Officers | VP Representation

Monday, February 11, 2008

I've noticed my lasy blog is not exactly recent so here's a bit of what's happened recently.

Policy & Lobbying
Liaising with the course rep administrator and Academic Advice manager we have identifieddepartments which lack a figure responsible for the course rep system. The aim of doing thisis to be able to write a report showing problem areas in regards to the system.
• From all our feedback within the National student survey and also from talking to medical students the problem with feedback has been highlighted. This is to be discussed in detail with the heads of clinical assessment and to try to look at how students can be given the best information possible so they can improve problem areas.
I have met with the heads of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Social Science and Public
Policy, and Humanities. We have communicated to them what services and opportunities we
provide to their students and also asked about the internal running of the school. One area we
have focused on especially is scholarships, the aim within the finance policy area to be able to
understand what scholarships are available in each school. Meetings are still in progress so we
do not have all the details yet.
• I have been in contact with Sam Javed within the funding office to speak about bursaries and
plans for the future. Sam feels there is room for KCLSU to help when it comes to publicising to
students that they are entitled to their bursary and also to emphasise to be thorough when
filling in the Student loans form. This happens before students actually arrive at the institution
so open days and pre-arrival information is key here. The money for next year has increased,
however so have the amount of students who are entitled to bursaries. College have
implemented a banding system to make it clear what amount of money students are entitled
to. It is crucial students sign the area that shares the bank information with the institution or
they will not receive their money. The forms this year have been reviewed and it is much
clearer where the student and in some cases parents need to sign.
Campaigning & Engagement
• KCL welfare and KCLSU have met to discuss plans for communication in the future and how
we can ensure students can access welfare information through student centres etc.
Outcomes are to have a calendar of joint welfare and KCLSU campaigns throughout the year
taking into account the student journey and certain times when different services will be
needed. Through the introduction of student centres and the new online student portal
welfare are confident that theirs and our services will be easily accessible.
Representation
• The results of the institutional audit feedback is now being collated and will be presented to
the academic registrar, the quality review group (responsible for ensuring all schools are
adhering to Quality Assurance standards) and Heads of Schools. Some informal issues have
already been raised within meetings between KCLSU and Heads.
• The course rep administrator has identified the outstanding issues which need to be taken to
department student staff liaison committee administrators and I am currently going
through these to be able to present them to heads of schools and department.
• I will be sending an email to student council to gather international student issues instead of
raising this at student council. Their agenda is pretty packed so it’s difficult to engage in a
discussion. Developments have been made when it comes to communicating with certain
types of students be them international, postgraduate, live at home and KCLSU will be
looking into creating student networks. First we need to identify what this would be and how
they would aid the support and communication of these students. Pete Cuff and myself will be
doing this.

Well done to all the Raggers!!! You guy's did fantastically. I hope the committee can have a well earned rest now.
x

posted by VP Representation at 1:23 PM