Throughout 2020/21, academic reps from across the University have been working their socks off ensuring that your educational experience is the very best it could be in the most challenging of years. We take a look back at the year and the incredible things achieved by our reps.
This year, academic reps from across the University have been working their socks off ensuring that your educational experience is the very best it could be in the most challenging of years.
Taking your feedback and working with the department to implement change has always had its challenges, but there’s a pretty high chance no one anticipated quite the year we’ve had to face…
Despite all the uncertainty, here’s a look back at the year and the incredible work done by our reps:
Term 1
- Year 1 LLB Course Rep, Charles Drake, met with their course convenor to agree the early release of lectures before the timetabled slot to ensure students on the course had enough time to prepare for the follow-up Q&A.
- PIRP PhD Rep, Scott Downham, sought feedback from students about the University’s COVID-19 measures ahead of attending a meeting with the Deputy Principal.
- MSc Economics and Finance Course Rep, Ronnie Krupa, worked with the Economics department to adjust modules to include topics from modules that were unable to run due to COVID-19, allowing students to specialise in the subjects they had wanted.
- Year 1 Biological Sciences Course Rep, Mayuree Kumkar, highlighted technical issues and miscommunication to their department, requesting that videos were made available for students studying online and offered improvements to the running of MS Teams lectures.
- Year Three Physics Course Rep, Joe Russell-Davis, extended a deadline for a coursework project by a full week – an impact that won him December Rep of the Month!
Term 2
- MSc Digital Marketing Course Rep, Georgina Croasdale, worked with their department’s admin team to communicate the process around attendance monitoring and calm any stresses arising from this, particularly for people with visa requirements, reducing worries for students who were unable to record their attendance.
- Classics Course Rep, Olly Wallace, re-established the Classics Society to create more of a community between people interested in Classics and students within the department.
- MA Screenwriting Course Reps, Katharina Schulze and Denise Likomeno, have been very busy signposting students to relevant services, organising socials for their course to build relationships, and gathering feedback to help improve the organisation of their next course.
- PIR PhD Rep, Scott Downham, raised concerns around the information available to students about the implications of Brexit. This led to someone from the International Student Support team attending the next PGR Forum to address any concerns.
- Year 3 MSci Physics Rep, Maryam Khan, managed to get a deadline moved for a major report meaning that all students on their course didn’t have massive deadlines bunched together.
- Music Department Rep, Maia Jarvis, won Rep of the Month in February for getting an assessment method changed in the Music department.
- MSc Information Security Course Rep, Ginny Spicer, won Rep of the Month in March for getting external lecturers in to demonstrate interesting skills!
This is just a small selection of the great work that’s being done across the University. A huge thank you and well done to all of our academic reps. All reps will be sent a certificate over the summer with those who have gone above and beyond being contacted further to arrange for a LinkedIn recommendation as well!
If this sounds interesting to you, keep your eyes peeled when you come back after the summer break as you’ll be able to volunteer to be a course rep as soon as we come back, and we'll also be opening up nominations to elect our department reps.
Check out the Academic Rep Hub