Student Written Submission 2019

STUDENT WRITTEN SUBMISSION 2019/20

Foreword The Student Written Submission is an annual report which reflects the students’ needs and wants to improve their student life and experience. It is solely based on evidence collected directly from students, therefore, it is primarily driven by our student voice.

We hope by illustrating our student voice, the University listens to the need for positive change and create improvements accordingly.

In this Student Written Submission, we have given a comprehensive review and our reflections on the partnership projects created by the University in response to the 2017/18 Student Written Submission. These include, Academic support for learning, international students’ journey, enhancing personal tutors system, supporting assessment and feedback literacy, and communicating effectively with our students. In a nutshell, making the partnership projects having a tangible outcome, tool or product had made the difference. We have also mentioned the key recommendations and the ongoing work needed.

This year we have focused on 3 different areas: The first theme is recurring issues.

These are areas in which there is already an understanding of their necessity.

Progress and work has already been established yet remain a focus of continuous improvement. Here, we 2 Student Written Submission

have evaluated and proposed possible ways forward that is derived from data reflective of the student voice.

Secondly, there are a series of “quick wins” we recommend. Throughout analysing the data, we came to the conclusion that there are multiple needs that have a minimal cost and take minimal time to achieve, therefore, the University could act upon them promptly. These may seem minor, but we have understood that collectively they can make a big difference in creating ease and wellbeing to the student experience.

Finally, we recognised there have been themes that require a collective partnership between the University and the Students’ Union. Therefore, we have put forward new partnership projects for the 2019/2020 academic year, with respective briefs, breakdowns, and recommendations.

We believe once these recommendations are achieved, not only will this improve the current student experience, but it will also improve the University’s reputation, ranking, and recruitment.

Your Sabbatical Officers 2018-19

Fadhila

Henri

Jake

Georgie

SU President Llywyd Yr UM

VP Societies & Volunteering IL Cymdeithasau a Gwirfoddoli

VP Postgraduate IL Ôl-raddedig

VP Sports & AU President IL Chwaraeon a Llywydd Yr UA

PresidentCSU

@PresidentCSU

VPSocietiesCSU

@SocietiesCSU

PGradOfficerCSU

@PostgradCSU

AUPresidentCSU

Jackie

Jen

Amr

VP Education IL Addysg

VP Heath Park IL Parc Y Mynydd Bychan

VP Welfare & Campaigns Il lles ac Ymgyrchoedd

VPHeathParkCSU

@HeathParkCSU

VPWelfareCSU

@WelfareCSU

EducationCSU

@AUPresidentCSU

@EducationCSU

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Contents Review of Partnership Projects 2018/19 .................................................................................................................. 5 International Student Journey ....................................................................................................................................... 5 Enhancing The Personal Tutor System ..................................................................................................................... 5 Supporting Assessment and Feedback Literacy ................................................................................................ 6 Communicating Effectively With Our Students ................................................................................................ 6 ‘Business as usual’ and ongoing work ......................................................................................................................... 6 Recurring Themes in Speak Week 2019 ..................................................................................................................... 7 Timetabling and timing ............................................................................................................................................................ 7 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Far Reaching Mental Health Support For All Students .................................................................................. 9 Sports Strategy ........................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Recommendations for Quick Wins .............................................................................................................................. 10 Partnership Projects 2019/2020 .................................................................................................................................... 11 Project 1: Catering .................................................................................................................................................................... 11 Project 2: Pastoral Support For Postgraduate Researchers .................................................................. 11 Project 3: Transport and Travel ..................................................................................................................................... 12 Project 4: Libraries ................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 15

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Review of Partnership Projects 2018/19 Academic Support For Learning Within this project we initially conducted focus groups with both students and staff to gauge what the current expectation and experience of the provision of academic support was. Through this process it became clear that there was inconsistency of delivery across schools and this has been our main focus to address. We hope to ensure there is university-wide policy on office hours, email response rates, in-person diversity training for staff and a more accessible online service for booking onto study skill sessions as a result of this project.

Recommendation: We would like the Policy that we write concerning office hours etc. to be taken and passed at the Academic Standards and Quality Committee in the Autumn term, so that there can be a genuine output of this partnership that ensures parity of experience for all staff and students across the University.

journey, such as social life, engagement with studies, academic support, undertaking assessments, language barrier, and post-graduation support alongside variables like type of student (UG, PGT, PGR), domicile, School and programme belonging. The group should remain as business as usual.

Enhancing The Personal Tutor System This group began with analysing the current personal tutor system and from our initial investigation, we appreciate that it is a significant piece of work. Upon conducting workshops with staff and students from different schools, the two key areas for improvements were - to clearly define the attributes of UG personal tutor, and to recommend or suggest minimum expectations for the role and responsibilities of the personal tutor.

International Student Journey The group decided to narrow the focus of the project to the ‘Transition part of the Student Journey’ due to limited time and resources to achieve set objectives. Workshops held for UG, PGT, and PGR students enabled us to learn how the transition of International students to Cardiff University could be improved through sharing existing good practice and creating new solutions. Illustrations of the discussions have been created. We also held a filming session where International students shared their experiences and offered practical advice to future students. These videos should support the International students during their first few weeks at University.

We further recognise that the University has plans to increase the number of International students (especially PGT International students) as part of the ‘Transforming Cardiff’ framework. We are also very pleased that the Vice Chancellor recognises the importance of increasing the support for them adequately. As per his commitment, the ‘Supporting International students group’ shall consider this.

Recommendation: Evaluate the impact of the posters and videos and update them on a regular basis. The group recognises that we were only able to focus on a very small part of the International student journey. In line with Speak Week data, and the findings from this project, we recommend that a ‘Supporting International Students’ working group should be formed within the University, which looks at all aspects of the International student

Figure 1: Personal tutor student feedback comments As can be seen from the graph above, which includes Speak Week comments and feedback from student focus groups, students’ experience of personal tutors can be very different.

Staff have identified a few challenges that they faced as personal tutors. The time contracted for personal tutor duties was very small compared to the time that staff actually spend. This needs to be reviewed in line with the staff workload model. In addition, entering data into SIMS by personal tutors regarding their tutee meetings is very inefficient and burdensome. This should be considered to make the process more efficient.

Recommendation: We advise that the personal tutor system at Cardiff University be reviewed ‘afresh’ and should incorporate UG, PGT, and PGR students, full-time and part-time, and include distant/digital learners. Another recommendation will be to expand the staff and student

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workshops into different schools and continue to run those on a regular basis, as the experiences and requirements of staff and students in the different schools can be extremely varied.

students. There were 269 individual comments relating to communication received during Speak Week, and whilst some of these were not directly related to the remit of this project, we feel there is still a lot more to be done.

Supporting Assessment and Feedback Literacy

‘Business as usual’ and ongoing work

This partnership has been a hugely successful first step in the ways in which students were being empowered to become more involved in how they engage with academia.

This was done through a goal of producing tangible yet meaningful outputs. This includes short videos that help fill knowledge gaps on academic concepts and the production of an online tool that will code assessment feedback and signpost appropriate materials to improve.

It has been a harmonious partnership of both the Union, University, and students themselves. Students being more than the subject of focus groups, but National Software Academy students were actually building and testing the online tools themselves. Other students were actively challenged to visualise how they want to improve their own assessment and feedback literacy whilst the Union and University stood to facilitate and guide their vision.

It was pioneering behaviour demonstrated by all parties which we hope will continue to be developed once this group has formally concluded.

Recommendation: Appetite concerning assessment and feedback has not diminished with Speak Week 2019.

There were 508 individual comments relating to this topic with 153 comments on feedback and marking and 131 concerning support. The Union believes that this warrants continued investment of time and resource into the work carried out in the current partnership group.

Communicating Effectively With Our Students The scope of this project was very large, however some excellent progress has been made. Interactive surveys and focus groups have been carried out to learn more about how students prefer to be communicated with in an emergency situation, and how they feel they are communicated with on a School level. Through exercises such as a social media audit and workshops with Schools, disparities have been highlighted, which suggests a larger piece of work is needed to achieve improvements in school-based communications. Guidance has already been given regarding the recommended approach to providing students with emergency communications. In addition to this, positive steps have been taken to create a calendar outlining the key University/Students’ Union communications for the forthcoming year, in order to ensure messages and campaigns are being delivered effectively.

Recommendation: We feel that the work from this partnership group should continue, as effective communication at all levels is of high importance to

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Much has been achieved in a short space of time concerning the 2018/2019 Partnership Groups and we have seen some positive steps in improving the student experience. Following this, we appreciate that the forming of the groups was intended to tackle long-term and complex issues that cannot be fully resolved in such a timeframe. In the summaries above, recommendations have been presented in each partnership group as to what the next steps shall be and how each group wishes the work to progress.

Highlighting the next steps, some suggest a ‘business as usual’ approach where the recommendations of the group are implemented and examined such as academic support for learning. Improving the Personal Tutor System, and communicating with our students needs continual evaluation and improvement strategies. The remit was sizable, but it was felt that this work needed to be embedded within the priorities of the University and beyond the partnership group. On the other hand, participants on the International student journey have suggested that a continuation of their group would be appropriate under the new name of ‘Supporting International Students’, a working group that will continue to examine the experience of our overseas students.

The online tool created by the Improving Assessment and Feedback Literacy group has now moved into its next phase and requires financial investment. It is recommended that this project also embeds itself into an existing portfolio for trailing or a new partnership is formed to deliver the output.

Recurring Themes in Speak Week 2019 There were a number of areas prevalent in this year’s Speak Week report that warranted particular attention due to their reoccurrence in previous reports. These themes did not require a recommended partnership project as some work is already underway to address some of these issues, but we hope that this work continues in order to ensure that we continue to listen and react to the needs of our students. The last part of this section then recommends some “quick wins� that we have also gathered from the data.

Timetabling and Timing Timetabling and timing has been one of the significant themes reccurring in the comments of Speak Week. There are 386 comments on timetabling and 127 comments on timing of Assessments and Feedback.

accuracy. This is particularly the case when it comes to languages for all sessions. There were also complaints from students who stressed the discomfort with 2 hour lectures or 6 hour practical lab work. As these long hours of teaching do not allow them to absorb all the information taught.

Timetabling issues are partly technical and partly due to the wider issue of ways of teaching, assessment, feedback, and the way in which the modules are currently structured.

Therefore, a wider assessment of the latter factors would enable further improvements of timetabling.

Time Off

Figure 3.

Figure 2.

We do have a Timetabling Working Group, which makes sure that the teaching timetabling for all degrees and subjects are online. However, the data above suggests there is a need of a re-structure of the whole academic year on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis that balances the teaching, assessment and time-off together.

Firstly, to break it down, students have requested for earlier releases of timetables across the board. They have also complained regarding the lack of promptness in communicating any changes in the timetables. There are also clashes in timetables in joint honours students in particular and a real need to create compact schedules, especially for commuting students and those students who work part-time.

It has also been noted that online timetabling should reflect choices of various sessions in addition to their

We recognise we had the Study-Life Balance Partnership Group in 2017/18 that looked into Saturday exams, Friday prayers, and Wednesday afternoons for sports. It seems though the issue is still persistent because the biggest part of the timetabling comments is around having timeoff. Therefore, there is a need to ensure the outcomes of this partnership group are implemented. In addition, it will be useful to create a working group to look into the most efficient and effective ways for scheduling lectures, seminars, praticals, and reading weeks to minimise clashes with the needs of students in regards to the religious, wellbeing, and University related extracurricular activity.

Shorter holiday terms - feel like everything is crammed into a semester - puts unnecessary stress when it can be stretched out (Year 3, UG) Better communication regarding last minute timetabling changes (HCARE, Midwifery, Year 3, UG)

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Joint honours - buildings far away, sometimes modules don’t ‘clash’ but too close together to get there in time (JOMEC, Year 3, UG, Societies) Better timetabling- not having 4/5 lectures in a row (I’ve had 6 before) (BIOSI, Year 2, UG) Recommendation: Evaluating the module structures, assessment and feedback, and teaching styles to allow better timetabling. In addition, an evaluation of the structure of the academic year, month, week and day. Eliminate any clashes with religious needs and extracurricular activities. Include appropriate time off in a day, week, month and semester.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

According to the comment above and many others, BME students feel uncomfortable using the complaints procedure. They explained that they faced many barriers and felt that they will not get their desired outcome.

Recommendation: Conduct an independent review of Cardiff University’s complaints procedure.

We also introduced the Black Attainment Gap Working Group this year in partnership. We hope that the outcomes of this project will be fulfilled through a long-term working plan, with clear key performance indicators.

Some of the comments refer to the attainment gap. They also talk about the fact that they don’t see many BME staff teaching their courses, especially BME women staff. This has made students feel unrepresented and demoralised.

There were also some comments referring to the curriculum. The curriculum is dominated by ‘white males’, and there was not enough diversity in terms of people from different cultures & races, and women. The curriculum should be reviewed, with a clear plan of action on diversifying the curriculum within all disciplines.

We are also looking forward to the development of Student Support’s BME specific Mental Health Support Strategy.

We hope this will be co-created with BME students.

2. Gender and Sexuality Lecturers need training in LGBT+ sensitivity. Issues in misgendering and stereotypes (Year 1, UG, Societies)

Figure 4: Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Speak Week comments

WHY ARE THERE SO FEW WOMEN LECTURERS (Year 4, UG, Societies)

The comments relating to equality, diversity and inclusion can be divided into 6 main themes:

The introduction of the LGBT+ specific Mental Health Support Strategy has seen a positive reception from the student body. We hope that this strategy will continue being implemented. We would also like to request that it gets reviewed on an annual basis with adequate student feedback.

1. Race This was the largest category, amounting to 36% of the comments. The majority of the comments in this category were complaints about institutional racism, lack of ethnic minority lecturers and students, lack of diversity in the curriculum, tolerance of racist language, and lack of provisions for black muslim women in particular. There were also comments relating to specific racist incidents (sometimes together with complaints about systemic issues). Lastly, some comments called for more scope for multicultural celebrations.

I have no trust in the system. Racism is institutional.

It’s very subtle, and no action is made when going through the complaint procedure. In the university there’s an imbalance in the support for BME students.

Especially after the incident that happened in the medical school, many BME feel vulnerable and unsupported. (ENGIN, Engineering, International, AU) There should be student support initiatives for BAME students, as there are for LGBT students (ENCAP, English Literature, PGT)

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3. Harassment Sexual abuse from another student: make it compulsory for sports clubs to go to a talk on this (Year 3, UG) This year Student Support has done a lot of work to combat sexual harassment, such as the Bystander Intervention Training. This should continue to be delivered to as many students as possible, but should be compulsory to any staff who see students face-to-face of a regular basis e.g. personal tutors. There is also a piece of work that needs to be done around ‘tackling the culture’ such as the introduction of preventative measures.

Recommendation: Compulsory training for all student facing staff on race, gender, sexuality, and bystander intervention.

Far-Reaching Mental Health Support For All Students

MEDIC and HCARE that are permanently placed in North Wales, associated with Bangor University. We believe it is crucial for the University to ensure that those students have a parity of experience. Therefore, we urge that a connection be made with Universities in North Wales to enable access to their Student Support Services.

Sports Strategy

Figure 5.

20% of comments coded on the topic of facilities concerned mental health support demonstrating a considerable appetite for this theme (Figure 5). Overall, it appears that students would like to see more funding for this area, to decrease waiting times and increase the number of sessions. There were also calls for better advertising of the available services and more specialised services for long-term issues, including eating disorders.

For many years, sport has featured in the Student Written Submission. From comments surrounding issues relating to lack of adequate sporting facilities, to those regarding the desire for monthly gym memberships, sport at Cardiff has been a recurring theme for some time. This year there were 255 individual comments recorded from Speak Week relating to sports facilities, and 207 comments relating to sport in the context of social life. Of the comments relating to facilities, 123 related to the gyms (Talybont Gym, Studio 49, and the Fitness and Conditioning Centre). These comments centered around 3 main themes: 1) Opening hours Park place gym opening hours are far too short! 10-6 a weekend? Ridiculous compared to other competing gyms in town. (BIOSI, Year 2, UG)

More access to mental health services - waiting lists are ridiculous and crisis support is not sufficient (CARBS, Year 1, UG, Societies)

2) Price and membership offer Uni gym is unaffordable -> added by no monthly cost available. This means I use a gym in town but am forced to still pay for gym sessions which are compulsory for my sport (BIOSI, Year 2, UG, AU)

Better access to mental health + disability support - improved signposting (MEDIC, Year 4, UG, AU & Societies)

3) Size/capacity The gym is too small (Year 1, UG)

It has also arisen through VP Heath Park’s own investigation with students that there is a clear desire for Student Support access at the Heath Campus outside of placement hours. There is currently no evening Student Support provision at the Heath and considering the nature of their course structures, it is understandable that this is desired. The Director of Student Support, Ben Lewis, has shown a lot of favour towards this idea and is happy to support a pilot of this initiative, with the support from Estates to make this happen. We hope that this can be progressed and fully followed through in 2019/20.

More mental health services availability at the heath campus due to long placement hours meaning it’s hard to access (HCARE, Physiotherapy, Year 3, UG) More convenient counselling hours at the Heath (MEDIC, Year 3, UG) Furthermore, owing to the fact that there are increasingly more students on long-term placements in North Wales, we believe it is pertinent now to go beyond the University’s current provision of remote access to Student Support services via skype and phone. Whilst this has been an adequate provision for students that are on placements of 4-8 weeks we now have students on placements within

Other comments relating to facilities generally revolved around calling for improvements and refurbishment of current facilities, namely those at Talybont and Llanrumney sites. A focus group held with students of both sporting and non-sporting backgrounds earlier this year highlighted the awareness of the outdated nature of Cardiff’s facilities, especially in comparison with other competitor universities.

Sport and activity play a vital role for a large number of students here at Cardiff. Whether an active member of a sports club, or a weekly gym goer, physical activity provides fantastic opportunities both socially and competitively for our students. This year, the Sports Strategy is in the process of being reviewed and approved

by University stakeholders, which outlines the core values and aims of the delivery of sport at Cardiff.

We hope that good progress will be made with the formation of a governance structure to oversee the implementation of this strategy. Within the governance, it is of utmost importance to have sufficient student and Union representation in order to keep the student experience at the heart of the decision making. We believe that Cardiff has an excellent opportunity to excel in its sporting provision in order to enhance the student experience.

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Recommendations for Quick Wins We thought it would be beneficial to outline a number of smaller scale issues that students have highlighted to us numerous times through Speak Week and other forums. We hope that the resolution of these issues will be financially and operationally insignificant enough that they can go ahead without a partnership project and with minimal monitoring.

»» Bring more microwaves, hot water dispensing facilities, and vending machines into social study spaces and libraries on the Cathays Campus and communicate this to the student body effectively. »» Using our good relationship with Nextbike, ensure that there is a Nextbike stand placed at University Halls accommodation sites. »» Make more water fountains available on the Heath Campus, especially in the Dental Building. »» Make more recycling bins available around the Cathays Campus, including composting bins in catering outlets and student accommodation. »» Retain institutional affiliation for PGR student’s post-viva to enable access to emails, journals and resources post student status, so they can retain their academic networks to enhance employability. »» Tighten up the Lecture Capture Policy to bring in a timeframe for uploading lectures to Learning Central and

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initiate investigation into compulsory lecture capture. »» Diversify the evidence required for the extenuating circumstances procedure. At the moment only a note from the GP or a death certificate of a relative can be accepted. For example, personal tutors should be able to write a letter which is deemed as sufficient evidence for the procedure.

Partnership Projects 2019/2020 Project 1: Catering There were 2741 comments coded on facilities. This year, catering featured heavily in feedback we received during Speak Week. A total of 588 comments were recorded from the overall 2741, with the majority of comments relating to the variety and cost of food on campus. The feedback we received highlights the need for students to be able to purchase good quality, healthy food at an affordable price at outlets across the University campuses.

students have access to inexpensive, but good quality food.

Food Outlets There were some comments received during Speak Week highlighting students’ apprehension and displeasure about the closure of some food outlets, namely the outlet in the Redwood building. Whilst we recognise the necessity of this, we feel it is essential that students are made fully aware of these closures, and are provided with adequate vending options in replacement of a fully functioning cafÊ.

In addition to this, complaints were made regarding the queuing times at many outlets across campus, as well as calls for longer opening hours.

Recommendation: Formation of a Catering Partnership Project, focusing primarily on student experience and the catering offer at all sites across campus. The partnership project would look into key areas such as current pricing models, range of food offer, and self-service/vending options.

Figure 6: Facilities comments Choice of Food 43% of all catering related comments were concerning the current provision of catering across University outlets and called for an improvement of the range and choice of food available. This was the most common complaint in relation to catering. Within these comments, there was specific feedback regarding the need for a better range of affordable vegan and vegetarian options. Over the last few years, more and more students are making the switch to a vegan or vegetarian diet, for both health and environmental reasons. We believe our catering offer should reflect this change in culture.

Food Prices Complaints around food prices made up 42% of all comments relating to catering. Whilst not always specific as to which food outlet it was relating to, the main theme was that food prices are too high. These views are mirrored in other sub sections, for example the price of healthier food options. In many instances, students feel that the price rises in some outlets such as the Main Building restaurant were not justified. We understand that our catering offer needs to be sustainably priced, however every effort must be continually made to ensure that

We recognise that catering forms a vital part of the student experience, and whilst we understand it is difficult to satisfy all students, there is still work to be done. We feel that a partnership project specific to catering is necessary given the planned closures and upgrades to current outlets, in order to ensure student satisfaction is maintained and increased where possible. The group would also look to ensure that any changes to the catering offer are communicated effectively with students.

Project 2: Pastoral Support For Postgraduate Researchers Postgraduate Research students face unique wellbeing challenges often influenced by feelings of isolation that many feel and exacerbated by the experience of PGR supervision. Mental health was one of the most common topics in comments coming from PGR students in the 2019 Speak Week. It was also more prominent in the PGR population than the overall dataset. PGRs who engage with our Student Advice service and feedback from PGR Student Reps further reinforce recurring themes in this area.

PGR students have access to a smaller student peer group than taught students and often primarily interact with a relatively small number of staff connected to their research. They also have a close and specialised relationship with their Supervisor who they will usually be assigned to for years in a row.

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Doing a PhD is an isolated and depressing experience that makes a lot of students ask why they are doing it, then finish leave academia not because they dislike their subject but that the process of doing the PhD has made them bitter and cynical about university in general. Maybe someone should have a look at the PGRs in SHARE (Share, Year 5, PGR) Their Supervisor who advises and guides them during their research, has a central role in assessing progress during their PhD and, ultimately, in assessing their thesis, heavily influences a PGR’s experience at Cardiff University. At one level, PGRs will often be reluctant to discuss sensitive or wellbeing issues relating to their PhD with their Supervisor for these reasons. Additionally, when PGRs have concerns about the quality of the supervision they receive, or have a worsened relationship with their Supervisor, they can find themselves in a uniquely difficult and distressing situation to navigate, negatively affecting their ability to thrive during their PhD. With their Supervisor likely to be both an expert and active academic in the PGR’s chosen field, a PGR can fear the implications for their present PhD and future career if they seek to raise such issues with their Supervisor.

It is currently recommended that PGRs raise concerns with their school’s Director of Postgraduate Research (DPGRS), however PGRs often perceive this person to not be sufficiently far removed from their Supervisor and the often small research community the PGR works in.

Accordingly, feedback shows a desire for someone to talk to about these issues who can be trusted to have a greater degree of independence than exists in the current process.

Provide more wellbeing counsellors for postgrad students, particular more than 1 in each school.

(BIOSI, Year 4, PGR, Societies) Pastoral supervisors for PhDs with scheduled meetings so forces us to talk, not having to seek them out. Formalised support, not “mindfulness” sessions we have to sign up to (ENGIN, PGR) It is possible to envisage various models to help tackle these issues. To deliver the desired independence, pastoral support could be delivered by a separate, but cognate school to the PGR, at the College or even University-level; though a school or College-level mechanism would likely provide greater familiarity with the academic field the PGR is working within. It would also be important that the person delivering this support was familiar with the strain of postgraduate research, a student experience very different to that of the majority of the University. Principles underpinning potential models discussed here additionally reflect a motion passed by our student members at the Students’ Union’s AGM in November 2018.

Recommendations 1. Establish a PGR-focused mechanism that enables PGRs to access pastoral support with a large degree of independence from their school.

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2. Consider how to reform the progress monitoring procedure to enhance the effectiveness and independence of mechanisms for PGRs to comment on and raise issues about their supervision.

Project 3: Transport and Travel Another arising theme in this year’s Speak Week feedback was around transport and travel. Most comments centred around three main aspects: Travel to Professional Placement (15%), Cycling (20%), and Public Transport, specifically buses (65%).

Figure 7.

Placements Students raised concerns about getting to professional placements off-campus and outside of central Cardiff and the provision available for them to do so. This is an especially pertinent issue considering the University’s objective to see 50% of students take up placement during their time here. These concerns were to do with both cost and practicality-many routes are expensive and some areas are difficult to reach on public transport. We can see that there is demand for more pro-active assistance for commuting placement students. Suggestions included the introduction of a bursary fund, reformation of reimbursement policies and department-run bus services, University-issued season tickets or travel cards for trains and buses, and the formation and promotion of carpool schemes.

Cycling A lot of travel comments were about cycling to and from University and around the city. This certainly highlights how popular cycling has become amongst students at Cardiff. This is indicative of several further conclusions: the value of our links to Nextbike and the introduction of the cycle super-highway; the importance of affordable, easy, and environmentally friendly transport solutions to our students; and the need for further provision to manage the growing popularity of cycling among students.

Suggestions included improvements to cycling infrastructure (routes and bike racks) on campus and the Nextbike service, including location ideas for additional bike racks and rental stations. There has also been a motion recently submitted to the Students’ Union Senate

to request a Nextbike station adjacent to University Halls.

A focus on cycling provision would especially benefit students living and studying further afield and those who travel in and out of the city centre towards satellites like the Heath Park and beyond. In addition to physical amenities, information and action surrounding bike safety is hugely important. VP Heath Park 2018-19 has laid strong groundwork for Bike Safety Campaigning this year.

Students are clearly invested in cycling. Environmental and convenience reasons are likely behind their interest in buses too.

Bus Travel The majority of travel comments were requests and suggestions about bus travel around the city.

Comments suggested a night bus service, and collaborative student travel cards for fee and discounted travel on existing and new routes around the city, especially between campuses, accommodation, and the city centre.

2. Research and troubleshooting into travel solutions for placement students, be that pre-loaded travel cards, bursaries, reimbursement schemes and more department shuttle buses or carpools.

3. Continued promotion and co-operation in creating a safe, informed, and equipped city for cyclists including informing and consulting students on the cycle superhighway, Nextbike scheme, and bike safety.

Project 4: Libraries From the data coded from the Speak Week data, every school other than the School of Welsh referenced libraries in their comments. 434 out of the 7535 total comments (Approximately 6%) were on this topic, demonstrating that there is significant appetite for discussion. The majority of the comments can be categorised into subthemes that were directly referenced as seen in Figure 8 below (Graph 5). Whereas 192 (44%) of the comments were not significant enough to be attributed to a specific theme, Graph 6 outlines some of those subject areas.

Simple, well-advertised and affordable travel is especially important to commuting students, disabled students, and students on satellite campuses who want to and deserve to partake in events, opportunities and support services available on the main campus, as well as getting to teaching and back.

With the invaluable assistance of Rhodri Evans, the Students’ Union ran a successful Exam Shuttle Bus during the January assessment period. Students have expressed an interest in seeing this continued and developed in future semesters.

Figure 8.

Easy and affordable transport after dark is important for students to feel safe and to be able to engage in extracurricular and super-curricular activities. Many academic schools even continue to run teaching, project, and rehearsal sessions later into the evening than the shuttle bus currently runs. There was particular emphasis on lengthening the schedule for the University Halls shuttle bus, so that students can travel quickly and safely between campus and their residences after the typical working day is over.

Recommendation: Formation of a “Transporting Cardiff” Partnership Group. This group should work around three main focuses, listed here in order of priority: 1. Public transport solutions for commuting and satellite campus students as well as students travelling home from campus after dark. In addition to case study research, to utilise the University’s positive relationship with Cardiff Bus to emulate student bus pass systems seen at other institutions for free, or heavily discounted fares between campuses and around the city, as well as the University’s own transport offering from University halls, including its frequency and route. The required lobbying and negotiation is most impactful when done in partnership.

Figure 9.

As seen in Figure 9, some areas are reoccurring themes from previous submissions including things such as charging points, microwaves and printing. Below are the major themes outlined in Figure 8 that warrant discussion.

Books (62/434) and E-resources (35/434) These comments are not dissimilar from the 2018 Speak Week data which suggested that students require more materials for their studies and more specifically the

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request for more compulsory or core textbooks. This is compounded by comments suggesting that purchasing these books privately were costly hence the requirement to loan the books when necessary instead.

Quantity of resource also ran parallel with the accessibility of the materials with students. With the increasing use of technology in the learning environment, students will very rarely enter University without a laptop or some kind of mobile device to work from home with. This is further emphasised by the increasing use of Panopto where students are free to access lecture recordings from anywhere. Students were therefore interested in more online materials that be easily accessed especially when students are away from University.

With the increase in the number of books students can withdraw from libraries (from 15 – 35), we do run the risk of not having sufficient materials to cater to all our students and to meet demand.

Lack of Space (49/434) and Opening hours (96/434) Study space is a reoccurring theme in Speak Week data and was also a named topic in the 2018 report. These comments complained about the lack of space in the libraries, especially during exam times and outside of normal working hours. With over 30,000 students at our University that have a kaleidoscope of study needs, it is acknowledged that not everyone will use the library as a preferential area to study in. However, the plans in Transforming Cardiff indicates a desire to grow student numbers and therefore, our study areas and libraries will need to expand to meet these demands. If current provisions are exhausted by current numbers, then there must be scope to grow our study space provisions.

Many of the comments about libraries requested 24-hour access to additional libraries or expressed an appreciation of the 24/7 policy in the ASSL. There were also requests for longer opening hours for certain libraries, especially during exam times. These comments are compounded by reduced opening hours of the former 24-hour Julian Hodge study space. This takes into account comments concerning capacity but preferential study spaces for students are also a contributing factor for those who wish to study 24-hours in an alternative library to the ASSL or the Cochrane.

Recommendation: We appreciate that these comments have come up for the last several years and the library team are already undertaking work to enhance the experience of our students. We consider the libraries team to be a best-practice in terms of working with students, the Students’ Union student voice team, and the officers and listening to the collective student voice. Therefore, the recommendations are as follows: 1. A robust audit of the process in which the acquirement of compulsory materials is made to ensure there is appropriate communication between teaching staff, students and library staff about what

14 Student Written Submission

the demands are for required materials. a. That the library service promotes existing channels for students to suggest purchases e.g. the online suggestion form on LibrarySearch, the Library Champion scheme and School Staff/Student panels. b. This is to encompass the need to increase online materials as well as physical copies. c. That this is sufficiently maintained through an AIR budget increasing with inflation year on year.

2. Opening times of non-24 hour libraries are investigated during exam season in order to accommodate increased capacity during busy periods. a. That sufficient investment is made into staffing to ensure that buildings can be appropriately manned with increased opening hours. b. That the current study space booking pilot in the Health Library is rolled out across sites.

3. The current condition survey audit of the ASSL is adhered to by the University in order to secure expenditure on the building to meet the demand of an ever diversifying and expanding student population if there is no provision for a new building. a. This includes the bid to place more electricity sockets in the building. b. To look at expansion, or improved use of space within the building, to increase study spaces.

4. An investigation and plan to create a new, technology rich, library that will be fit for purpose for the 21st century, providing consistent support and resources across subject area specialities. a. Although highly ambitious, if the grounds for recommendation 3 are not met then a more longterm solution needs to be scoped in order to meet growing student demand.

Conclusion We hope that you have found our Student Written Submission insightful.

We hope that this report will lead to a tangible change for our students’ experience. We are looking forward to continuing to strengthen and develop our partnership in the pursuit of what is in our students’ best interest.

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