Arts and Cultural Industries - Frenchay
SU Forum Unconfirmed Minutes
Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 20th October 2014 in 2S611 at 14:00
Present:
Charles Hancock (History L1), Matt Vicker (English Language & Linguistics L3),
Rachael Fundrey (English Language & Linguistics L3), Harriet Stanley (English
Language & Linguistics L3)
In Attendance: Duncan Stokes (Acting Secretary, UWESU), JJ Clark (Vice President - Education, UWESU)
Apologies*:
Alison Moody, Jimelle Roberts, Megan Clarkson, Jerica Bray, Craig Evans, Abi Little,
Sophie Lundberg, Kalei Sutherland, Ioni Bellis, Poppy Hayhurst (*across Frenchay and Bower
forums)
011/1415
011.01
Welcome and introductions
Department Chair welcomed reps present to the second SU Forum of the
year. JJ (VP Education) also welcomed the group.
012/1415
012.01
Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were ratified by those present.
013/1415
013.01
Matters arising from the previous meeting
Please see appendix 001.
004/1415
014.01
Department Committee Post Graduate Position
There were no postgraduate students present so the members agreed to give
the secretary remit to run an email election across the department to elect a
postgraduate Department Committee Representative.
UWESU to run email election to elect postgraduate ACI Frenchay
Department Committee Representative.
Action:
015/1415
015.01
Report from SRC and ASQC
The Chair provided the forum with a verbal report from on the Student
Representative Council & Academic Standards and Quality Committee.
016/1415
016.01
The library
The Department Chair introduced the item and requested that Student
Representatives provide views regarding the number of books students can
borrow at any time.
016.02
An English Language & Linguistics student advised that the 5th level of the
library is hot and stuffy.
016.03
It was reported that some level 3 students are not receiving auto reminder
emails from the library. However this experience was not shared by all level 3
students.
016.04
Regarding provision of books. English Language & Linguistics students agreed
that there is a lack of core texts in the library. History students advised that
they are experiencing similar problems with provision of books.
Arts and Cultural Industries – SU Forum Unconfirmed Minutes 20th October 2014
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Action:
Representatives agreed that whilst they prefer physical copies of books, ebook would be an acceptable substitute if the choice was between more
copies of e-books or no further core text copies. The VP Education advised
that students should contact faculty librarian, Sarah Brain to try and get more
copies of core texts ordered. The Chair further added that Sarah comes to F
block once a week and urged Representatives to make use of her and
promote her service to their cohort.
All to tell their cohort to contact Sarah Brain if they have specific core text
requests
016.05
The Forum members agreed that the current borrowing limit of 15 books at a
time was adequate.
016.06
It was noted that soft cover copies of books are preferred by students
(particularly cyclists) as they are more transportable than hard covers.
016.07
All students agreed that short loan time is too short and that they would
prefer a two week loan period. At the request of the Chair, the VP Education
clarified that the new system will not increase duration of loan but that the
library are committed to increasing availability of higher demand texts.
All to compile list of high demand short loan texts for chair to pass to
library.
Action:
017/1415
017.01
Academic Personal Tutoring (APT)
The Chair asked for comment on the student experience of APT. The Forum
was in agreement that that the APT scheme is not productive as the main
message from APTs seems to be to ‘attend lectures’.
017.02
Another recurring theme from level 3 students is that they report having met
their APT a couple of times in level 1 but they were unsure if their APT got in
touch during level 2 ‘they think they received emails’. The students reported
that they have not received contact from their APT at all so far this year.
017.03
Following on from this, students report that they do not feel that a
relationship exists between students and their APTs. Students in English
Language and Linguistics reported that they found the careers service more
useful than their APT. A History student advised that they go to the person
who they feel would be best placed to answer their academic query rather
than their APT.
017.04
Following on from this, whilst the Representatives present accepted that it
may be impractical, they advised that it would be beneficial to all students if
they had some freedom to pick their APT based on subject interests
017.05
Level three Student Representatives were unsure whether they were eligible
to receive time from their APT as they had not had contact and they assumed
Arts and Cultural Industries – SU Forum Unconfirmed Minutes 20th October 2014
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that maybe their dissertation supervisor took over this role. VP Education
clarified that this is not the case and they should have the same APT as Levels
1 & 2.
017.06
Action:
All members of the forum therefore agreed that APTs need better advertising
and advised that students do not generally check the APT tab on myUWE.
The Student Reps present advised that they will check the tab to see whether
it provides information on their APT.
All to check APT tab on myUWE and report on information contained.
017.07
The chair asked what frequency of ATP meetings would be beneficial for
students. The forum agreed that two meetings per term (for example, in
teaching weeks 1 & 7) would be most helpful and requested that they be
timetabled.
017.08
The Forum was asked about the best way to communicate APTs to students.
All agreed that email would be the most practical method.
Actions:
VP Education to collate feedback on APTs from across the University. He has
scheduled a meeting on January 6th with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Jane
Harrington and the Pro Vice-Chancellor Jo Midgley to review the collated
feedback and decide appropriate action moving forward.
018/1415
018.01
Student Rep Awards & Student Led Teaching Awards
The secretary advised the members of the date of the Student Rep & Student
Led Teaching Awards (24th March 2015 at the Marriot City Centre Hotel) and
018.02
The forum was encouraged to tell all Students to attend and to nominate
their fellow Student Reps and staff members for the awards which can be
found on the Student Rep website:
http://www.uwesu.org/representation/reps/awards/ .
All to make a nomination for the Student Rep & Student Led Teaching
Awards.
Action:
019/1415
019.01
Student Rep Notices
The forum noted the upcoming payment allowance deadline of midday
Wednesday 17th December.
019.02
It was also noted that there are online training sessions available to those
who have not completed training.
Non-trained Representatives to complete online training.
Action:
Arts and Cultural Industries – SU Forum Unconfirmed Minutes 20th October 2014
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020/1415
020.01
Student Matters
Level 3 students advised that a ’Pharos’ print machine would be well received
in S block. VP Education confirmed that there is one on the way.
020.02
Student Reps also requested the provision of a cash point in S block. VP
Education advised that this is not currently planned but that the Street cafe
now accepts card payments.
021/1415
SU Forum:
Time and date of next meeting
To be confirmed
Arts and Cultural Industries – SU Forum Unconfirmed Minutes 20th October 2014
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Appendix 001
Number
007/1415.01
Background and Action Point
Study Spaces Feedback.
AP: Vice President Education to collate all feedback on Study Spaces
(007.xx) for consideration of the Study Spaces Group where appropriate.
The outcomes of this will be disseminated to all students.
009/1415.01
Issue with rooms in S block not being ready for the start of term.
AP: Chair to take this feedback (009.01x) to ASQC for faculty wide discussion
around the relocation.
009/1415.02
Buying second hand books however there are sometimes pages missing
AP: Rep to take this issue to their next SRSF Meeting.
Issues with timetabling, some students are getting assignments a few days
before they are due in
AP: Rep to take this issue to their next SRSF Meeting.
Some students are receiving irrelevant emails which are only
009/1415.03
009/1415.04
Arts and Cultural Industries – SU Forum Unconfirmed Minutes 20th October 2014
Update
Update from VP Education: Thank you all for providing such insight and helpful feedback on
Study Spaces. This was collated and taken to the Study Spaces Working Group I chair, made
up of key stakeholders from faculties and various services across the university. The
feedback was very well received and will be re-categorised to make it more actionable, so
you should start to see changes soon to your local study space. This is just a small part of
the Study Spaces project, which is one of my priorities for the year. Here’s some headlines
for you from what we’ve achieved so far:
- Extensive research and insight in to the £4m investment in to social study spaces at
UWE.
Established working group with 25 members.
Widespread student feedback via SU Forums
Launch of ITMB project reviewing MyPC Booking System and sources of Study
Space information.
Student Opinion on Study Spaces feeding directly in to UWE Master planning
Group (sub group of Board of Governors)
Google Maps project which will provide mapping of university buildings and route
planning for students to use.
Wifi extended to cover all of Glenside Campus
£80,000 proposal accepted to replace thin client PCs with Thick Clients (to solve
many issues of slow PCs and lack of USB Ports etc.) in partnership with Library Services and
ITS.
Also, keep listening out for an exciting announcement later this week, which is another
result of the Study Spaces project and in response to student feedback. We’ll be releasing
this via social media and the SU website so keep listening out!
The Chair took these issues to the faculty ASQC which were heard by the Head of
Department as well as faculty representatives. Chair to provide more detailed update in
the ASQC & SRC Update.
Reps from this course to provide an update in this forum…
Reps from this course to provide an update in this forum…
Comments passed onto Louise Jennings. We are still awaiting a response, however once
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relevant to bower Ashton students
AP: Secretary to feed this back to Louise Jennings, Faculty
head of Strategic Development.
009/1415.05
009/1415.06
009/1415.07
Discussion on lack of cash point facilities on campus
AP: Comments to be sent to SU President to action further.
Discussion on library facilities.
AP: VP Education to collate all library related feedback to pass onto UWE
Library Services.
Discussion surrounding lack of cycling parking
AP: Secretary to pass on comment to VP Sport and Health
Arts and Cultural Industries – SU Forum Unconfirmed Minutes 20th October 2014
available the secretary will circulate this to reps.
UPDATE (Updated post-forum): Faculty comment - This comment will be passed onto the
Student Comms team in Student Partnership Services as well as the Department of Arts
and Cultural Industries, who have students based on both campuses.
Update from SU President: I will feedback to facilities on this issue. Likelihood of a new cash
point is slim, but taking debit cards in The Street is something to pursue.
Update from VP Education: I did a presentation to all Library staff last Thursday who had
asked to find out more student feedback on the Library. I took this feedback and forwarded
on to the library director to disseminate as appropriate. They were pleased to have this
feedback and were keen to work with students to make positive change to their services.
These comments have been passed onto VP Sport and Health. There are also new bike
racks due to be installed imminently at Bower Ashton and longer term planning is
underway.
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