UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
UNIVERSITY/STUDENTS’ UNION CONSULTATIVE GROUP
5 July 2004
There will be a special meeting of the University/Students’ Union Consultative Group at 3.00pm on
Monday 5 July 2004 in the Vice Chancellor’s Board Room. Incoming and outgoing SU sabbaticals
and PVC Resources have been invited.
AGENDA
1
Introductions and welcome to new members (JR)
2
Apologies for absence
3
Minutes of previous meeting (13/5/04, to be tabled)
4
Matters Arising
a)
b)
5
Health Centre
Car Parking Working Group
Feedback from meetings
a)
b)
Welfare Forum (minutes 11/05/04 enclosed)
Sports Advisory Group (Not applicable)
6
Mark Penalties (SU)
7
Consistency in Academic Standards (SU)
8
Freshers 2004 progress (SU)
9
Review of SU representation on University Committees (SU)
10
Inclusion of Satellite sites (SU)
11
Any other Business
12
Dates of future meetings
Rachel Fletcher
2/7/04
University of Essex Welfare Forum
Minutes of the meeting held 11.05.04
Students’ Union
Students’ Union Advice Centre
Students’ Union Advice Centre
E15
Student Support Office
Student Support Office
Student Support Office
Student Support Office
Nightline
Nightline
Counselling
Accommodation
Present:
John Gilfillan
Judith Wills
Serena Locksmith
Jessica McGillion
Paula Rothero
Rachel Fletcher
Angela Jones
Jo Wilson
Tamoor Ali
Jan Collatz
Barbara Fisher
Vivien Insull
Apologies:
Paul Rasor
Sandra Dudley –McEvoy
Rae Blannin
Syd Kent
Health Centre
Residents’ Support Network
Students’ Union
Equal Opportunities Officer
Minutes of last meeting – accepted as true and accurate record.
Matters Arising from last meeting –
3.2
Attack alarms have been acquired and are now available from the Students’ Union Advice
Centre for £3.50.
3.3
It has been confirmed that staff at the Mobile Police Unit will be able to update addresses on
Registration Certificates for international students.
3.5
An e-mail was circulated asking staff to encourage students to report all incidents of abuse or
assault against them, no matter how small.
3.6
Police response included as part of feedback on Student Safety Forum
4.1
Rachel has met with the Health Centre who agreed to try and send someone to the Forum on a
regular basis.
1. Report on Student Safety Forum
1.1 John Gilfillan reported that although attendance was not high at the
recent forum those that
were there appeared appreciative of the opportunity to hear how the University is working with other
local agencies, such as the Police and the Council, to address issues around student safety. Minutes of
the safety forum will be circulated to members of the Welfare forum.
1.2 Action – Paula Rothero to ask for feedback from members of the United Solutions Problem
Solving Team who were present at the forum.
2. Mental Health Co-ordinator
2.1 Jo Wilson has recently been appointed to the post and was warmly welcomed. Rachel Fletcher
thanked all on the Welfare Forum as their input into the establishing of this post was a key part of the
process.
2.2 Jo introduced herself and explained that she will be based within the Student Support Office and
will work with students who have pre-diagnosed mental health conditions as well as those who may
develop problems while studying. She can signpost and refer students to other services when
necessary. Jo is also planning to take a pro-active role in the promotion of mental health and is hoping
to do some mental health awareness training for staff in the future.
3. Updates
3.1 The Health Centre and Chaplaincy were not represented at the meeting.
3.2 Nightline – This term is proving to be relatively quiet, as expected at this time of year. The
Nightline AGM was held recently and a new committee have been elected. Jan ????????? was in
attendance as next year’s co-ordinator.
There have been teething problems with the new website but it is hoped that it will be launched very
soon. Tamoor has requested help with training from Jo Wilson.
Nightline are currently discussing whether to remain affiliated to the national Nightline network
having recently attended their AGM in Manchester. It was felt that, while affiliation to a national
body has some benefits, the U of E Nightline does not receive direct support. The matter is under
discussion. This should be discussed with Rachel or Paula before a final decision is made.
Nightline are investigating the possibility of introducing an ‘e-listening’ service next year but this is
dependent on them being provided with on-line connections, a matter that has met ongoing problems.
Action – Tamoor to liaise direct with Jo re. training for next year’s Nightline team.
3.3 Residents’ Support Network – Rachel gave a quick update in the absence of a representative
from the network. The proposed changes have been made within the network and final recruitment
has just been completed. Training for next year’s RSN Assistants and RSN Co-ordinators will take
place 8 – 10 June, the week after exams. There will then be 1 or 2 days of top-up training in the week
prior to Freshers’ week. Rachel will liaise with Vivien on the availability of accommodation for this.
3.4 Accommodation – Interviews are to be held next week for the a new Customer Services and
Marketing Manager. This post has been created using savings from the changes made to the RSN.
There were a good number of applicants and it is hoped that someone can be in post within the next
two months. The appointed person will aiming to improve communication between the
accommodation office and students.
The accommodation ballot was extremely successful this year, particularly with the introduction of the
group application.
Vivien reminded the group that students will be arriving on Sunday 3 October.
Tamoor queried whether the Nightline committee will be able to move into their flat in the week prior
to Freshers’ week. It was confirmed that Nightline will need to be open from the Friday or Saturday
before Freshers to assist with out of hours early arrivals.
Action: Tamoor to liaise with Vivien over the availability of the Nightline flat.
3.5 Students Union – the elections for next year’s Students’ Union officers have been completed. It
was noted that Tamoor will continue to attend the Welfare Forum in his new role as VP Academic and
Welfare.
Freshers planning is well underway.
The Students’ Union has ongoing involvement in national campaigns such as that against the
introduction of top-up fees.
Tamoor queried deadlines for the pre-arrival information for students.
Action – Paula Rothero to discuss Freshers’ arrangements & deadlines with Tamoor
3.6 Students Union Advice Centre – Serena Locksmith was welcomed as the new Deputy Advice
Centre Manager. She will be working part-time. The one year graduate position, currently occupied
by Kelly Tarrant, will be filled in July.
During the Easter vacation the Advice Centre trialled new vacation opening hours of 10.00am to
12.00noon, Monday to Friday. This has proved to be unworkable and during the Summer vacation the
Advice Centre will resort to its previous vacation hours of Wednesdays only.
Judith is assessing the provision of the Batch Scheme and addressing ways of spreading the load to try
and prevent the deluge of applications that they faced at the beginning of this academic year. She is
hoping to do some presentations about visa renewal to pre-sessional students in the ELTC.
Judith noted that it is difficult for her to disseminate information to relevant groups of students without
having access to the group e-mails.
Action – Paula Rothero/ Rachel Fletcher to query SUAC access to international student e-mail group.
3.7 Counselling – David Winter has now left so there is no longer a male counsellor.
The service is facing uncertainty over staffing and space issues which is resulting in current staff
feeling unsettled.
Barbara expressed her delight at having the Mental Health Co-ordinator in post.
Counselling provision at E15 seems to be working well, thanks to Jess.
3.8 Student Support Office – Angela updated the group on the disability team which is now fully
staffed. She asked that if other services are referring students to the disability team that they tell the
student to contact a member of the disability team in the SSO rather than giving the names of
individual team members. Front line staff if the office will make sure that students see the most
appropriate person.
Now the team is complete they are aiming for more student involvement. This was started with the
setting up of a student focus group which met for the first time recently. Attendance was poor but it
has been acknowledged that it was probably not an ideal time of year. There is also a new e-mail
group for students with disabilities – swd@essex.ac.uk – which will be used by the disability team to
disseminate information and by the students for discussion.
Paula Rothero updated on the Advice Team and welfare provision. Freshers planning is well
underway. She reinforced Angela’s point about referring students to the service rather than to
individual staff. The Advice Team will be working with other University departments and services on
a review of social provision for International Students. This should take place over the summer.
Rachel Fletcher noted how good it is to have a full team in the SSO and that this will hopefully allow
time for addressing new issues as well as reviewing and developing some of the current policies and
procedures. Staff from the SSO will be working towards developing closer working relationships with
departmental staff.
3.9 E15 – Jessica was able to report that all seems to be well at E15.
They are hoping to do some staff training on areas around disability, drugs etc.
E15 have established ‘student liaison seminars’ where students meet with Jess and John Baraldi
(Director or E15) to obtain feedback from the students. This seems to be working well.
E15 are investigating ways of getting their students to be more involved in U of E events such as the
Summer Ball. They will liaise with the Students’ Union over how best to achieve this.
Action – Jess to circulate to the group a summary of the kind of feedback being received.
4. There was no other business to be discussed
Date of next meeting: to be circulated by e-mail. It was agreed that it would be useful to have a
meeting during the summer vacation in order for the group to catch-up with Freshers’ arrangements
etc.