advice.lusu.co.

uk/dept-reps

WELCOME
Firstly, congratulations on getting yourself elected as the representative for your course. Youll find that getting involved in the Department Rep system will be an extremely worthwhile and rewarding contribution to your Lancaster experience. By becoming a Department Rep, you will find yourself making a difference at Lancaster University for yourself, your course-mates and future students. As a student on the course, nobody knows better than you when something is done well or when things could be better. This makes you the vital link between the student population and the University and means that you are not only adding to your CV but are providing a channel for change in your department, making your time at Lancaster more fulfilling.

The value of achievement lies in the achieving

Great achievements by Department Reps include gaining mentoring for Part 1 students and shortening the turnaround time for essays. You now have the opportunity to act upon your own and your fellow students priorities. This is a great opportunity and we hope that this handbook will help you take on this role; remember that if there is anything that you are still unsure of, even if its an unfamiliar acronym, dont hesitate to contact us we are here to support you and our contact details can be found at the back. Lastly, best of luck for your time as a Department Rep, we look forward to meeting with you. Enjoy it! Alexander Holley, Representation Support Co-ordinator Alex Carlin, LUSU Vice President Academic

Welcome and thank you for becoming part of our Department Representative system. The University places great importance on feedback between staff and students. Mostly this will happen immediately, between lecturers and students on the course, but sometimes there are more general issues which the Department Reps are able to highlight to the department and help to resolve. The Department Reps also play an important role in staff student committees, discussing new ideas and helping to formulate good solutions. An important part of the role is communicating back to your fellow students just how seriously their comments and concerns have been taken and the follow up actions that the department will be taking. I hope you will enjoy being a Department Rep and getting to know more about your department. You will also find that being a Rep enhances your communication and networking skills and sometimes diplomatic ones too! You may want to use the experiences gained as a Department Rep to help you achieve the Lancaster Award.

achieve the Lancaster Award

Good luck and thank you. Professor Amanda Chetwynd, Pro Vice Chancellor, Colleges & Student Life

YOUR ROLE
The heart of the role is in the name. You are an Academic Representative, so by extension your role is to represent students on your respective courses. You are the most important link between students, LUSU and the University. You will know what students think, what they want and you will be crucial in getting out there and acting on behalf of students. Half of it is simply being visible! WHY YOU MATTER Lets face it, nobody is perfect, and that includes the University. Therefore, it is important that there are a number of channels available for feedback whether that is positive or negative our academic representation is a crucial part of this process. EXPECTATIONS OF YOU You are required to attend and participate in all appropriate meetings held by Departments and Faculties. It is further expected that you should provide formal apologies to meetings, if non-attendance is known prior to the event You will be expected to maintain regular contact with your department; however this contact should not be limited to just formal departmental meetings You will be expected to represent the views of the students in your department, regardless of your own personal opinions and beliefs, and where appropriate negotiate with the department on their behalf Ask students how they feel about the course; although you may not necessarily agree with their opinions, it is your job to represent their views You will be required to feed back information to students in your department, including the actions from meetings you have attended, i.e. both University and Union meetings You will be expected to refer issues and casework, where relevant, out to LUSU, University Support Services and any other applicable bodies You are expected to actively promote your position as a Department Rep to students on the course Reps are expected to campaign on relevant issues.

WHAT YOURE GETTING

The role is entirely what you make of it. Being a Department Rep means you are actively involved in the decisions made concerning your department, and more importantly... your degree. TRANSFERABLE SKILLS There are endless transferable skills for you to pick up from the role. The main ones are public speaking, leadership, negotiation, diplomacy, networking, problem solving and time management. Dont come into this expecting to be a pro at everything immediately, we all start somewhere. It is a learning experience too! LANCASTER AWARD SKILLS Becoming a Department Rep helps you work towards your Lancaster Award, more specifically it ticks the Campus, community and social development box. If you are involved in the award, this is a great way to continue your progress. EMPLOYABILITY As you may or may not be aware, employers are looking for more than just a degree certificate these days. By being a Department Rep you will have shown you can handle responsibility outside the realm of academia. FURTHER INCENTIVES If transferable skills, making a difference and Lancaster Award status are not enough for you, then we are thinking of holding a couple of Department Rep socials well need your suggestions!

PERSONAL ISSUES
One small thing to note, particularly after the above section; it is not your responsibility to get involved in your students individual complaints, personal problems or academic difficulties. If someone does come to you with problems that are of that kind, asking you to attend a meeting with them or similar, you should refer them to LUSU Education & Support. Bear in mind that issues of this sort carry the strictest of confidentiality and LUSU are here to support you.

HOW YOU FIT IN

The diagrams below show where you fit in both LUSU and University structures. Communication is key to this process and its important that information should be fed back to all parties.

STUDENT DEPARTMENTAL MEETINGS

Your issues will be raised by your Rep at Departmental Meetings.

FACULTY MEETINGS
Your Faculty Rep will then take issues forward to Faculty meetings.

UNIVERSITY SENIOR COMMITTEES

The VP (Academic) will get information from Faculty Reps and meetings and raise these at University level committees and working groups.

SENATE
Senate has overall control over academic policies and procedures. LUSU Full Time Officers sit on Senate and raise relevant concerns.

YOUR DEPARTMENT
EXPECTATIONS OF YOUR DEPARTMENT 1) Departments will be expected to help in the promotion of Rep elections and take responsibility for the running of elections, as laid out in the University Senate guidance document. 2) Departments will be expected to provide information about meetings, dates/times and venues to the Reps. 3) Departments should be expected to provide documentation to Reps when requested, such as previous agendas, minutes etc. 4) Departments should recommend appropriate members of staff to refer Reps and student issues to. 5) Departments should help encourage and facilitate informal relationships with student Reps, outside of departmental meetings to allow for greater and timelier feedback. 6) Departments should provide information on meeting attendances of Reps to the LUSU VP (Academic), in order to help with the quality assurance process of accreditation.

LANCASTER TEACHING AWARD

The Lancaster Teaching Award recognises excellent teaching by giving students the chance to nominate a teacher who has had an exceptional impact on you and your fellow students learning by going above and beyond what you would normally expect. As a Department Rep listening to the views of your fellow students, you are well placed to acknowledge when you have benefitted from such a teacher. So if you have a lecturer or supervisor whose passion and enthusiasm you have really appreciated then dont forget to nominate them so that they can be considered for the award.

LUSU - THE STUDENTS UNION

Firstly it has to be said that we are here to help you, not to do your job. Hopefully, with our help we will empower you with the tools and the skill set needed to be an effective Department Rep. 1) Training Day: Unfortunately not a bit like the film, but we will run a selection of afternoons where you can come and gain the basic set of skills you will need for success in the role. 2) Continuous Support: We are here to support you, and we will provide you with regular information about what is going on elsewhere in the University, but for this to work out you have to remain in contact with us, the system works better when there is communication between us. 3) Newsletters: We will send you emails every month letting you know what is going on around the University and the relevant issues in Higher Education. Wed like you to be informed in your role as a Rep if you have anything to contribute feel free! 4) Accreditation: This goes on your Degree certificate, and we make sure this happens by putting the information on LUSI. Youll need 66% attendance for this to happen, however. FEEDING BACK TO LUSU You will meet other Department Reps and your Faculty Rep at your faculty forum. This is a great way to feedback into LUSU whats going on in your area. But its not just the students who will benefit from you feeding back information to them; the Students Union also wants to hear about activity within your department. The Union houses full time employees and a full time elected officer who are here to support and advise you. Any concerns or uncertainties you might have, or if youve stumbled across something you think is important you should let LUSU know.

EDUCATION & SUPPORT

LUSU Education & Support offers a free, confidential one-to-one advice service to all undergraduate and postgraduate students. We have three qualified advisors who specialise in a range of areas to meet students academic and welfare needs. These include a trained financial management advisor and an international students advisor, in addition to a fully qualified solicitor in attendance every Thursday. Our fully trained team of advisors are dedicated to ensuring that students receive the correct advice and guidance that is relevant to their individual case. You should never attempt to advise a student yourself; you should always signpost them to the LUSU Education & Support where we will be able to assist them appropriately. Students may approach you with a number of issues or questions relating to their academic studies or well-being. If a student is facing a disciplinary, wishes to appeal to the Registry, submit mitigation circumstances, wishes to intercalate or is facing a Standing Academic Committee, our team of advisors can help them to decide what steps to take next and can also accompany them to any university meetings. You may also come across students who feel that their studies are being affected by their personal well-being or home life. These students should also be signposted to LUSU Education & Support where our experienced advisors can offer them help and assistance with any housing, financial, employment, sexual health or mental well-being matters. We can also provide students with guidance on international student visa advice and assist students with any problems they may be having with their landlord or employer. We also provide a dedicated advice service for postgraduate students, including supervisor issues, disciplinaries, appeals, and Postgraduate Teaching Assistant issues. Students can be signposted to contact us directly or attend a Postgraduate Drop-in session at the Grad College on a Thursday between 1pm-3pm. If you have any questions regarding LUSU Education & Support check out advice.lusu.co.uk.

GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR ROLE

IN YOUR FIRST WEEK Arrange a meeting with the Course/Scheme/Department leader this member of staff managers your area of study and how it is delivered. They are a fountain of knowledge as they will be experienced in their role and will be able to support you in your role. Also, it is good to introduce yourself as you will come into a lot of contact with them. Arrange a meeting with your Representation Support Co-ordinator or VP (Academic). They will be your point of contact for issues relating to being an Academic Rep within LUSU. If you need surveys or focus groups doing these are the people to contact. Make a poster displaying your face, full name and contact details on your department notice board. However, dont feel you have to give our personal email addresses or your mobile number. Use this as an introduction to your peers; in addition, you may want to make yourself known at the next lecture that most of the department you represent attend. It is important to give yourself exposure. SUGGESTIONS FOR THE ROLE Ask your lecturer to give you a minute or so at the start of a lecture to introduce yourself and your role. Consider holding surgeries where students could drop in and have a chat with you. If you feel it would be useful, ask your department for space to hold one every so often. Set up a Facebook group where you can invite people to make them aware of what is happening as some people are more engaged by a Facebook message than a mail to their webmail account. Dont be afraid to ask questions at meetings. Make your points clearly and positively. Take notes at meetings, they will be important, even if someone else is writing the minutes. Get National Student Survey data for your course; it will be useful to base your arguments for particular issues on. It can be a powerful tool.

HOW TO GAUGE STUDENT OPINION

As a rep it is sometimes easy to forget that you are representing the opinion of your course as a whole and not just yourself. At other times it may be that you are representing a small group of students with a specific problem. Nonetheless it is important you actively seek the opinions of people on your course, outside of your own group of friends. Luckily, there are many resources and opportunities available to help you do this. Being able to communicate effectively is a crucial part of being a rep and we are here to help you try these for some ideas: USING DEPARTMENT ADMINISTRATORS In your role they can be your best friend! Ask them for help in sending out emails to the whole group of students to canvas opinion on a particular topic. Were not saying you should get to know their favourite chocolate bar (perhaps you should!) but if they are on board you will find it much easier communicating to students. In addition they will also be useful for getting space on notice boards in the department. You should be using your poster that is provided by us to write the names and contact details of all the reps in your department - make sure this is somewhere prominent; to be the student voice you need to be known! You may want to try and win use of pigeon holes within your department. This would provide a confidential space where your students could drop messages to you and youd have an easily accessible place within the department to see them. FACEBOOK This is simple as it seems. Pretty much (but not quite) everyone uses Facebook, and it is really simple to create a group. You might find it easier to make it a closed group and accept people individually. Ask your department administrator to send out the link in an email. LECTURES You can breathe a sigh of relief as we do not mean standing up and giving a 50 minute presentation! Some lecturers are happy to have students use a couple of minutes at the end of a lecture to canvas opinion on a topic, or even to just promote that you are the rep. Its a good opportunity to get your face out there.

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?

Your job is to represent the students who elected you; it is their issues that you need to communicate. The following list is intended to give you an idea of the types of issues that might be raised which you may want to consider yourself for your year in office. This should serve as a basic guide to the kind of issues that can come up! WORKLOAD Do you have too much work? Now pause for a moment and ask yourself again. Bear in mind youre meant to study most courses in first year for 10 hours a week. If this feeling is shared by others, then bring the opinion to the council. RESOURCES Are the books you need in the library? Do you have access to the journals you need (in hard copy or digital)? Are there enough books? It could be something you bring up in meetings. Does the equipment in your labs/lectures meet your needs? Use the student voice and canvas opinion to help your department make upgrades a priority. ASSESSMENT What is the weighting between course work and examination marks in your course? Find out. Also, you might want to ask if you and your fellow students are happy with the balance and amount of assessment on the course. Are essays timed inconveniently? Do they clash with other exams of the same module, not giving you enough time to work on them? Although you are expected to be flexible as a student you may be able to use your influence to make the system more flexible for students. COURSE STRUCTURE How much time is given to lectures and seminars on your course? It is well known (and expected) that Humanities have less contact time than Sciences, but students on your course may have concerns over how much time is spent in workshops - use your influence and reflect the opinion of your course. Does your course often have lectures which clash with other lectures or complimentary subjects? If enough people are affected then change can happen!

POSTGRADUATE SPECIFIC ISSUES

We recognise that Postgraduate issues will be different and we have a few examples of where to take this role as a Postgraduate: SUPERVISOR ISSUES Postgraduate students will have a supervisor who can help them with many of their issues but what happens if the supervisor is the issue? Problems can arise in many areas of this arrangement such as having inadequate face to face contact, personality conflicts between supervisor and student or disagreements about the direction of the research and thesis. Due to the personal nature of a relationship between supervisor and student then it might be that you do not want to raise the issue directly with the supervisor. Most students should have more than one supervisor which will give them another point of contact for most issues. If this is not the case or the student does not feel comfortable raising the issue with their shadow/backup supervisor they can talk to the postgraduate studies director in their department, the postgraduate studies office in student registry, the LUSU PGR Cross Campus Officer, the PGSA, LUSU Education & Support or the LUSU VP (Academic). Value As a postgraduate, statistically you are likely to be self funded. In addition to this, postgraduates motivations for studying are different to an undergraduates. Therefore you might want to use your position to bring added value to your course through your course mates suggestions. Remember, it is up to you to find out what your cohort want to know. Other things There is no limit to the range of issues you can find - your experience as a postgraduate is different and we realise this. GTAs will have issues regarding tutoring, most PhD students will have differing provision regarding space and equipment; these are all issues you might want to bring up/research as a rep. If you have any questions regarding your role with specific concerns from a PG perspective, dont hesitate to get in touch with us - our contact details are on the back!

MEETINGS
As a Department Rep you will be expected to attend regular (as set by your department) meetings. Mostly these will be Departmental Meetings, but you will occasionally be called to a Faculty meeting organised by your Faculty Rep. Below is a list of terms which you may find useful, if formal meetings are an unfamiliar subject to you. THE AGENDA The list of things to be discussed at the meeting set out in advance. They will sometimes contain attached documents like notes to read, and in most cases you should receive these before the meeting. If you receive an agenda and you are unsure of the topics, either speak to LUSU or ask your departmental administrator for further information. THE CHAIR The person who controls and conducts meetings. Their job is to make sure these meetings run smoothly, that everything is discussed and that everybody gets their chance to speak. AOB Any other business. Simple as that. It is an opportunity for points which may have been missed on the agenda or items which were too late for the agenda to be brought to discussion. THE MINUTES These are the formal notes recording the discussion, actions and decisions taken at the meeting. Generally at the start of a meeting the previous meetings minutes are checked for accuracy as they are a formal document. If you feel you have been misrepresented in the minutes, you should always raise this at the meeting.

JARGON
Academic Council: Advises the Students Union about student policy on educational issues, and represents student views to University bodies where decisions are made. Faculty: Groupings of departments within similar subject spheres. There are four faculties at Lancaster University, all departments sit within one of these. The Faculties are; Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), the Management School (LUMS), Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) and the School of Health and Medicine (SHM) Faculty Forum: A meeting of all the Department Reps for one of the four specific faculties. Each faculty forum elects a number of Department Reps to sit on Academic Council. Faculty Rep: A representative elected to voice the views of one of the four University faculties in large University meetings. You will meet these people at your faculty forum; they are typically elected in the LUSU elections, week 8 of Michaelmas term. GTA: Graduate Teaching Assistant LTA: Learning, Teaching, and Assessment NSS: National Student Survey PGT: Postgraduate Taught Student (usually Masters Students on one year courses) PGR: Postgraduate Research Student (usually PhD students) PTES/PRES: Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey / Postgraduate Research Experience Survey. QAA: Quality Assurance Agency SLA: Student Learning Advisers. There is one based in each faculty to provide academic support to students. TQSO: Teaching Quality Support Officers are based in each faculty and organise faculty based meetings.

FEEDBACK & CONTACTS

FEEDING BACK TO THE STUDENTS It is important and, moreover, essential to your job that you tell your students what you have been doing, and make yourself visible to them. When students come to you with a problem about their course, it is critical that you get back to them and update them on the progress of their request because it is, in reality, what you have been elected to do. You are the liaison between students and staff. You are not a superhero, this is expected, but even if you cant solve every problem, it is important to make people know you have raised the issue. USEFUL CONTACTS There are several people within LUSU Education & Supportwho will be able to assist you in your role. These include: Alexander Holley Representation Support Co-ordinator a.holley@lancs.ac.uk // 01524 (5)92344 He is the person you will have the most contact with. Alex co-ordinates activities for reps and liaises with Departments to ensure the smooth running of the Department Rep system. Alex Carlin LUSU Vice President Academic lusu.vp.academic@lancs.ac.uk // 01524 (5)92202 He is the other person you will have a lot of contact with. He is the full time elected officer who is principally in charge of academic reps, campaigns and a variety of other activities. Pete Woodward Education & Policy Adviser p.woodward@lancs.ac.uk // 01524 (5)924327 Pete is a specialist in dealing with academic problems. If you feel unsure of how to deal with an issue, you should refer students to him.