After a well-deserved break, both students and staff are back for another term! Alongside the other Sabbatical Officers and my colleagues at the Students’ Union, I have been very busy working on a number of projects that I hope will improve your educational and student experience for this academic year and beyond.
Academic Reps
It’s been great to see that 1,849 Academic Reps were elected last term. You can find out who your Academic Reps are by searching through the Academic Rep Course Directory. Masterclass sessions relating to Departmental Societies, Public Speaking and Wellbeing Workshops were held for the Reps, with more masterclasses planned for this term. We also held in-person training for Faculty and Lead Department Reps in Term 1, with almost all attendees finding the sessions very useful.
Last term, I chaired two Education Zones which were attended by your Faculty Reps. These meetings enable students to develop their vision for Education at UCL, with key discussions regarding Postgraduate Research students, UCL Careers, study space and assessments taking place.
Teaching and Excellence Framework
At the end of this month, UCL and the Students’ Union will both submit their reports to the Office for Students’ Teaching and Excellence Framework panel. As I explained in my previous blog, this is basically the Ofsted rating for universities, which judges the quality of teaching, learning and outcomes in the institution. I and the team at the Students’ Union have done our best to highlight the areas where improvements need to be made at UCL, so that you all get the education that you deserve. In the near future, the Students’ Union, in partnership with UCL, will do our best to make sure these improvements happen.
Alongside this, I have started working with various UCL stakeholders to redesign timetabling and module selections, so that the whole process becomes a lot easier for you!
Russell Group and the Cost of Living
Just to remind you all, the Students’ Union has added more than £500k of funding to our Sarah Douglas Hardship Fund to help you with your living costs; make sure to apply to it if you need to!
Since last term, I have been working with UCL and student unions across London to collectively lobby TfL to reduce travel costs. Whilst we are still in the early stages of this work, I will be sure to keep you updated on any progress! Later this month, I will be attending a Russell Group Students' Union meeting in Sheffield alongside your Union Affairs Officer, to continue building and strengthening our collective lobbying power.
Finally, feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any concerns with your educational experience at UCL; I am more than happy to help!