Introduction It is the intention of the Students’ Union to produce an annual statement following the student submission to QAA. This is the first of these statements and therefore directly reflects on the key findings in the 2013/14 QAA Student Submission. These annual statements will be drawn together from student feedback on learning and teaching and the student experience. Using the rep structure as the main source of feedback will allow the report to be representative across the range of University campuses, courses and levels. As well as directly reflecting on the previous submission this report will outline developments with the University and SU over the 2014/15 academic year and any project or issues running into the next. Updates since Student Submission to QAA Student Experience Strategy A significant development this year has been the creation of a Student Experience Strategy. The Students’ Union has worked closely do develop this strategy which looks at the student experience outside of learning and teaching. The SU has both joint and sole responsibility for several actions within the strategy and will continue to work closely with the University to reach its aims. The sections of the strategy were largely determined by student feedback from a series of focus groups, surveys and partner visits conducted by the Students’ Union. The resulting three aims were: Embed a student-centred approach to service delivery Strengthen partnership working with students Enhance the physical, social, cultural and recreational environment All objectives sit within these aims and all with the opportunity for student input through students, reps, the SU or a combination. Student Representation To reflect the developments within the University, the Students’ Union created a new post; Director of Student Engagement. This role has oversight of the Students’ Union strategic working around Student Experience and Engagement working closely with the University on the Student Experience Strategy. Another key responsibility for this position is to manage the student representation structure alongside the Vice President, ensuring students influence the strategic planning of both the SU and University. The representation structure continues to grow in strength responding to feedback and developments. During the 2014/15 academic year each school was represented by a School Rep, Lead Reps and Course Reps. The lead rep structure developed to reflect the structure of each school and in some cases included the addition of a Post Graduate Rep, this is something the Students’ Union plans to roll out to all schools in 2015/16. Having reviewed student engagement alongside the NSS scores from 2014, the Students’ Union decided to invest more resources into the School of Management. This meant taking on an additional rep alongside the School Rep, their role has been to encourage more students to engage with the representation structure therefore making it more effective. The SU’s engagement with both staff and students within the school has developed throughout the year with more partnership working with the student voice playing a vital part. This has also been reflected in the NSS scores where many courses within the school saw improvements, whilst there is still work to be done this is a very positive development. Personal Tutoring project As part of the Student Submission to QAA it was noted that a team of Post Graduate Interns had been appointed to carry out a HEFCW funded research project on the Personal Tutoring provision at Cardiff Met. Having now been completed this research concluded that provision of Personal Tutoring varied from school to school and that there was a need for training for personal tutors. The Students’ Union has since begun to work more closely with schools to build relationships with Personal Tutors so that cross referral may occur more effectively and to ensure student satisfaction with the services. NSS 2015 NSS 2015 results show that the University dropped 3% for overall satisfaction to 83% whilst the Students’ Union remained at 67%. As previously mentioned the School of Management results for 2014 had prompted the Students’ Union to add additional resource within the school. As a result of this and steps taken by the school itself, student satisfaction has increased in 2015. In a similar manner the School of Art and Design have dropped in satisfaction this year for both the University and SU and therefore the Students’ Union will look to invest extra resources into their rep structure. At the start of the next academic year the Students’ Union will work closely with the university to follow up with current students on the results and areas highlighted by their peers. From this we will work in partnership to respond to the student feedback improving student experience and satisfaction. Key findings table Key Finding in QAA Student Submission Complaints and Appeals. Lack of student awareness and understanding of University procedures. Personal Tutors. Inconsistent support offered by personal tutors across the University and on a local scale. Update SU Development and dissemination of Step by Step guides in partnership with the University. The Students’ Union now also has an established Academic Caseworker to support individual students through the procedures. Awareness of this role is improving with more students taking up the support on offer. HEFCW funded team of interns investigated Personal Tutor provision and produced a final report detailing that acknowledged provision varied per school to suit the students. Following this a full time member of the SU team has worked to build closer relationships with each schools PT service. A system of cross referral has been created with a greater awareness on both sides of services available. Assessment Feedback. Students happy with improvements made overall to feedback and examples of innovative feedback. However students are unhappy that no feedback is received on exams. IT Facilities. Lack of computer and printing facilities particularly in CSHS Assignment Schedule. Balance of workload, several assignment deadlines together around busy teaching periods (CSE) In the 2015/16 academic year the Student Experience intern will focus on gathering student feedback of the Personal Tutoring systems through the rep structure. 2015 NSS results show that assessment and feedback is still one of the lower scoring areas. Student feedback also suggests whilst there are some fantastic examples of video, audio, group and detailed feedback this is still inconsistent. There are also still issues with the timeliness of feedback particularly where there are large cohorts. Some areas have managed students expectations well by extending stated turnaround for larger groups but again this is not consistent. The Information Services team have begun work to identify why CSHS students satisfaction with computer facilities tends to be much lower than in other schools and how this can be improved. A staff liaison role has been created for each school and in CSHS this will be the initial focus. Staff within the School of Education have reviewed assignment schedules to avoid bunching of assignments. Specific example module MAE 7034 two assignments due on same day has now been changed. The school now also has a centralised spread sheet of assessments across all Organisation and Communication. Particularly raised in CSAD at masters level linking to campus move. Employability. Wide range of opportunities available across the University and SU. DLHE stats showing 95% employability rate of graduates. Library Services. Students very satisfied with library services and the channels available to offer feedback on the service. Welsh Medium. CSE students highlighted need for more Welsh medium resources Student Representation. Vastly improved representation structure with introduction of different levels and continued review including training offered. programmes so that this can be monitored more effectively. 2015 NSS results show organisation and management as one of the lower scoring areas particularly in CSAD. There were still some issues related to the change of campus and the change in curriculum within the school. The Students’ Union has added a Representation Development Intern to the school to support the rep structure and to ensure future issues are raised and dealt with in a timely manner. SU’s employability programme (UMAX) has continued to grow with the introduction of a volunteering scheme. This initially offered oneoff community based volunteering opportunities organised by a staff member and is expanding further still to include a student led volunteering committee to organise and manage more projects. Additional workshops have been added to the programme both in 2014/15 and looking forward to 2015/16. These have broadened the programme to include Equality and Diversity, Cultural Awareness and in 2015/16 will bring enterprise skills to UMAX. This continues to be the case, students have the opportunity to feedback on the library through SSLC and directly to the team. It has been noted that there is a national shortage of Welsh Medium resources and that perhaps an exercise in managing student expectations is necessary. The Welsh collection in the library has been relocated to make it more visible for students and staff have been tasked with using Welsh versions of Welsh Government documents where available. Further advancements to representation include the addition of Post Graduate Lead Rep to each school as well as a Sports and Social Rep to focus more on the student experience outside learning and teaching. A student intern was hired for the 2015 summer period to update and develop rep resources including handbooks for each level, rep recruitment guidance and new initiatives to encourage and reward more engaged reps. School Rep training extended from a 2 day event to 5 days including a session from the University on its strategic plans and how students fit into these. Lead Rep training now School specific to reflect the nature of the role. Session planned and run by the School Rep with support from the SU. Internationalisation. SU visits to UK and overseas partners. Support of student representation at partner institutions with training event and online resources. One day Course Rep training offered by the SU in conjunction with an external training organisation. Followed up in each school with school specific sessions developed and run by School Reps with support from the SU. Further visits to home and international partners have taken place including Cardiff and Vale College, City Unity College Greece, Arab Academy Egypt and DPC Greece. Another partner visit was hosted by Cardiff Met SU giving a student rep from each partner institution the opportunity to tour Cardiff and our campuses as well as undertaking rep training and support to pass this on to their peers when returning to their own institutions. A Partnership Intern has been hired by the Students’ Union to work 2 days a week on projects to engage partner students. This includes planning and running the annual partner visit, visiting partner campuses and enabling communication between students on different campuses. Hannah Reilly, Director of Student Engagement