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
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Monday, September 17, 2007
Welcome
Welcome to the start of the new term to those returning and also to freshers. I hope you are excited at the prospect of studying here and at the opportunities available for you this year. My fellow Officers and I will be around in our red t-shirts to answer any questions you have and ensure that you are having the best time possible at King's so far.
SIGHTSEEING SUNDAYS
Make sure you check out the events for the next couple of weeks as there is plenty to see and do also if it gets too much and you want to chill out cheaply minus the alcohol we are guiding students around the sights of london for free starting this Sunday 23rd at 1pm, meet outside the Macadam building. The officers in their red t-shirts will this week be taking students along the South Bank stopping off at the Tate Modern for a while and then carrying on to London Bridge if you are interested and want the itinery then email me and I'll send it to you. Week 2 will be a visit to the Whitehall and Buckingham Palace ending up in the National Portrait Gallery at Trafalgar Square and week 3 will be a visit to Kensington to the National History Museum, Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Feel free to come along, bring whoever and stop off where you fancy we are just providing the opportunity to meet people, travel safely to these places and show you just a snapshot of the things you can do in London for free.
A quick word of advice to you all is to make sure you get out and experience all the other campuses as it's easy to get stuck at the one you study at. There's so much more you can gain from seeing the rest of the sites, especially as Guy's has just undergone a bit of a makover and is now our hubb of activity for student activity! Also the Waterfront and Tutu's are looking fab so make sure you get the chance to have a look one day.
Enjoy the week and make sure if you have any queries you get in touch.
Bye for now,
Jx
posted by VP Representation at 3:51 PM
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Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Calling all course reps plus elections, non-alcoholic events and disabled students forums
Hi all,
Course rep forum
Thurs 22nd (tomorrow, sorry for the short notice but you should have received an email last week) the academic advice co-ordinator and I are holding a course rep forum designed to see a) how you are getting on with the role, b) to see if training was useful for you and what (if anything) you think we could do better or include next year, c) if there are any issues you have found are outstanding even though you've raised them at Student Staff Liaison Committees. It's really for you so if there's anything at all you'd like to raise with us please come along, if not you know what my email address is. The forum will be in Franklin Wilkins Building 1.16 at 6pm so I hope to see as many of you there as possible.
Elections
It is that time again the applications are in so it's up to you to have a look at all of the candidates and decide who will represent you this next academic year. Read the candidates answers as to why they'd be suitable for the job at: http://www.kclsu.org/election_spring2007_presentation.php
Non-alcoholic events
KCLSU recognises that not all students like to/have the money to/want to drink therefore we are looking to pilot some non-alcoholic events that all students would feel welcome at. We tried quite successfully to do this in the freshers period with sight-seeing sundays and I would really like to know from you what events would attract you that are lacking in the alcohol stakes. Please email me or one of the other officers with any ideas, all suggestions welcome!
Disabled students forum
I'd like to know what KCLSU can do to help make life at university easier for all students and those with disabilities therefore I will be holding forums for anyone with a disability (visible or not) soon so look out for publicity.
Bye for now,
Jo
x
posted by VP Representation at 6:44 PM
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Monday, December 04, 2006
Sorry it's been a long time coming. Time has gone quickly there is far too much that can be put down into blog words I’m afraid. However here are some things that have happened in my world of KCLSU and that are coming up on the radar.
Student survival day
College held a student survival day held yearly in the Great Hall on Nov 22nd. I assisted in the organisation of this but didn’t manage to get them to see that a martial arts demo to ward off attackers would be an audience attracter. Something about health and safety and detracting from the point, I don’t know. Anyway there were members of the Metropolitan police force there to offer advice and property marking, along with Endsliegh Insurance, the Health centre, Campus Watch (special constables who were signing up interested parties to patrol university campuses) and KCLSU. All in all it was a pretty successful day aimed at raising awareness of student safety and giving out freebies and information to guide students through their years at university.
Course reps
We had a successful bout of course rep training that myself and our Academic Advice Co-ordinator conducted, feedback was great apart from a couple of people that commented the sessions were too long. Really? We only kept you for and hour or so, have you guys never heard of two hour lectures?! It’s changed since my day. Anyway thank you to all that came and shame on all that didn’t attend. Not really if you are a rep and need some guidance look to our website or drop me a line and I’ll send you the slides.
I hope the reps that attended are now ready to take on the world of KCL academics and if you are one that needs a bit of help with something you feel is going nowhere just let me know. Although this is a College run system we are here to support you so will live up to our promise.
We’ve tried to instill among all reps the fact that we are here to help anyway we can. All the issues raised in training has given me a ton of teaching quality issues to get my teeth into and coming from different angles and raising the same issues in meetings will highlight these problems that need to be changed. So keep them coming, and good luck.
Non-traditional students
The change in Governance at KCLSU means we now have no part-time officers whose job it is to represent the needs of non-traditional student groups. The phrase “non-traditional” incorporates international, black minority ethnic, postgraduate and widening participation students. At KCLSU envisaged using fora, which were to be requested by any student with any issue they wished to raise through Student Council however there has been a lack of interest in this area. Why I hear you cry? Answers on a postcard please.
It could be for a number of reasons such as students feel they will not gain anything from setting one up, it would take a lot of resources and time and a lack of publicity and process to create a heightened awareness of creating a fora. All of the details are on the website although this has proved insufficient. If you would like to create a fora on any issue and need help setting one up then get in contact with us. An example of one that I’m trying to get off the ground at the moment is the “Graduate Student Forum” working in partnership with the director of the Graduate School. The 2nd one is on Wednesday in the Postgraduate common room, Hodgkin Building, Guys campus at 5pm. There will be refreshments available and there you can talk about any issue you have living as a Post-grad at King’s so if you think that affects you then come along. I’m hoping the success of this will snowball and we can use the same kind of formula for any other fora that is looking to be set up.
Representing non-traditional students is increasingly important for the fact KCL is a multi-cultural, multi-national and diverse institution. The student body is reflective of this and as we pride ourselves on our mission statement “Student Life Support” we need to ensure all students have a direct feed into the way KCLSU functions and anything hindering their time at KCL is dealt with to the best of our capabilities.
”Go Green"
The People and Planet campaigns group are planning a “go green” week in January so all students with new years resolutions can get on board and join the recycling train…. that was rubbish I know.
A lot of time and effort is going into the planning of this and KCLSU, KCL and People and Planet are working together to ensure our institution is one that takes environmental sustainability seriously. It doesn’t take much to put a piece of paper in the green bin opposed to the black one or to switch off a light if there’s no one in the room. So….. please take an interest in what the guys have to say over the new year and maybe join in if you want to help. No one is saying you have to convert to bio-degradable bed sheets or anything (however if you wash them at a cooler temperature you’re helping the cause) but there are little things we can do in everyday life that if we did them collectively could help the environment a lot.
Till next time,
Jo
xxx
p.s. I’ve now taken up hockey, dance and darts and if I can find the time to fit these in (though not regularly at the moment due to the full diary) I’m sure you can. Clubs, societies and volunteering groups always welcome new members so get involved. If you’re free KCLSU are holding re-freshers fayres on the 25th and 26th of January. They are aimed at postgraduates but everyone is welcome! Details will follow soon so check your emails and publicity around the campuses.
posted by VP Representation at 3:54 PM
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Wednesday, August 30, 2006
My first blog
Hello and welcome! This is the first instalment of my blog, I’m sure you’ve been waiting with baited breath. It’s a new concept to me and I’ll use it as a way for you guys to get inside my officer head, so be kind, but honest and I’ll return the favour in the shape of a lot of words! It’s been an amazing month and a half of training, learning and getting to grips with all things KCLSU and for KCLSU to get to grips with us. I’ve got to thank the outgoing officers and the permanent staff that have contributed to our brain ache and the ever-growing bags under our eyes! Haha! On a serious note though they are amazing and have helped us immensely and continue to do so! I don’t think Lee Peterson will move over from his 2 year throne that quickly. I have to say I thought I knew quite a bit about the way KCLSU operated before from working in the venues but there is so much more and so little time! Playing on my mind at work at the moment, and has received much media coverage is the issue of how many hours students are having to work to pay for their education. It is a huge issue that NUS has taken upon themselves to investigate by highlighting student employment horror stories. Not the approach I myself want to take as it isn’t a shock to me that 20% of students are working more than 20 hours a week. From all the reports in the news it seems as though the general public and Government didn’t realise that students don’t all get money from their trust funds and spend it all on having a really good time at uni. Of course we need jobs and work all the hours we have spare to pay for rent and food and that pint or two that we had last night. And no, the student loan is not enough to cover it all. And yes, the proportion of students at work will go up with the introduction of top up fees this year. And one more and….. And who knows what will happen in 2010 when the cap on fees is removed. I’m not saying that students shouldn’t have jobs at uni as it’s a great thing to do but it does hinder (there’s a word I don’t normally use) one’s academic career when they are working, however many hours a week when their friends are in the library reading up on the land use models of urban Japan (I did Geography). I worked a lot of hours throughout my time at uni and I don’t hold that responsible for me not getting higher grades, however if I didn’t have a job or didn’t have to work the hours I did there could have been a completely different outcome. The NUS maybe need to focus more on voicing the issues that are costing students rather than their employment rights as then they could be selective about where they work if it wasn’t for the financial burdens and desperation. I’ll stop there for now but would appreciate any feedback, good or bad. Or any issues that you’d like my take on. Hope the summer vacation treats you well. Jo Xxx p.s. If you need a good job with flexible hours, with people who won’t exploit you then apply to be a member of KCLSU student staff. It didn’t do me any harm…….
posted by VP Representation at 11:34 AM
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