LUSU Department Rep Handbook 2011

8/3/2019 LUSU Department Rep Handbook 2011

1/16

advice.lusu.co.uk/dept-reps


2/16

Firstly, congratulations on getting yoursel elected as the representative or your course.

Youll nd that getting involved in the Department Rep system will be an extremely worthwhile

and rewarding contribution to your Lancaster experience.

By becoming a Department Rep, you will nd yoursel making a dierence at Lancaster

University or yoursel, your course-mates and uture students.

As a student on the course, nobody knows better than you when something is done well or

when things could be better. This makes you the vital link between the student population

and the University and means that you are not only adding to your CV but are providing a

channel or change in your department, making your time at Lancaster more ullling.

Great achievements by Department Reps include gaining mentoring or Part 1 students and

shortening the turnaround time or essays. You now have the opportunity to act upon your

own and your ellow students priorities.

This is a great opportunity and we hope that this

handbook will help you take on this role; remember

that i there is anything that you are still unsure o,

even i its an unamiliar acronym, dont hesitate to

contact us we are here to support you and ourcontact details can be ound at the back.

Lastly, best o luck or your time as a Department

Rep, we look orward to meeting with you. Enjoy it!

Alexander Holley, Representation

Support Co-ordinator

Alex Carlin, LUSU Vice President Academic

The value of achievementlies in the achieving

WELCOME


3/16

Welcome and thank you or becoming part o our

Department Representative system. The University

places great importance on eedback between sta

and students. Mostly this will happen immediately,

between lecturers and students on the course, but

sometimes there are more general issues which

the Department Reps are able to highlight to the

department and help to resolve.

The Department Reps also play an important role in

sta student committees, discussing new ideas and

helping to ormulate good solutions.

An important part o the role is communicating

back to your ellow students just how seriously their

comments and concerns have been taken and the

ollow up actions that the department will be taking.

I hope you will enjoy being a Department Rep and

getting to know more about your department.

You will also nd that being a Rep enhances your

communication and networking skills and sometimes

diplomatic ones too!

You may want to use the experiences gained as aDepartment Rep to help you achieve the Lancaster

Award.

Good luck and thank you.

Professor Amanda Chetwynd, Pro Vice

Chancellor, Colleges & Student Lie

achieve theLancaster

Award


4/16

The heart o the role is in the name. You are an Academic Representative, so by extension

your role is to represent students on your respective courses.

You are the most important link between students, LUSU and the University. You will know

what students think, what they want and you will be crucial in getting out there and acting on

behal o students. Hal o it is simply being visible!

WHY YOU MATTER

Lets ace it, nobody is perect, and that includes the University. Thereore, it is important that

there are a number o channels available or eedback whether that is positive or negative

our academic representation is a crucial part o this process.

EXPECTATIONS OF YOU

You are required to attend and participate in all appropriate meetings held by Departments

and Faculties. It is urther expected that you should provide ormal apologies to meetings, i

non-attendance is known prior to the event

You will be expected to maintain regular contact with your department; however this

contact should not be limited to just ormal departmental meetings

You will be expected to represent the views of the students in your department, regardlesso your own personal opinions and belies, and where appropriate negotiate with the

department on their behal

Ask students how they feel about the course;

although you may not necessarily agree with their

opinions, it is your job to represent their views

You will be required to feed back information to

students in your department, including the actions

rom meetings you have attended, i.e. both

University and Union meetings

You will be expected to refer issues and casework,

where relevant, out to LUSU, University Support

Services and any other applicable bodies

You are expected to actively promote your position

as a Department Rep to students on the course

Reps are expected to campaign on relevant issues.

YOUR ROLE


5/16

The role is entirely what you make o it. Being a Department Rep means you are actively

involved in the decisions made concerning your department, and more importantly... your

degree.

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

There are endless transerable skills or you to pick up rom the role. The main ones are

public speaking, leadership, negotiation, diplomacy, networking, problem solving and time

management. Dont come into this expecting to be a pro at everything immediately, we all

start somewhere. It is a learning experience too!

LANCASTER AWARD SKILLS

Becoming a Department Rep helps you work towards your Lancaster Award, more

specically it ticks the Campus, community and social

development box. I you are involved in the award,

this is a great way to continue your progress.

EMPLOYABILITY

As you may or may not be aware, employers are

looking or more than just a degree certicate these

days. By being a Department Rep you will have shown

you can handle responsibility outside the realm o

academia.

FURTHER INCENTIVES

I transerable skills, making a dierence and Lancaster

Award status are not enough or you, then we are

thinking o holding a couple o Department Rep socials

well need your suggestions!

WHAT YOUREGETTING

PERSONALISSUESOne small thing to note,

particularly ater the

above section; it is not

your responsibility to get

involved in your students

individual complaints,

personal problems or

academic diculties. I

someone does come to

you with problems that

are o that kind, asking

you to attend a meeting

with them or similar, you

should reer them to LUSU

Education & Support. Bear

in mind that issues o this

sort carry the strictest o

condentiality and LUSU

are here to support you.


6/16

HOW YOU FIT INThe diagrams below show where you t in both LUSU and University structures.

Communication is key to this process and its important that inormation should be ed back

to all parties.

STUDENT

DEPARTMENTAL

MEETINGS

Your issues will be raised by your Rep at

Departmental Meetings.

FACULTY MEETINGS

Your Faculty Rep will then take issuesorward to Faculty meetings.

UNIVERSITY SENIOR

COMMITTEES

The VP (Academic) will get inormation

rom Faculty Reps and meetings and

raise these at University level committees

and working groups.

SENATE

Senate has overall control over academic

policies and procedures. LUSU Full Time

Ocers sit on Senate and raise relevant

concerns.


7/16

EXPECTATIONS OF YOUR DEPARTMENT

1) Departments will be expected to help in the

promotion o Rep elections and take responsibility

or the running o elections, as laid out in the

University Senate guidance document.

2) Departments will be expected to provide inormation

about meetings, dates/times and venues to the

Reps.

3) Departments should be expected to provide

documentation to Reps when requested, such as

previous agendas, minutes etc.

4) Departments should recommend appropriate

members o sta to reer Reps and student issues

to.

5) Departments should help encourage and acilitate

inormal relationships with student Reps, outside

o departmental meetings to allow or greater and

timelier eedback.

6) Departments should provide inormation on meeting

attendances o Reps to the LUSU VP (Academic), in

order to help with the quality assurance process of

accreditation.

YOUR DEPARTMENT

LANCASTER

TEACHINGAWARD

The Lancaster Teaching

Award recognises

excellent teaching by

giving students the chance

to nominate a teacher who

has had an exceptional

impact on you and your

ellow students learning

by going above and

beyond what you would

normally expect.

As a Department Rep

listening to the views

o your ellow students,you are well placed to

acknowledge when you

have benetted rom such

a teacher. So i you have

a lecturer or supervisor

whose passion and

enthusiasm you have

really appreciated thendont orget to nominate

them so that they can be

considered or the award.


8/16

Firstly it has to be said that we are here to help you, not to do your job. Hopeully, with

our help we will empower you with the tools and the skill set needed to be an eective

Department Rep.

1) Training Day: Unortunately not a bit like the lm, but we will run a selection o

aternoons where you can come and gain the basic set o skills you will need or success

in the role.

2) Continuous Support: We are here to support you, and we will provide you with regular

inormation about what is going on elsewhere in the University, but or this to work out you

have to remain in contact with us, the system works better when there is communicationbetween us.

3) Newsletters: We will send you emails every month letting you know what is going on

around the University and the relevant issues in Higher Education. Wed like you to be

inormed in your role as a Rep i you have anything to contribute eel ree!

4)Accreditation: This goes on your Degree certicate, and we make sure this happens by

putting the inormation on LUSI. Youll need 66% attendance or this to happen, however.

FEEDING BACK TO LUSU

You will meet other Department Reps and your Faculty Rep at your aculty orum. This is a

great way to eedback into LUSU whats going on in your

area. But its not just the students who will benet rom

you eeding back inormation to them; the Students

Union also wants to hear about activity within your

department. The Union houses ull time employees

and a ull time elected ocer who are here to supportand advise you. Any concerns or uncertainties you

might have, or i youve stumbled across something

you think is important you should let LUSU know.

LUSU - THE

STUDENTS UNION


9/16

LUSU Education & Support oers a ree, condential one-to-one advice service to all

undergraduate and postgraduate students. We have three qualied advisors who specialise

in a range o areas to meet students academic and welare needs. These include a trained

nancial management advisor and an international students advisor, in addition to a ully

qualied solicitor in attendance every Thursday.

Our ully trained team o advisors are dedicated to ensuring that students receive the correct

advice and guidance that is relevant to their individual case. You should never attempt

to advise a student yoursel; you should always signpost them to the LUSU Education &

Support where we will be able to assist them appropriately.

Students may approach you with a number of issues or questions relating to their academic

studies or well-being. I a student is acing a disciplinary, wishes to appeal to the Registry,

submit mitigation circumstances, wishes to intercalate or is acing a Standing Academic

Committee, our team o advisors can help them to decide what steps to take next and can

also accompany them to any university meetings. You may also come across students who

eel that their studies are being aected by their personal well-being or home lie. These

students should also be signposted to LUSU Education & Support where our experienced

advisors can oer them help and assistance with any housing, nancial, employment,sexual health or mental well-being matters. We can also provide students with guidance on

international student visa advice and assist students with any problems they may be having

with their landlord or employer.

We also provide a dedicated advice service or

postgraduate students, including supervisor issues,

disciplinaries, appeals, and Postgraduate Teaching

Assistant issues. Students can be signposted to

contact us directly or attend a Postgraduate Drop-in

session at the Grad College on a Thursday between

1pm-3pm.

If you have any questions regarding LUSU Education

& Support check out advice.lusu.co.uk.

EDUCATION &SUPPORT


10/16

IN YOUR FIRST WEEK

Arrange a meeting with the Course/Scheme/Department leader this member of staff

managers your area o study and how it is delivered. They are a ountain o knowledge as

they will be experienced in their role and will be able to support you in your role. Also, it is

good to introduce yoursel as you will come into a lot o contact with them.

Arrange a meeting with your Representation Support Co-ordinator or VP (Academic). They

will be your point o contact or issues relating to being an Academic Rep within LUSU. I you

need surveys or ocus groups doing these are the people to contact.

Make a poster displaying your face, full name and contact details on your department notice

board. However, dont eel you have to give our personal email addresses or your mobile

number. Use this as an introduction to your peers; in addition, you may want to make yoursel

known at the next lecture that most o the department you represent attend. It is important to

give yoursel exposure.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE ROLE

Ask your lecturer to give you a minute or so at the start of a lecture to introduce yourself and

your role.

Consider holding surgeries where students could drop in and have a chat with you. If you

eel it would be useul, ask your department or space

to hold one every so oten.

Set up a Facebook group where you can invite

people to make them aware o what is happening

as some people are more engaged by a Facebook

message than a mail to their webmail account.

Dont be afraid to ask questions at meetings.

Make your points clearly and positively.

Take notes at meetings, they will be important, even

i someone else is writing the minutes.

Get National Student Survey data for your course; it

will be useul to base your arguments or particularissues on. It can be a powerul tool.

GETTING THE MOSTFROM YOUR ROLE


11/16

As a rep it is sometimes easy to orget that you are representing the opinion o your course

as a whole and not just yoursel. At other times it may be that you are representing a small

group of students with a specic problem. Nonetheless it is important you actively seek the

opinions o people on your course, outside o your own group o riends.

Luckily, there are many resources and opportunities available to help you do this. Being able

to communicate eectively is a crucial part o being a rep and we are here to help you try

these or some ideas:

USING DEPARTMENT ADMINISTRATORS

In your role they can be your best riend! Ask them or help in sending out emails to the

whole group o students to canvas opinion on a particular topic. Were not saying you should

get to know their avourite chocolate bar (perhaps you should!) but i they are on board you

will nd it much easier communicating to students.

In addition they will also be useul or getting space on notice boards in the department. You

should be using your poster that is provided by us to write the names and contact details o

all the reps in your department - make sure this is somewhere prominent; to be the student

voice you need to be known!

You may want to try and win use o pigeon holes within your department. This would provide

a condential space where your students could drop messages to you and youd have an

easily accessible place within the department to see them.

FACEBOOK

This is simple as it seems. Pretty much (but not

quite) everyone uses Facebook, and it is really simple

to create a group. You might nd it easier to make it

a closed group and accept people individually. Ask

your department administrator to send out the link in

an email.

LECTURES

You can breathe a sigh o relie as we do not mean

standing up and giving a 50 minute presentation! Some

lecturers are happy to have students use a couple ominutes at the end o a lecture to canvas opinion on a

topic, or even to just promote that you are the rep. Its a

good opportunity to get your ace out there.

HOW TO GAUGESTUDENT OPINION


12/16

Your job is to represent the students who elected you; it is their issues that you need to

communicate. The ollowing list is intended to give you an idea o the types o issues that might

be raised which you may want to consider yoursel or your year in oce. This should serve as

a basic guide to the kind o issues that can come up!

WORKLOAD

Do you have too much work? Now pause for a moment and ask yourself again. Bear in mind

youre meant to study most courses in rst year or 10 hours a week. I this eeling is shared by

others, then bring the opinion to the council.

RESOURCES

Are the books you need in the library? Do you have access to the journals you need (in hard

copy or digital)? Are there enough books? It could be something you bring up in meetings.

Does the equipment in your labs/lectures meet your needs? Use the student voice and canvas

opinion to help your department make upgrades a priority.

ASSESSMENT

What is the weighting between course work and examination marks in your course? Find out.

Also, you might want to ask i you and your ellow students are happy with the balance and

amount o assessment on the course.

Are essays timed inconveniently? Do they clash with other exams o the same module, not

giving you enough time to work on them? Although you

are expected to be fexible as a student you may be

able to use your infuence to make the system more

fexible or students.

COURSE STRUCTURE

How much time is given to lectures and seminars

on your course? It is well known (and expected) that

Humanities have less contact time than Sciences,

but students on your course may have concerns over

how much time is spent in workshops - use your

infuence and refect the opinion o your course.

Does your course oten have lectures which clash with

other lectures or complimentary subjects? I enough

people are aected then change can happen!

WHAT ARE THEISSUES?


13/16

We recognise that Postgraduate issues will be dierent and we have a ew examples o

where to take this role as a Postgraduate:

SUPERVISOR ISSUES

Postgraduate students will have a supervisor who can help them with many o their issues

but what happens i the supervisor is the issue? Problems can arise in many areas o this

arrangement such as having inadequate face to face contact, personality conicts between

supervisor and student or disagreements about the direction o the research and thesis.

Due to the personal nature o a relationship between supervisor and student then it might

be that you do not want to raise the issue directly with the supervisor. Most students

should have more than one supervisor which will give them another point o contact or

most issues. I this is not the case or the student does not eel comortable raising the issue

with their shadow/backup supervisor they can talk to the postgraduate studies director in

their department, the postgraduate studies oce in student registry, the LUSU PGR Cross

Campus Ocer, the PGSA, LUSU Education & Support or the LUSU VP (Academic).

Value

As a postgraduate, statistically you are likely to be sel unded. In addition to this,

postgraduates motivations or studying are dierent to an undergraduates. Thereore you

might want to use your position to bring added value to your course through your course

mates suggestions. Remember, it is up to you to nd out what your cohort want to know.

Other things

There is no limit to the range o issues you can

nd - your experience as a postgraduate is dierent

and we realise this. GTAs will have issues regarding

tutoring, most PhD students will have diering

provision regarding space and equipment; these are

all issues you might want to bring up/research as a

rep.

If you have any questions regarding your role with

specic concerns rom a PG perspective, dont

hesitate to get in touch with us - our contact details

are on the back!

POSTGRADUATESPECIFIC ISSUES


14/16

As a Department Rep you will be expected to attend regular (as set by your department)

meetings. Mostly these will be Departmental Meetings, but you will occasionally be called to

a Faculty meeting organised by your Faculty Rep. Below is a list o terms which you may nd

useul, i ormal meetings are an unamiliar subject to you.

THE AGENDA

The list o things to be discussed at the meeting set out in advance. They will sometimes

contain attached documents like notes to read, and in most cases you should receive these

beore the meeting. I you receive an agenda and you are unsure o the topics, either speak

to LUSU or ask your departmental administrator or urther inormation.

THE CHAIR

The person who controls and conducts meetings. Their job is to make sure these meetings

run smoothly, that everything is discussed and that everybody gets their chance to speak.

AOB

Any other business. Simple as that. It is an opportunity or points which may have been

missed on the agenda or items which were too late or the agenda to be brought to

discussion.

THE MINUTES

These are the ormal notes recording the discussion,

actions and decisions taken at the meeting.

Generally at the start o a meeting the previous

meetings minutes are checked or accuracy as they

are a ormal document. I you eel you have beenmisrepresented in the minutes, you should always

raise this at the meeting.

MEETINGS


15/16

Academic Council: Advises the Students Union about student policy on educational issues,

and represents student views to University bodies where decisions are made.

Faculty: Groupings o departments within similar subject spheres. There are our aculties at

Lancaster University, all departments sit within one o these. The Faculties are; Faculty o Arts and

Social Sciences (FASS), the Management School (LUMS), Faculty o Science and Technology

(FST) and the School o Health and Medicine (SHM)

Faculty Forum: A meeting o all the Department Reps or one o the our specic aculties.

Each aculty orum elects a number o Department Reps to sit on Academic Council.

Faculty Rep: A representative elected to voice the views o one o the our University aculties

in large University meetings. You will meet these people at your aculty orum; they are typically

elected in the LUSU elections, week 8 o Michaelmas term.

GTA: Graduate Teaching Assistant

LTA: Learning, Teaching, and Assessment

NSS: National Student Survey

PGT: Postgraduate Taught Student (usually Masters Students on one year courses)

PGR: Postgraduate Research Student (usually PhD students)

PTES/PRES: Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey

/ Postgraduate Research Experience Survey.

QAA: Quality Assurance Agency

SLA: Student Learning Advisers. There is one based in

each aculty to provide academic support to students.

TQSO: Teaching Quality Support Ocers are based in

each aculty and organise aculty based meetings.

JARGON


16/16

FEEDING BACK TO THE STUDENTS

It is important and, moreover, essential to your job that you tell your students what you have

been doing, and make yoursel visible to them. When students come to you with a problem

about their course, it is critical that you get back to them and update them on the progress

of their request because it is, in reality, what you have been elected to do. You are the liaison

between students and sta. You are not a superhero, this is expected, but even i you cant

solve every problem, it is important to make people know you have raised the issue.

USEFUL CONTACTS

There are several people within LUSU Education & Supportwho will be able to assist you in

your role. These include:

Alexander Holley

Representation Support Co-ordinator

[email protected] // 01524 (5)92344

He is the person you will have the most contact with. Alex co-ordinates activities or reps and

liaises with Departments to ensure the smooth running o the Department Rep system.

Alex Carlin

LUSU Vice President Academic

[email protected] // 01524 (5)92202

He is the other person you will have a lot o contact

with. He is the ull time elected ocer who is

principally in charge o academic reps, campaigns and

a variety o other activities.

Pete Woodward

Education & Policy Adviser

[email protected] // 01524 (5)924327

Pete is a specialist in dealing with academic problems.

I you eel unsure o how to deal with an issue, you

should reer students to him.

FEEDBACK &CONTACTS

LUSU Department Rep Handbook 2011

Documents

Transcript of LUSU Department Rep Handbook 2011