OXFORD UNIVERSITY STUDENT UNION DIVISION REP HANDBOOK
Congratulations on being elected as a Student Division Representative! In this role you have the chance to represent thousands of students and influence decision-making processes that will affect students across the University. As a representative it is up to you to decide which issues matter most to the students your division. This year you could fight for better feedback on prelims, more teaching opportunities for DPhil students, or even paying the Living Wage to department cleaning staff. To help you in your work, this guide provides an introduction to the governance procedures in the University and information on some of the major recent discussions that have taken place in the University. It also includes ideas to think about when representing students. The Student Union (OUSU) is here to help and support you. We will offer training when you are first elected and will advise you and provide you with information throughout the year. This may be anything from contact details to the results of our research or student surveys in your department. We will also call on you to influence the work we do in Education Committee, and other policy making bodies in the University. Your views here will be incredibly valuable. If you have any more questions about anything in this Guide, do not hesitate to get in touch. We look forward to working with you over the next academic year
David Messling (VP Academic Affairs and Access) Access@ousu.org 01865288464
Christopher Gray (VP Graduates) Graduates@ousu.org 01865288463
Divisional Boards The new University Governance Structure came into effect in 2000. As part of the changes five Divisional Boards were created. These were later reduced in 2006 to four academic Divisions (along with Continuing Education), which are: Humanities www.humanities.ox.ac.uk Comprised of Rothermere American Institute; Classics Faculty; English Language and Literature; History Faculty; Linguistics & Phonetics; Medieval and Modern Languages Faculty; Music Faculty; Oriental Studies Faculty; Philosophy Faculty; Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art; Theology Faculty; Voltaire Foundation. Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) www.mpls.ox.ac.uk Comprised of Chemistry, Computing Laboratory, Earth Sciences, Engineering Sciences, EResearch Centre, Materials, Mathematical Institute, Physics, Plant Sciences, Statistics, Zoology. Medical Sciences www.medsci.ox.ac.uk Comprised of Anasethics; Biochemistry; Cardiovascular Medicine; Clinical Laboratory Sciences; Nuffield Department of Clinical Medical; Clinical Neurology; Clinical Pharmacology; Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine Centre; Experimental Psychology; Medical Oncology; Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine; Obstetrics & Gynaecology; Ophthalmology, Orthopaedic Surgery; Department of Paediatrics; Peter Medawar building for Pathogen Research; Pathology; Pharmacology; Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics; Psychiatry; Public Health; Radiation, Oncology and Biology; Surgery. Social Sciences www.socsci.ox.ac.uk Comprised of School of Anthropology and Museum Enthography; School of Archaeology; School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies; Economics; Education Studies; Centre for the Environment; Faculty of Law; Management (Said Business School); Oxford Internet Institute; Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance; Politics and International Relations; Department of International Development; Social Policy and Social Work; Sociology: Blavatnik School of Government.
Division Board Responsibilities Divisional Boards oversee the management, operation, personnel, standards and direction of their sub-units (e.g. departments or faculties). Although day-to-day running is largely delegated to the different faculties, any major changes, the strategic direction, and relations between sub-units, are decided by the Divisional Board. A complete list of the Divisional Boards’ responsibilities can be found at http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/councilsec/council/divbd/ Among these responsibilities, the most important for a Division Rep are: • • • • •
The “oversight of the organisation, development, and delivery of curricula in collaboration with the colleges”. The “oversight and development of the general context of research, in the broad subject area covered by the division”. The “maintenance of educational quality and standards in the broad subject areas”. The “general oversight of and responsibility for all matters concerning budgets, space, syllabus, and staffing” The “consideration of reports of examiners and the budgets, syllabus and staffing across the sub-units of the division.
Divisional Board Meeting The Divisional Boards are much more formal than JCC and GJCC meetings. Some of the papers and discussions in the meetings are confidential and must not be published or discussed outside of the meeting. However do not let that put you off contributing. While you are officially an ‘observer’, you have as much right to speak as other attendees and will often be asked to do so. As the only people in the room who can provide a student perspective you should keep in mind just how valuable your insight is, even if you aren’t aware of all the policy background. You should be aware that Divisional Boards also have ‘Reserved Business' at which point the student representatives are asked to leave. On the whole this will not not be used for any business that affects students directly. If you are of an issue that is going to appear in the ‘Reserved Business’ but feel that you would like the chance to discuss you should contact your Division Administrator.
Being a Division Board Representative The most important role of Division Representatives will be representing students. Remember you are there to work for students and represent their views rather than your own. The Divisional Boards meet twice a term. It is important that you attend as many of the meetings as possible. If you cannot attend, it is polite to send apologies to the Secretary of the Committee in advance. Acting as a Student Representative on the Divisional Boards will be a challenging but rewarding task. A JCC or GJCC Rep deals with issues of which they have direct experience as a student in their subject. However, Divisions have many different subjects under them. It is impossible for any Student Representative to contribute knowledgeably on all agenda items. This does not mean that you are not doing your job properly: it is just the nature of the committee. Remember that often many of the academics and staff members in the room will be in the same position. To ensure that you represent students as effectively as possible, you should try to gather student feedback on the most important items that come up at Division level. This may be through JCC and GJCC meetings, through use of email lists, online surveys, or just through talking to students around the Division. The most important thing you can do is to ensure that JCC and GJCC Representatives in the subjects you cover know who you are and how to approach you. You might also want to consider writing brief reports after meetings that can then be sent over email to JCC and GJCC Reps. All of the OUSU Vice-Presidents are also happy to help answer any questions that arise or if you wish to discuss any matters from the meetings.
Understanding the University Trying to campaign for change in Oxford is a complicated business. This is due in part to traditions that are held in great esteem by many academics and administrators, but probably more because of the University’s structure. While you may not interact directly with many of these it might be useful to have an idea of how the University works, and where different items are coming from when they appear at Division Boards. The University comprises three main components: the Central Bodies and Administration; the Colleges; and the Divisions, Departments and Faculties. A diagram of this structure can be found at: http://www.ox.ac.uk/aboutoxford/structure.shtml The committees that you are likely to come across most are listed below to give you an idea of how your work will link in to the work of OUSU and other student representatives. Education Committee Education Committee is part of the central administration and is responsible for almost everything to do with teaching and learning in the University. It is responsible for access and admissions; curriculum design and course structure; teaching, learning and assessment; academic and pastoral support and guidance; and the administration and review of the Divisional Boards. This committee has an extremely important role to play in affecting students’ time at Oxford. The Vice President (Access and Academic Affairs) and the Vice-President (Graduates) represent students here. Senior Tutors’ and Graduate Tutors’ Committee These committees comprise of a representative of from each college and they discuss issues that affect students in their colleges. The Senior Tutors deal with undergraduates and the Graduate Tutors deal with graduates. You may find that a representative from one of these committees attends meetings that you are at, or that papers or views come to the Divisions from them. Other Bodies There are a number of other committees and bodies in the University that you may send papers and/or proposals to Divisions. OUSU deal with almost all of these so one of the VPs will be able to tell a bit more about what they do.
Key Issues Below are some key issues that may come up, or you might want to consider raising, in your meetings. This is by no means conclusive. • Access and Admissions If you are undergraduate representative you may be involved in discussions about access to Oxford, and the role that Divisions and Departments may play in this. This could involve specific projects such as bridging courses, or policy on student bursaries. You will also consider admissions policy for both UG and PG students. • Fees and Funding There is a big push at the moment to increase the level of graduate funding available and Divisions will have a lot of decisions to make about how best to do this, as well as how they might reorganize and allocate there existing funds. International fees for all students, and PG fees are areas that OUSU is working on this year, as they are unregulated, so watch out for proposals for increases in your Divisions. • Examinations There has been a lot of discussion recently in the University about the nature of assessment, both for UG and PG, and how this might be improved. This may include more coursework and continuous assessment, or more feedback on existing projects. This can lead to a better learning experience for students, and some believe it may reduce the gender gap at undergraduate level. • Living Wage OUSU has run a Living Wage campaign for a number of years now and has been relatively successful in colleges. However, there has not been much work done in departments. This year we are trying to extend the conversation in this direction so there is a great opportunity for Division Representatives to lead the charge. • Course Experience Thanks to the OUSU reports on undergraduate, masters, and research student experience, published over the last 3 years, we have a reasonably good picture of what is and isn’t living up to students expectations in different parts of the university. Whether its problems with joint schools, lack of feedback for masters students, or a lack of teaching opportunities for Dphil students, we will be able to tell you what students have told us they are concerned about. We will also give you the latest results from the International Student Barometer (ISB) and NSS surveys which will tell you exactly what students think of their courses and facilities. Some of the ISB data can be accessed with your Single Sign On here http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/ac-div/surveys/#d.en.5368
Contact Details VP Academic Affairs and Access: David Messling Access@ousu.org
01865 288464
VP Graduates: Chris Gray Graduates@ousu.org
01865288463
Humanities Head: Professor Shearer West Shearer.West@humanities.ox.ac.uk
01865 270557
Secretary: Ms Lynne Hirsch Lynne.Hirsch@humanities.ox.ac.uk
01865 270555
MPLS Head: Professor Alex Halliday Alex.Halliday@mpls.ox.ac.uk
01865 282572
Secretary: Dr Saira Shaikh Saira.Shaikh@mpls.ox.ac.uk
01865 282574
Medical Sciences Head: Professor Alastair Buchan Alastair.Buchan@medsci.ox.ac.uk
01865 220548
Secretary: Dr David Bryan David.Bryan@admin.ox.ac.uk
01865 221681
Social Sciences Head: Professor Roger Goodman Roger.Goodman@admin.ox.ac.uk
01865 270556
Secretary: Ms Rachel Meyrick Rachel.Meyrick@socsci.ox.ac.uk
01865 270763
The Oxford University Student Union 2 Worcester Street, Oxford OX1 2BX Tel: 01865 288452 email: enquires@ousu.org