With a semester down an awful lot has happened- the officers have settled into their roles well supporting reps and meeting with them so as a faculty overseer I’ve had very little to do in terms of picking up any slack. We’ve also been achieving academic wins such as securing continuing PGCE students a 15% discount after it was revoked and lobbying for a fast-track course facing closure to be reinstated.
As part of my newly elected and voluntary role as a NUS Higher Education Zone Committee member I work closely with the Higher Education Vice President Rachel Wenstone. I sit on a committee with officers from 8 other institutions varying from small and specialist University York St. John right through to redbricks like Durham and Bristol. Each of us bring something different in terms of experiences, types of students and obstacles they face. I’m keen to bring the learning and teaching issues or areas of focus that Staffs students face to the table. If any of you have anything burning you’d like me to take forward to get the NUS’ help with and to launch onto a national scale please do get in touch!
I also have another voluntary role I’ve been actively involved in as a Women’s Representative on the NUS Black Students’ committee. One of the areas I am honing in on is BME (Black & Minority ethnic) students’ attainment as there’s a worrying nationwide trend that the amount of ‘good’ degrees (are a 2.1 or 1st) are not being achieved by BME students . I am doing a piece of research and work with Mike Hamlyn the University Director of Academic Enhancement into opening the dialogue on our campuses and working towards a practical action plan for improving attainment of low performing student groups.
I’ve also been attending quite big meetings liaising with the university such as one with the Academic Development Unit to discuss student progression and their experience, Learning, Teaching and Assessment Committee and Academic Board. We’re looking forward to bringing a refresher training course I will be inputting in.
If you have any general queries please get in touch.
You can access all our Officers Vlogs at http://www.youtube.com/user/Staffssu