STUDENT-STAFF LIAISON COMMITTEE
ANNUAL REPORT for POSTGRADUATE SSLCs in 2012-13
It is the responsibility of the Academic Convenor to ensure the SSLC Annual Report is completed by or in consultation
with student SSLC representatives and returned by e-mail to Rory McIntyre, Teaching Quality
(r.j.mcintyre@warwick.ac.uk), by 5 July 2013, even if the Committee has not had its last meeting of the year by that date.
Please type this Annual Report.
1. Which department/centre/degree courses are covered by this Student-Staff Liaison Committee?
If the course is delivered off campus, please also state the location of delivery.
Physics research postgraduates, PhD’s and MSc’s, covers all PG students based in the Physics building,
Physical Science building and Physics students in MAS and Milburn House
Is this SSLC for:
Postgraduate Research courses only?
(yes/no)
yes
Postgraduate taught and research courses?
no
Undergraduate and postgraduate courses?
no
If yes:
 how many PG reps sit on the committee?
 how many UG reps sit on the committee?
n/a
2. MEMBERSHIP
Name
Student?
Staff?
(yes/no)
(yes/no)
Academic Convenor
Dr Danny Steeghs
no
yes
Chair
James Mudd
yes
no
Secretary
Robert Cook
yes
no
Number of staff members:
6
Number of student members:
10
Attended at least one meeting? (y/n)
yes
Receives Minutes? (y/n)
Subject Librarian
yes
Careers Advisor
yes
Email and website
Email and website
e-Learning Advisor
no
n/a
Students’ Union representative
Available on website
3. MEETINGS
How many times has the SSLC met during this academic year?
5
If there were fewer than 4 meetings this year, please indicate why.
n/a
How many SSLC members attended the meeting?
Student reps
Other attendees
1st meeting:
9
20
2nd meeting:
9
4
3rd meeting:
10
5
4th meeting:
9
6
7
7
th
5 meeting:
4. FOLLOW-UP FROM 2011-12 SSLC ANNUAL REPORT
Please identify which issues have been resolved, which issues are still unresolved, and highlight any
solutions which have been particularly effective for the current academic year.
Issues resolved from
2011-12:
More covered bike racks around the department are now available.
Issues not resolved from
2011-12:
n/a
5. COMMUNICATION
(a) Which of the following methods have been used to gather
material for meetings?
(b) Was the SSLC Website used
(go.warwick.ac.uk/sslc)?
Please tick or type “yes” in appropriate box(es):
SSLC pigeon hole
SSLC notice board
Questionnaire
E-Mail
Departmental staff meetings
SSLC Web-site
Facebook/Twitter etc
Other (please specify):
no
no
no
yes
yes
no
no
Word of
mouth,
ie. Reps
talking to
groups
(yes/no)
no
If yes, how was the website used? Was the individual page
for this SSLC utilised (Nb: if you would like to include a link
on the portal to an existing departmental webpage, please
contact the Students’ Union,
anna.chowcat2@warwicksu.com)?
We have a departmental PG-SSLC website which is used
instead to distribute information and minutes etc.
Do you have any suggestions for developing the website?
n/a
(yes/no)
Is a student representative of the SSLC
invited to attend formal
departmental/centre/collaborative course
meetings for to discuss SSLC business?
yes
If yes, how
many meetings
were attended?
1
If no, why not?
Is a student representative of the SSLC
regularly invited to be a member of any
additional departmental committees that
discuss teaching and learning or resources?
Has the SSLC as a whole seen and
discussed the content of this report? If the
report is drafted between meetings, it should
be circulated by email to SSLC members.
Are there any training or information needs
related to the SSLC system that have been
identified this year?
yes
If yes, please
specify which
committees:
Physics Safety Committee
If no, why not?
n/a
yes
no
If yes, please
specify:
6. ISSUES AND GOOD PRACTICE 2012-13
Main topics discussed at SSLC meetings under the following headings and action taken:
What was discussed?
What action was taken?
Course content and
delivery (but not
individual lecturers),
changes to existing
courses and proposals
for new courses
Assessment, including
assessment feedback,
and examinations (if
applicable)
MPAGS and transferable skills were
misunderstood / confusing for
students.
A new website was created outlining
the requirements of the transferable
skills course.
Feedback for some 2nd year posters
was delayed.
Was followed up and students received
their feedback.
Also a new online system for
submission of feedback was created
for supervisors to improve the system
in the future.
Skills development and
training, including
research training
MPAGS and transferable skills were
misunderstood / confusing for
students.
A new website was created outlining
the requirements of the transferable
skills course.
Student support
(including progress
monitoring, supervisory
arrangements [but not
individual supervisors]
and The Personal Tutor
system)
PhD monitoring and the availability
and process for obtaining an
extension to a PhD were discussed
A better and clearer timetable for PhD
monitoring outlining what is expected
in each year is now online.
PhDs must finish within 4 year this will
be made clearer for existing students.
Library provision
Was the Subject
Librarian invited to
attend to discuss
relevant issues?
IT and e-Learning
provision
Was an e-Learning
Advisor invited to attend
to discuss relevant
issues?
Other academic
resources (teaching
accommodation,
research facilities and
electronic resources)
Careers provision
Was a representative of
the Careers Service
invited to attend to
discuss relevant issues?
Joint and crossdepartmental courses (if
joint degree students
take modules on the
course(s) covered by the
SSLC, or have research
supervisors in more than
one department, issues
relevant to joint degrees
should be discussed)
Other issues or SSLC
initiatives
Helen Ireland was present at all
meetings.
Access to journal articles using the
library proxy service
New book budget was raised.
If problems with journal access arose
information was passed on to identify
the problem and the system now
seems reliable.
People have submitted requests for
new books, some have been acquired.
No
n/a
No
n/a
Awareness of departmental and
university careers events was raised,
but PG attendance could be better.
Ray Ryan
Issues of shared building space in
Milburn house and MAS building were
discussed. No major problems were
identified.
n/a
PG pigeon holes to be combined
PG seminars were improved
PG representative on the
departmental safety committee
A workaround was implemented where
PG get to continue to have an
individual pigeon hole.
A new departmental budget was
issued for PG seminars to buy food
and drink with the aim of improving
attendance this has been very
successful.
A SSLC member was elected to sit on
the departmental committee for the first
time.
7. UNRESOLVED ISSUES
Which of the issues discussed during this year remain unresolved and what steps are being taken to resolve them?
The physics concourse has been used by students for music/dance practice. The disruption to work at offices and laboratories near
the concourse due to noise and vibration is unacceptable. This issue has been raised with the SU who have informed organised
societies not to use the space. Although dance practice seems to have stopped near and during the third academic term, we
believe this is due to student’s preparation for exams, and not from the student’s decision to performing practices elsewhere. From
our experience in the last 3 years, this cycle of dance practice activity had remained the same. We wish to remind students that the
physics department building’s primary use is to enable teaching and research, while we encourage students and staffs to
participate in extracurricular activities, we would like students/staffs to do so at an environment that do not compromise the work of
others. For this case in particular, the physics concourse should not be used for music/dance practice.
8. ACADEMIC CONVENOR FOR 2013-14
Who will be the Academic Convenor of this SSLC next year?
NAME: Danny Steeghs
E-MAIL:
D.T.H.Steeghs@warwick.ac.uk
EXTENSION:
73873
9. CONFIRMATION FROM STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES – PLEASE SIGN BELOW
If this form is submitted by e-mail, it should be sent by a student representative in lieu of signature.
Chair of SSLC
James Mudd
Secretary of SSLC
Robert Cook
Date 28/6/13
When you have completed this form, please return it by e-mail to Rory McIntyre, Teaching Quality
(r.j.mcintyre@warwick.ac.uk), by 5 July 2013. The form should be returned by this deadline even if you have further
meetings scheduled in the current academic year; the draft form should be circulated to members of the SSLC by email.
The Academic Convenor should keep a copy for departmental records.