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8/8/2019 Undergraduate Academic Representation Handbook 2010-11smallProof
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Undergraduate Academic Representation
Page 1imperialcollegeunion.org/trainingimperialcollegeunion.org
Undergraduate Academic
Representation Handbook 2010/11
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ContentsContents 2
Introduction 3-4
Why Become a rep? 5-6
Personal & Proessional
Development
6
Recognition 6
Year Representatives (Roles &Responsibilities)
7-11
At the beginning 7
During the year Dealing with issues 8
Disseminating inormation 9
Monitoring 11
Departmental Representatives(Roles & Responsibilities)
12-15
At the beginning 12
During the year Managing Year Representatives and
sta contact
13
Sta-Student Committee (SSC)
meetings
14
Departmental society 15
Academic Aairs Ofcers (Roles& Responsibilities)
16-17
At the beginning 16
During the year Faculty Representation Meetings 17
Communication 18
Support and Resources 18Feedback 19
Meetings 20
Suggested agenda template or all
Sta-Student Meetings
21
Useul Contacts 23
Version 1.0 - 01 September 2010
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Introduction
Welcome to your new wonderul
career as an Imperial College student
representative. This handbook has beendesigned not only to assist you in being
the best rep you can be, but also to show
you how to make the most o this year!
Over 8,500 undergraduate students
study at Imperial College. Students
work in groups but ultimately each
student is in their own situation, carries
out their own tasks, and experiences
their own interactions with College.
Problems arise every day and without
representation students are powerless to
resolve signicant issues. This handbook
has essential inormation, advice and
guidance that will help you through your
year as a student rep. There will be times
when it can either give you the answer
or show you where to go or help. It is
designed to be used throughout the year
Representation brings power to the
students. As a rep you have been
allocated the authority and control to
bring up issues which College is not
aware o, and step on their toes (not
literally!) over issues which have not beenresolved. At Imperial, a sophisticated
undergraduate academic representation
structure brings power to each
student through Year Representatives,
Departmental Representatives and
Academic Aairs Ocers. Student-sta
meetings solve some problems, and
dealing with other problems requires the
help o other parts o the representationsystem.
Alex Dahinton
Deputy President (Education)E: [email protected]
T:020 7594 8060, extension: 45646
Andrew Keenan
Representation Coordinator
T:020 7594 5387, extension: 45387
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The double arrow lines are there or a
good reason - two-way communication iscompletely undamental to a successul
year o representation! Any break in the
above structure means either issues
students raise are not brought up in
higher committees, or the students
become unaware o the hard work being
done by their reps.
Heres to a successul year!
Alex Dahinten and Andrew Keenan
The ollowing fgure illustrates this
structure:
Deputy President
(Education)
Academic Affairs Officers (AAO)
Year Representatives
Union President
Faculty Union President
Departmental Representatives
Representation Coordinator
Students
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Why become a rep? What will I get out o it?
One who earns leadership o the masses
by working ceaselessly or peoples
welare nally realises that he has beenrewarded with many added advantages.
Atharva Veda
Be assured: the primary reward o being
a representative is in the satisaction o
having made a dierence. Not just by
helping your ellow students overcome
diculties but also by infuencing
opinions and decisions directly aecting
your year/department/aculty. The
changes you make will be apparent in
your and your ellow students courses.
It takes a stagnant institution to be ree
o problems or resolution and there
will always be a need or academic
representation. The most satised,
ullled students will still have issues toraise, and it is oten the very best, most
eective sta who will take advantage
o our representative capabilities the
most. The College itsel is aware o
the importance o an eective student
representation system, and is supportive
o your eorts i students cannot
raise the issues which prevent constant
improvement o Colleges academic
oerings, then who will?
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Personal & Proessional Development
But theres even more in it or you.
Alongside the knowledge that you will
have made a dierence to how well you
and your peers have been taught, being a
rep is an ideal way to work on your own
development which means your time as
a rep can have benets long ater youve
crossed the stage in the Albert Hall.
These benets can be both personal and
proessional, and can be an invaluable
boost to your employability. Being an
eective rep will mean being procientin teamwork, time management,
interpersonal communication, and
problem solving. The best thing is, you
arent learning these in the abstract you
will be experiencing them rst-hand with
real consequences, and employers value
that above almost everything else.
More inormation on what being a rep
can oer you, and how to develop your
skills, will be available rom the Union
website.
Recognition
This year, we have introduced a
special award or the most dedicated
representatives. On top o receiving
Union colours, you will be singled out
as the outstanding rep in your aculty.
The award can be won by either
Departmental or Year Reps, and eachFaculty will have one winner or each.
We will be looking at attendance to the
various meetings throughout the year,
as well as general enthusiasm towards
representing your peers. Even i you do
not win Faculty Rep o the Year, you
can still be nominated or Union Colours
or Hal-Colours!
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Whichever kind o representative you are,read through this entire section and make
sure you understand the responsibilities
o each member o the representation
structure.
I you are a Year Rep, you will have
most likely been elected recently in
the rst ew weeks (back) at Imperial.
Congratulations! In brie, your duty is to
represent all students in your year within
your College Department. You report
to your Departmental Representative,
passing dicult systemic problems up to
them and eeding your communications
and achievements back to the students in
your year.
As a Year Representative, your duties are
straightorward but vital. You are the only
representatives in direct contact with the
students you are serving and thereore
act as their rst point o call when
problems arise. You are instrumental in
academic representation, as the primary
means o communication between the
representative structure, College staand the student body.
At the beginning
Year Representatives(Roles & Responsabilities)
Your rst task is to make yoursel knownto your year. Your maniesto and election
was not enough: once you are elected,
you must make your role absolutely clear
to your year so that they can use your
power eectively.
Start o by sending an email to
everyone in your year group (talk to your
Departmental Administrator to nd out
how to do this). It may be best to orward
the email to them and ask them to send
it. In this email, you should:
Introduce yourself as their Year
Representative
Outline what your role is, including your
responsibility o relating issues to sta
and upwards where necessary
Give them contact details - this is
usually just your email address.
Also give them the name and email
address o your Departmental
Representative - you are accountable
to the students i you dont do your job,
and they must have a point o contact.
They may simply need a contact i youare ill or away.
Keep a relaxed, informal tone you are
their peer but write a smart and easy-
to-read email.
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During the year: dealing with issues
arising
I you have made your role clear to
your ellow students, it wont be long
until they rst approach you. When this
happens, your rst task is to gather
inormation on the issue. Ask yoursel:
What EXACTLY is the problem? If
its not an academic issue, it is out o
your scope: reer them elsewhere (see
Useul Contacts Section). Talk to all the
students involved in the issue until you
are completely clear about it.
Who does it affect? Which student or
group o students? This could range
rom one student to the entire college.
Issues aecting one student must
still be dealt with but may have to be
deprioritised in avour o problems
aecting many people, or may require
particular care to maintain the students
right to privacy or even anonymity.
How does it affect those students?
In what way are they pressured or
disadvantaged? Try and assess the
nature and the extent o the eect by
talking to them. Occasionally, you might be presented
with a problem that is best solved by
the Colleges and Unions welare sta.
I so, direct the student to the right
member o sta be that a College
Tutor, the Deputy President (Welare),
or the Student Adviser.
At this point you are in a position to
decide where to take the issue. It may
be appropriate to simply monitor thesituation, perhaps i it is something that
should sort itsel out. It is more likely that
you will have to take action by elevating
the issue. It is then time to decide where
best to take it.
Broadly speaking, elevating an issue
means taking it along one o two
routes: directly to departmental sta,
or up to the next level o the student
representation structure. The appropriate
route is at your discretion.
If you believe your issue could
benet rom consideration by your
departmental sta, make it happen.
Your primary point o contact with sta
is at Sta-Student Meetings, however
you do not need to wait or these
meetings to bring up issues.
If you are unsure of how a problem
might be solved OR a problem
remains unsatisactorily addressed
ater a Sta-Student Meeting OR there
is some complication (e.g. personal
privacy issues) you must elevatethe issue to the next level o the
student representation structure: your
Departmental Representative.
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In certain circumstances, generally urgent academic problems that require immediate
attention, do not wait or the next Sta-Student Meeting or or your next meeting with
your Departmental Representative. Speak to a member o your departmental sta
describing the problem and its urgency, or to the Deputy President (Education).
During the year: disseminating inormation
Just as you are responsible or representing the views and experience o your year
group to College sta and Departmental Representatives, you are responsible or
disseminating inormation down to the student body too!
All aspects o your active representation must be made transparent to the
students you are representing.
Where you are bringing an issue to the attention o sta or other representatives, you
must ensure that all students involved in the issue are inormed and continually kept
updated. This might be an acknowledgement o the issue and a promise to investigate
urther. It might be an explanation o the rationale behind the decision not to act or it
might be a proposed solution to the issue.
I you report an issue to sta, inorm your students so that they know that the issue
is being dealt with.
I you receive any response rom sta concerning the issue, report it to your
students.
I you elevate an issue to other representatives, inorm your students so that they
know that the issue is being dealt with.
Should you nd out that any decision has been or could be made by your department
that could aect students academic aairs in any way, whether positive or negative,
try to inorm your students as soon as possible to allow them to consider the decisionand respond through you.
Throughout the year, you will be asked by your Departmental Representative/ AAO/
Deputy President (Education) Representative Coordinator to disseminate inormation
to your years. This may range rom emails asking them to participate in one o our
surveys, to vital academic inormation updates. Please make sure that this ino
reaches the students quickly!
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Feeding your achievements and new inormation is important or two reasons:
Representation cannot be said to be effective if the communication is only one-way.A continuous eed o inormation back to students is essential and gives students
perspective on the matter: i a request is unrealistic, the students must know.
Likewise, if a solution has been reached, the students must be informed.
For the effective representation of any group of people, the group must have a high
level o trust in the representative. Much o this trust must be built rom scratch; the
only way to do it is to prove your value as a representative by directly involving your
students in every matter you deal with. By creating trust in you, it is more likely that
students will eel ree to make use o your representative capabilities.
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During the year: monitoring
Your job is both reactive and proactive.
While primarily you are the rst calling
point when your peers encounter
any sort o blip in your academicenvironment, it is also very useul to go
out to collect inormation rom them:
by keeping your ear to the ground and
picking up early anything that has the
potential to become a problem, you are
in a ar, ar better position to deal with it
than i you wait until the problem comes
to you.
This includes keeping a close eye on
your own personal academic aairs. You
are your best judge o the quality o your
course. Ask yoursel:
Am I enjoying doing this or am I nding
it particularly unpleasant? I I am nding
it unpleasant, is it a problem with the
teaching or administration that could
possibly benet rom representative
attention?
Am I learning from this? If not, is it a
problem that could possibly benet
rom representative attention?
Am I nding it difcult to keep up with
the work? Is it because Im being given
too much o it? Is there any other problem that
is making it harder to learn than
necessary?
First, ask yoursel these questions.
Then consider how others might answer
them. Ask some o your ellow students
directly, or stand in ront o your year
and poll them. Monitoring your year or
potential issues is a continual process, soyou should never stop considering these
questions. Be prepared to ask your year
on a regular basis what their eelings are.
In democracy everyone has the right to
be represented, even the jerks.
Chris Patten
I youre not sure whether a problem is
worth tackling or not, whether it seems
completely insolvable or completely
trivial, elevate it anyway. It is always
worth trying. Imperial is only a world-
leading institution through attention to
detail and every detail is worth touching
up.
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As Departmental Representatives,you take ultimate responsibility or
making sure the student voice in your
department is heard. You have been
elected beore the start o the year in
order to enable you to prepare or the
coming year and begin your job as soon
as teaching starts.
At the heart o the representation
structure, you are the link between Year
Reps and Faculty Union Academic Aairs
Ocers. I you drop out o the structure,
you disconnect your entire department,
preventing them rom being represented.
Its also your role to manage the Year
Representative system below you and
make sure it is communicating upwards
and downwards and thus working
eectively.
At the beginning
Beore you can ull your role, your Year
Representatives below you must be in
place, doing their job. So your rst taskis to ll all Year Representative positions
and brie them. The sooner you do
this, the sooner your department will
be eectively represented! Choose an
appropriate time to carry out both o
these things; they should happen about
two or three days apart, to give them a
chance to decide whether they should
stand or election or not.Brieng them involves presenting the
role o Year Representative to them:
you must make it sound appealing
while ensuring they understand the
responsibilities o the job. Remember
to tell them when you will be returning
to hold the election. You should bring
some copies o this guide or them to
read: leave them on a desk as you leave
so that those who are interested can
consider standing at their own leisure.
Holding the election is simple. A show o
hands will suce:
Ask for those who wish to stand to
come orward
Give each candidate a minute or two to
present their maniesto to the year and
answer any questions
Remind the class that they can also
vote to re-open nominations (vote or
RON) i they dont wish to elect any o
the candidates
Send the candidates out of the room
and count votes or each candidate andRON
Allow them back in and announce the
result o the election
I you so wish, you can hold an online
election or your department. Contact
[email protected] or more
inormation.
Departmental Representatives(Roles & Responsibilities)
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Now that your Year Representatives
team has been established, make
sure that you introduce yoursel
personally to them as their Departmental
Representative and take a note o their
names and CID numbers. Make sure yousend this list o names to the Deputy
President (Education) right ater getting
them so that the Union can populate the
Rep database.
During the year: managing Year
Representatives and sta contact
Just as Year Representatives have a
responsibility to continuously monitor
the students they represent, picking up
issues quickly to minimise any negative
impact, you have a responsibility to
monitor your Year Representatives,
encouraging them to keep all their
communication channels open and their
ear to the ground. As a representative
yoursel you should also remain very
close to the student body, being
prepared to talk to individual students as
necessary.
The organised contact you have with
sta is the same as the contact the Year
Representatives have: Sta- Student
Meetings.
In eect, your ability to engage sta
in dialogue is no dierent rom theirs:
anything you can talk to sta about, they
can talk to sta about. So why should
they elevate issues to you? There are
many reasons:
A chance for dialogue: by bringing
issues to your attention and the
attention o their ellow Year
Representatives, you can explore the
issue in great detail: are any other
years o the course experiencing
this problem? Did previous years
experience it? Is it really an issue at all?
It can then be elevated further: to your
Academic Aairs Ocer.
Where issues come to your attention,
your duty is very similar to that o a Year
Representative: do some triage. I you
believe, ollowing discussion between
you and your Year Reps, that bringing the
issue back to a Sta-Student Meeting
would be benecial, then do this. I you
have hit a dead end, or you believe theissue has consequences with a wider
range than your department, or you wish
to discuss the issues with a more senior
representative or any other reason,
then elevate the issue to your Academic
Aairs Ocer.
Your biggest responsibility lies
in organising Departmental
Representation Meetings, allowing
your Year Representatives to elevateissues to you in a ormal way. These
meetings should occur every 2-3 weeks
where possible. You and your Year
Reps must attend these meetings; it
is ne or anyone else to attend these
meetings as well and it is a good idea to
invite your Academic Aairs Ocer to
attend.
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During the year: Staff-Student
Committee (SSC) Meetings
Sta Student Committee meetings are
your time to shine as Dep Reps. You
have the opportunity to bring up your
peers problems with your sta, and can
monitor their willingness to deal with
issues. A ew weeks beore the meeting
takes place, make sure that your Year
Reps have collected a list o positive and
negative issues that have come up. Have
a Departmental Rep Meeting with them,
and decide on which issues are worth
bringing up with the Sta. You should
not eel intimidated by your College
Sta, however always remember to be
respectul and knowledgeable bout what
you have to say (see Meetings section
or more inormation).
Ater the meetings, there are two vital
things you need to do:
1. Send a short (and relevant) summary
o the SSC meeting minutes and what
was discussed, to the students o your
department. Keep it short and sweet,
however make sure that studentsknow what is happening behind the
scenes is your department. There
may be circumstances where your
Department Sta will ask you to keep
issues to yoursel or the time being,
so please respect these wishes.
Remember to cc in your AAO (see
Contacts) when you send these
reports to your departments.
2. As soon as you get access to the
meeting minutes, send a copy to
the Representation Coordinator
([email protected]). Together
with the Deputy President (Education),
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they have a combined responsibility to
monitor the quality o undergraduate
representation and teaching across
College. By doing this they can assess
the eectiveness o representation
within each department, refectingon the readiness o the departments
sta to listen and respond to
the student voice. It also allows
identication o weaker student
representatives, and the identication
o stronger representatives or
recognition and nomination or
Union Colours awards. The Deputy
President (education) also holds
termly presentations to the Quality
Assurance Advisory Committee,
letting them know how departmentsare responding to the issues brought
up by students. This is done by
condensing and collating all the SSC
minutes and correspondences rom
the Departmental Representatives
at the end o session each term.
The strategic advantage o this is
enormous: College is very keen to
oster a culture o constant academic
quality review and improvement
involving student representatives.
Where a department consistently ails
to satisactorily address issues raised
by representatives, Colleges senior
academic sta will readily investigate
and make recommendations directly to
the department, concerning both the
original issues raised and their ongoing
responsiveness to students.
During the year: Departmental society
Although the students you represent are
ultimately at Imperial to get a world-
class degree, they also want to have unin their ree time! Your departmental
society is a great point o contact or
this, and supporting them will help
create a sense o community within your
department. Make sure students are
getting a bit o a break rom the academic
pressures to have un relaxing with their
course mates.
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Academic Aairs Ofcers
(Roles & Responsibilities)
As Academic Aairs Ocer (AAO),you ultimately are in charge o the
representation network in your Faculty
Union (FU). Whether Engineer, Medic
or Scientist, everyone is represented
at Imperial and it is your job to make
sure that your FU reps are doing this job
well. You are the glue that keeps the rep
system within your respective aculty
unions (FU) intact. Throughout the year
you will work closely with your exec, the
Deputy President (Education), and the
Representation Coordinator, as well as
College Sta.
Its your role to make sure that the Year
and Dep Rep are doing their jobs, and
to report up to the Deputy President
(Education). O all the reps in your
department, you will have the most
contact with the college and aculty big
dogs through the numerous dierent
committees you stand on.
The AAO sits on the Union
Representation and Welare Board
(RWB), where they represent theiracultys representation ramework
together with the Faculty President and
Welare Ocer. Also, your aculty will
ask or you to attend some meetings as
the student voice.
At the beginning
The best way to start o your new job
is by making sure your Departmental
Reps know who you are. Contact them
over the summer and begin to come up
with a strategy or the year to come.
Just like or every elected position, your
Dep Reps will be very keen to dive into
their jobs once they begin in October,
so you should aim to use this positive
enthusiasm to your advantage. Dep
Reps will be ull o ideas at the start, so
it is important that you meet with them
to capture these ideas early on, and
discuss how easible they are within their
departments.
As mentioned elsewhere in this
handbook, your role is proactive as well
as reactive, so make sure to gather all
the maniesto points and proposals
o your reps, combine them with your
goals or the year, and begin to develop
your own agenda rather than waiting
or issues to come up. I you keep
the Deputy President (Education) andRepresentation Coordinator aware
o these plans, they can assist you,
and make sure that eort is not being
unnecessarily duplicated across College.
It is vital that you remain in continuous
contact throughout the year with
your Dep Reps; establishing a good
relationship with them will make your
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job much easier! Be approachable and
riendly with them, so that they eel
comortable seeking you out or advice.
All o this goes or the sta in your
department too; representation iscooperation, not battle, and maintaining
a riendly rapport with your sta will go a
long way to smoothing the path or your
proposals. Introduce yoursel to them
early i you dont know them already,
and keep in regular contact about the
progress o various issues and the latest
news rom their reps.
During the year: Faculty Representation
Meetings
As AAO, it is your responsibility to
organise the Faculty Representation
Meetings. There should be a minimum o
at least one every term, however two are
recommended. During these meetings,
every Departmental Rep is asked to
provide a short overview about how
things are running in their department.
I a representative cannot make it to
the meeting, still ask them to send you
an overview. The idea behind this is
to engage the representatives to help
each other out, and to use best practise
between departments. Unresolved
issues which have been brought toDep Reps by their Year Reps during
Departmental Representation Meetings
should be brought up here, as well as
any other (positive and negative) issues
they are working on.
Make sure that at the beginning o the
meeting one rep volunteers to take the
minutes and note down action points.
These do not need to be incredibly
detailed, but rather will serve as a
record or yourselves, and as a way to
keep the Deputy President (Education)
and Representation Coordinator in
the loop. Ater these have been typed
up, make sure to send them to the
Deputy President (Education) and the
Representation Coordinator, as well as
every Dep Rep, within ve days o the
meeting.
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Communication
The single biggest problem in
communication is the illusion that it has
taken placeGeorge Bernard Shaw
The importance o communication is
brought up in almost every section o
this handbook, but we think its so crucial
to an eective system o representation
that its worth mentioning again.
Furthermore, it comes in many orms.
From the Deputy President (Education)
to each and every Year Rep or every
single course, there must be a constant
fow o inormation back and orth about
the various issues being brought up and
solved, so progress can be tracked and
momentum maintained. Otherwise,
problems ail to be solved and the crucial
trust in the representation system is
weakened.
Year reps must also be pro-active
in seeking out the opinions o their
classmates whether through
surveys and emails, or simply through
conversations with their peers. A
problem that is not communicated to therep cannot be solved; a problem that is
sorted, but the students are not aware,
oten may as well have not been solved
at all.
Support and Resources
Starting this year, Imperial College Unionhas a member o sta who will assist
and support the entire representation
system Andrew Keenan, the
Representation Coordinator. His role is
to take the administrative and support
tasks away rom sabbatical ocers
and representatives, to allow them to
ocus on their goals and their cohorts.
I you could do with assistance in your
role, such as help ormulating a survey
or organising meetings, please email
We have also created a sotware-based
system to capture and track issues
raised across College by representatives
to ensure that progress on every
issue is monitored, and no problem
alls through the cracks. You can add
any issues to this system by contacting
the Representation Coordinator, and
the system is explained on the Union
website.
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Feedback
Feedback rom coursework and exams
has proven to be, year ater year,
Imperials Achilles heel when it comesto student satisaction surveys. Students
are not happy with both the quality and
timelines, and as reps you need to be
aware o this. This year we are planning
on making some lasting changes to the
way College gives eedback, as well
as making students aware o dierent
methods sta members use to give
eedback.
The Rector has written a letter to all
departments this summer, highlighting
improved eedback as a priority. This
letter will be given out during rep
training. The Union is currently drating a
eedback policy, which will speciy what
we as students expect rom lecturer, and
vice versa.
Regarding timeliness, every department
has been told that they need to provide
clear inormation to the studentsregarding both the submission and
the return o coursework. This is a
very large step in the right direction,
however cannot be actualised unless
the student representatives are making
sure it happens. It is vital that Year Reps
let their Dep Reps know i this is not
happening, and that Dep Reps let the
AAOs know o any recurring eedback
issues within their departments.
Also, as reps you need to make sure that
during every Sta-Student Committee
and Departmental Representation
meeting, eedback is a standing
agenda item. Even i your department
provides its students with good
eedback, make sure that it is talked
about!
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Meetings
The best meetings are:
Relaxed and enjoyable. Meetings arenot meant to be intimidating aairs.
As students, your task is to make the
meeting as productive as possible;
meeting etiquette is nothing special,
just common sense.
Productive and satisfying. If there
is anything being reported to the
meeting, the chair should have emailed
it around to the committee members
beorehand as meeting papers, and it
is absolutely key that everyone who
attends has read these papers in
advance.
Timely. Start on time and nish quickly.
On topic throughout. If you have
an issue to bring up that is relevant
to the meeting but unrelated to the
topic being discussed, wait or an
appropriate moment so that the current
topic does not get unnecessarily cut
short.
Each member o a committee should
be prepared to contribute to any o the
matters arising in a meeting beore it
starts. This is achieved with the agendaand papers. Expect to be emailed an
agenda in advance o the meeting that
mentions each matter or discussion
in a list. I any matters on the agenda
involve a document o interest, be it a
report, a letter, an email, a proposal or
a page o lecture notes, you will receive
the document as a paper attached to
the agenda. Finally, with the agenda and
papers you should receive a copy o the
minutes rom the previous meeting.
I you are reporting to a meeting,
submit any papers as soon as the chair
requests them, in order that they can
be distributed to all members o a
committee or reading in advance o the
meeting.
Check your emails to nd the agenda,
papers and previous minutes. Read them
thoroughly in advance, and print them
to bring to the meeting. They can be
printed or ree in the Student Activities
Centre on level 2M o the Union building.
Where you have a comment to make,
highlight and make annotations so that
you are best prepared to bring it up
constructively in the meeting.
Finally, there is no such thing as a stupid
question. A meeting will not work i
each attendee is not on an even keel,
so i you have read the minutes rom
the previous meeting and the papers in
advance, and you still are unamiliar with
something, do not be ashamed to ask or
an explanation or a denition, and do notbe reluctant to give someone else such
an explanation.
A guide to getting the most out o your
meetings is available on the Union
website.
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This year, College has agreed that Feedback should be a standing point on all
meeting agendas. This means that you need to make sure that it is discussed
at every SSC meeting, and i it is not then bring it up with the Departmental
Representative.
Feedback should also be discussed when you have your DepartmentalRepresentation Meetings.
The template on page 22 has been prepared or two purposes:
In departments where students historically set up the Staff-Student meetings, you
may nd it useul to use this agenda as a starting point when you prepare agendas
or the meetings.
It details the current standing agenda items as set by senior quality assurance staff
at Imperial. It is your responsibility to ensure that all o these standing agenda items
are discussed exhaustively at every Sta- Student meeting. They should be points
o discussion at all Faculty and Departmental Representation Meetings as well, and
the dialogue between representatives and students should always touch on these
topics (particularly eedback and personal tutoring), in order that the discussions at
all meetings are well-inormed.
Suggested agenda template or all Sta-Student Meetings
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In the Department/Division o ______________ held on ______o ______
20___ at ___.___
Apologies or absence
Approve: Minutes o the last Sta-Student Meeting, held on ________ 20__
Standing agenda items
Review o last Student Online Evaluation (undergraduate)
Students to comment on Departments participation levels and experience o
being surveyed
Sta to review ndings within the Department rom survey, particularly
concerning eedback and personal tutoring
Sta to advise what action has been taken as a result o these ndings
Review o last Postgraduate Online Evaluation
Students to comment on Departments participation levels and experience o
being surveyed
Sta to review ndings within the Department rom survey, particularly
concerning eedback and personal tutoring
Sta to advise what action has been taken as a result o these ndings
Personal tutoring: students to report accounts and general eeling concerning
the quality o personal tutoring in the Department
Feedback: students to report accounts and general eeling concerning
the consistency and quality o assessment eedback in the Department,
particularly its change over time
Positive comments: students to report noteworthy examples or instances o
good teaching practice, or evident improvement in teaching practice
Matters arising rom students
To consider: __________ raised by Year Representative (Year 2)
To consider: __________ brought by Departmental Representative
To consider: __________ brought by Postgraduate Representative
Matters arising rom sta
Any other business
Date o next meeting
Departmental Sta Student CommitteeMeeting
1.
2.
3.
3.1.
3.1.1.
3.1.2.
3.1.3.
3.2.
3.2.1.
3.2.2.
3.2.3.
3.3.
3.4.
3.5.
4.
4.1.
4.2.
4.3.
5.
6.
7.
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Useul Contacts
Position Name Email Address
@imperial.ac.uk
Deputy President Alex Dahinten dpeducation
(Education)
Representation Coordinator Andrew Keenan a.keenan
Academic Aairs Ofcers
CGCU (Faculty of Engineering) Marcus Ulmeors cgcuaao
RCSU (Faculty o Natural Sciences) Catherine Wu rcsu.aao
1st year, 2nd year and Graduate Entry
Medics
Ali Hosin icsm.ao12GEP
4th year Medics, Biomedical Scienceand Pharmacology
Suzie Rayner academic.ocer4bp
3rd, 5th and 6th year Medics Annalan Navaratnam medic.edrep356
Departmental Representative (fll in yoursel)
Year Representative (fll in yoursel)
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Departmental sta (fll in yoursel)
Head o Department
Senior Tutor
Director o Undergraduate Studies
Other contacts
Advice Centre
(Student advisor)
Nigel Cooke advice
College Tutors reer students to
them or condential advice on any
issues
Mrs Margaret Cunningham
Dr Mick Jones m.d.jones
Dr Simon Archer s.archer
college-tutors or
m.cunningham
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Imperial College UnionBeit Quadrangle
Prince Consort Road
Tel: 020 7594 8060Fax: 020 7594 8065
Email: union@imperial ac uk