10th June 2014
University of Chichester Wednesday student
availability
Issue
Student availability on Wednesday afternoons
Recommendation
Academic department heads are invited to consider this paper, and initiate further
research and discussion to an introduction of a Wednesday afternoon institution
wide policy, that will ensure compulsory lectures are not timetabled after 11am for
Sports and Social Sciences degree courses and 12pm for Arts, Business and
Humanities degree courses, alongside the introduction of a concession form for
lecture and activity overlapping circumstances.
Further Information
UCSU Sports Federation President, Rebekah Flatman – susports@chi.ac.uk
UCSU Sports Development Manager, Sid Fletcher – s.fletcher@chi.ac.uk
01243 816324
Background
In October 2011 a petition for students to sign in favour of keeping Wednesdays free
received 500 signatures. This petition led to the then Sports Federation President,
Charlotte Letchford, raising the issue in February 2012 at student forum that
academic timetabling had become a barrier for student sport participation,
focusing on BUCS fixture availability for away games. Subsequently a working group
was created but unfortunately nothing came out of the discussions.
Context
Recently, it has become an increasing issue of Wednesday afternoon lectures
restricting participation in sport for students. As it stands there is no current policy in
place with regards to timetabling on Wednesday afternoons. It has been
documented the Sports Federation has experienced steady growth in membership
since 2006, with an increase of 300 members in the past 2 years. An example of the
Sports Federations growing diversity- in 2013, 62 Sports members were Music degree
undergraduates- who as a result had difficulties playing BUCS fixtures due to
compulsory lectures being timetabled on a Wednesday afternoon. As the graphs
below show, there is a growing demand to play sport during the University
experience, not just for sports based students as 28% of our members are on a nonsports based course. One example of this diversity is the newly founded American
Football Club who currently have 34 members, 26 of which are students on nonsports based courses.
10th June 2014
Number of Sports Fed Members
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Number of Sports Fed
Members
Sport Federation Members Per Department
Dance
Early Years
1%
9%
2%
3%
Education
2%
1%
English and Creative Writing
2% 1%
Fine Art
History and Politics
7%
Media
2%
Music
2%
Theatre (Performing Arts)
28%
4%
Psychology and Counselling
0%
6%
Enterprise and Management
0%
Social Work and Social Care
Theology and Religion
Adventure Education
28%
Physical Education
Sport and Exercise Science
Sport Development and Management
Currently student availability is down to the goodwill of the programme
coordinator/lecturer.
Our research into timetabling has shown that the University currently only allows
subjects such as Sports Science, Sports Development and Management, PE,
Adventure Education, Primary Education Teaching and Sports Coaching & PE to be
free from Wednesday afternoons timetabling.
The current and future potential levels of student engagement is impressive but
based on student and staff feedback and a practical observation of the delivery of
these activities some threats are clear. The main theme to this paper is the
absence of a consistent available time slot to schedule activities on a regular basis.
10th June 2014
Student Availability
With a vast increase in Non-BUCS Clubs the Sports Federation membership is
becoming larger and increasingly diverse. Many of our members especially from
non-sports related courses have encountered difficulties in participating in Union
activities past 11am on Wednesdays, due to timetabling of lectures and seminars
between October and March. Looking into the course programmes that the 882
members of the Sports Federation are registered, 72% (637) are on sports related
courses, with 28% (245) registered on arts, business or humanities based courses. This
indicated that over a quarter of the Sports Federation are potentially affected by
timetabling during Wednesday afternoons.
Not only does the timetabling affect the Sports Federation, it is also an issue for
Societies and volunteering opportunities. Casper Beade, Volunteering and Activities
Co-ordinator who supports and aids societies in the day to day running has
encountered issues with regards to student availability. Although Societies have a
large intake of memberships each year they find it increasingly difficult to boost
their attendance to the events and activities they provide due to the extreme
demographic of different courses that their members are registered onto. To add to
this due to the full timetable commitments of their members they have to schedule
events in the evenings which is then negatively impacted on as students need to
get to the canteen or others for dinner and then some having work or personal
commitments. Another issue with Societies is that any activities or direction of a
Society is done democratically through meetings and voting processes by their
membership which is again proven difficult to achieve with an inability to attend.
With regards to volunteering and timetabling issues, Casper Beade said “The
Students' Union has a vast array of volunteers registered from almost all, if not every
University department and in 2013/14 they accumulated over 3500hrs. This being
said, there is the potential for a lot more students to be able to engage in/deliver a
volunteering activity or complete more hours of participation were there allocated
time to do so within the balance of their University work, professional work, personal
and social lives.”
Travelling to BUCS Fixtures
Transport on a Wednesday for the 36 BUCS teams in the 2013-14 season saw
students travel to 184 away games, 46% (85) of those trips requiring students to
leave between 11-12pm. BUCS team members are expected to travel up to 7 times
between October and March (maybe more depending on the sports team). The
South East region is particularly large geographically with teams expected to travel
to Kent, High Wycombe and central London to compete. At the highest BUCS level,
Premier South, our elite teams such as Mens Football, Womens Football, and now
Womens Rugby, (who will all travel as far as Exeter, Cardiff, Bath and
Gloucestershire) require early departure times, as early as 8am.
A specific example of this is the Women’s Rugby 1st team in the previous 2012-13
season. In February 2012 the Womens Rugby team travelled to Leeds Met Carnegie
in the Quarter finals of the BUCS Championship, a victory would see them move to 1
game from a Twickenham final and be regarded in the top 2 of the UK Elite. They
would have also amassed significant Institution BUCS points that could have moved
10th June 2014
Chichester into the top 50 sporting Institutions that academic year, a significant
marketing profile opportunity. However, for any away fixtures requiring a 11am
leave time, Women’s Rugby were missing 10 players due to lecture scheduling on
Wednesdays in semester 2. The team lost that fixture, with a number of players
absent. Megan Horwood the 2012-13 captain of the women’s rugby team
expanded on this:
“We are in the premiership, competing with larger universities whose timetables are
based around rugby. Currently positioned 3rd in this league we feel that our club is
at an unfair disadvantage as the two Universities positioned above us have their
timetables based around their rugby commitments. If this problem doesn’t get
sorted, we risk losing our status of being in this top league after 5 years of hard
work.” Megan Horwood (captain)
Subsequently, the Women’s Rugby team lost their Premiership status that year!
To gain a perspective on the number of early departures, which are inevitable for
most teams, below is a breakdown of the departure times of all the away games for
the 2013-14 season.
DEPARTURE
TIME
OVERNIGHT
BEFORE 9AM
BETWEEN 9-10
AM
BETWEEN 1011AM
BETWEEN 1112PM
BETWEEN 12-1PM
BETWEEN 1-2PM
BETWEEN 2-3PM
BETWEEN 3-4PM
BETWEEN 4-5PM
BETWEEN 5-6PM
BETWEEN 6-7PM
NUMBER OF TRIPS
2
5
7
14
85
50
9
6
2
1
2
1
184
10th June 2014
University Impact
With “Sport is our Business” as a major marketing theme for the University to recruit,
enabling students to participate in Sporting activities whether recreational or
competitive should be a reasonable expectation. A University wide policy would
also serve as an additional recruitment tool, with students seeking added value with
the recent increase of tuition fees. To be informed that you are unable to
participate in an activity due to a timetable is in the Students’ Union view a major
issue. The University takes pride in its high satisfaction rates after being ranked 1st in
the UK for student satisfaction in The Complete University Guide. Given the
emphasis on these rankings, allowing Wednesday lectures to be scheduled on
Wednesday afternoons could possibly lead to these satisfaction levels dropping
and suggesting we will be failing to meet the needs of the students.
The University is in the process of implementing the HEAR programme with a specific
section 6.1, which encourages students to participate in extracurricular activities to
enhance their CV. The HEAR section 6.1 is a means for recording student
achievement in higher education and is intended to provide more detailed
information about a student’s learning and achievement compared to the
traditional degree classification system. Along with HEAR, most course programmes
increasingly have a work based/Community module, again students require a time
and day to complete these modules which it could be argued could be focused
on a Wednesday afternoon.
Additionally students seeking to gain further
vocational experience and boost their CV would benefit from a free afternoon to
seek this experience.
Proposal
We propose to make Wednesday afternoons free from compulsory lectures for all
students at the University of Chichester, after 11am for Sports and Social Science
degree courses and after 12pm for Arts, Business and Humanities degree courses,
enabling students the opportunity to partake in the many sporting, recreational,
and voluntary activities on offer. This will raise student health & wellbeing both
mentally and physically and boost their employability profiles by volunteering in the
community and participating in the many representative committees on offer.
By making Wednesday afternoons free, this will enable societies and clubs to meet
and participate in events. A specific afternoon dedicated to activities will mean the
University will be meeting the needs of our student body by offering something
outside of their academic timetabling. Sport related programmes already have
Wednesday afternoons free after 1pm, but Wednesday afternoons free from 11am
would benefit all students. This specific time would give students the opportunity
and availability for training, committees, volunteering and general meetings,
enhancing student experience, mentioned in the student unions mission and vision.
10th June 2014
We understand that this may not be possible to be an immediate change.
Therefore, to aid the transition phase and to suggest a more readily available
solution for current students struggling with the clash of timetabling and BUCS
fixtures, we would like to propose the use of a concession form. This type of form is
used at Durham University, with the purpose of allowing the lecturer and sports
administrators to have better communication and hopefully therefore will enable
students to get the best out of their University experience. The form is for students
who wish to miss a lecture so that they can take part in a BUCS fixture that clashes.
The form needs the lecturer’s signature and asks the lecturer to state the
implications of the non-attendance on the student’s academic commitments. The
lecturer then must state whether they approve or disapprove of the request and
how the student is expected to catch up on what is missed. The Sports Administrator
must then also sign the form as acknowledgement of the lecturer’s decision. The
form that Durham University use is attached below, we would use a form similar to
theirs should the proposal be approved.
Summary
Previous trends and thought processes to timetabling should be challenged,
students are more than ever the customer therefore meaning that staff and
facilities need to be providing a more flexible approach to Wednesday afternoons,
and putting together a policy should be made institutional priority. With the Sports
Federation seeing a steep and sudden increase in numbers there seems to be a
louder argument from the students to be able to allow them to take part in BUCS
fixtures and more sporting activities. Surely this suggests that we as a University and
Union combined need to listen to what the statistics and our students are asking for.
With Higher Education changing and evolving and students demanding more from
their experience, this is an opportunity to make a statement within our Institution
and the Higher Education sector of how our student’s wants and needs are the
utmost priority for the University of Chichester.
Growth of the diversity of clubs formed, and respective membership numbers from 2006/07 to
2014/15.
Team/Club
M Badminton
W Badminton
M Basketball
W Basketball
M Cricket
M Football 1
M Football 2
M Football 3
M Football 4
2006/07
Number of members
6
6
12
12
11
14
14
14
14
Team/Club
M Badminton
W Badminton 1
W Badminton 2
M Basketball 1
M Basketball 2
W Basketball
M Cricket
M Cricket 2
W Cricket
2014/15
Number of members
6
6
6
12
12
12
11
11
11
10th June 2014
W Football
M Hockey
W Hockey
W Hockey 2
Netball 1
Netball 2
Netball 3
M Rugby 1
M Rugby 2
W Rugby
M Tennis
W Tennis
M Volleyball
W Volleyball
14
14
14
14
12
12
12
22
22
22
6
6
10
10
299
Sat Football
Indoor Cricket
14
10
24
Non BUCS Clubs
Capoeira
Cheerleading
Climbing
Ultimate Frisbee
Total
15
25
30
25
95
418
M Football 1
M Football 2
M Football 3
M Football 4
M Football 5
M Football 6
W Football 1
W Football 2
Golf
M Hockey 1
M Hockey 2
W Hockey 1
W Hockey 2
M Lacrosse
W Lacrosse
Netball 1
Netball 2
Netball 3
Netball 4
Netball 5
M Rugby 1
M Rugby 2
M Rugby 3
W Rugby
M Tennis
W Tennis
M Volleyball
W Volleyball
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
6
14
14
14
14
15
15
12
12
12
12
12
22
22
22
22
6
6
10
10
471
American Football (Sun)
M Futsal (Sun)
W Futsal (Sat)
SEMLA Lacrosse
Indoor Cricket
Swimming (W/ends)
40
10
10
14
10
10
94
40
35
60
15
15
15
40
30
30
30
310
865
Non BUCS Clubs
Adventure Sports
Athletics
Cheerleading
Equestrian
Handball
Rowing
Snow Sports
Swim
Trampolining
Ultimate Frisbee
Total
10th June 2014
DURHAM UNIVERSITY
Academic Office
SECTION 2
APPENDIX (A2.02.): CONCESSION FORM IN RESPECT OF SPORTING COMMITMENTS
PART A: FOR COMPLETION BY THE STUDENT REQUESTING CONCESSION.
Note:
(a) It is the responsibility of the student to have this form completed by the relevant
department(s) and forwarded to the Director of Sport in time for the concession
to be considered prior to the fixture.
(b) If a concession is granted it will apply ONLY in respect of the academic
commitment(s) named on the form and NOT to any other deadlines,
assignments, assessments or teaching sessions.
(c) Students must complete this form to seek permission to attend sporting fixtures
which conflict with academic commitments. If a student fails to complete this
form there can be no redress against failed assignments, Academic Progress
Procedure warning or other action consequential on the sporting fixture.
Student Name:
Student ID Banner:
(Surname, initials, title)
Student e-mail:
College/Society:
Faculty:
Degree Programme:
Title
Year
Main Department/Course Cluster
All other departments in which the student studies (e.g. modules
in an
another department and Joint or Combined Honours students)
Academic Year in which concession is sought:
REASON FOR REQUEST
(a) Nature of sporting commitment: Name of sport:
Level of commitment (university, regional, national, international):
Details of the fixture (teams/individuals involved, venue, date, time):
(b) Implications for academic commitments:
10th June 2014
Date(s) when you will be away from the University
Academic commitments affected (give exact dates, times and details)
Signature of Student:
PART B:
Date:
FOR COMPLETION BY THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT AFFECTED BY THE
CONCESSION REQUEST.
Department 1
(a)
Department
(b)
Head of Department
(c)
Concession request approved / not approved?
(d)
Proposals to rearrange academic commitments/reason for rejecting concession
request*
Signature:
Date:
(Head of Department)
Department 2
(a)
Department
(b)
Head of Department
(c)
Concession request approved / not approved?
(d)
Proposals to rearrange academic commitments/reason for rejecting concession
request*
Signature:
Date:
(Head of Department)
Department 3
(a)
Department
(b)
Head of Department
*
*
Delete as applicable
Delete as applicable
10th June 2014
(c)
Concession request approved / not approved?
(d)
Proposals to rearrange academic commitments/reason for rejecting concession
request*
Signature:
Date:
(Head of Department)
PART C: FOR COMPLETION BY THE DIRECTOR OF SPORT
Complete sections (a) - (c) as appropriate and sign the form below.
(a)
Sporting event significant enough to warrant a concession? YES / NO
(If NO, decisions to grant concessions in respect of such events should be
overturned and the department(s) and student concerned informed of this
decision).
(b)
Negotiations carried out with relevant department(s) as follows (if relevant): -
(c)
Outcome of negotiations with department(s) (if relevant):
(d)
Concession approved / concession not approved by department*.
*
*
Delete as applicable
Delete as applicable
10th June 2014
Reason for non-approval, if relevant: -
Signature of Director of Sport:
Date:
This form when completed should be copied by the Director of Sport to:

the Head of Department consulted (including Deputy Head of Faculty for Natural
Sciences/Director of Combined Honours);

the Principal/Master of the student's college;

appropriate Faculty’s Office;

SPA.
The Director of Sport should inform the student concerned of the outcome of the
concession request.
CONCESSION CODE
For office use only
17 RE________________