Academic Standards and Quality Committee – 210514 – Agendum 12
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Annual Report of the Student Academic Representation System at Cardiff
University
1.
1.1
Introduction
This academic year has seen further enhancements within the Student Academic
Representation (SAR) system at Cardiff. This report outlines the key achievements of
the SAR system this academic year, along with recommendations for the next.
1.2
The information in this report has been based on:
1) The work undertaken to date.
2) The perceptions of first year students through the Welcome to Cardiff Survey.
3) The views of Student Academic Representatives who responded to their Annual
Student Academic Rep Survey.
2.
Student Academic Representatives
Raising Awareness of the Student Academic Representation system
It was possible to attend a larger number of Induction talks for primarily first year
students to raise awareness of the system: 51 talks were held in 16 Schools, the
majority of which were to undergraduate students. The talks included a new
Student Academic Rep video, which was developed over the summer. A number of
Schools also reported that their School Chairs were conducting their own talks. The
branding of the rep system also changed this year, bringing a more eye catching
student friendly logo, which ties into Students’ Union branding.
2.1
2.2
The outcome of the awareness raising activities of the Student Academic
Representation system is reflected in the findings of the Welcome to Cardiff survey.
Comparing the question ‘Have you been made aware of the Student Academic
Representative system within your School?’ between last academic year and the
current academic year in Table 1 below, there has been an increase in the awareness
amongst PGR students but a slight decrease at UG and PGT level.
Table 1: Welcome to Cardiff responses to awareness of Rep System
UG 13-14 12-13 11-12
Yes 76.1% 81.2% 74.5%
No 23.9% 18.8% 25.5%
2.3
PGT 13-14 12-13 11-12
Yes 72.1% 78.7% 73.5%
No 27.9% 21.3% 26.5%
PGR 13-14 12-13 11-12
Yes 78.8% 74.1% 75.5%
No 21.2% 25.9% 24.5%
Despite levels of awareness of the rep system being lower than last year, 88% of the
Student Academic Reps who completed their annual survey felt they had been made
aware of what the role entailed. Despite overall awareness of the systems being less
at UG and PGT level, we have found that our representatives have also been much
more aware of the quality assurance processes that take place at the Institution.
Students were trained about External Examiner reports during training sessions and
were told how to make use of them in Student-Staff Panels. A number of Reps have
been involved in Periodic Review and School Advisory Panel. Reps were also heavily
involved in Institutional Review, attending focus groups for the Student Submission
and interviews with the Review Team. There were also an increased number of
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students running to be the Vice President Education this year, which shows the
increased awareness of education and the student voice agenda.
2.4
Recruitment
A deadline of mid October was given to Student Rep Co-ordinators (SRCs) for the
collation of Rep names in order to arrange training prior to the majority of the first
Student-Staff Panels taking place. The majority of Schools were able to achieve this,
exceptions being Schools with a substantial proportion of part time and
postgraduate students, or distance learning students. The timing for postgraduate
students inductions differ, which will be taken into account in future when setting
deadlines.
2.5
In total, we received 1,048 Student Academic Rep names in total, 70 more students
compared to last academic year, meaning that 1 in 28 of our students represent the
voice of their peers in Student-Staff Panels. This could be due to the increased
number of postgraduate Student-Staff Panels being formed within Schools.
2.6
Whilst the names were received in the timeframe set, there were issues because
many Schools did not use the pro-forma provided for the collation of Rep names.
This caused significant problems when trying to identify year groups or enrolling
students onto our Learning Central module. This was an issue last academic year
that is persistent and requires some attention from Schools. The University will
continue to investigate the best methods of capturing Student Academic Reps in
SIMS as detailed in their response to the Student Written Submission in 2011-12
which will eventually overcome this issue. The collation of names of School Chairs
was more timely this year compared to previous years, allowing for the first College
Forums of the year to have an excellent attendance rate.
2.7
Elections
There is a good understanding amongst SRCs of the need to operate democratic
processes for the selection of Reps, and there are a range of methods currently
being used. The results from the Student Academic Rep Survey show (Table 3)
shows that the majority of Reps were appointed by volunteering for the role,
without an election. The processes adopted for the appointment of Student
Academic Reps needs to be considered further. However it is important to get a
balance between democracy and ensuring the University and the Students’ Union
has sufficient numbers of Reps in place in a timely manner to be effective in their
role. The Students’ Union have recently updated their website which would allow
for it to run pilot online elections next Academic Year for any Schools that are
interested in this approach.
Table 2: Welcome to Cardiff responses to whether elections have been held
UG 12-13 13-14
PGT 12-13 13-14
PGR 12-13 13-14
Yes 57.4% 48.4%
Yes 60.1% 54.3%
Yes
37% 29.4%
No
4.7% 6.2%
No
9.4% 7.6%
No
3.7%
5%
Don't
know 38.0% 48.4%
Don't
know 30.5% 38.1%
2
Don't
know
60%
65.6%
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Table 3: Student Rep Survey 2013/14 responses to how reps have been appointed
How were you chosen to become a Student Academic Rep?
Through an election:
18%
Volunteered for the role (without election):
77%
Asked to take on the role (by a member of staff):
5%
2.8
Training
Over 500 students were trained in 2012/13 with 32 individual training sessions, in
2011/12 there were 300 trained in two larger sessions. This year a similar approach
was taken to last year with training sessions taking place in Academic Schools by the
VP Education, VP Heath Park and the Student Voice Officer, with around 400 Student
Academic Reps trained. A number of students were however trained last academic
year, which would not be accounted for in this number of trained students or those
trained by their School.
2.9
Two Schools were unable to arrange a bespoke training session and additional drop
in one-to-one sessions were held in the Students’ Union for those who has missed
their training or who had not had a session in their School. Only 64% of the
respondents of the Annual Student Academic Rep Survey said they had been made
aware of the training sessions, with the majority of those saying they had not been
made aware coming from those Schools unable to arrange School training. A large
number of the respondents were Postgraduate Research Students, which is an
ongoing issue that is seeking to be resolved by having College-specific training
sessions for PGR students next academic year as discussed at the University
Graduate College Board.
2.10
When we asked Student Academic Reps about their training sessions:
 84% of respondents found the training sessions helpful.
 86% of them found the handbook of use.
When asked how they’d like to see training improved, suggestions included:
 Having bespoke training sessions for Chairs, Vice-Chairs and Secretaries.
 Further training sessions for students wishing to learn more about
representation
 Some Case Studies about student successes.
 More ways to promote them and their role
To overcome these problems next year it would be advisable to:
 Ensuring the training sessions arranged for Chairs, Vice-Chairs and Secretaries
are promoted better from Student Rep Co-ordinators as there was a session
arranged but it was cancelled due to a poor turn-out.
 Promote the case studies in the Student Academic Rep newsletter.
 Develop further online training for representatives not on campus.
 Develop further training sessions for Student Reps to attend.
3.
3.1
Student Academic Rep Co-ordinators
The Student Rep Co-ordinators (SRCs) in all Schools provide invaluable support to the
University and their students in the implementation of the representation system,
and is an initiative that has interested other Institutions when we have been invited
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to discuss representation at conferences. Eleven Schools have chosen to have SRCs
at Undergraduate and Postgraduate-level. The network of SRCs has improved
communication and accessibility of Rep names within the necessary deadlines. It
would be advantageous for us to encourage all Schools to put in place SRCs for
Undergraduate and Postgraduate-level allowing more attention to our Postgraduate
SARS and reducing the workload on individuals.
3.2
The Student Rep Co-ordinator Handbook given to SRCs was changed this year based
on previous comments from staff on its length and tone. The third SRC briefing in
September was well attended by the co-ordinators from across the Schools.
Individual visits with SRCs will be set up for summer 2014, providing an opportunity
for Schools to discuss their particular queries and requirements with the Student
Voice Officer and Union staff. It is hoped that, given this one-to-one support, the
next SRC briefing event will be an opportunity to share good practice. It is hoped
that if we were to have College-based SRC briefings this would allow for more good
practice to be shared.
3.3
Communication with the SRCs has increased, ensuring they are updated on key
events. This included asking for their support in nominating students for various
awards, which resulted in one rep, Ian Nurse from Healthcare Sciences being
shortlisted for Course Rep of the year with the National Union of Students Wales.
The Student Rep Co-ordinator of the Year award has remained as an award at the
Enriching Student Life Awards, which highlights to the University the hard work and
dedication of these staff. The winner will be asked to present at the SRC briefing for
the following academic year
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4.1
Communication
The use of social media to inform students about the Student Academic
Representation system at Cardiff has developed significantly this year, with over a
thousand people now following our @CU_StudentVoice twitter account and over
300 students on the new Cardiff Student Voice Facebook and separate Reps group.
These have provided us with a good way to inform students and staff of the activities
we undertake with the representation system and to ask for volunteers when
looking for students to attend focus groups, the Policy Network, etc.
5.
5.1
The effectiveness of the Student Academic Rep System
When asked if they felt their School valued their role, 94% of Reps surveyed said yes.
Those that felt valued commented that staff in their Schools were keen to engage
and relied on them for feedback, particularly when course structures had changed.
One student commented that “All staff have always been very helpful whenever I
have had any questions or needed guidance”.
5.2
82% of Reps felt that they had fulfilled their role to date, as they had contributed
well in meetings and had fed back outcomes to their cohorts. However some
students did note that they struggle to feed back to their cohorts or canvass opinion
and feedback from their peers. Some students combat this through the use of their
subject-based society.
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5.3
87% of respondents felt that Student-Staff Panels were an effective way of raising
issues or highlighting good practice, with one student commenting “We have solved
many issues through our Student-Staff Panel - it is a very useful platform for
questions to be asked and answers to be found”. Student-Staff Panel minutes have
been collated into a Google document for both the University and Union staff to
view for its second year. This helps track what the key issues are for students across
the University and guides the Elected Officers in meetings. It also allows the
evidence arising from SSPs to be looked at more holistically with other evidence
arising from student voice activities.
5.4
In 2012-13 Academic Council was divided into the three College Forums. The College
Forums meet once a term and are chaired by the VP Education and aided by the
Education Executive. Chairs of Student-Staff Panels along with Pro Vice-Chancellor
Student Experience and Academic Standards and Dean for Education and Students
from the College attend to discuss a variety of issues, current projects, and to share
good practice. Andrew Coleman from INSRV has also attended a number of
meetings to discuss any IT difficulties with students which has proven to be helpful.
Any unresolved issues have been taken by the VP Education to the Students’ Union
and University Partnership Group or are directly resolved by the Deans for Education
and Students.
5.5
Speak Week was run again this year during the first week of February. The week
encouraged students to ‘speak out’ and ‘have their say’ and talk to their
representatives. Reps gave up their time to man stalls and ask students to complete
the ‘Have your say’ postcards and surveys. It engaged a wide range of students, both
at UG and PG level and across all our academic disciplines. Over 300 individual
students filled out our ‘Have your say’ postcards and over 200 surveys were
completed during the week. This week encouraged Reps to talk in front of their
cohort to gain feedback for their second term Student-Staff Panel.
5.6
The Student Academic Rep Awards have been enhanced this year, creating Student
Academic Rep of the year for their College. These awards, along with developing a
way of recognition for the representatives, provide us with an opportunity to
celebrate the increasing engagement of students. When asked would they, if able,
want to continue as a Rep next year 74% of respondents said that they would, with
17% of students yet to decide, indicating clear satisfaction levels with the
representation system.
6.
6.1
Recommendations
Based on the feedback and overall evaluation from all those involved in the Student
Academic Rep system, the following recommendations have been formulated to
further enhance the Student Academic Rep system at Cardiff for next academic year.
6.2
Recruitment:
 Continue to increase the number of Student Academic Rep talks during the first
few weeks of term, encouraging Reps to take on talks themselves.
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 Aim to increase the number of elections that take place.
 Continue to investigate the best methods of capturing Student Academic Reps in
SIMS.
6.3
Training:
 Ensure that all representatives are aware of training.
 Create further training sessions for reps who want it.
 Ensuring the training sessions arranged for Chairs, Vice-Chairs and Secretaries are
promoted better.
6.4
Communication:
 Encourage more students to make use of the School-specific email addresses.
6.5
Support:
 Work proactively with Schools to continue to help reinforce the importance of the
Rep system.
 Promote the case studies on the Student Voice webpages in more detail and seek
out more examples for students to use
6.6
Student Academic Rep Co-ordinators
 Investigate increasing the number of SRCs in each school (UG and PG).
 College-based SRC briefings will allow for better sharing of best practice.
7.
7.1
Developments for 2014-15
During the Students’ Union’s Annual Members’ Meeting in December 2013 a motion
was passed for the Students’ Union to take greater independent oversight of the
Student Academic Representation system. The Students’ Union has now committed
to coordinating and managing Student Academic Representation through resourcing
two full-time members of staff from August 2014. The Student Voice Officer role
based in Registry will continue to work with the Students’ Union on Student Voice
and will retain the coordination of Student Rep Coordinators in each School.
8.
8.1
Conclusion
The ongoing development of the Student Academic Representation system this year
has been very positive, and the partnership approach between the Students’ Union
and University has enabled us to provide students with a wider range of support and
guidance than was available previously. It is hoped that the Students’ Union’s
commitment to resourcing two new posts from August 2014 will enable the
coordination of the Student Academic Representation system to function more
smoothly with a considerable increase in resource. There will also be a clearer line
between the roles and responsibilities of the Students’ Union and the University in
this work.
Ollie Wannell, Vice President Education, Cardiff University Students’ Union
Bethan Foweraker, Student Voice Officer, Registry and Academic Services
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