COURSE REPRESENTATIVE HANDBOOK 2009–2010
Contents Page
Appendices
1. Introduction from Vice President Education, Welfare & Representation
Page 2
1. Course & Faculty Representative Training Dates & SU Meeting Dates
Page 11
2. Student Representation
Page 3
2. List of Faculties and Departments
Page 12
3. Responsibilities of a Course Representative
Page 4
3. SU Committees
Page 12
4. Sources of Help
Page 12
5. Committee Jargon
Page 18
4. Issues Outside the Course Representative Remit
Page 5
5. The Course Representative’s Role
Page 6
6. How to be an Effective Course Representative
Page 7
7. SSLC Meetings
Page 8
8. Time Commitment
Page 9
9. Course Representative Personal Benefits
Page 10
10. And finally ...
Page 10
1. Introduction from Vice President Education, Welfare & Representation
information about the role of sabbatical or executive officer can be found at www.qmsu.org and on p 12 of this handbook.
Congratulations on your election as a Course Representative. In electing you, the other students on your course have shown they have confidence in your ability to represent their interests. Your role, as the voice of your fellow students at course level, will allow you the opportunity to shape the courses they study and improve the learning experience not only of existing students but also future students. The role of the Student Union is to help you acquire and develop the skills needed to fulfil your responsibility as a Course Rep.
I hope the handbook will help you understand your role as a Course Rep.
This handbook is one of the tools you will need to help you to get the most out of your year as a rep, both for yourself, in terms of personal development, and for the students you represent. It’s designed to explain the role of a Course Rep and to assist you in carrying out this role effectively. It covers several key skills for being a successful Course Rep, such as communication and time management. These are valuable transferable skills that employers rate highly, and often say are lacking in recent graduates. Through your role as a Course Rep, you have the opportunity to build and refine these skills and put yourself ahead of the pack in the job market. Once you’ve seen how much you can achieve as a Course Rep, you may decide you want to represent your peers at faculty or Quality Enhancement Committee level, or as a sabbatical officer or member of the SU executive. More
If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact myself or Annie Mitchell, Advocacy and Representation Coordinator. Anna Hiscocks Vice President Education, Representation & Welfare.
2. Student Representation Student representation takes many forms at Queen Mary: 2.1 Course Reps Course Reps, as the name implies, represent their course colleagues and are the channel through which students can comment on what’s good and bad about their course, and suggest improvements that might be made. The purpose of the Course Rep system is to ensure the continual improvement of the student learning experience through effective communication between students, QMUL and the SU. One of the main routes of communication between Course Reps and their department is the Staff-Student Liaison Committee. SSLC’s, again as the name suggests, are made up of academics and Course Reps and are usually held at least twice an academic year. It’s here that you have the chance to relay the comments, questions and concerns of your fellow students to academic staff, and thereby bring about improvement. It’s also your responsibility to feed back information and outcomes to both your fellow students and to the SU. The monthly SU forums are the opportunity for you to share this information, and also to discuss wider academic and non-academic issues with your fellow Course Reps from other departments. To find out your SSLC dates please contact your departmental administrator.
2.2 Year Reps Year Reps are elected by Course Reps within their year across the College. As well as their primary Course Rep duties, their year responsibilities are to facilitate SU year meetings; to sound out students on issues affecting their year; and to liaise with College staff on issues such QMUL surveys. 2.3 Academic Secretary’s Academic Secretary’s are elected by all Course Reps. As well as their primary Course Rep duties their secretary responsibilities are to attend all SU meetings without exception; as well as their respective faculty meetings to be able to take minutes that will be published on the QMSU website for all students to see. 2.4 Faculty Reps Faculty Reps represent students at faculty level, and sit on their respective faculty boards, which consist of representatives from across a number of departments. They are nominated by their departments from Course Reps across the faculty. Membership of faculty boards allows student reps to participate in the decision-making process at a high level within the QMUL governance structure. SU faculty meetings prepare reps for board meetings, allowing them a chance to air issues with their fellow Faculty Reps before raising them at faculty board level,
and providing an opportunity to compare experiences across the College. For a list of faculties, and their respective departments, see p. 12 of this handbook. Dates of faculty board meetings can be found at: http://www.council.qmul.ac.uk/academiccommittees/index .html
The SU is responsible for representing students at College level. Sabbatical Trustees are elected by the student body as a whole and sit on a wide variety of College committees. The members of the sabbatical team, and a brief overview of their areas of responsibilities, can be found at: http://www.qmsu.org/studentvoice/sabbaticalofficers
2.5 Quality Enhancement Committee (QEC) Reps
2.7 SU Faculty and Year Meetings
QEC Reps are elected by Course Reps to sit on the QEC, which convenes five times during the academic year. The QEC is the principal College body concerned with monitoring and enhancing the quality of QMUL’s teaching and learning provision. The membership of the QEC includes the academic deans of the four non-medical faculties, the chair of the School of Medicine and Dentistry Education Board, six co-opted members from the five faculties, as well as five student faculty reps. The terms of reference of the QEC include developing and maintaining College-wide quality assurance procedures and codes of practice, in line with the requirements of the appropriate national bodies; and the organisation of internal quality audits, and co-ordination of arrangements for external audits within the College. Information on the QEC, including minutes of meetings, can be found at: http://www.studentadmin.qmul.ac.uk/QA/qec/qecinfo.shtml
At SU faculty meetings, which are chaired by the elected QEC Rep, you’ll meet students from your own faculty and the SU Vice President for Education and Welfare. These meetings will give you an opportunity to discuss issues that relate specifically to your faculty. The same applies to SU year meetings; they are chaired by the elected Year Rep; they are a chance for you to focus on matters that are of particular relevance to your own year group. These meetings also allow the SU to gain awareness of the issues facing students, both academic and non-academic, and, if necessary, to raise them at College committee level. In addition, they provide an opportunity for the SU to brief reps on issues of local and national concern; provide support, guidance and advice; and circulate information about the activities of the SU, which in turn can be fed back to your course colleagues.
QEC Reps also Chair their respective SU faculty rep meetings. 2.6 Students’ Union
3. Responsibilities of a Course Rep 3.1 Identify yourself to the students on your course Hopefully most students will already know who you are but it won’t hurt to introduce yourself as the Course Rep at the
beginning of seminars or lecturers, with the tutor’s permission.
can’t attend always send apologies and ask for them to be recorded in the minutes.
3.2 Identify student issues and needs
3.4 Work with the SU
Your role is to provide the department with information that is representative of the entire student body on the course, not merely individual opinions. Sometimes this means representing views that you may not personally agree with. Obviously this can be hard but to be able to do so shows that you are able to accommodate other points of view to that of your own, another skill that employers value. When talking to other students about the pros and cons of their course it always helps to take notes and, to make sure you’ve correctly understood all the points, you could run through the bullet points with the student after they’ve finished speaking.
It’s essential that you tell the SU of any issues affecting your department. A local departmental issue might be an indication of a wider problem across the College, and one that therefore needs to be dealt with at faculty or higher level. In such cases, Faculty Reps or Sabbatical Officers can raise areas of concern at faculty boards or College committees.
3.3 Attend and actively participate in SSLC’s It’s really important that you attend and participate in SSLCs. If you don’t show up, or never voice an opinion when you do, the department won’t take you, or the SU, seriously. Try to find out early on from the departmental administrator the dates and times of meetings, and make sure you block off the time in your diary. If for any reason it’s impossible for you to attend, make sure you get the agenda and papers as soon as possible and provide comment (either written or verbal) if necessary. If you
3.5 Work with other Course Reps Working with other reps, either on your course, in your department, or across the College, will help you to make your case more effectively. If a number of reps have identified a similar problem it’s more likely that all of you pressing for change together, rather than working alone, will help you to achieve your goal. Arrange to meet other Course Reps in your department on a regular basis. If that isn’t possible then try to meet a few days or even hours before the SSLC to discuss the major issues you want to raise, and to ensure you’re all on the same page. 3.6 Help to ensure the student voice is heard in all decisions If a major decision is being taken and you don’t feel there’s been enough student involvement, or certain groups such
as part-timers have been excluded from the discussion, then you should ask the department to consult more widely. 3.7 Provide feedback to your peers You need to report back to your fellow students to ensure they’re happy with the outcomes of the meeting. If they’re not then you need to go back to the department to clarify any outstanding points. If you don’t feed back to other students they won’t see the point of raising issues with you, and a valuable means of improving the student learning experience will be lost. With the new secretary position minutes will be easily accessible so please direct students to these on the website.
4. Issues Outside the Course Rep Remit There are some issues that Course Reps shouldn’t deal with, instead they should act as a point of referral to other College or SU support services. If students approach you about issues such as those shown below you should direct them to either their personal tutor, Advice & Counselling or the SU:
• Funding or debt problems; • Immigration/visa queries; • Health and personal issues; • Accommodation issues. All of these issues require expertise and training in order to give the appropriate advice and assistance. These sorts of issues can be very time consuming and complex so don’t feel bad about referring someone onto another SU or College service. A list of support services are shown at the back of this handbook. You also shouldn’t use the SSLC to discuss issues like catering facilities or accommodation. These are matters that should be taken up by the SU at College committee level, so pass on any concerns you might have to the SU. Sabbatical officers can then take soundings and follow-up at College committee level on valid areas of complaint.
5. The Course Representative’s Role
• Disputes between students and academic staff and between individual students;
Your main role as a Course Rep is to raise issues directly related to your course and these will tend to fall into three main areas:
• Academic appeals, examination offences, breaches of the code of student discipline;
• providing positive feedback on things that work well on the course;
• How good was your induction process? • Constructive criticism on things that didn’t or don’t work so well on your course; • Suggestions on new areas to consider on the course. Some of the issues and questions you might want to think about include: Curriculum Issues • Are the learning outcomes being met? • What is the match between expectations of students, the learning outcomes and curriculum content?
• Are you happy with the library provision? • Are you happy with computer facilities? Is the software you are expected to use matched to your course needs and are you trained how to use it, if necessary? • What are the most helpful learning resources provided for your course? • Are the lecture theatre/seminar rooms of an appropriate size? Issues relating to Assessment
• Does the curriculum content encourage the development of knowledge and skills?
• Do you understand the criteria for assessment and the methods used?
• Are your timetables and workload appropriate? Teaching and Learning Issues • Is the range of teaching and learning methods appropriate for delivering your curriculum?
• What feedback do you receive? Is it prompt and useful? • Is the assessment policy and practice clearly described? • Is anonymous marking in place where necessary?
• Should there be more lectures, labs or tutorials?
• Is information given on plagiarism and how useful is it?
• What teaching methods would students find more useful for your course?
Issues relating to Student Progression (from one year to the next)
Issues relating to Learning Resources
• How many students drop out of the course?
• How many students fail? Issues about Quality and Standards • Are course evaluation forms used and collected? • Is evaluation feedback acted upon? • Do you consider that student views are influential? Can you provide any examples? • Do you receive any information about what the department or course have done in light of student feedback?
Many Course Reps find it difficult to communicate effectively with their course colleagues. In some cases it’s because your fellow students don’t properly understand your role, so you need to explain what it is you do, and that they can come to you with positive and negative points about their course and you’ll pass the information onto the course leaders so that improvements can be made. If students don’t believe the Course Rep system works to improve their learning experience then it creates a vicious circle: students won’t come to you with their opinions so you’re no longer seen as representing the views of your colleagues and you lose legitimacy in the eyes of students and staff alike.
Communication is one of the key skills of a Course Rep. Below are a few tips to help you be effective and successful in your role.
So it’s important that you and departmental staff encourage engagement by providing opportunities for students to communicate with you. It’s also important that you provide feedback to students on what’s happened at SSLC meetings and issues that you’ve raised on their behalf. In this way, you demonstrate to them that speaking to you can make a difference to their learning experience.
6.1 Course Rep training
6.3 Ways of communicating
Once you have been elected as a Course Rep it’s compulsory to attend Course Rep training.
Below are a few ways of communicating with your colleagues:
6.2 Communicating with students on your course
• Ask your lecturer/tutor to give you a few minutes at the start or end of a lecture/seminar to allow you to explain
6. How to be an Effective Course Representative
what it is a Course Rep does and how students can contact you; • put up posters around your department, again with permission, or publicise your e-mail address; • At the beginning of a seminar give everyone a small sheet of paper and ask them to write one thing they think is going well about the course and one thing they think could be going better about the course. At the end of the class collect all the sheets of paper; • Ask the department whether they can allocate a pigeonhole for the Course Rep so students can leave messages or comments for you; • Ask the course leader if it’s possible to start a discussion forum on the VLE on certain issues, like the appropriateness of the assessment or the availability of suitable learning materials; • Hold a ‘drop-in surgery’ where students can come to discuss any issues they might have concerning their course with you; the department might allow you a free room to use around lunch time or after a seminar. Make sure the surgery is well-publicised; • A week before an SSLC meeting, hold an ‘open discussion’ after a class in, say, one of the catering outlets or the group area of the library. Try to get hold of the SSLC agenda and any papers beforehand so you can get their views on the issues to be covered.
• Use coffee-breaks, chats before and after classes or nights out as opportunities to discuss issues that students may have. 6.4 Communicating clearly When you talk to other students on your course you may discover that their views of the course, whether positive or negative, are different to your own. It’s important therefore, if you’re going to represent views that aren’t your own, that you have a clear understanding of them. To do this you need to: • Get the student to focus on the main issues, specifics rather than generalisations; • Think how this affects teaching quality/students’ ability to learn; • Check whether complaints/concerns have already been voiced to staff; • find out whether the issue relates to one module/programme/year/the whole department/ College; • Check whether the issue affects a specific group, e.g. international or mature students; • Alert the department if there are deadlines or timescales around the issue. 6.5 Communicating with staff
It is important to remember that usually SSLC’s only meet once a semester. Obviously if there is problem with the course students won’t want to wait weeks or even months for it to be resolved. In such cases, rather than wait for the SSLC to come round it’s probably best to approach the course leader to discuss the problem and attempt to negotiate a solution. This is best achieved by adopting a non-confrontational approach. Staff, like students, want to maintain and improve the quality of courses so constructive, clear feedback should always be welcomed. If you don’t inform staff of a problem they may not be aware that one exists but once they do know they’ll want to seek a resolution as much as you do. It’s usually best to try to resolve matters at an informal level first, with the lecturer or seminar leader concerned, rather than going straight to the head of department. Make sure you get your facts right by checking the details with students before the meeting. If you feel your concerns haven’t been adequately addressed at the informal level you can then express them more formally, for example by preparing a paper and submitting it to the department. If you are unsure how to deal with any of the above then don’t hesitate to ask the advice of fellow Course Reps (who may have experienced similar) or see the SU.
7. SSLC Meetings SSLC meetings are your opportunity to give detailed feedback on everything relating to your course. For staff members of SSLC’s, meetings can sometimes seem like a
list of complaints from students. Obviously, you’ll want to highlight problem areas that need to be resolved but it would be helpful if you could also identify positive aspects of your course. Not only does positive feedback act as a driver for improvement, as its evidence of what’s working, but it makes for a better working relationship with staff. 7.1 Preparing for SSLC meetings The format and remit of SSLC’s may vary from department to department, with some meetings being more formal than others, and in some department’s Course Reps act as Chairs for all or half of SSLC meetings. So it’s important that you do some research before your first meeting; you could ask for tips from other Course Reps in your department or from academic or support staff. You’ll also need to do some preparation prior to meetings: • Ask students for their comments on the course, good and bad; • Consult with other Course Reps on the SSLC and discuss issues you want to raise; inform the secretary to the SSLC of any items you want placed on the agenda and, if necessary, prepare a supporting paper for distribution by the secretary; • Read the agenda/supporting papers carefully, making notes as you go, and if you need clarification on any points ask other Course Reps, staff or the SU;
• Read the minutes of previous meetings, again if you don’t understand something ask other Course Reps, staff or the SU; • Only raise issues under ‘any other business’ (AOB) if they’ve arisen/come to your attention after the agenda has been circulated. 7.2 Post-SSLC meeting After the meeting, make sure you report back to students on the outcome of issues you’ve raised on their behalf and other matters discussed. Check with students that they’re happy with the outcomes and, if not, follow up on unresolved issues with the department. It would also be helpful if you could keep the SU informed of developments, so they can pick up on trends across the College and raise them at the appropriate level if necessary. Make sure that you celebrate success: if the department agrees to resolve issues you’ve raised you should let students know about it. That way, students are more likely to come to you in future if they want to relay negative or positive comments to the department. Check the minutes to make sure they’re an accurate record of the meeting. They’re not meant to be a word-by-word account of discussions but if you feel they don’t reflect what was agreed you should inform the department. If you let inaccuracies pass it’s very difficult at a later stage to put the record straight.
Your department may already post the minutes of SSLC meetings on its website. If it doesn’t ask if this can be done, and ensure that the minutes are kept up-to-date and posted in a timely fashion.
8. Time Commitment The College and SU want you to prioritise your education, as that’s what you’re here for primarily. However, the more time you put into your Course Rep role the more you’ll get out of it. Roughly all a Course Rep has to do on a monthly basis is attend Union faculty and year meetings (2 hours) and provide face to face student contact (3 hours min) Obviously, you’ll also need to attend SSLC meetings once a semester. Meetings generally run for about an hour but you’ll need to allow time for preparation. Once a year you’ll also have the opportunity to meet the Principal at a reception for Course Reps. The aim of the meeting, which lasts about an hour, is to allow you the chance to raise issues directly with the Principal.
9. Course Rep Personal Benefits In today’s competitive job market it’s no longer enough just to have a degree. To stand out to employers you need to possess a wide range of skills and experience that show you’re ‘job ready’. As a Course Rep, you’ll be able to demonstrate that you’re not an average undergraduate but
a student who has productively utilised your time at university to develop valuable transferable skills. Some of the skills you’ll develop during your time as a Course Rep include: • Public speaking • Active listening • Teamwork • Communication • Negotiation • Decision-making • Problem-solving • Time management • Leadership The SU is also in discussion with the College regarding formal recognition of your contribution as a Course Rep, for example by including a record of it on your student transcript, which would signal to prospective employers that you have been supported in the development of the above skills. In addition, the SU is seeking to work with companies in order to secure recognition of the skills acquired through the Course Rep system.
To round off your year in this important role, you will be invited to an award ceremony at the impressive Drapers Hall in the City of London, where you will be presented with your official certificate in recognition of your contribution as a Course Rep.
10. And finally … This is the first Course Rep handbook produced by the SU and we hope you find it helpful. However, we would very many welcome comments from you on how it might be improved for Course Reps in future years. What information would you find useful that isn’t available here? Would you like more information on certain areas and less on others? We can best support you as Course Reps if you tell us what kind of support would be most useful to you. Please send your comments to Anna Hiscocks at: vpwelfare@qmsu.org QMUL would like to thank Sparqs for its help in compiling this handbook. Further information on Sparqs and the service it provides can be found at http://www.sparqs.org.uk/
Appendix 1
Faculty of Arts = Wednesday 20th January
Course & Faculty Representative Training Dates: First Semester SU Faculty Meetings th
Faculty of Natural Sciences = Monday 16
November
Faculty of Arts = Wednesday 18th November Faculty of Law and Social Sciences = Monday 23rd November Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences = Wednesday 25th November
Faculty of Law and Social Sciences = Monday 25th January Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences = Wednesday 27th January Second Semester SU Year Rep Meetings Postgraduate = Monday 1st February Final Year = Wednesday 3rd February Year 2 = Monday 15th February Year 1 = Wednesday 17th February
First Semester SU Year Rep Meetings Year 1 = Monday 7th December th
Year 2 = Wednesday 9
December
Final Year = Monday 14th December Postgraduate = Wednesday 16th December
SU Evaluation Meetings Faculty of Natural Sciences & Faculty of Law and Social Sciences = Monday 1st March Faculty of Arts & Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences = Wednesday 3rd March Meet the Principal
Second Semester SU Faculty Meetings Faculty of Natural Sciences = Monday 18th January
Drapers Award Ceremony = Monday 8th March
Appendix 2 College Faculties Below is a list of College faculties and the departments Faculty of Arts: School of English and Drama Languages, Linguistics and Film Philosophy Politics History Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences: School of Engineering and Material Sciences Electronic Engineering Mathematical Sciences Computer Sciences Faculty of Law and Social Sciences: Business Management
Geography Economics Law Faculty of Natural Sciences: School of Biology and Chemical Sciences Physics Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry: School of Medicine School of Dentistry
Appendix 3 Sources of Help 1. Advice & Counselling Advice & Counselling offer a range of free and confidential professional services to all Queen Mary students. Their experienced welfare advisers have specialist training and are able to offer you professional advice on a range of financial, practical and legal issues. Most of their work is about helping you with your rights and entitlements, including: • Financial support (student loans, tuition fees, grants etc) • Immigration law • International student issues • Financial support for student parents (childcare costs etc) • Postgraduate funding • Welfare benefits and tax credits • Disability benefits • interrupting your studies, re-sitting, withdrawing or transferring • extenuating circumstances affecting academic performance
• Hardship funds and bursaries • NHS funding • Housing rights • Council tax As well as helping you to find solutions to problems, they can also give you information and advice to help you to avoid problems before they happen. For example, they can help you to plan a budget, and check that you are getting all the funding that you are entitled to. This type of preventative advice can help you to make sure that practical and financial problems don’t affect your academic progress. You can also access the support of their experienced counsellors, group therapist and psychologist, all of whom have specialist training to provide support on range of emotional and psychological issues, including: • Relationships • Anxiety and panic • Depression • Dilemmas and difficult decisions • Homesickness
• Self-harm
whether a drop in session would be appropriate for your enquiry. If not, you will be offered a 30 minute booked appointment instead. Drop in sessions operate on a first come, first served basis, so you will need to wait in our waiting area until it is your turn to be seen by a Welfare Adviser.
• Bereavement
2. Nightline
• Eating disorders
Nightline is a confidential listening support service run by students for students in London.
• Stress • Cultural issues
• Trauma or assault • Domestic violence
Calls cover all areas of student life, including relationship, course difficulties, debt and family problems, as well as information on cinema and club listings.
Reception opening hours The lines are open from 6pm to 8am every night of term. The Advice and Counselling Service is on the ground floor of the Geography Building, on the Mile End Campus. The reception is open Monday to Friday, 10.30am to 3.00pm. The whole department is closed on standard College closure days at Easter, Christmas and Bank Holidays. Welfare advisers’ drop-in service During term-time, they offer drop-in sessions on Wednesday afternoons 2pm to 4pm and Friday mornings 10am to 12. Drop in sessions are 15 minutes per student and take place in a confidential one-to-one setting, in the same way as their 30-minute booked appointments. Not all enquiries are suitable for our drop-in sessions as it is not always possible for advisers to offer appropriate advice in 15 minutes. Please check with the reception staff
Nightline is always on the look out for new student volunteers. If you think this might be your cup of tea (and no experience is necessary), call the helpline on 020 7631 0101 and chat to one of the volunteers on duty. Alternatively, e-mail london@nightline.org.uk. For the new e-mail listening service, see the website at www.nightline.org.uk. 3. Student Union Academic Advice Service Hopefully you won’t have any academic problems while you’re at Queen Mary but if you do the QMSU’s academic advice service is here to help. It can offer advice and
representation on a number of academic welfare issues, including:
Location & Opening Hours • The service is located at the Blomeley Centre
• Applications for extenuating circumstances; • Requests for a review of an exam board decision; • Allegations of plagiarism or examination offences; • Allegations of breach of the code of student discipline; • Appeals against the outcome of a disciplinary hearing, either under the examination offences regulations or the code of student discipline; • Appeals against deregistration from a module or course; • Complaints regarding a member of staff or course delivery; • Bullying or harassment by a member of staff or fellow student; • PhD supervision; The service can offer advice on statements, supply letters of support where necessary, and accompany students to hearings, either to represent the student or to provide moral support. It also acts as a referral point, for example to Advice & Counselling, on matters such as immigration, finance or mental health.
• Official opening hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays 10am to 4pm, term time and vacation. Students can either drop in during these hours or book an appointment by calling reception or emailing the adviser. • A drop in advice service also operates from the Barts and The London Students’ Association in Whitechapel on Wednesdays 10am to 4pm. • In exceptional circumstances appointments can also be offered outside the stated opening hours. If you want to discuss any of the above issues, contact Annie Mitchell at annie.mitchell@qmsu.org, or on 0207 882 8042. 4. Personal Adviser All students at QMUL are assigned a personal adviser, who will be a tutor on your course. He or she will provide you with guidance on matters such as choice of modules, assessment and progress. Students are encouraged to talk to their adviser about their work and progress and to seek assistance, if required, with study or examination skills. Your adviser will also be able to provide you with information about the range of support available, e.g. from student support services, the chaplaincy and careers and may also, if requested, be able to make arrangements for students to seek specialist advice or help.
5. Language and Learning Unit • Lecture comprehension and note-taking; The LLU brings together a range of teaching and learning programmes and initiatives, including:
• Reading, note-taking and referencing;
English Language Courses
• Seminar skills;
Pre-sessional English courses for international students preparing to join QMUL courses and in-sessional courses for students who wish to take extra English classes.
• Academic writing;
Writing Fellows
• Speaking techniques.
Students who need help in honing their writing skills can book one-to-one tutorials with a College Writing Fellow. The Fellows are all published writers - working in biography, fiction, drama, screenplays and poetry - and they share an interest in clear, lively, accurate writing: writing that gets its meaning across with the minimum of fuss.
They also run drop-in sessions on Wednesday afternoons that cover any or all of the above areas, according to demand.
Academic Study Programme A programme for QMUL students whose first language is English or who have been educated in English. It runs workshops in: • Effective study strategies; • Time management and examination preparation & revision; • Personal development planning;
• Writing techniques;
If you need more specific help or help in an area not covered by these courses, or if you cannot manage to attend at the times of the courses, you can book a 30minute individual tutorial. 6. Disability and Dyslexia Service The Disability and Dyslexia Service provides equipment, people and services to students at QMUL who have a disability or condition that affects their learning. The DDS has a team of Educational Support Workers (ESWs) who are QMUL students. They work with educational support users to provide many types of help. If you are interested in becoming an ESW, visit the DDS website for more information. The DDS is there to support you if you
discover or develop any medical or physical condition that affects your learning, for example:
Committee secretary - Person who manages the admin side of the committee, e.g. takes minutes
• You are dyslexic;
In attendance - Person who may attend a meeting but who isn’t a member and can’t vote in any decision
• You are deaf or have a hearing impairment; • You have a visual impairment; • You have mobility difficulties or use a wheelchair; • You have a medical condition that affects your learning; • You have had an accident.
Matters arising - Further information/developments relating to items included in the minutes of the previous meeting Minutes - Record of the items discussed (not word-forword) and decisions taken at a meeting Terms of Reference - The statement of the tasks delegated to the committee
Website: http://www.disability.qmul.ac.uk/
Appendix 5 Committee Jargon Agenda - List of items to be discussed at the meeting Any other business - An opportunity to raise items that have arisen after the agenda has been drawn up Chair - Person who presides over the committee Committee papers - Papers to be considered by the committee
Queen Mary Students’ Union, University of London, Blomeley Centre Feilden House Westfield Way London E1 4NP T: 020 7882 8030 F: 020 8981 0802 E: general@qmsu.org