Postgraduate Academic Representation Handbook 2010-11smallProof

8/8/2019 Postgraduate Academic Representation Handbook 2010-11smallProof

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Postgraduate Academic Representation

Page 1imperialcollegeunion.org/trainingimperialcollegeunion.org

Postgraduate Academic

Representation Handbook 2010/11


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ContentsContents 2

Introduction (Union) 3-5

Overview 5

Introduction (GSA) 6-7

Why Become a rep? 8

Personal & Proessional

Development

8

Recognition 8

Group/Division/Section/Course/Representatives (Roles &

Responsibilities)

9-13

At the beginning 9

During the year Dealing with issues 10

Disseminating inormation 11

Monitoring 13

Departmental Representatives(Roles & Responsibilities)

14-18

At the beginning 14

During the year Managing Section/Course/Group

Representatives

15

Sta-Student Committee (SSC)

meetings

16

Departmental Society 17

Academic & Welare Ofcers(Roles & Responsibilities)

19-21

At the beginning 19

During the year Faculty Academic and Welare

Committee meetings

20

Working with Graduate Schools 20

Communication 22

Support and Resources 22

Meetings 23-25

Suggested agenda template or all

meetings

24-25

Useul Contacts 26

Useul Links 27


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Page 3imperialcollegeunion.org/training

Introduction (Union)

Alex Dahinton

Deputy President (Education)

E: [email protected]

T: 020 7594 8060, extension: 45646

Andrew Keenan

Representation CoordinatorE: [email protected]

T: 020 7594 5387, extension: 45387

Welcome to your new wonderul

position as an Imperial College student

Representative. This handbook has beendesigned not only to assist you in being

the best Rep you can be, but also to

show you how to make the most o this

year!

Over 5,000 postgraduate students

currently study at Imperial College,

split evenly between PhD and Masters

courses. Students work in their groups

or cohorts, but ultimately each student

is in a unique situation and experiences

their own interactions with College.

Problems arise every day and student

representation can provide many levels

o support to help resolve issues as they

materialise. This handbook has essential

inormation, advice and guidance that will

assist you through your year as a student

Rep. There will be times when it can

either give you the answer or show you

where to go or help. It is designed to be

used throughout the year.

Representation brings power to the

students. As a Rep you have been

allocated the authority and control tobring up issues which College is not

aware o and kick them in the shins

(not literally!) when issues are not being

resolved. At Imperial, a sophisticated

postgraduate academic representation

structure brings power to each student

through Division/Section/Group or

Course Representatives,

Departmental Representatives and

Academic & Welare Ocers, within the

Graduate Students Association. Oten

problems can be solved by students andsta within the same area, but when they

are not solved to a students satisaction,

help rom individuals at other levels o

Union representation are at hand.


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The double arrow lines are there or a

good reason: two-way communication

is completely undamental to asuccessul year o representation! Any

break in the above structure means

either issues students raise are not

brought up in higher committees, or

the students become unaware o the

hard work being done by their reps.

Last years PG Welare Survey showed

that postgraduate students can eel

isolated. Thereore, we aim to have a

student representative known to each

student as part o our eorts to developthe work o the GSA and build a strong

postgraduate community.

Heres to a successul year!

Alex Dahinten, and Andrew Keenan

The ollowing gure illustrates this

structure:

Deputy President (Education) Representation Coordinator

GSA President

Academic & Welfare Officers (AWO)

Division Representatives

Departmental Representatives

Union President

Section Representatives

Masters Course Representatives

Group Representatives

FU PresidentGraduate School Liaison


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Overview

Course/Group Rep: Deals with their

immediate course or group; the ground

level o the system, reporting up to

Departmental Reps.

Departmental Rep: Organises the

Masters and PhD course/group reps

across their whole Department; has

regular meetings with them, and reports

up to Academic & Welare Ocer.

Academic & Welare Ofcer: One

AWO per aculty; each AWO organises

the Dep Reps o their aculty and meets

them regularly. AWOs attend Graduate

Schools meetings and are members

o the GSA Executive. These roles are

explained ully later in this handbook.

Postgraduate Tutor: Responsible

or the overall smooth running o all

postgraduate issues in a department,

whether academic or otherwise.

Postgraduate Administrator: The non-academic administrative heart o each

department, useul or sta and student

details and disseminating inormation.

He/she can send emails out to your

cohort i required.

Course Director: The organiser

o a Masters course, who takes

responsibility or its smooth running

and academic rigour. A good person to

approach with questions about a course.


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Introduction (GSA)

Deena Blumenkrantz

GSA President

E: [email protected] Group: Imperial College

London Graduate Students Association

events. As student representatives, it

is imperative that you help the Events

Team advertise by word o mouth.

Furthermore, collaborating with your

Departmental Society is a great way to

get your ellow postgrads to mingle witheach other socially and/or academically.

Throughout the year, we work closely

with both the Union, as well as the

Graduate Schools. Every postgraduate

student at Imperial is a member o one o

the two Graduate Schools the Graduate

School o Lie Sciences and Medicine

(GSLSM), or the Graduate School o

Engineering and Physical Sciences

(GSEPS). These provide transerable

skills training or research students

Hi guys! Im Deena and I am the

Graduate Student Association (GSA)

President this year. The GSA is the

postgraduate arm o Imperial College

Union; it is student-led and supported

by both Union and College sta. It

operates as a network o postgraduate

students (you!) who proactively decided

to participate in moulding the educational

experience at Imperial. We aim to

build a PG community by representing

postgraduates when they need academic

or welare related support as well asbring postgraduates together, breaking

down aculty, department and divisional

separations by holding social events

and supporting online interactions. The

social side o the GSA is supported by

the Events Team, a group o enthusiastic

volunteers who plan, advertise and und


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and quality assurance or postgraduate

courses. They also hold events and

recruit new students. Much like the

Union, they regularly review all their

programmes and bring sta together

to spread best practice. The GraduateSchools will be celebrating their tenth

birthday this year and a series o un

commemorative events have been

planned.

Finally, there are three Faculty Unions:

Royal College o Science Union (RCSU),

City & Guilds Union (CGCU) and

Imperial College School o Medicine

Students Union (ICSMSU) and there

are also two Constituent Unions: Royal

Society o Mines (RSM) and Silwood

Park Union. While the GSA integrates

postgraduates across aculties, the

Faculty Unions integrate undergraduates

and postgraduates within similar research

areas. Faculty Unions address issues

both socially and academically, organisingevents such as balls, guest lectures and

competitions as well as oering support

and representation or their members.

Im looking orward to working with each

and every one o you, and am sure that

together we can make sure that every

postgraduate at Imperial is both well-

represented, and enjoys their time at this

great institution!

Deena Blumenkrantz


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Why become a rep? What will I get out o it?

One who earns leadership o the masses

by working ceaselessly or peoples

welare nally realises that he has beenrewarded with many added advantages.

Atharva Veda

Be reassured: the primary reward o

being a rep is in the satisaction o

having made a dierence. Not just by

helping your ellow students overcome

diculties but also by infuencing

opinions and decisions directly aecting

your group/department/aculty. The

changes you make will be apparent in

your and your ellow students courses.

It takes a stagnant institution to be ree

o problems or resolution and there

will always be a need or academic

representation. The most satised,

ullled students will still have issues to

raise, and it is oten the very best, most

eective sta who will take advantage

o our representative capabilities the

most. The College itsel is aware o

the importance o an eective student

representation system, and is supportive

o your eorts i students cannot

raise the issues which prevent constantimprovement o Colleges academic

oerings, then who will?

Personal & Proessional Development

But theres even more in it or you.

Alongside the knowledge that you will

have made a dierence to how well

you and your peers have been taught

or supervised, being a rep is an ideal

way to work on your own developmentwhich means your time as a rep can

have benets long ater your thesis is

completed and you start the next stage

o your academic career.

These benets can be both personal and

proessional, and can be an invaluable

boost to your employability. Being an

eective rep will mean being procient

in teamwork, time management,

interpersonal communication, and

problem solving. The best thing is, you

arent learning these in the abstract you

will be experiencing them rst-hand with

real consequences, and employers value

that above almost everything else.

More inormation on what being a rep

can oer you, and how to develop your

skills, will be available rom the Union

website.

Recognition

This year, we have introduced a

special award or the most dedicatedrepresentatives. On top o receiving

Union colours, you could be singled

out as one o the best reps in your

aculty. The award can be won by any

kind o rep, and each aculty will have

at least one winner. We will be looking

at attendance throughout the year, as

well as enthusiasm and innovation in

representing your peers.


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Whichever kind o representative you are,please read through this entire section

and make sure you understand the

responsibilities o each member o the

representation structure.

The representatives who work in closest

contact with their ellow students are

the Section/Group Representatives (or

PhD research sections/groups) or Course

Representatives (or MSc, MRes, CAS

and MA courses). I you are a Group/

Course Rep or volunteer, you will most

likely be appointed in the rst ew weeks

o the academic year. Congratulations!

In brie, your duty is to represent all

students in your immediate group or

course within your College Department.

You report to your Departmental

Representative. (see Page 14), passing

dicult systemic problems up to them

and eeding your communications and

achievements back to the students in

your year.

As a Group/Course Representative, yourduties are straightorward but vital. You

are the only representatives in direct

contact with the students you are serving

and thereore act as their rst point

o call when problems arise. You are

instrumental in academic representation,

as the primary means o communication

between the representative structure,

College sta and the student body.

Group/Division/Section/CourseRepresentatives (Roles & Responsibilities)

At the beginning

Your rst task is to make yoursel known

to your peers. Volunteering or or being

elected as a Rep is just the start; once

you are in the position, you must make

your role absolutely clear to your peers so

that they can use your power eectively.

Start o by sending an email to everyone

in your group or course (talk to your

course director or administrator to nd

out how to do this). It may be best to

orward the email to them and ask them

to send it. In this email, you should:

Introduceyourselfastheir

Representative

Outlinewhatyourroleis,includingyour

responsibility o relating issues to sta

and upwards where necessary

Givethemcontactdetails-thisis

usually just your email address.

Alsogivethemthenameandemail

address o your Departmental

Representative - you are accountable to

your ellow students, but i you are ill,away on a conerence or holiday or just

going through an intensely busy time,

your Departmental Representative is a

good next point o contact or them.

Keeparelaxed,informaltoneyouare

their peer but write a smart and easy-

to-read email.

Introduceyourselftokeystaffaswell.


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During the year: dealing with issues

arising

I you have made your role clear to

your ellow students, it wont be long

beore they rst approach you. Whenthis happens, your rst task is to gather

inormation on the issue. Ask yoursel:

WhatEXACTLYistheproblem?If

its not an academic issue, it is out

o your scope: reer them elsewhere

(see Useul Contacts). Talk to all the

students involved in the issue until you

are completely clear about it.

Whodoesitaffect?Whichstudentor

group o students? This could range

rom one student to the entire college.

Issues aecting one student must

still be dealt with but may have to be

deprioritised in avour o problems

aecting many people, or may require

particular care to maintain the students

right to privacy or even anonymity.

Howdoesitaffectthosestudents?

In what way are they pressured or

disadvantaged? Try to assess the

nature and the extent o the eect by

talking to them.

Occasionally, you might be presented

with a problem that is best solved by theColleges and Unions welare sta. I so,

direct the student to the right member

o sta be that a College Tutor, the

Deputy President (Welare) or the

Student Advisor.

At this point you are in a position to

decide where to take the issue. It may

be appropriate to simply monitor the

situation. In this case simply drop

your Dep Rep an email to describe the

situation and notiy them that you are

monitoring it. In the case that you eel

elevating an issue is appropriate, decidewhether or not it is best to approach

the sta you are amiliar with or have a

member o the representation structure

bring it up with their superiors.

.

Broadly speaking, elevating an issue

means taking it along one o two

routes: directly to departmental sta,

or up to the next level o the student

representation structure. The appropriate

route is at your discretion.

Ifyoubelieveyourissuecould

benet rom consideration by your

departmental sta, make it happen.

Despite your usual point o contact

with sta being at Sta-Student

meetings, you do not need to wait or

these meetings to bring up issues.

Either drop into the oce o your sta

contact, ring them or write them an

email, while the issue is resh in your

mind.

Ifyouareunsureofhowaproblem

might be solved OR a problem

remains unsatisactorily addressedater a Sta-Student Meeting OR there

is some complication (e.g. personal

privacy issues) you must elevate the

issue to the next level o the student

representation structure: your Dep

Rep. I they do not respond, notiy your

Academic & Welare Ocer (see page

17).


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In certain circumstances, generally urgent academic problems that require immediate

attention, do not wait or the next Sta-Student meeting or or your next meeting with

your Departmental Representative. Speak to a member o your departmental stadescribing the problem and its urgency, or to your AWO/GSA President (see page 5).

During the year: disseminating inormation

Just as you are responsible or representing the views and experience o your section/

group or year to College sta and Departmental Representatives, you are responsible

or disseminating inormation down to the student body too!

All aspects o your active representation must be made transparent to the

students you are representing.

Where you are bringing an issue to the attention o sta or other representatives, you

must ensure that all students involved in the issue are inormed and kept updated.

This might be an acknowledgement o the issue and a promise to investigate urther.

It might be an explanation o the rationale behind the decision not to act or it might be

a proposed solution to the issue.

I you report an issue to sta, inorm your students so that they know that the issue is

being dealt with.

I you receive any response rom sta concerning the issue, report it to your students.

I you elevate an issue to other representatives, inorm your students so that they

know that the issue is being dealt with.

Should you nd out that any decision has been or could be made by your department

that could aect students academic aairs in any way, whether positive or negative,

try to inorm your students as soon as possible to allow them to consider the decision

and respond through you.

Throughout the year, you will be asked by your Departmental Representative/

Academic and Welare Ocer (AWO)/ Deputy President (Education)/ Representation

Coordinator to disseminate inormation to your peers.


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This may range rom emails asking them to participate in one o our surveys, to vital

academic inormation updates. Please make sure that this ino reaches the students

quickly!

Communicating your achievements and new inormation down to the students is

important or two reasons:

Representationcannotbesaidtobeeffectiveifthecommunicationisonlyone-way.

A continuous eed o inormation back to students is essential and gives students

perspective on the matter: i a request is unrealistic, the students must know.

Likewise, i a solution has been reached, the students must be inormed.

Fortheeffectiverepresentationofanygroupofpeople,thegroupmusthaveahigh

level o trust in the representative. Much o this trust must be built rom scratch; the

only way to do it is to prove your value as a representative by directly involving your

students in every matter you deal with. By creating trust in you, it is more likely that

students will eel ree to make use o your representative capabilities.


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During the year: monitoring

Your job is both reactive and proactive.While primarily you are the rst calling

point when your peers encounter

any sort o blip in your academic

environment, it is also very useul to go

out to collect inormation rom them.

By keeping your ear to the ground and

picking up early anything that has the

potential to become a problem, you are

in a ar, ar better position to deal with it

than i you wait until the problem comes

to you.

This includes keeping a close eye on

your own personal academic aairs. You

are your best judge o the quality o your

course. Ask yoursel:

AmIenjoyingdoingthisoramInding

it particularly unpleasant? I I am nding

it unpleasant, is it a problem with the

teaching or administration that could

possibly benet rom representative

attention?

AmIlearningfromthis?Ifnot,isita

problem that could possibly benet

rom representative attention?AmIndingitdifculttokeepupwith

the work? Is it because Im being given

too much o it?

Isthereanyotherproblemthat

is making it harder to learn than

necessary?

First, ask yoursel these questions.

Then consider how others might answer

them. Ask some o your ellow studentsdirectly, or stand in ront o your peers

and poll them. Monitoring your group

or cohort or potential issues is a

continual process, so you should never

stop considering these questions. Be

prepared to ask your peers on a regular

basis what their eelings are.

In democracy everyone has the right to

be represented, even the jerks.

Chris Patten

I youre not sure whether a problem is

worth tackling or not, whether it seems

completely insolvable or completely

trivial, elevate it anyway. It is always

worth trying. Imperial is only a world-

leading institution through attention to

detail and every detail is worth checking.


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Departmental Representatives(Roles & Responsibilities)

Dep Reps have an important role to playor the Transerable Skills programme

run by the Graduate Schools. Forums

held have shown that rst year PhD

students want to hear rom 2nd and 3rd

year students in their department about

which courses would be most benecial

to them. Gather inormation rom 2nd

and 3rd year students on courses which

they have most enjoyed and pass this

on to new students. It is important that

people attend the courses that best

meet their needs, suggest that they

read the course descriptions (http://

www3.imperial.ac.uk/graduateschools/

transerableskillstraining) and use the

online calendar. I you have suggestions

or new courses or any problems with

existing courses, contact Caroline

[email protected] or

[email protected] with

the inormation; oten issues can be

resolved quickly and inormally.

As Departmental Representatives, you

take ultimate responsibility or making

sure the postgraduate student voice inyour department is heard. You may have

been elected beore the start o the year

in order to enable you to prepare or the

coming year and begin your job as soon

as teaching starts.

At the heart o the representation

structure, you are the link between the

Course and Group Reps within yourdepartment and the Academic & Welare

Ocer or your Faculty. I you drop out

o the structure, you disconnect your

entire department, preventing multiple

Masters courses and several research

groups rom being represented. It is good

practice to ensure your have deputised

your role in your absence.

Its also your role to manage the

Section/Group/Course Representative

system below you and make sure it is

communicating upwards and downwards

and thus working eectively.

At the beginning

Every department will hold a PG

Induction event at the start o each

academic year, at which the Dep Rep

gives a short speech on useul contacts,

health and saety issues etc. This is an

opportunity to introduce yoursel, and

the GSA, to new students. Try to meet

those postgraduates who miss these

initial events (e.g those who startedlater in the year). Weve put together a

template presentation or you, which you

can nd on the GSA website (see useull

links), along with the training materials.

Contact your PG Sta to ensure that you

invited to this event.


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Beore you can ull your role, Section/

Course/Group Representatives below

you must be in place, doing their job.

So your rst task is to ll any vacant

Section/Course/Group Representatives

positions and brie them. The sooneryou do this, the sooner your department

will be eectively represented! Choose

an appropriate time to carry out both o

these things; they should happen about

two or three days apart, to give them a

chance to decide whether they should

stand or election or not. Contact the

Representation Coordinator or a guide

on holding elections.

([email protected]).

Brieng them involves presenting the

role o Representative to them: you must

make it sound appealing while ensuring

they understand the responsibilities o

the job. Remember to tell them when

you will be returning to hold the election.

You could bring some copies o this

guide or them to read: leave them on a

desk as you leave so that those who are

interested can consider standing at their

own leisure.

Holding the election is simple. A secret

ballot will suce:

Askforthosewhowishtostandtocome orward

Giveeachcandidateaminuteortwoto

present their maniesto to the Cohurt/

Group and answer any questions

Remindtheclassthattheycanalso

vote to re-open nominations (vote or

RON) i they dont wish to elect any o

the candidates

Sendthecandidatesoutoftheroom

and count votes or each candidate and

RON

Allowthembackinandannouncethe

result o the election

I you so wish, you can hold an online

election. Contact

[email protected] or more

inormation.

Now that your Course/Group

Representatives team has been

established, make sure that you

introduce yoursel personally to them

as their Departmental Representative

and take a note o their names and CID

numbers. Make sure you send this

list o names to the Deputy President

(Education) right ater getting them so

that the Union can populate the Rep

database.

During the year: managing Section/

Course/Group Representatives

Just as Section/Course/Group

Representatives have a responsibility

to continuously monitor the students

they represent, picking up issues quickly

to minimise any negative impact, you

have a responsibility to monitor them,encouraging them to keep all their

communication channels open and their

ear to the ground. As a representative

yoursel, you should also remain very

close to the student body, being

prepared to talk to individual students as

necessary.


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The contact you have with sta is similar

to the contact the Section/Course/

Group Representatives have: Sta-Student Committee meetings, but you

should also make sure you have good

communication lines with your Director

o Postgraduate Studies (DPS). In eect,

your ability to engage sta in dialogue is

no dierent rom theirs: anything you can

talk to sta about, they can talk to sta

about. So why should they elevate issues

to you? There are many reasons:

Achancefordialogue:bybringing

issues to your attention and

the attention o their ellow

Representatives, you can explore

the issue in great detail: are any

other years o the course or research

area experiencing this problem? Did

previous years experience it? Is it really

an issue at all?

Itcanthenbeelevatedfurther:toyour

Academic & Welare Ocer.

Where issues come to your attention,

your duty is very similar to that o a

Section/Course/Group Representative:do some triage (see page 10 or

questions to ask yoursel). I you believe,

ollowing discussion between you and

your Reps, that bringing the issue back

to a Sta-Student meeting would be

benecial, then do this. I you have hit

a dead end, or you believe the issue

has consequences with a wider range

than your department, or you wish to

discuss the issues with a more senior

representative or any other reason, then

elevate the issue to your Academic &

Welare Ocer.

During the year: Staff-Student

Committee (SSC) meetings

Sta Student Committee meetings are

your time to shine as Dep Reps. You

have the opportunity to bring up your

peers problems with your sta and can

monitor their willingness to deal with

issues. A ew weeks beore the meeting

takes place, make sure that your Reps

have collected a list o positive and

negative issues that aect them. Have aRep Meeting with them, and decide on

which issues are worth bringing up with

the Sta. You should not eel intimidated

by your College Sta; however always

remember to be respectul and

knowledgeable about what you have

to say (see Meetings section or more

inormation).

Your biggest responsibility lies in

organising meetings, allowing your

Section/Course/Group Representatives

to elevate issues to you in a ormalway. These meetings should occur at

least once a term where possible, in

time or aculty meetings. You and your

Course/Group Reps must attend these

meetings; it is ne or anyone else to

attend these meetings as well and it is

a good idea to invite your Academic &

Welare Ocer to attend.


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Ater the meetings, there are two vital

things you need to do:

1.Send a short (and relevant) summary

o the SSC meeting and what was

discussed, to the Postgraduates in yourdepartment. Keep it short and sweet,

however make sure that students know

what is happening behind the scenes

is your department. There may be

circumstances where your Department

Sta will ask you to keep issues to

yoursel or the time being, so please

respect these wishes.

Remember to cc in your AAO (see

Contacts) when you send these

reports to your departments.

2. As soon as you get access to the

meeting minutes, send a copy to

the Representation Coordinator

([email protected]).

Together with the Deputy President

(Education), he has a combined

responsibility to monitor the quality

o representation and teaching

across College. By condensing and

collating all o the SSC minutes and

correspondences rom Departmental

Representatives at the end o

each term, your Deputy President(Education) can:

Assesstheeffectivenessof

representation within each

department, by refecting on the

readiness o the departments sta

to listen and respond to the student

voice.

Identifystrongrepresentativesfor

recognition and nomination or Union

Colours awards.

LettheQualityAssuranceAdvisory

Committee(QAAC)knowhow

departments are responding to the

issues brought up by students in his or

her termly presentations to them.

The strategic advantage o this is

enormous: College is very keen to

oster a culture o constant academic

quality review and improvement

involving student representatives.

Where a department consistently ails

to satisactorily address issues raised

by Representatives, Colleges senior

academic sta will readily investigate

and make recommendations directly to

the department, concerning both the

original issues raised and their ongoing

responsiveness to students.

During the year: Departmental Society

Although the students you represent are

ultimately at Imperial to get a world-class

degree, they also want to have un in

their ree time! Departmental Societies

are a great way o getting to know the

people on your course through activities

related or unrelated to your subject.

These are people you already have

something in common with so can bea good place to start nding riends. To

get involved with your Dep Soc, check

imperialcollegeunion.org.uk or the A-Z

and contact details.

Becoming active in your Dep Soc is a

great way o allowing networking and

team building opportunities to develop

within your department and they are


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Academic & Welare Ofcers

(Roles & Responsibilities)

As Academic & Welare Ocer(AWO), you ultimately are in charge

o the representation network in your

Faculty. Whether you are in Medicine,

Lie Sciences, Physical Sciences,

Engineering, or a non-aculty subject

such as Business or Humanities,

everyone is represented at Imperial and

it is your job to make sure that the Reps

you oversee are doing this job well. You

are the glue that keeps the rep system

within your aculty intact. Throughout

the year you will work closely with

your ellow AWOs, GSA ocers, the

Deputy President (Education), and the

Representation Coordinator, as well as

College sta.

Its your role to make sure that Group/

Section/Course and Department Reps

are doing their jobs, including reporting

up and down. O all the reps in your

department, you will have the most

contact with the College and its most

senior sta through the numerous

dierent committees you sit on, such as

the Graduate School management andquality committees.

All AWOs sit on the GSA Executive

Committee, alongside the GSA President

and Directors rom the Events Team. The

GSA is the branch o Imperial College

Union dedicated solely to postgraduates,

and its overall aim is to create a strong

postgraduate community at Imperial

while ullling the representational andsocial needs o its students.

At the beginning

The best way to start o your new job is

by making sure your Departmental Reps

know who you are. Contact them soon

and begin to come up with a strategy

or the year ahead. Just like or every

elected position, your Dep Reps will be

very keen to dive into their jobs once

they begin in October, so you should

aim to use this positive enthusiasm to

your advantage. Dep Reps will be ull o

ideas at the start, so it is important that

you meet with them to capture these

ideas early on and discuss whether

or not actions are easible within their

respective departments.

As mentioned elsewhere in this

handbook, your role is proactive as well

as reactive, so make sure to gather all

the maniesto points and proposals

o your reps, combine them with your

goals or the year, and begin to developyour own agenda rather than waiting

or issues to come up. I you keep

the Deputy President (Education),

Representation Coordinator and GSA

President aware o these plans, they can

assist you, and make sure that eort

is not being unnecessarily duplicated

across College.


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It is vital that you remain in continuous

contact throughout the year with

your Dep Reps; establishing a goodrelationship with them will make your

job much easier! Be approachable and

riendly with them, so that they eel

comortable seeking you out or advice.

All this goes or the sta in your Faculty

too; representation is cooperation, not

battle, and maintaining a riendly rapport

with your sta will go a long way to

smoothing the path or your proposals.

Introduce yoursel to them early i you

dont know them already, and keep in

regular contact about the progress o

various issues and the latest news rom

their Group and Course Reps.

During the year: Faculty Academic &

Welare Committee meetings

As AWO, it is your responsibility to

organise the Academic & Welare

Committee (AWC) meetings. These

meetings are a chance or Departmental

Representatives rom within your

Faculty to come together and discuss

representation issues. There should bea minimum o at least one every term,

although two are recommended. During

these meetings, every Departmental

Rep is asked to provide a short overview

about how things are running in their

department. I a representative cannot

make it to the meeting, still ask them to

send you an overview. The idea behind

this is to engage the representatives

to help each other out, and to share

best practice between departments.Unresolved issues which have been

brought to Dep Reps by their Group/

Section/Course Reps during other

meetings should be brought up here, as

well as any other (positive and negative)

issues they are working on.

Make sure that at the beginning o the

meeting one rep volunteers to take the

minutes and note down action points.

These do not need to be incredibly

detailed, but rather will serve as a

record or yourselves and as a way to

keep the Deputy President (Education),

Representation Coordinator and the GSA

President in the loop.

Ater these have been typed up, make

sure to send them to the Deputy

President (Education), Representation

Coordinator, GSA President and all o

your Dep Reps, within fve days o the

meeting.

During the Year: working with Graduate

Schools

Every postgraduate student at Imperial

is a member o one o the two Graduate

Schools the Graduate School o Lie

Sciences and Medicine (GSLSM), or

the Graduate School o Engineering and

Physical Sciences (GSEPS).


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The Graduate Schools have three key committees each, detailed below; the AWOs

are members o each committee, as are the GSA President and Deputy President

(Education).

The Graduate Schools remit is to provide Transerable Skills training or research

students, quality assurance or postgraduate courses, events to bring PG studentstogether in an inormal setting and recruit new students. Much like the Union, they

regularly review all their programmes and bring sta together to spread best practice.

The Graduate Schools will be celebrating their tenth birthday in the coming months,

and a series o commemorative events have been planned.

College committees AWOs sit on:

.

There is one o each committee in each Grad School; these committees each

meet between three and fve times a year.

AWOs are also members o the Unions Representation and Welare Board (RWB) andUnion Council. RWB meets once a month to discuss representation and welare o

both undergraduate and postgraduate students. It can also award grant money to the

GSA to support activities related to representation and welare o postgraduates. The

Union Council meets once a month and is the ultimate policy-making body o Imperial

College Union.

The representation Coordinator will keep AWOs up-to-date with meeting times and

places, and the papers will be sent to each AWO in advance o the meeting.

Oversees the activities o the entire Graduate

School,andreceivestheminutesofthePQC

and ATC. All Directors o Postgraduate Study

are members, as are the Deputy President

(Education) and the GSA President.

Management Committee (MC)

Postgraduate Quality Committee (PQC)

Oversees the maintenance o standards

in postgraduate courses and research

programmes, and approves new courses.

Academic Training Committee (ATC)

Oversees the training and transerable skills

programmes or postgraduate research

students.


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Communication

The single biggest problem in

communication is the illusion that it has

taken place.George Bernard Shaw

The importance o communication is

brought up in almost every section o this

handbook, but we think it is so crucial

to an eective system o representation

that its worth mentioning again.

Furthermore, it comes in many orms.

From the Deputy President (Education)

to each and every Rep or every single

course and research group, there must

be a constant fow o inormation back

and orth about the various issues being

brought up and solved. This allows

progress to be tracked and momentum

maintained. Otherwise, problems ail

to be solved and the crucial trust in the

representation system is weakened.

Division/Section/Group and Course

Reps must also be pro-active in seeking

out the opinions o their classmates or

ellow researchers whether through

surveys and emails, or simply through

conversations with their peers. Aproblem that is not communicated to

the Rep cannot be solved; a problem

that is sorted, but the students are let

uninormed, allows stress and anxiety

to persist long ater it should have been

relieved.

Support and Resources

Starting this year, Imperial College Unionhas a member o sta who will assist

and support the entire representation

system Andrew Keenan, the

Representation Coordinator. His role is

to take the administrative and support

tasks away rom Sabbatical Ocers and

representatives, to allow them to ocus

on their goals and their cohorts. I you

could do with assistance in your role,

such as help ormulating a survey or

organising meetings, please get in touch.

We have also created a sotware-based

system to capture and track issues

raised across College by representatives

to ensure that progress on every issue

is monitored, and no problem alls

through the cracks. You can add any

issues to this system by contacting

the Representation Coordinator and

the system is explained on the Union

website.


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Meetings

The best meetings are:

Relaxed and enjoyable. Meetings arenot meant to be intimidating aairs.

As students, your task is to make the

meeting as productive as possible;

meeting etiquette is nothing special,

just common sense.

Productive and satisying. I there

is anything being reported to the

meeting, the chair should have emailed

it around to the committee members

beorehand as meeting papers, and it

is absolutely key that everyone who

attends has read these papers in

advance.

Timely. Start on time and nish

quickly.

On topic throughout. I you have

an issue to bring up that is relevant

to the meeting but unrelated to the

topic being discussed, wait or an

appropriate moment so that the current

topic does not get unnecessarily cut

short.

Each member o a committee should

be prepared to contribute to any o the

matters arising in a meeting beore itstarts; this is achieved with the agenda

and papers. Expect to be emailed an

agenda in advance o the meeting that

mentions each matter or discussion

in a list. I any matters on the agenda

involve a document o interest, be it a

report, a letter, an email, a proposal or

a page o lecture notes, you will receive

the document as a paper attached to

the agenda. Finally, with the agenda and

papers you should receive a copy o the

minutes rom the previous meeting.

I you are reporting to a meeting,

submit any papers as soon as the

Chair requests them, in order that they

can be distributed to all members o a

committee or reading in advance o the

meeting.

Check your emails to nd the agenda,

papers and previous minutes. Read them

thoroughly in advance, and print them

to bring to the meeting. They can be

printed or ree in the Student Activities

Centre (SAC) on level 2M o the Union

building. Where you have a comment to

make, highlight and make annotations so

that you are best prepared to bring it up

constructively in the meeting.

Finally, there is no such thing as a stupid

question. A meeting will not work i

each attendee is not on an even keel,

so i you have read the minutes rom

the previous meeting and the papers in

advance, and you still are unamiliar with

something, do not be ashamed to ask oran explanation or a denition, and do not

be reluctant to give someone else such

an explanation.

A guide to getting the most out o your

meetings is available on the Union

website (imperialcollegeunion.org).


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This year, College has agreed that eedback should be a standing point on all

meeting agendas. This means that you need to make sure that it is discussed

at every SSC meeting, and i it is not then bring it up with the Departmental

Representative. Feedback relating to the Transerable Skills Programme should also

be considered.

Feedback rom supervisors and course work should also be discussed at Academic

& Welare Committee meetings.

The template on page 25 has been prepared or two purposes:

IndepartmentswherestudentshistoricallysetuptheStaff-Studentmeetings,you

may nd it useul to use this agenda as a starting point when you prepare agendas

or the meetings.

Itdetailsthecurrentstandingagendaitemsassetbyseniorqualityassurance

sta at Imperial. It is your responsibility to ensure that all o these standing agenda

items are discussed exhaustively. They should be points o discussion at all Faculty

and Departmental representation meetings as well, and the dialogue between

Representatives and students should always touch on these topics (particularly

eedback and supervision), in order that the discussions at all meetings are well-

inormed.

Suggested agenda template or all meetings


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_____________________ Committee Meeting

Department/Division: ______________

Held on (date & time): ______ _______________ 20___ at ___:___

1. Apologies or absence

2. Approve: Minutes o the last meeting, held on (date) __________

3. Standing agenda items

3.1. Review Surveys

3.1.1. Comment on participation levels?

3.1.2. Comment on ndings?

3.1.3. What actions will be/have been taken?

3.2. Personal Tutoring:

3.2.1. Comment on quality o personal tutoring/ Supervisor

3.3. Feedback:

3.3.1. Comment on quality o eedback rom supervisors/coursework

3.4. Positive Developments:

3.4.1 Comment on noteworthy examples o good or improved practice

4. Matters arising rom students

4.1. To consider: __________ raised by (e.g. Course Representative (MSC

Structural Steel Design))

4.2. To consider: __________ raised by (e.g. Departmental Representative)

4.3. To consider: __________ raised by (e.g. Group Representative (Control andPower, EEE))

...

5. Matters arising rom sta

6. Any other business

7. Date o next meeting


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Useul Contacts

Position Name Email [email protected]

Deputy President Alex Dahinten dpeducation

(Education)

Representation Coordinator Andrew Keenan representation

GSA President Deena Blumenkrantz gsa.president

Graduate Schools Liaison Caroline Hargreaves caroline.hargreaves

GSLSM Manager Sally Baker sally.baker

GSEPS Manager Sophie White sophie.white

GSA Academic & Welare Ofcers

Engineering Shuoying Cao aoeng

Physical Sciences To Be Elected aophyssic

Medicine To Be Elected aomedic

Lie Sciences Joe McKenna aoliesci

Non-Faculty & Business Llewellyn Thomas aononac

Departmental Representative (fll in yoursel)

Departmental Representative

Course and Group Representative (fll in yoursel)

Departmental sta (fll in yoursel)

Head o Department

Director o Postgraduate Studies

Course Director

Postgraduate Administrator

Other contacts

Advice Centre

Student advisor

Nigel Cooke advice

College Tutors Mrs Magret Cunningham m.cunningham

Dr Mick Jones m.d.jones

Dr Simon Archer s.archer


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Graduate Students Association

www.imperialcollegeunion.org/gsa

Graduate Schools

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/graduateschools

Student Hub

www.imperial.ac.uk/studenthub

Careers Service

[email protected] www.imperial.ac.uk/careers/pg

Chaplaincy Centre

[email protected]

College Guidelines or Proper Scientifc Conduct in Research

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/secretariat/policiesandpublications/otherpolicies/

properscienticconduct

Computer Service Desk

www.imperial.ac.uk/ict/servicedesk

Disabilities Ofcer

[email protected]

English Language Support Service

www.imperial.ac.uk/humanities/english

Ethical PermissionImperial College Research Ethics Committee

www.imperial.ac.uk/research/researchethics

Health Centre

www.imperialcollegehealthcentre.co.uk

Muslim Prayer Room

[email protected]

National Research Ethics Service

www.nres.npsa.nhs.uk

Registry Enquiry Service

www.imperial.ac.uk/registry/enquiries

Scientifc Misconduct

www.imperial.ac.uk/secretariat/governance/charterandstatutes

Student Counsellors

[email protected]

Useul Links


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Imperial College UnionBeitQuadrangle

Tel: 020 7594 8060Fax: 020 7594 8065

Documents

Postgraduate Academic Representation Handbook 2010-11smallProof