Programme President Meeting
A MEETING OF THE PROGRAMME PRESIDENTS 2014-15 WAS HELD ON TUESDAY THE 17th of
February 2015 AT 18:00 IN THE STUDENT VOICE OFFICE, LOUGHBOROUGH STUDENTS’ UNION
Present:
Amy Ward (Chair)
Alice Berry (Geo)
Charlie Newton (Wolfson)
Said Ibeggazane (SSEHS)
Kailey Hazeldene (PHIR)
Frankie Hobbs (Arts)
Francois Cazals (Physics)
Joseph Barker (Civil)
James Roy (Materials)
Kathy Goodwin(Maths)
Viraj Doshi (Elec Eng)
Amy Wagstaff (Economics)
Nick Johnson (Design)
Abbey Gardner (English and Drama)
Ross Patient (Business)
In attendance: Emma Dresser – Head of Student Voice, LSU
Apologies for absence:
Abbey Gardner, Aaron Howells, Joe Barker
Absent without apologies:
Mike Aghajanyan
1. Minutes from 9/12/14 were approved
2. Introductions
Kathy was welcomed to the group as the Maths Programme President stand in.
3. Update and Actions from last meeting
The minutes from the last meeting were approved
Away day - thanks for those being in attendance those of you who didn't attend have been emailed materials so
please do work through these as the day was really useful.
This weeks actions
Action - Dave to put together and send round a blank template for Programme President reports.
Action - PP’s to find 3 reps to bring to the workshop event on the Tuesday during Rep week and to try and ensure
as many of their reps come to the conference as possible.
Action – PP’s to start approaching Programme Reps about running to be Programme President next year.
Action –ED to send write up of this section to PP’s to invite further input – DONE
Action – Amy to survey the wider student opinion on exam bunching and then report back to this meeting
Action – Amy to contact Department Chairs to suggest dodge ball
Action – Amy to send details round to everyone about LTC and the elections for it ahead of the next meeting
4. VP Education update and information
NSS
This year’s response rate is currently ahead of where we were this time last next year which is really good. Thank you
to all of you for your hard work.
Thank you for flagging the autofill - we raised this with the University who have queried this with Ipsos Mori who
were quite relaxed about this and did not feel that this was an issue.
PP Reports
Programme Presidents were reminded of the dates for working on their reports. A complete first draft is due to their
relevant Student Voice staff member by 30/3/15. The report is then to be finalised ready to be shared by 8/5/15.
PP’s would like a blank template distributing.
Action - Dave to put together and send round a blank template to share
Rep drop in event
Amy is running a drop in session fore reps on 27/2/15 from 3-5pm in Student Voice. , if you have reps who are new,
or not engaging that much, please do signpost them to this.
IT labs focus group
These are happening tomorrow (10/12/14) 2-3:30 Wolfson tw110 - tea and cake will be provided.
Would be really great if PP’s can encourage students to attend who regularly use the IT labs.
5. Upcoming events
Minority groups open space technology session
Amy plans on hosting an event for PG, mature, International students to find out about what they want from their
education. The event will be held in Fusion.
Amy would really like it if PP's could encourage students to attend and then we can share this information with you.
Programme Rep week 16-20th March
Events will be
 Monday - Ulearn launch
Your Education Award - drop in session 6:30 – 8, Student Voice
 Tuesday - Rep system improvement workshop 6-8 – in Fusion – those attending will get 10 rep points
PP’s need to bring 3 reps each, have a say on what the most important things about the rep systems are and
what we need to improve.
 Wednesday – Conference – Fusion 1 – 4pm - Your Education Award Careers session after that.
 Friday - tea and cake social 1-3 in Location TBC
Action - PP’s to find 3 reps to bring to the workshop event on the Tuesday and to try and ensure as many of their
reps come to the conference as possible.
Programme President Elections
Running from 4/5/15 – 13/5/15. Please do encourage as many reps as possible to think about the role.
Action – PP’s to start approaching Programme Reps about running to be Programme President next year.
6. Impaired Performance review
Emma explained that the University are currently review both the process and powers of the Impaired
Performance procedure. Emma also provided an overview of how things operate at the moment.
PP feedback raised in relation to the process:
 Confusion to take the form and evidence to difference locations
 Is there a way to anonymise the forms (B number perhaps) as this can put people off submitting in
smaller Departments.
 Online submission would be useful, but may cause problems in relation to submitting evidence as it
is not always easy to find somewhere to scan things in.
PP feedback raised in relation to the powers:
 Re-sit only could cause problems for lab based courses, or Art and Design courses where students
can spend 200+ hours on a piece of work
 What would happen if an administrative error had caused the impairment (errors in question
papers etc.) it would be unfair to expect a student to re-sit in that case.
 Some PP’s felt mark adjustments should remain and that the University should consider increasing
the cap.
 Some PP’s felt that re-sits give students the best chance of achieving the mark they are capable of.
 The room was quite split in what it thought would be the better situation and some people
suggested students could make a case for which option they would feel would be more
appropriate.
Action –ED to send write up of this section to PP’s to invite further input – DONE
7. SSLC round – up/10 priorities point
SSLC’s
Arts - the meeting was largely dominated by staff talking/presentations but the little meetings seem to be resolving
the smaller problems which suggests the new method is starting to take shape.
PHIR - all the actions from last meeting had been resolved/explained, was good
SSEHS - PG meeting , was better, lots of important points raised - some issues with illness with lecturer, this has been
resolved with another lecturer being brought in
Business - lots of discussion ahead of the meeting which meant action could happen ahead of the meeting. Action
was also taken to make improvements to move an academic away from teaching as there had been on-going issues
with the academic over a number of years
Chem Eng - good attendance and lots of actions have taken place, also looking to get industry speakers.
Chemistry- Dave filmed, short meeting, students had good input.
Exam Bunching
Amy reported that she has hit a stalling point with this area. The University believe 3 exams in a row is
acceptable as this is better than our local competitors. This can mean some people have exams, Wed,
Thurs, Fri then Mon, Tues, Wed the next week.
Opinion was split on whether PP’s felt 3 exams in a row was ok, 9 PP’s felt it was but depending on the
whilst 5 felt it was not.
PP’s reported that if students knew what would reduce the bunching of their exams this would influence
module choice illustrating this is an issue for studetns.
PP’s felt it would be worthwhile for Amy to continue pushing for the use of a second venue to ensure less
bunching so all students can get the marks they are capable of.
Action – Amy to survey the wider student opinion on this matter and then report back to this meeting
PP of the fortnight
This weeks Programme President of the Fortnight is Linnet. Linnet has shown great work so far as her time as a
Programme President always working hard and stood out in terms of her effort at the Programme President review
day so is very deserving of the recognition.
Rep of the fortnight
SSEHS – Jack Needham - always really helpful and keen and has been particularly supportive with NSS promotions
Wolfson - Halisha Patel and Andrew Forbes – both have been doing really hard work in the background and always
happy to help out.
PHIR - Leo Rekiaro – always helping out, standing in for Kailey at an important meeting and also did a write up from
the SSLC to send to his students straight after the meeting.
Design - Dasha Veysey – really pro-active, already prepping for the next SSLC.
Social Science - Laura McGregor – always really interactive and engaging with the PP
Chem Eng - Ryan Kershaw - bringing loads of feedback to SSLC, always ensuring he is surveying students ahead of
meetings which is really great.
8. Any other Business
Date for PP meal is 11/3/15 at 6pm – after a vote Harvester was chose as the location…..
Sports competition will be on 6/5/15 against Department Chairs. PP’s would like to put a counter offer out to DC’s
for Dodge ball. Their will be a BBQ after this, the Your Education Award presentation, followed by a social.
Action – Amy to contact Department Chairs to suggest dodge ball
Loughborough Academic Awards (LAA’s) 21/5/15 – 12 staff awards, 12 student awards. More details will be released
soon.
Alex informed the group he is currently in contact with a inspirational speaker who is offering to come to the
University and speak free of charge. The group suggested he contact the TEDx society. Amy also offered to help with
this.
Viraj has managed to get a Committee elected for Elec Eng.
The Election for LTC representatives will occur at the next meeting
Action – Amy to send details round to everyone about this.
Date of Next Meeting
4/3/15 6pm Student Voice