this email, you should:

Introduce yourself as their Year

Representative

Outline what your role is, including your

responsibility o relating issues to sta

and upwards where necessary

Give them contact details - this is

usually just your email address.

Also give them the name and email

address o your Departmental

Representative - you are accountable

to the students i you dont do your job,

and they must have a point o contact.

They may simply need a contact i youare ill or away.

Keep a relaxed, informal tone you are

their peer but write a smart and easy-

to-read email.


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During the year: dealing with issues

arising

I you have made your role clear to

your ellow students, it wont be long

until they rst approach you. When this

happens, your rst task is to gather

inormation on the issue. Ask yoursel:

What EXACTLY is the problem? If

its not an academic issue, it is out o

your scope: reer them elsewhere (see

Useul Contacts Section). Talk to all the

students involved in the issue until you

are completely clear about it.

Who does it affect? Which student or

group o students? This could range

rom one student to the entire college.

Issues aecting one student must

still be dealt with but may have to be

deprioritised in avour o problems

aecting many people, or may require

particular care to maintain the students

right to privacy or even anonymity.

How does it affect those students?

In what way are they pressured or

disadvantaged? Try and assess the

nature and the extent o the eect by

talking to them. Occasionally, you might be presented

with a problem that is best solved by

the Colleges and Unions welare sta.

I so, direct the student to the right

member o sta be that a College

Tutor, the Deputy President (Welare),

or the Student Adviser.

At this point you are in a position to

decide where to take the issue. It may

be appropriate to simply monitor thesituation, perhaps i it is something that

should sort itsel out. It is more likely that

you will have to take action by elevating

the issue. It is then time to decide where

best to take it.

Broadly speaking, elevating an issue

means taking it along one o two

routes: directly to departmental sta,

or up to the next level o the student

representation structure. The appropriate

route is at your discretion.

If you believe your issue could

benet rom consideration by your

departmental sta, make it happen.

Your primary point o contact with sta

is at Sta-Student Meetings, however

you do not need to wait or these

meetings to bring up issues.

If you are unsure of how a problem

might be solved OR a problem

remains unsatisactorily addressed

ater a Sta-Student Meeting OR there

is some complication (e.g. personal

privacy issues) you must elevatethe issue to the next level o the

student representation structure: your

Departmental Representative.


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In certain circumstances, generally urgent academic problems that require immediate

attention, do not wait or the next Sta-Student Meeting or or your next meeting with

your Departmental Representative. Speak to a member o your departmental sta

describing the problem and its urgency, or to the Deputy President (Education).

During the year: disseminating inormation

Just as you are responsible or representing the views and experience o your year

group to College sta and Departmental Representatives, you are responsible or

disseminating inormation down to the student body too!

All aspects o your active representation must be made transparent to the

students you are representing.

Where you are bringing an issue to the attention o sta or other representatives, you

must ensure that all students involved in the issue are inormed and continually kept

updated. This might be an acknowledgement o the issue and a promise to investigate

urther. It might be an explanation o the rationale behind the decision not to act or it

might be a proposed solution to the issue.

I you report an issue to sta, inorm your students so that they know that the issue

is being dealt with.

I you receive any response rom sta concerning the issue, report it to your

students.

I you elevate an issue to other representatives, inorm your students so that they

know that the issue is being dealt with.

Should you nd out that any decision has been or could be made by your department

that could aect students academic aairs in any way, whether positive or negative,

try to inorm your students as soon as possible to allow them to consider the decisionand respond through you.

Throughout the year, you will be asked by your Departmental Representative/ AAO/

Deputy President (Education) Representative Coordinator to disseminate inormation

to your years. This may range rom emails asking them to participate in one o our

surveys, to vital academic inormation updates. Please make sure that this ino

reaches the students quickly!


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Feeding your achievements and new inormation is important or two reasons:

Representation cannot be said to be effective if the communication is only one-way.A continuous eed o inormation back to students is essential and gives students

perspective on the matter: i a request is unrealistic, the students must know.

Likewise, if a solution has been reached, the students must be informed.

For the effective representation of any group of people, the group must have a high

level o trust in the representative. Much o this trust must be built rom scratch; the

only way to do it is to prove your value as a representative by directly involving your

students in every matter you deal with. By creating trust in you, it is more likely that

students will eel ree to make use o your representative capabilities.


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During the year: monitoring

Your job is both reactive and proactive.

While primarily you are the rst calling

point when your peers encounter

any sort o blip in your academicenvironment, it is also very useul to go

out to collect inormation rom them:

by keeping your ear to the ground and

picking up early anything that has the

potential to become a problem, you are

in a ar, ar better position to deal with it

than i you wait until the problem comes

to you.

This includes keeping a close eye on

your own personal academic aairs. You

are your best judge o the quality o your

course. Ask yoursel:

Am I enjoying doing this or am I nding

it particularly unpleasant? I I am nding

it unpleasant, is it a problem with the

teaching or administration that could

possibly benet rom representative

attention?

Am I learning from this? If not, is it a

problem that could possibly benet

rom representative attention?

Am I nding it difcult to keep up with

the work? Is it because Im being given

too much o it? Is there any other problem that

is making it harder to learn than

necessary?

First, ask yoursel these questions.

Then consider how others might answer

them. Ask some o your ellow students

directly, or stand in ront o your year

and poll them. Monitoring your year or

potential issues is a continual process, soyou should never stop considering these

questions. Be prepared to ask your year

on a regular basis what their eelings are.

In democracy everyone has the right to

be represented, even the jerks.

Chris Patten

I youre not sure whether a problem is

worth tackling or not, whether it seems

completely insolvable or completely

trivial, elevate it anyway. It is always

worth trying. Imperial is only a world-

leading institution through attention to

detail and every detail is worth touching

up.


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As Departmental Representatives,you take ultimate responsibility or

making sure the student voice in your

department is heard. You have been

elected beore the start o the year in

order to enable you to prepare or the

coming year and begin your job as soon

as teaching starts.

At the heart o the representation

structure, you are the link between Year

Reps and Faculty Union Academic Aairs

Ocers. I you drop out o the structure,

you disconnect your entire department,

preventing them rom being represented.

Its also your role to manage the Year

Representative system below you and

make sure it is communicating upwards

and downwards and thus working

eectively.

At the beginning

Beore you can ull your role, your Year

Representatives below you must be in

place, doing their job. So your rst taskis to ll all Year Representative positions

and brie them. The sooner you do

this, the sooner your department will

be eectively represented! Choose an

appropriate time to carry out both o

these things; they should happen about

two or three days apart, to give them a

chance to decide whether they should

stand or election or not.Brieng them involves presenting the

role o Year Representative to them:

you must make it sound appealing

while ensuring they understand the

responsibilities o the job. Remember

to tell them when you will be returning

to hold the election. You should bring

some copies o this guide or them to

read: leave them on a desk as you leave

so that those who are interested can

consider standing at their own leisure.

Holding the election is simple. A show o

hands will suce:

Ask for those who wish to stand to

come orward

Give each candidate a minute or two to

present their maniesto to the year and

answer any questions

Remind the class that they can also

vote to re-open nominations (vote or

RON) i they dont wish to elect any o

the candidates

Send the candidates out of the room

and count votes or each candidate andRON

Allow them back in and announce the

result o the election

I you so wish, you can hold an online

election or your department. Contact

[email protected] or more

inormation.

Departmental Representatives(Roles & Responsibilities)


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Now that your Year Representatives

team has been established, make

sure that you introduce yoursel

personally to them as their Departmental

Representative and take a note o their

names and CID numbers. Make sure yousend this list o names to the Deputy

President (Education) right ater getting

them so that the Union can populate the

Rep database.

During the year: managing Year

Representatives and sta contact

Just as Year Representatives have a

responsibility to continuously monitor

the students they represent, picking up

issues quickly to minimise any negative

impact, you have a responsibility to

monitor your Year Representatives,

encouraging them to keep all their

communication channels open and their

ear to the ground. As a representative

yoursel you should also remain very

close to the student body, being

prepared to talk to individual students as

necessary.

The organised contact you have with

sta is the same as the contact the Year

Representatives have: Sta- Student

Meetings.

In eect, your ability to engage sta

in dialogue is no dierent rom theirs:

anything you can talk to sta about, they

can talk to sta about. So why should

they elevate issues to you? There are

many reasons:

A chance for dialogue: by bringing

issues to your attention and the

attention o their ellow Year

Representatives, you can explore the

issue in great detail: are any other

years o the course experiencing

this problem? Did previous years

experience it? Is it really an issue at all?

It can then be elevated further: to your

Academic Aairs Ocer.

Where issues come to your attention,

your duty is very similar to that o a Year

Representative: do some triage. I you

believe, ollowing discussion between

you and your Year Reps, that bringing the

issue back to a Sta-Student Meeting

would be benecial, then do this. I you

have hit a dead end, or you believe theissue has consequences with a wider

range than your department, or you wish

to discuss the issues with a more senior

representative or any other reason,

then elevate the issue to your Academic

Aairs Ocer.

Your biggest responsibility lies

in organising Departmental

Representation Meetings, allowing

your Year Representatives to elevateissues to you in a ormal way. These

meetings should occur every 2-3 weeks

where possible. You and your Year

Reps must attend these meetings; it

is ne or anyone else to attend these

meetings as well and it is a good idea to

invite your Academic Aairs Ocer to

attend.


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During the year: Staff-Student

Committee (SSC) Meetings

Sta Student Committee meetings are

your time to shine as Dep Reps. You

have the opportunity to bring up your

peers problems with your sta, and can

monitor their willingness to deal with

issues. A ew weeks beore the meeting

takes place, make sure that your Year

Reps have collected a list o positive and

negative issues that have come up. Have

a Departmental Rep Meeting with them,

and decide on which issues are worth

bringing up with the Sta. You should

not eel intimidated by your College

Sta, however always remember to be

respectul and knowledgeable bout what

you have to say (see Meetings section

or more inormation).

Ater the meetings, there are two vital

things you need to do:

1. Send a short (and relevant) summary

o the SSC meeting minutes and what

was discussed, to the students o your

department. Keep it short and sweet,

however make sure that studentsknow what is happening behind the

scenes is your department. There

may be circumstances where your

Department Sta will ask you to keep

issues to yoursel or the time being,

so please respect these wishes.

Remember to cc in your AAO (see

Contacts) when you send these

reports to your departments.

2. As soon as you get access to the

meeting minutes, send a copy to

the Representation Coordinator

([email protected]). Together

with the Deputy President (Education),


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they have a combined responsibility to

monitor the quality o undergraduate

representation and teaching across

College. By doing this they can assess

the eectiveness o representation

within each department, refectingon the readiness o the departments

sta to listen and respond to

the student voice. It also allows

identication o weaker student

representatives, and the identication

o stronger representatives or

recognition and nomination or

Union Colours awards. The Deputy

President (education) also holds

termly presentations to the Quality

Assurance Advisory Committee,

letting them know how departmentsare responding to the issues brought

up by students. This is done by

condensing and collating all the SSC

minutes and correspondences rom

the Departmental Representatives

at the end o session each term.

The strategic advantage o this is

enormous: College is very keen to

oster a culture o constant academic

quality review and improvement

involving student representatives.

Where a department consistently ails

to satisactorily address issues raised

by representatives, Colleges senior

academic sta will readily investigate

and make recommendations directly to

the department, concerning both the

original issues raised and their ongoing

responsiveness to students.

During the year: Departmental society

Although the students you represent are

ultimately at Imperial to get a world-

class degree, they also want to have unin their ree time! Your departmental

society is a great point o contact or

this, and supporting them will help

create a sense o community within your

department. Make sure students are

getting a bit o a break rom the academic

pressures to have un relaxing with their

course mates.


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Academic Aairs Ofcers

(Roles & Responsibilities)

As Academic Aairs Ocer (AAO),you ultimately are in charge o the

representation network in your Faculty

Union (FU). Whether Engineer, Medic

or Scientist, everyone is represented

at Imperial and it is your job to make

sure that your FU reps are doing this job

well. You are the glue that keeps the rep

system within your respective aculty

unions (FU) intact. Throughout the year

you will work closely with your exec, the

Deputy President (Education), and the

Representation Coordinator, as well as

College Sta.

Its your role to make sure that the Year

and Dep Rep are doing their jobs, and

to report up to the Deputy President

(Education). O all the reps in your

department, you will have the most

contact with the college and aculty big

dogs through the numerous dierent

committees you stand on.

The AAO sits on the Union

Representation and Welare Board

(RWB), where they represent theiracultys representation ramework

together with the Faculty President and

Welare Ocer. Also, your aculty will

ask or you to attend some meetings as

the student voice.

At the beginning

The best way to start o your new job

is by making sure your Departmental

Reps know who you are. Contact them

over the summer and begin to come up

with a strategy or the year to come.

Just like or every elected position, your

Dep Reps will be very keen to dive into

their jobs once they begin in October,

so you should aim to use this positive

enthusiasm to your advantage. Dep

Reps will be ull o ideas at the start, so

it is important that you meet with them

to capture these ideas early on, and

discuss how easible they are within their

departments.

As mentioned elsewhere in this

handbook, your role is proactive as well

as reactive, so make sure to gather all

the maniesto points and proposals

o your reps, combine them with your

goals or the year, and begin to develop

your own agenda rather than waiting

or issues to come up. I you keep

the Deputy President (Education) andRepresentation Coordinator aware

o these plans, they can assist you,

and make sure that eort is not being

unnecessarily duplicated across College.

It is vital that you remain in continuous

contact throughout the year with

your Dep Reps; establishing a good

relationship with them will make your


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job much easier! Be approachable and

riendly with them, so that they eel

comortable seeking you out or advice.

All o this goes or the sta in your

department too; representation iscooperation, not battle, and maintaining

a riendly rapport with your sta will go a

long way to smoothing the path or your

proposals. Introduce yoursel to them

early i you dont know them already,

and keep in regular contact about the

progress o various issues and the latest

news rom their reps.

During the year: Faculty Representation

Meetings

As AAO, it is your responsibility to

organise the Faculty Representation

Meetings. There should be a minimum o

at least one every term, however two are

recommended. During these meetings,

every Departmental Rep is asked to

provide a short overview about how

things are running in their department.

I a representative cannot make it to

the meeting, still ask them to send you

an overview. The idea behind this is

to engage the representatives to help

each other out, and to use best practise

between departments. Unresolved

issues which have been brought toDep Reps by their Year Reps during

Departmental Representation Meetings

should be brought up here, as well as

any other (positive and negative) issues

they are working on.

Make sure that at the beginning o the

meeting one rep volunteers to take the

minutes and note down action points.

These do not need to be incredibly

detailed, but rather will serve as a

record or yourselves, and as a way to

keep the Deputy President (Education)

and Representation Coordinator in

the loop. Ater these have been typed

up, make sure to send them to the

Deputy President (Education) and the

Representation Coordinator, as well as

every Dep Rep, within ve days o the

meeting.


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Communication

The single biggest problem in

communication is the illusion that it has

taken placeGeorge Bernard Shaw

The importance o communication is

brought up in almost every section o

this handbook, but we think its so crucial

to an eective system o representation

that its worth mentioning again.

Furthermore, it comes in many orms.

From the Deputy President (Education)

to each and every Year Rep or every

single course, there must be a constant

fow o inormation back and orth about

the various issues being brought up and

solved, so progress can be tracked and

momentum maintained. Otherwise,

problems ail to be solved and the crucial

trust in the representation system is

weakened.

Year reps must also be pro-active

in seeking out the opinions o their

classmates whether through

surveys and emails, or simply through

conversations with their peers. A

problem that is not communicated to therep cannot be solved; a problem that is

sorted, but the students are not aware,

oten may as well have not been solved

at all.

Support and Resources

Starting this year, Imperial College Unionhas a member o sta who will assist

and support the entire representation

system Andrew Keenan, the

Representation Coordinator. His role is

to take the administrative and support

tasks away rom sabbatical ocers

and representatives, to allow them to

ocus on their goals and their cohorts.

I you could do with assistance in your

role, such as help ormulating a survey

or organising meetings, please email

[email protected].

We have also created a sotware-based

system to capture and track issues

raised across College by representatives

to ensure that progress on every

issue is monitored, and no problem

alls through the cracks. You can add

any issues to this system by contacting

the Representation Coordinator, and

the system is explained on the Union

website.


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Feedback

Feedback rom coursework and exams

has proven to be, year ater year,

Imperials Achilles heel when it comesto student satisaction surveys. Students

are not happy with both the quality and

timelines, and as reps you need to be

aware o this. This year we are planning

on making some lasting changes to the

way College gives eedback, as well

as making students aware o dierent

methods sta members use to give

eedback.

The Rector has written a letter to all

departments this summer, highlighting

improved eedback as a priority. This

letter will be given out during rep

training. The Union is currently drating a

eedback policy, which will speciy what

we as students expect rom lecturer, and

vice versa.

Regarding timeliness, every department

has been told that they need to provide

clear inormation to the studentsregarding both the submission and

the return o coursework. This is a

very large step in the right direction,

however cannot be actualised unless

the student representatives are making

sure it happens. It is vital that Year Reps

let their Dep Reps know i this is not

happening, and that Dep Reps let the

AAOs know o any recurring eedback

issues within their departments.

Also, as reps you need to make sure that

during every Sta-Student Committee

and Departmental Representation

meeting, eedback is a standing

agenda item. Even i your department

provides its students with good

eedback, make sure that it is talked

about!


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Meetings

The best meetings are:

Relaxed and enjoyable. Meetings arenot meant to be intimidating aairs.

As students, your task is to make the

meeting as productive as possible;

meeting etiquette is nothing special,

just common sense.

Productive and satisfying. If there

is anything being reported to the

meeting, the chair should have emailed

it around to the committee members

beorehand as meeting papers, and it

is absolutely key that everyone who

attends has read these papers in

advance.

Timely. Start on time and nish quickly.

On topic throughout. If you have

an issue to bring up that is relevant

to the meeting but unrelated to the

topic being discussed, wait or an

appropriate moment so that the current

topic does not get unnecessarily cut

short.

Each member o a committee should

be prepared to contribute to any o the

matters arising in a meeting beore it

starts. This is achieved with the agendaand papers. Expect to be emailed an

agenda in advance o the meeting that

mentions each matter or discussion

in a list. I any matters on the agenda

involve a document o interest, be it a

report, a letter, an email, a proposal or

a page o lecture notes, you will receive

the document as a paper attached to

the agenda. Finally, with the agenda and

papers you should receive a copy o the

minutes rom the previous meeting.

I you are reporting to a meeting,

submit any papers as soon as the chair

requests them, in order that they can

be distributed to all members o a

committee or reading in advance o the

meeting.

Check your emails to nd the agenda,

papers and previous minutes. Read them

thoroughly in advance, and print them

to bring to the meeting. They can be

printed or ree in the Student Activities

Centre on level 2M o the Union building.

Where you have a comment to make,

highlight and make annotations so that

you are best prepared to bring it up

constructively in the meeting.

Finally, there is no such thing as a stupid

question. A meeting will not work i

each attendee is not on an even keel,

so i you have read the minutes rom

the previous meeting and the papers in

advance, and you still are unamiliar with

something, do not be ashamed to ask or

an explanation or a denition, and do notbe reluctant to give someone else such

an explanation.

A guide to getting the most out o your

meetings is available on the Union

website.


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This year, College has agreed that Feedback should be a standing point on all

meeting agendas. This means that you need to make sure that it is discussed

at every SSC meeting, and i it is not then bring it up with the Departmental

Representative.

Feedback should also be discussed when you have your DepartmentalRepresentation Meetings.

The template on page 22 has been prepared or two purposes:

In departments where students historically set up the Staff-Student meetings, you

may nd it useul to use this agenda as a starting point when you prepare agendas

or the meetings.

It details the current standing agenda items as set by senior quality assurance staff

at Imperial. It is your responsibility to ensure that all o these standing agenda items

are discussed exhaustively at every Sta- Student meeting. They should be points

o discussion at all Faculty and Departmental Representation Meetings as well, and

the dialogue between representatives and students should always touch on these

topics (particularly eedback and personal tutoring), in order that the discussions at

all meetings are well-inormed.

Suggested agenda template or all Sta-Student Meetings


22/24



In the Department/Division o ______________ held on ______o ______

20___ at ___.___

Apologies or absence

Approve: Minutes o the last Sta-Student Meeting, held on ________ 20__

Standing agenda items

Review o last Student Online Evaluation (undergraduate)

Students to comment on Departments participation levels and experience o

being surveyed

Sta to review ndings within the Department rom survey, particularly

concerning eedback and personal tutoring

Sta to advise what action has been taken as a result o these ndings

Review o last Postgraduate Online Evaluation

Students to comment on Departments participation levels and experience o

being surveyed

Sta to review ndings within the Department rom survey, particularly

concerning eedback and personal tutoring

Sta to advise what action has been taken as a result o these ndings

Personal tutoring: students to report accounts and general eeling concerning

the quality o personal tutoring in the Department

Feedback: students to report accounts and general eeling concerning

the consistency and quality o assessment eedback in the Department,

particularly its change over time

Positive comments: students to report noteworthy examples or instances o

good teaching practice, or evident improvement in teaching practice

Matters arising rom students

To consider: __________ raised by Year Representative (Year 2)

To consider: __________ brought by Departmental Representative

To consider: __________ brought by Postgraduate Representative

Matters arising rom sta

Any other business

Date o next meeting

Departmental Sta Student CommitteeMeeting

1.

2.

3.

3.1.

3.1.1.

3.1.2.

3.1.3.

3.2.

3.2.1.

3.2.2.

3.2.3.

3.3.

3.4.

3.5.

4.

4.1.

4.2.

4.3.

5.

6.

7.


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Useul Contacts

Position Name Email Address

@imperial.ac.uk

Deputy President Alex Dahinten dpeducation

(Education)

Representation Coordinator Andrew Keenan a.keenan

Academic Aairs Ofcers

CGCU (Faculty of Engineering) Marcus Ulmeors cgcuaao

RCSU (Faculty o Natural Sciences) Catherine Wu rcsu.aao

1st year, 2nd year and Graduate Entry

Medics

Ali Hosin icsm.ao12GEP

4th year Medics, Biomedical Scienceand Pharmacology

Suzie Rayner academic.ocer4bp

3rd, 5th and 6th year Medics Annalan Navaratnam medic.edrep356

Departmental Representative (fll in yoursel)

Year Representative (fll in yoursel)

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Departmental sta (fll in yoursel)

Head o Department

Senior Tutor

Director o Undergraduate Studies

Other contacts

Advice Centre

(Student advisor)

Nigel Cooke advice

College Tutors reer students to

them or condential advice on any

issues

Mrs Margaret Cunningham

Dr Mick Jones m.d.jones

Dr Simon Archer s.archer

college-tutors or

m.cunningham


24/24

Imperial College UnionBeit Quadrangle

Prince Consort Road

Tel: 020 7594 8060Fax: 020 7594 8065

Email: union@imperial ac uk

undergraduate academic representation handbook 2010-11smallproof

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