Its been a busy month since I last updated you all! I feel like I've been trapped in Teams for a lot of it! I'm trying to reduce my travel to Exeter, which means I can spend more time on campus, but also that I'm often glued to my screen! I really enjoyed our last forum, and I'm looking forward to continually engaging with you all more, as we move through this pilot together.
When I've been glued to my screen, I've been advocating for the issues that are affecting students here in Cornwall. I often find we can get overlooked here, as we're a relatively small part of the University system, but with very specific issues. I've continually raised our needs here in Cornwall, such as housing, student poverty, accessibility, and the climate crisis, at all levels of governance. This ranges from EDSEEC (Education Student Experience Executive Committee), SEPB (Student Experience Partnership Board), and Senate (The Board for Academic Governance). These meetings are often very long, but having sabbatical officers present is necessary, it allows us to advocate for student specific issues, which often wouldn't be raised or properly understood otherwise.
For our next SEPB, we're having an Away Day which I'm chairing and organising. It's going to be on the Partnership Principles, this gained a lot of attention about two years ago, as a result of the Exeter Shell deal, and its come into focus again around partnerships with arms companies. I'm hoping this will be a productive day, where we can discuss and set out a framework where student voice is better involved in these processes. If you have anything you'd like to feed into this process, email me!
Since I've last updated you, I've had two days of Council. This sounds weird and vague, but its the overarching governing structure of the University - so I guess it is kind of weird and vague! The Vice Chancellor sits on Council, as well as a few senior members of the University. The rest of Council is made up of independent members, who are often experts in a certain field (such as education, finance, accounting), and myself and Alex (Guild President). We see papers, have presentations and discussions, and make decisions on key strategic aspects of the University. This includes Strategy 2030, building plans, overseas projects, and financial forecasts. I've used this space to raise issues around housing conditions with independent members, and ensure that the student voice is heard and considered in all of the University's work.
At our last Forum, Fina and I had to leave early to catch the train to London! This was so we could go to NUS' National Lobby Day in Parliament. We met with one of our two local MP's, to lobby them to back an amendment in the Renters Rights Bill which would abolish the need for a guarantor. This is something which particularly affects our international and estranged students, alongside students from lower socioeconomic background. You can hear more about it in this video.
I've also been working with the University, and our wider SU team, on ways to improve our NSS score. We understand that perceptions of assessment and feedback were low last year, as well as how we as an SU represent your academic interests. I've presented at assessment and feedback deep dives, representing how you're feeling around the clarity, timeliness, and effectiveness of your assessment and feedback. We've had some really great discussions, and I'm looking forward to seeing the outcomes which arise from it. In terms of how the SU represents your academic interests, we've been doing a lot of work to try and address this feedback. We've been attending SSLC's, holding rep and subject chair drop ins, and are currently beginning a pilot for PGR and BMBS representation. This is alongside me attending and advocating for your interests in all of my meetings with the University and others.
We held our first Curriculum for Change student focus group the other week, where engaged students were feeding in on the University's curriculum redesign strategy. We had some really great discussions, and look forward to the next ones! If you're a rep, and interested in Curriculum for Change, we'll also be having discussions at our Big Rep Meeting, so be sure to come along!
Keep an eye out on our socials, where we'll be plugging different opportunities and things to get involved with!
Its a busy time to be alive! The days are becoming shorter and the skies are pretty grey, I've always found this to be a difficult time of year, and even swimming in the cold sea can't solve everything! We understand that life is challenging, and recent global events, either in the past few weeks, or years, continue to impact us and our loved ones. Give yourself, and others, a little extra compassion and a smile. It won't solve any of the problems which we're facing, but connecting with yourself, and each other is always important. Feel free to come in to the SU and have a chat if you'd like, the kettle is always on!