Chiko Bwalya

Context:

The university and the NHS Trusts that we are in partnership with need to support students more with placement allocation, workload and cost transparency.

Progress:

• Supporting a student group with next steps, explored options for placement to not require students to pay for their own employment insurance. Based on practices across the sector and stipends that students receive at sites with insurance covered, BU would need to reduce stipend in order to cover this.
• Making sure placement experience overall is what students are expecting. Working with students and faculty staff to ensure placements are safe and productive spaces for all students.
• Speaking to students about their placement experience, legacy comments from previous students will be tracked with wider issues being addressed by the SU

Context:

During the lockdowns, many students expressed the issue they were facing when trying to complete integral parts of their degree from home. I’ve previously raised the issues of accessibility and digital poverty to our university executive team. Some of the issues faced were experienced my many students prior to the pandemic

Progress:

• Looking through end of year SimOn reports for these issues as well as SimOn feedback as they come in.
• Tracking the changes in unit specification during FASEC to ensure courses are still inline with their national accreditation

Context:

Giving space for students in marginalised groups to discuss their issues, their experience at BU and give them an opportunity to meet students in similar circumstances

Progress:

• Reinstated parent zone in freshers fair.
• Worked with D&C, Lansdowne team and EDI in BU to create student communities, which you can now self define on the subu website. The communities are parents, carers, international and mature.
• D&C ran successful meet and greets during the freshers period

Context:

With the online experience last year being delivered as a “figure it out as you go along system”, I want to ensure that the return to teaching this year is observed by SUBU. Doing this includes, scheduling regular faculty officer/rep meetings to review meeting minutes, as well as student feedback in forums

Progress:

• Monthly meetings with the academic quality team.
• Tracking SimOn for student opinions on assessments and feedback, course content, delivery and learning resources. Making use of the functions in the rep systems- faculty forums

Context:

The intention for this is to make sure that students aren’t only by their student numbers and are identified as people. As well as this, bring the university up to speed about the respect that comes along with proper pronunciation of a name and preferred use of pronouns.

Progress:

• The pledge is live on the subu website with guidance, (can add pronouns, and phonetic spelling to website)
• You can now add your phonetic spelling and your pronouns to your Brightspace profile. Accessible for all students to staff to see

Policy Actions:

• The Union should research the costs of printing during a student’s time at Bournemouth University.
• The Union should lobby the University to ensure that efforts are made to make sure that work can be completed digitally and without the need for printing. Thus, benefitting students and the environment.
• The Union should lobby the university to ensure that where students are required to print material as compulsory part of their course, this cost should be subsidised by the university. This should be done through either eliminating printing charges, or by providing a printing stipend for every student. The Union should look into options for providing free printing to students as part of their facilities.

Progress:

• Development on second point well underway.
• Work was paused due to campus absence, will be picked back up this term

Policy Actions:

• SUBU should lobby BU to ensure that the length of teaching days and sessions are time appropriate, with consultation from students
• SUBU should lobby BU to provide 5 minute breaks

Progress:

• Lecture times adjusted (start 5 minutes late, finish 5 minutes early)
• Discussion about this will be happening during this meeting. There will be a recommendation to lapse and potentially create a new policy within the same area

Policy Actions:

• SUBU should collaborate with BU to develop a Brightspace webpage
• BU would allow SUBU to manage this webpage to allow updates to be made frequently

Progress:

• We worked previously with the Brightspace team to add a link to the SUBU website. We will revisit this when we further comms support.

Policy Actions:

• SUBU should lobby BU to change how unit feedback is gathered, making it mandatory for staff to collect and act on end of unit feedback

Progress:

• University already in progress with this. Units have options between muse and fuse

Policy Actions:

• SUBU to lobby BU for changes to the resubmission policy
• SUBU to raise this issue with NUS or other relevant bodies such as the QAA

Progress:

• Limits were increased due to covid. However, we are back to standard practice.

Policy Actions:

• FTOs to lobby BU to amend 6C by increasing flexibility around the assessment process
• SUBU to support reps to gather feedback specifically on assessments
• Ensure that any conversations had with Academic Quality reference that BU are operating this policy as ‘best practice’ however there are students that would like to go above and beyond
• Reps can look into issues with late feedback from course leaders

Progress:

• Roundtable with students involved in policy creation.
• I have spoked to the faculty deputy dean. It’s too early for an official policy review
• Staff have always had flexibility with the policy. Clarification of this may be needed during staff training

Policy Actions:

• Lobby BU to make sure all departments have shared how they will be making up for lost contact time throughout the year
• Lobbying for an increase in drop-in sessions and office hours throughout the year to make up for lost contact time, and have these relayed to students at the beginning of each new term
• Confirm a specific time during every week for students to be able to informally drop-in with their lecturers across all units
• Reps can look into issues with late feedback from course leaders

Progress:

• A roundtable discussion for this is due to happen
• No policy found was found however this may be independent practice per department.
• We will be tracking the issue on SimOn

Policy Actions:

• For the VP Education to take this feedback to the University.
• For lecturers and seminar leaders to promote the past papers resource, or provide reasonable explanation as to why it may not be accessible.
• For academic societies to promote the past papers resource.
• For all programmes to engage with this via Reps and Programme Leaders.

Progress:

• Library services make this available
• BU intend to move away from the previous exam structure but uploading relevant papers is an academic staff decision. Most papers are available on Brightspace but may not be uploaded in the same space

Policy Actions:

• For reading lists to be emailed to students and uploaded to Brightspace during the summer.
• For reading lists to be effectively communicated with PAL leaders at the start of the academic year, to enable them to provide appropriate information.
• To include chapter references in reading lists.

Progress:

• Meeting with library services last term and deputy vice chancellor. The issue will be made a priority

Policy Actions:

• To continue working with BU on resolving timetabling issues.
• To enable students to access lectures within their department that they have an interest in attending, by including them on students timetables.
• To lobby BU to provide webinars or short videos on how to access timetables.
• For Seminar Leads to give an approximate time to how long the prework/sml would take.
• Notification to students if there are changes to timetable.
• Be able to add voluntary classes onto BU timetable.
• Match BU Timetable to Zoom timetable for individual lectures for ease. Zoom ID instead of class location as a potential solution.

Progress:

• DUIT meeting update: students can embed personal timetable with university one, SITS issue so access was down for everyone

Policy Actions:

• SUBU should lobby BU to ensure that it becomes compulsory for academic staff to provide learning materials in at least 48 hours advance of teaching sessions

Progress:

• Being put forward as policy in summit

Policy Actions:

• Departments need to work together more coherently around sabbatical manifestos and instead of working to one, each department should be trying to consider all the manifestos of those elected
• To ensure all departments have all the sabbatical officers’ manifestos incorporated into their departmental plans
• All sabbaticals must work together after their election on a joint priority campaign document to guide all departments, setting out a coherent plan for policy, ironing out any inconsistencies across manifestos and setting out a clear work agenda for staff and students

Progress:

• SUBU has created a new strategic plan, which includes a department team action plan. Includes aligning manifestos of current officers, more robust structure to ensure departments are working towards new SUBU direction and supporting officer progress

Policy Actions:

• SUBU to conduct a review and conversation around how it’s activities, structures, societies, and stakeholders, can help deliver SDGs meaningfully
• SUBU should prioritise information and action around the UN Sustainable Development Goals up to 2030

Progress:

• We have included the SDGs in our volunteering hub and every role is matched to an SDG
• We are currently looking into doing the same with al SUBU events list on the SUBU whats on page.
• We are currently running our Sustainability Challenge which allows students to create a sustainable idea to help make BU more environmentally sustainable.