Welcome to your
Student Representatives
Training!
Congratulations!
You got elected!
Why are we here?!
To give you the information you need to start
Repping
To begin to help you develop skills to be an
effective Student Rep
To give you the confidence to use these to
make a difference to the student experience
this year
More specifically...
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How does it work?
Students Union, Committees, Student evaluations
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How can I be an effective rep?
What happened last year? How will we move forward?
What student support exists?
Advice Centre, Learning Development, Careers
•
What happens next?
Meet the team
Charlie Mays
SU President
Paul Probyn
Head of Academic
Development
•
Benjamin Kennedy
SU Deputy President
(Hawkshead)
Maxine Bailey
Academic Quality
Officer
Joon Park
SU Vice President
(Camden and Student Engagement)
Rachel Davis
Learning Development
Manager
David Church
Vice Principal for Learning
and Student Experience
Fiona Nouri
Advice Centre Manager
Gemma Ludgate
Careers Consultant
How Does it Work?
Students Union and
the rep system
Charlie Mays
SU President
Joon Park
SU Vice President
You have a crucial function in
providing your institution and
students' union with valuable
feedback.....as well as act[ing]
as a powerful tool to promote
and secure change [NUS]
What is the job spec of reps?
• improve the student experience by developing
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solutions to issues and identifying what is
working well
play a pivotal role acting as a bridge between
the student body and the rest of the College
represent your peers in College committee
meetings, as well as being involved with SU
be a part of a team to provide positive and
constructive feedback to the College
You will essentially be the
voice of your year!
Responsibilities of reps
• Be proactive in collecting your fellow students views,
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concerns, praise and suggestions
Build a positive relationship with the University and
the SU (be approachable and friendly)
Meet with course staff to discuss student concerns
(directly influence how your course is run)
Sit on RVC committees and provide the student
body's perspective
Attend SU related activities representing your year
Report back to your peers on how their student
experience will be enhanced!
Benefits of being a rep
Professional & personal development
• Great for your CV
• Best way to be involved with the College/SU...
get to know all the behind the scene stories!
• Make contacts for the future….networking
• Improve communication/presentation skills
• Meet students on other courses
Benefits of being a rep
Remuneration
• Free food and drinks at some events
• You will be paid £20 for every committee meeting
you attend
• Free drinks from SU Bars for SU related events
• The most active Reps will receive discounted
ball tickets
How Does it Work?
College Structure
and Committees
Paul Probyn
Head of Academic Development
Senior Staff Structure
PRINCIPAL
Professor Stuart W J Reid
PA: Justine Young x6960
INTERIM HEAD OF ACADEMIC
SUPPORT
Mr Ian Darker
PA: Debbie Avenell x6322
VICE PRINCIPAL
RESEARCH & INNOVATION
Professor Jonathan Elliott
PA: Liz Wilkinson x5300
Academic Development
Research Office
Academic Registry
Biological Services Unit
Library & Information Services
Graduate School
E-Media
LBIC
Development Office
RVC Enterprise
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
COMPARATIVE BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES
Dr Nigel Goode
Sec: Amanda Taylor x5304
VICE PRINCIPAL
LEARNING & STUDENT
EXPERIENCE
Professor David Church
Sec: Sue Dillon x6234
VICE PRINCIPAL
CLINICAL SERVICES
Mr Graham Milligan
PA: Leigh Muggridge x6324
DEPUTY PRINCIPAL
Professor Stephen May
PA: Rosemary Forster x6270
Centre for Excellence in
Teaching and Learning
VICE PRINCIPAL
STRATEGY & GOVERNANCE
Vacant
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
PATHOLOGY & PATHOGEN BIOLOGY
Professor Declan McKeever
PA: Susan Porter x6572
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
PRODUCTION & POPULATION HEALTH
Mr John Fishwick
Sec: Hilary Sharp x6281
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
CLINICAL SCIENCE & SERVICES
Professor Dan Brockman
Sec: Hilary Sharp x6281
Diagnostic Laboratories Service
Food Animal Practice &
Farm Animal Clinical Centre
Equine Hospital
Small Animal Hospitals
RVC Farm
INTERIM DIRECTOR
FINANCE
Mr Andy Riggs
PA: Carole Brendish x5133
INTERIM DIRECTOR
HUMAN RESOURCES
Mrs Karen Overton
PA: Pauline Ashley-Spike x6379
DIRECTOR
ESTATES
Mr Alasdair Esson
PA: Jenny Bacon x6220
Safety
KEY:
denotes members of Vice-Principals Team (& Senior Management Group)
denotes members of Senior Management Group
(Updated: September 2013)
Committee Structure
Vice-Principals’
Group
College
Services
Committee
(CSC)
SMG
RVC Council
Academic Board
Student Support
Committee
(SSC)
Teaching Quality
Committee
(TQC)
Undergraduate Course
Management Committees
(CMC)
Learning, Teaching
& Assessment
Committee
(LTAC)
Research Degrees
Committee
Masters' Co-ordinating
Committee
BVetMed (including Gateway/Graduate Year)
Veterinary Nursing
BSc (incl BSc Comp Path, D101 intercalation)
Postgraduate Course
Management Committees
(CMC)
MSc Intensive Livestock Health and
Production
MSc Veterinary Education
MSc One Health
MVetMed / CTS
MSc Veterinary Epidemiology
MSc WAB / WAH
Distance Learning
Research Strategy
Committee
Cert AVP & Short
Courses
Committees
Committees - a few rules!
• Deputies must be nominated if you cannot attend
• Starred Items (*) agenda items not for discussion
unless specifically requested
• Quoracy minimum number of members needed to
be present at meeting to make decisions
• Reserved Business student reps must leave
meeting, unless the Chair requests their attendance
• Any Other Business
Course Management Committees
Who sits on CMCs?
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Student Representatives for course
Chair
Course Director, Module/Strand/Year Leaders
Admissions Tutor
External Representative
Representative of partner colleges (if applicable)
Heads of Departments
Departmental Teaching Co-coordinators
Vice-Principal for Learning and Student Experience
Committee Secretary
Course Management Committees
What do they do?
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Respond to student representatives’ feedback
Approve any changes to course
Receive stats on admissions/exams
Monitor summative and formative assessments
Receive student evaluation results and college responses
Take action as result of External Examiners' reports
Monitor student placements
Approve new Curriculum Managers
College Services Committee
What does it do?
• discusses proposals for enhancement of college-
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wide services/facilities e.g new buildings
provides forum for consultation of staff /students by
external service providers
makes recommendations to Senior Management
Group (SMG) about college services
Who to contact with issue?
• committee secretary (Sandra Ward) or SU Vice
•
President (Joon Park)
one student rep from each year, of each course is
required to attend each meeting
Student Support Committee
What does it do?
• develops and monitors student support services including
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Accommodation, Financial advice, Counselling, Learning
support, Disability services, Careers service etc
oversees tutorial system
oversees APRICOT/PRUNE
Who to contact with an issue?
• committee secretary (Hayley Barnett - BVetMed)/Claire
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Hogg - BSc BioVetSci/Maria Johnson - Postgraduate)
each meeting focuses on certain courses and those
course student reps are invited
Teaching Quality Committee
What does it do?
• recommends College's teaching quality strategy and
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promote and monitor its implementation
operates schemes to gather evaluations from students,
graduates, employers and ensures that they are
responded to and acted upon
operates processes for comprehensive periodic review of
taught courses
oversees arrangements for delivery of courses run in
collaboration with other institutions
Who to contact with an issue?
• committee Secretary (Cheryl Jackson)
• student Rep members (tbc)
Learning, Teaching and Assessment
Committee (LTAC)
What does it do?
• recommends the College’s learning, teaching and
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assessment strategies
recommends the student admissions policy
promotes development of taught degree programmes
promotes recruitment, development and retention of
teaching staff
monitors teaching facilities
monitors procedures for Jim Bee Educator awards
Who to contact with an issue?
• committee secretary (Maxine Bailey)
• student rep members (tbc)
Committee Secretaries
• BVetMed Course Management committee – Richard Sherry
• BSc BioVetSci Course Management committee – Ana Filipovic
• Vet Nursing Course Management committee – Maxine Bailey
• MSc WAB/WAH Course Management committee – Roger Smith
• MSc Vet Epi Course Management committee – Maria Johnson
• MSc One Health Course Management committee – Maria Johnson
• MSc Veterinary Education Course Management committee – Lucy Jackson
• MVetMed Course Management committee – Cathy Crane
• Distance Learning Course Management committee – Ruth Chandler
• Learning Teaching and Assessment Committee – Maxine Bailey
• Teaching Quality Committee – Cheryl Jackson
• Student Support Committee – Hayley Barnett (BVetMed)/Claire Hogg (BSc
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BioVetSci)/Maria Johnson (Postgraduate)
College Services Committee – Sandra Ward
RVC Council – Ian Darker
Academic Board – Paul Probyn
Research Degrees Committee – Lisa Shaw
How can I be an
effective rep?
• Ms Fiona Nouri
• Advice Centre Manager
Joon Park/Sabrina Castro
Being effective…..
• Make yourself known to students & staff and
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talk to previous student reps
Be truly representative: Ask fellow students
for their input, it’s not just about your opinion
Feedback to your year group on decisions
made, actions taken
Look at the big picture – change may be
slow, not everything can happen over night
Keep on top of your commitments and
manage your time –know your limits,
especially around exam time
Who to contact?
SU/Rep and
committee
system/
advice on
how to deal
with any
issue
Personal
issue
Course
issue
College
wide
issue
‘999’
urgent issue
raised by
number of
students
Joon Park,
SU Vice
President
Advice
Centre/
SUS
Welfare
Officer
Course Director
other staff/
Course
management
committee
Relevant
committee
Joon Park,
SU Vice
President
Student support
College services
Teaching quality
David Church
VP Learning
and Student
Experience
Committee
Meetings!
How to be effective at
committee meetings
Before...
• Read committee minutes
What issues have been raised previously?
• Communicate with your peers
What kind of problems are your peers having?
• Discuss with fellow reps and the SU
Are the problems truly representative of your year? Are they relevant?
• Collect evidence
Send a survey out if necessary!
• Submit items for the agenda
Send them to the Secretary by the deadline
During...
• Don’t be afraid to speak up
the student voice is greatly valued at these committees
• Raise your hand
the chair will note you have something to contribute
• Base your contributions on evidence/feedback
what do the rest of your peers think?
• Be as positive and constructive as possible
do you have any suggestions/constructive feedback?
• Take notes
inform your peers of any relevant discussion
After...
• Feedback to your year group
let them know what’s happening!
• Read through the minutes
if you have any issues contact the secretary
• Identify and any actions assigned to you
that’s your task
• Put the date of the next meeting in your diary
How to manage
issues
• Ms Fiona Nouri
• Advice Centre Manager
1
• You have been approached by a
few students who have
complained about the fact that
the computers in one of the
computing classrooms are often
not working. They have also
complained about the fact that it
is very difficult to get a computer
when they need it because there
are so many students using
them.
As student reps, how will
you deal with this issue?
Possible steps to take:
1
• College wide issue? Ask other students/student reps
• IT already aware? Contact IT helpdesk
• If widespread/common, raise at College Services Committee.
Check previous committee minutes to see if ongoing issue
• After committee meeting, track action points and follow up.
Feedback to year group/other reps with conclusion of committee
Reps might also wish to check with the students again just before
the next meeting to ensure that students feel the issue has been
resolved
2
• Some students have
approached you complaining
about the noise that some of the
other students are making in
classes; apparently some
students are talking throughout
lectures and this is preventing
those students who wish to listen
from doing so.
As student reps, how will
you deal with this issue?
Possible steps to take:
2
• Ask others concerned to be quieter (without revealing who asked
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them to do so)
Alternatively, ask the lecturers to ask the students to be quieter
Ideally, this really shouldn’t come up at a Course Management
committee, but if it is felt that the problem is sufficiently bad and
previous attempts to resolve things have failed then the problem
may need to be raised there to facilitate a review of procedures
for dealing with this sort of thing
The names of the students should not be raised at the meeting,
though the student reps can make a record of them, in case
things need to go further
There is a complaints procedure for both the SUS and the RVC –
in extreme cases this may need to be looked at
3
• You have been approached by a
student who feels they have
been treated unfairly by one of
their tutors. The student says
he/she seems unwilling to
answer their questions about the
course and deliberately marks
their answers low. The student
says that they can't think of any
other reason why they would be
getting a low mark.
As student reps, how will
you deal with this issue?
2 possibilities:
3
1) the student’s complaint speaks of a wider marking problem (e.g
problem with wording of exam questions)
• Reps may ask student if they know of others who have had poor
marks - this may indicate a wider problem
• If there does seem to be a wider problem then students can
approach the staff member responsible for the exam (or Chair of
Exam Board)
• Staff member/student reps may want to raise this at the Course
Management committee to say what will be done to improve the
situation
OR
2) there is a personal problem between the student and lecturer:
• If it seems to be a personal issue then this should not go to a
committee. This should be treated confidentially
• Treat the student with tact, whilst remembering they are only
hearing one side of the story
• Suggest the student contact the SUS welfare officer for advice
and make them aware of complaints procedure on intranet
How Does it Work?
RVC Student
Evaluations
Maxine Bailey
Academic Quality Officer, Academic Development
RVC Student Evaluations
Have Your Say through....
Module/Strand/
Elective/Rotation
surveys
Staff Teaching
surveys
Satisfaction
survey
Graduate
survey
Survey Pop up Message
What happens to student feedback?
RVC Learn/Quick Links
Your role in
student evaluations
Encourage year group to complete surveys
Promote the impact surveys can have in
prompting changes/improvements
Disseminate survey results to your year group
Feedback any responses/actions taken to year
group
What happened
last year?
• Ms Fiona Nouri
• Advice Centre Manager
How will we move
forward?
Everyone!
Grab a drink...
Find your course table…
3 tasks...
1. Introductions
introduce yourself, why do you want to be a rep?
what do you want to achieve?
2. What happened in 2012-13? consider handover
form/former reps update (where available),
committee minutes
3. Moving forward in 2013-14?
Discuss and complete action plan
What student
support Exists?
• Ms Fiona Nouri
• Advice Centre Manager
Fiona Nouri
Advice Centre Manager
What student
support exists?
Learning
Development
• Ms Fiona Nouri
• Advice Centre Manaer
Rachel Davis
RVC Learning Development
Team
Rachel Davis
rcdavis@rvc.ac.uk
Hawkshead
Registry Office
Tuesday-Thursday
Maria O’Conor
moconor@rvc.ac.uk
Camden
G29a
Monday-Thursday
Jane Tomlin
jtomlin@rvc.ac.uk
Hawkshead
Registry Office
1 day per week
Kim Whittlestone
kwhittleston@rvc.ac.uk
Hawkshead
LIVE Centre
1 day per week
What Do We Offer?
• Timetabled sessions related to specific courses e.g.
referencing and plagiarism
• Optional sign-up workshop
smart study, academic writing, exam strategy,
• One-to-one appointments
Book online for face to face, telephone or Skype
• Online advice and guidance materials
‘Academic skills’ module in Learn
Additional Advice and Guidance
Study Texts
• Cottrell, S. (2013) The Study Skills Handbook, 4th Ed.,UK:
Palgrave Macmillan.
• Cottrell, S. (2005) Critical Thinking Skills, UK: Palgrave
Macmillan
• Evans, D. and Brown, J. (2009) How to Succeed at Medical
School An Essential Guide to Learning, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
• McKissock, C. (2009) Great ways to Learn Anatomy and
Physiology, Hampshire: Palgrave-Macmillan.
• Race, P. (1992) How to Study, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing
On the web
• http://www.learnhigher.ac.uk/Students.html
• http://library.leeds.ac.uk/skills-students
• http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire
• http://www.focusboosterapp.com
What student
support exists?
Careers Service
• Ms Fiona Nouri
• Advice Centre Manaer
Gemma Ludgate
Careers Consultant
RVC Careers service
• Thursdays
• Camden & Hawkshead
• Email careers@rvc.ac.uk
• Blog: www.careers.lon.ac.uk/blog/rvc/
• All career issues covered!
What Next?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Email your year group and say hi!
Look at student rep handbook/committee handbook
Prepare for Autumn Course Management committee:
- request feedback from year group
- read previous minutes and actions
- contact committee secretary if any questions
Week beginning 13th or 20th January catch up event
Any questions, Just Ask
Joon or Maxine
Useful contacts
• Students Union (General student rep/students union issues)
Joon Park, SU Vice President, suvpcamden@rvc.ac.uk
• Academic Quality Officer (Committees, Student evaluations)
Maxine Bailey, mbailey@rvc.ac.uk, 01707 666870
• Advice Centre (Accommodation, counselling)
Nova Haylett/Shelley Richards, advice@rvc.ac.uk, 01707 667140
• Learning support (exam revision, one to one sessions)
Rachel Davis, rcdavis@rvc.ac.uk , 01707 666029
• Careers Service
Gemma Ludgate, careers@rvc.ac.uk
Questions?
• Ms Fiona Nouri
• Advice Centre Manager
Feedback on session to
mbailey@rvc.ac.uk
Thank for you coming
along
Now time to make an
impact!