Postgraduate Representation Handbook

Postgraduate Academic Representation Page 1

imperialcollegeunion.org/trainingimperialcollegeunion.org

Postgraduate Academic Representation Handbook 2011/12

ContentsContents 2

Introduction (Union) 3-5

Overview 5

Introduction (GSA) 6-7

Why Become a rep? 8

Personal & Professional 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 information 11

Monitoring 13

Departmental Representatives (Roles & Responsibilities)

14-18

At the beginning 14

During the year Managing Section/Course/Group Representatives

15

Staff-Student Committee (SSC) meetings

16

Departmental Society 17

Academic & Welfare Officers (Roles & Responsibilities)

19-21

At the beginning 19

During the year Faculty Academic and Welfare Committee meetings

20

Working with Graduate Schools 20

Communication 22

Support and Resources 22

Meetings 23-25

Suggested agenda template for all meetings

24-25

Useful Contacts 26

Useful Links 27


imperialcollegeunion.org/training

Introduction (Union)

Jason ParmarDeputy President (Education)E: [email protected]: 020 7594 8060, extension: 45646

Andrew KeenanRepresentation CoordinatorE: [email protected]: 020 7594 5387, extension: 45387

Welcome to your new wonderful position as an Imperial College student Representative. This handbook has been designed not only to assist you in being the best Rep you can be, but also to show you how to make the most of this year!

Over 5,000 postgraduate students currently study at Imperial College, split evenly between PhD and Master’s 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 of support to help resolve issues as they materialise. This handbook has essential information, 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 for 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 to bring up issues which College is not aware of 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 & Welfare Officers, within the Graduate Students’ Association. Often problems can be solved by students and staff within the same area, but when they are not solved to a student’s satisfaction, help from individuals at other levels of Union representation is at hand.

Postgraduate Academic Representation Page 4imperialcollegeunion.org/training

The double arrow lines are there for a good reason: two-way communication is completely fundamental to a successful year of representation! Any break in the above structure means either issues students raise are not brought up in higher committees, or the students become unaware of the hard work being done by their reps. Last year’s PG Welfare Survey showed that postgraduate students can feel

isolated. Therefore, we aim to have a student representative known to each student as part of our efforts to develop the work of the GSA and build a strong postgraduate community.

Here’s to a successful year!

Jason Parmar and Andrew Keenan

The following figure illustrates this structure:

Introduction cont...

Overview

Course/Group Rep: Deals with their immediate course or group; the ground level of the system, reporting up to Departmental Reps.

Departmental Rep: Organises the Master’s and PhD course/group reps across their whole Department; has regular meetings with them, and reports up to Academic & Welfare Officer.

Academic & Welfare Officer: One AWO per faculty; each AWO organises the Dep Reps of their faculty and meets them regularly. AWOs attend Graduate Schools meetings and are members of the GSA Executive. These roles are explained fully later in this handbook.

Postgraduate Tutor & Director of Postgraduate Studies: Responsible for the overall smooth running of the

departments. Their duties include pastoral and admin responsbility, induction sessions (including special sessions for those who arrive later than the first two weeks) for all research students; ensuring proper supervision arrangements have been made; monitoring the initial stages of research and the arragements for MPhil/PhD transfer; mediating in cases of dispute between student & supervisor.

Postgraduate / Course Administrator: The non-academic administrative heart of each department, useful for staff and student details and disseminating information. He/she can send emails out to your cohort if required.

Course Director: The organiser of a Master’s course, who takes responsibility for its smooth running and academic rigour. A good person to approach with questions about a course.


Introduction (GSA)

Robert TangGSA PresidentE: [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 of mouth. Furthermore, collaborating with your Departmental Society is a great way to get your fellow postgrads to mingle with each other socially and/or academically.

Throughout the year, we work closely with both the Union, as well as the Graduate School. Every postgraduate student at Imperial is a member of the Graduate School which provides transferable skills training for research students and quality assurance for all postgraduate programmes and research degrees. They also hold events and recruit new students.

Hi guys! I’m Robert and I am the Graduate Student Association (GSA) President this year. The GSA is the postgraduate arm of Imperial College Union; it is student-led and supported by both Union and College staff. It operates as a network of 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 welfare related support as well as bring postgraduates together, breaking down faculty, department and divisional separations by holding social events and supporting online interactions. The social side of the GSA is supported by the Events Team, a group of enthusiastic volunteers who plan, advertise and fund

Much like the Union, they regularly review all their programmes and bring staff together to spread best practice.

Finally, there are three Faculty Unions: Royal College of Science Union (RCSU), City & Guilds Union (CGCU) and Imperial College School of Medicine Students’ Union (ICSMSU) and there are also two Constituent Unions: Royal Society of Mines (RSM) and Silwood Park Union. While the GSA integrates postgraduates across faculties, the Faculty Unions integrate undergraduates and postgraduates within similar research areas. Faculty Unions address issues both socially and academically, organising events such as balls, guest lectures and

competitions as well as offering support and representation for their members.

I’m looking forward to working with each and every one of 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!

Robert Tang


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

One who earns leadership of the masses by working ceaselessly for people’s welfare finally realises that he has been rewarded with many added advantages.Atharva Veda

Be reassured: the primary reward of being a rep is in the satisfaction of having made a difference. Not just by helping your fellow students overcome difficulties but also by influencing opinions and decisions directly affecting your group/department/faculty. The changes you make will be apparent in your and your fellow students’ courses.

It takes a stagnant institution to be free of problems for resolution and there will always be a need for academic representation. The most satisfied, fulfilled students will still have issues to raise, and it is often the very best, most effective staff who will take advantage of our representative capabilities the most. The College itself is aware of the importance of an effective student representation system, and is supportive of your efforts – if students cannot raise the issues which prevent constant improvement of College’s academic offerings, then who will?

Personal & Professional Development

But there’s even more in it for you. Alongside the knowledge that you will have made a difference to how well

you and your peers have been taught or supervised, being a rep is an ideal way to work on your own development which means your time as a rep can have benefits long after your thesis is completed and you start the next stage of your academic career.

These benefits can be both personal and professional, and can be an invaluable boost to your employability. Being an effective rep will mean being proficient in teamwork, time management, interpersonal communication, and problem solving. The best thing is, you aren’t learning these in the abstract – you will be experiencing them first-hand with real consequences, and employers value that above almost everything else.

More information on what being a rep can offer you, and how to develop your skills, will be available from the Union website.

Recognition

This year, we have introduced a special award for the most dedicated representatives. On top of receiving Union colours, you could be singled out as one of the best reps in your faculty. The award can be won by any kind of rep, and each faculty 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.



Whichever kind of representative you are, please read through this entire section and make sure you understand the responsibilities of each member of the representation structure.

The representatives who work in closest contact with their fellow students are the Section/Group/Centre/Institute Representatives (for PhD research sections/groups) or Course Representatives (for MSc, MRes, CAS and MA courses). If you are a Group/Course Rep or volunteer, you will most likely be appointed in the first few weeks of the academic year. Congratulations! In brief, 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 difficult systemic problems up to them and feeding your communications and achievements back to the students in your year.

As a Group/Course Representative, your duties are straightforward but vital. You are the only representatives in direct contact with the students you are serving and therefore act as their first point of call when problems arise. You are instrumental in academic representation, as the primary means of communication between the representative structure,

Group/Centre/Institute/Section/Course Representatives (Roles & Responsibilities)

College staff and the student body.At the beginning

Your first task is to make yourself known to your peers. Volunteering for 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 effectively.

Start off by talking to your course director or administrator to find out how to send an email to everyone in your group or course. It may be best to forward the email to them and ask them to send it. In this email, you should:

•��Introduce�yourself�as�their�Representative

•��Outline�what�your�role�is,�including�your�responsibility of relating issues to staff and upwards where necessary

•��Give�them�contact�details�-�this�is�usually just your email address.

•��Also�give�them�the�name�and�email�address of your Departmental Representative - you are accountable to your fellow students, but if you are ill, away on a conference or holiday or just going through an intensely busy time, your Departmental Representative is a good next point of contact for them.

•��Keep�a�relaxed,�informal�tone�–�you�are�their peer – but write a smart and easy-to-read email.


During the year: dealing with issues arising

If you have made your role clear to your fellow students, it won’t be long before they first approach you. When this happens, your first task is to gather information on the issue. Ask yourself:

•��What�EXACTLY�is�the�problem?�If�it’s not an academic issue, it is out of your scope: refer them elsewhere (see Useful Links). Talk to all the students involved in the issue until you are completely clear about it.

•��Who�does�it�affect?�Which�student�or�group of students? This could range from one student to the entire college. Issues affecting one student must still be dealt with but may have to be deprioritised in favour of problems affecting many people, or may require particular care to maintain the student’s right to privacy or even anonymity.

•��How�does�it�affect�those�students?�In what way are they pressured or disadvantaged? Try to assess the nature and the extent of the effect by talking to them.

Occasionally, you might be presented with a problem that is best solved by the College’s and Union’s welfare staff. If so, direct the student to the right member of staff – be that a College Tutor, the Deputy President (Welfare) 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 notify them that you are monitoring it. In the case that you feel elevating an issue is appropriate, decide whether or not it is best to approach the staff you are familiar with or have a member of the representation structure bring it up with their superiors..Broadly speaking, elevating an issue means taking it along one of two routes: directly to departmental staff, or up to the next level of the student representation structure. The appropriate route is at your discretion.

•��If�you�believe�your�issue�could�benefit from consideration by your departmental staff, make it happen. Despite your usual point of contact with staff being at Staff-Student meetings, you do not need to wait for these meetings to bring up issues. Either drop into the office of your staff contact, ring them or write them an email, while the issue is fresh in your mind.

•��If�you�are�unsure�of�how�a�problem�might be solved OR a problem remains unsatisfactorily addressed after a Staff-Student Meeting OR there is some complication (e.g. personal privacy issues) you must elevate the issue to the next level of the student representation structure: your Dep Rep. If they do not respond, notify your Academic & Welfare Officer (see page 17).



In certain circumstances, generally urgent academic problems that require immediate attention, do not wait for the next Staff-Student meeting or for your next meeting with your Departmental Representative. Speak to a member of your departmental staff describing the problem and its urgency, or to your AWO/GSA President (see page 5).

During the year: disseminating information

Just as you are responsible for representing the views and experience of your section/group or year to College staff and Departmental Representatives, you are responsible for disseminating information down to the student body too!

All aspects of your active representation must be made transparent to the students you are representing.

Where you are bringing an issue to the attention of staff or other representatives, you must ensure that all students involved in the issue are informed and kept updated. This might be an acknowledgement of the issue and a promise to investigate further. It might be an explanation of the rationale behind the decision not to act or it might be a proposed solution to the issue.

If you report an issue to staff, inform your students so that they know that the issue is being dealt with. If you receive any response from staff concerning the issue, report it to your students. If you elevate an issue to other representatives, inform your students so that they know that the issue is being dealt with.

Should you find out that any decision has been or could be made by your department that could affect students’ academic affairs in any way, whether positive or negative, try to inform 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 Welfare Officer (AWO)/ Deputy President (Education)/ Representation Coordinator to disseminate information to your peers.

Group/Centre/Institute/Section/Course


This may range from emails asking them to participate in one of our surveys, to vital academic information updates. Please make sure that this info reaches the students quickly!

Communicating your achievements and new information down to the students is important for two reasons:

•��Representation�cannot�be�said�to�be�effective�if�the�communication�is�only�one-way.�A continuous feed of information back to students is essential and gives students perspective on the matter: if a request is unrealistic, the students must know. Likewise, if a solution has been reached, the students must be informed.

•��For�the�effective�representation�of�any�group�of�people,�the�group�must�have�a�high�level of trust in the representative. Much of this trust must be built from 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 feel free to make use of your representative capabilities.



During the year: monitoring

Your job is both reactive and proactive. While primarily you are the first calling point when your peers encounter any sort of blip in your academic environment, it is also very useful to go out to collect information from 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 far, far better position to deal with it than if you wait until the problem comes to you.

This includes keeping a close eye on your own personal academic affairs. You are your best judge of the quality of your programme of study. Ask yourself:

•��Am�I�enjoying�doing�this�or�am�I�finding�it particularly unpleasant? If I am finding it unpleasant, is it a problem with the teaching or administration that could possibly benefit from representative attention?

•��Am�I�learning�from�this?�If�not,�is�it�a�problem that could possibly benefit from representative attention?

•��Am�I�finding�it�difficult�to�keep�up�with�the work? Is it because I’m being given too much of it?

•��Is�there�any�other�problem�that�is making it harder to learn than necessary?

First, ask yourself these questions. Then consider how others might answer them. Ask some of your fellow students directly, or stand in front of your peers and poll them. Monitoring your group or cohort for 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 feelings are.

In democracy everyone has the right to be represented, even the jerks.Chris Patten

If you’re 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.

Group/Centre/Section/Course cont...


Departmental Representatives(Roles & Responsibilities)

Dep Reps have an important role to play for the Transferable Skills programme run by the Graduate School. Forums held have shown that first year PhD students want to hear from 2nd and 3rd year students in their department about which courses would be most beneficial to them. Gather information from 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/graduateschool/transferableskillsprogramme) and use the online calendar. If you have suggestions for new courses or any problems with existing courses, contact Caroline [email protected] or [email protected] with the information; often issues can be resolved quickly and informally.

As Departmental Representatives, you take ultimate responsibility for making sure the postgraduate student voice in your department is heard. You may have been elected before the start of the year in order to enable you to prepare for the coming year and begin your job as soon as teaching starts.

At the heart of the representation structure, you are the link between the

Course, Centre and Group Reps within your department and the Academic & Welfare Officer for your Faculty. If you drop out of the structure, you disconnect your entire department, preventing multiple Master’s courses and several research groups from being represented. It is good practice to ensure your have deputised your role in your absence.

It’s 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 effectively.

At the beginning

Every department should hold a PG Induction event at the start of each academic year, at which the Dep Rep should be invited to give a short speech on useful contacts, health and safety issues etc. This is an opportunity to introduce yourself, and the GSA, to new students. Try to meet those postgraduates who miss these initial events (e.g those who started later in the year). We’ve put together a template presentation for you, which you can find on the Union website (www.imperialcollegeunion.org/training), along with the training materials. Contact your PG Staff to ensure that you are invited to this event.



Before you can fulfil your role, Section/Course/Group Representatives below you must be in place, doing their job. Your first task is to contact Section/Course/Group representatives and if these are not in place, contact the GSA for help to get these roles filled. The sooner you do this, the sooner your department will be effectively represented! Choose an appropriate time to carry out both of these things; they should happen about two or three days apart, to give them a chance to decide whether they should stand for the position or not. If people want to run contact the Representation Coordinator for a guide on holding elections.([email protected]).

Briefing them involves presenting the role of Representative to them: you must make it sound appealing while ensuring they understand the responsibilities of the job. Remember to tell them whenyou will be returning to hold the election if applicable. You could bring some copies of this guide for 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 an election is simple. A secret ballot will suffice:•��Ask�for�those�who�wish�to�stand�to�

come forward•��Give�each�candidate�a�minute�or�two�to�

present their manifesto to the Cohurt/Group and answer any questions

•��Remind�the�group�that�they�can�also�vote to re-open nominations (vote for

RON) if they don’t wish to elect any of the candidates

•��Send�the�candidates�out�of�the�room�and count votes for each candidate and RON

•��Allow�them�back�in�and�announce�the�result of the election

If you so wish, you can hold an online election. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Now that your Representatives “team” has been established, make sure that you introduce yourself personally to them as their Departmental Representative and take a note of their names and CID numbers. Make sure you send this list of names to the Deputy President (Education) right after getting them so that the Union can populate the Rep database.

During the year: managing Section/Course/Centre/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 yourself, you should also remain very close to the student body, being prepared to talk to individual students as necessary.


The contact you have with staff is similar to the contact the Section/Course/Group Representatives have: Staff- Student Committee meetings, but you should also make sure you have good communication lines with your Director of Postgraduate Studies (DPS). In effect, your ability to engage staff in dialogue is no different from theirs: anything you can talk to staff about, they can talk to staff about. So why should they elevate issues to you? There are many reasons:

•��A�chance�for�dialogue:�by�bringing�issues to your attention and the attention of their fellow Representatives, you can explore the issue in great detail: are any other years of the course or research area experiencing this problem? Did previous years experience it? Is it really an issue at all?

•��It�can�then�be�elevated�further:�to�your�Academic & Welfare Officer.

Where issues come to your attention, your duty is very similar to that of a Section/Course/Group Representative: do some triage (see page 10 for questions to ask yourself). If you believe, following discussion between you and your Reps, that bringing the issue back to a Staff-Student meeting would be beneficial, then do this. If 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 for any other reason, then elevate the issue to your Academic & Welfare Officer.

During the year: Staff-Student Committee (SSC) meetings

Staff Student Committee meetings are your time to shine as Dep Reps. You have the opportunity to bring up your peers’ problems with your staff and can monitor their willingness to deal with issues. A few weeks before the meeting takes place, make sure that your Reps have collected a list of positive and negative issues that affect them. Have a Rep Meeting with them, and decide on which issues are worth bringing up with the Staff. You should not feel intimidated by your College Staff; however always remember to be respectful and knowledgeable about what you have to say (see Meetings section for more information).

Departmental Representatives cont...

Your biggest responsibility lies in organising meetings, allowing your Section/Course/Group Representatives to elevate issues to you in a formal way. These meetings should occur at least once a term where possible, in time for faculty meetings. You and your Course/Group Reps must attend these meetings; it is fine for anyone else to attend these meetings as well and it is a good idea to invite your Academic & Welfare Officer to attend.



After the meetings, there are two vital things you need to do:

1. Send a short (and relevant) summary of the SSC meeting and what was discussed, to the Postgraduates in your department. 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 Staff will ask you to keep issues to yourself for 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 of representation and teaching across College. By condensing and collating all of the SSC minutes and correspondences from Departmental Representatives at the end of each term, your Deputy President (Education) can:

•��Assess�the�effectiveness�of�representation within each department, by reflecting on the readiness of the department’s staff to listen and respond to the student voice.

•��Identify�strong�representatives�for�recognition and nomination for Union

Colours awards. •��Let�the�Quality�Assurance�Advisory�Committee�(QAAC)�know�how�departments are responding to the issues brought up by students in his or her termly presentations to them.

The strategic advantage of this is enormous: College is very keen to foster a culture of constant academic quality review and improvement involving student representatives. Where a department consistently fails to satisfactorily address issues raised by Representatives, College’s senior academic staff 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 fun in their free time! Departmental Societies are a great way of getting to know the people on your programme of study through activities related or unrelated to your subject. These are people you already have something in common with so can be a good place to start finding friends. To get involved with your Dep Soc, check imperialcollegeunion.org.uk for the A-Z and contact details.

Becoming active in your Dep Soc is a great way of allowing networking and team building opportunities to develop within your department and they are

usually generously funded by Heads of Department. Often all you have to do is ask and they’ll cover reasonable expenses on food, drinks or even renting space for sports tournaments! In addition, Dep Socs can use all the normal resources provided to Union clubs including free black and white printing, web server space and a bank account. If your course isn’t covered by a Dep Soc yet you can set one up – just get in touch with the Deputy President (Education) or Rep Coordinator to find out how.

Departmental Representatives cont...



Academic & Welfare Officers (Roles & Responsibilities)

As Academic & Welfare Officer (AWO), you ultimately are in charge of the student representation network in your Faculty. Whether you are in Medicine, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, or a non-faculty 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 faculty intact. Throughout the year you will work closely with your fellow AWOs, GSA officers, the Deputy President (Education), and the Representation Coordinator, as well as College staff.

It’s your role to make sure that Group/Section/Course and Department Reps are doing their jobs, including reporting up and down. Of all the reps in your department, you will have the most contact with the College and its most senior staff through the numerous different committees you sit on, such as the Graduate School management and quality committees.

All AWOs sit on the GSA Executive Committee, alongside the GSA President and Directors from the Events Team. The GSA is the branch of Imperial College Union dedicated solely to postgraduates, and its overall aim is to create a strong postgraduate community at Imperial

while fulfilling the representational and social needs of its students.

At the beginning

The best way to start off 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 for the year ahead. Just like for 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 full of 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 feasible 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 manifesto points and proposals of your reps, combine them with your goals for the year, and begin to develop your own agenda rather than waiting for issues to come up. If you keep the Deputy President (Education), Representation Coordinator and GSA President aware of these plans, they can assist you, and make sure that effort is not being unnecessarily duplicated across College.


It is vital that you remain in continuous contact throughout the year with your Dep Reps; establishing a good relationship with them will make your job much easier! Be approachable and friendly with them, so that they feel comfortable seeking you out for advice.

All this goes for the staff in your Faculty too; representation is cooperation, not battle, and maintaining a friendly rapport with your staff will go a long way to smoothing the path for your proposals. Introduce yourself to them early if you don’t know them already, and keep in regular contact about the progress of various issues and the latest news from their Group and Course Reps.

During the year: Faculty Academic & Welfare Committee meetings

As AWO, it is your responsibility to organise the Academic & Welfare Committee (AWC) meetings. These meetings are a chance for Departmental Representatives from within your Faculty to come together and discuss representation issues. There should be a minimum of 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 and discuss rep issues (on sensitive issues, student anonymity should be ensured). If 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/Centre/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 of 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 for yourselves and as a way to keep the Deputy President (Education), Representation Coordinator and the GSA President ‘in the loop’.

After these have been typed up, make sure to send them to the Deputy President (Education), Representation Coordinator, GSA President and all of your Dep Reps, within five days of the meeting.

During the Year: working with Graduate School

Every postgraduate student at Imperial is a member of the Graduate School, formally the Graduate School of Life Sciences and Medicine (GSLSM), or the Graduate School of Engineering and Physical Sciences (GSEPS).

Academic & Welfare Officers cont...



The Graduate School has three key committees each, detailed below; the AWOs are members of each committee, as are the GSA President and Deputy President (Education).

The Graduate School’s remit is to provide Transferable Skills training for research students, quality assurance for postgraduate courses, events to bring PG students together in an informal setting and recruit new students. Much like the Union, they regularly review all their programmes and bring staff together to spread best practice.

College committees AWOs sit on:

These committees each meet between three and five times a year.

AWOs are also members of the Union’s Representation and Welfare Board (RWB) and Union Council. RWB meets once a month to discuss representation and welfare of both undergraduate and postgraduate students. It can also award grant money to the GSA to support activities related to representation and welfare of postgraduates. The Union Council meets once a month and is the ultimate policy-making body of 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 of the meeting.

Oversees all the activities of the Graduate School and manages the development of PG

education and the student experience. All Directors of Postgraduate Study are members,

as are the Deputy President (Education) and the GSA President, AWO can act as proxy.

Management and Strategy Committee (MSC)

Postgraduate Quality Committee (PQC)Oversees the maintenance of standards and assures qualty in postgraduate taught and

approves new courses.

Postgraduate Professional Development Committee (PPDC)

Oversees the training and transferable skills programmes for postgraduate research

students.


Communication

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.George Bernard Shaw

The importance of communication is brought up in almost every section of this handbook, but we think it is so crucial to an effective system of representation that it’s worth mentioning again. Furthermore, it comes in many forms.

From the Deputy President (Education) to each and every Rep for every single course and research group, there must be a constant flow of information back and forth about the various issues being brought up and solved. This allows progress to be tracked and momentum maintained. Otherwise, problems fail to be solved and the crucial trust in the representation system is weakened.

Division/Section/Centre/Course/Group and Course Reps must also be pro-active in seeking out the opinions of their classmates or fellow researchers– whether through surveys and emails, or simply through conversations with their peers. A problem that is not communicated to the Rep cannot be solved; a problem that is sorted, but the students are left uninformed, allows stress and anxiety to persist long after it should have been relieved.

Support and Resources

Starting this year, Imperial College Union has a member of staff 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 from Sabbatical Officers and representatives, to allow them to focus on their goals and their cohorts. If you could do with assistance in your role, such as help formulating a survey or organising meetings, please get in touch.

We have also created a software-based system to ‘capture’ and track issues raised across College by representatives to ensure that progress on every issue is monitored, and no problem ‘falls through the cracks’. You can add any issues to this system by contacting the Representation Coordinator.



Meetings

The best meetings are:

•��Relaxed and enjoyable. Meetings are not meant to be intimidating affairs. As students, your task is to make the meeting as productive as possible; meeting etiquette is nothing special, just common sense.

•��Productive and satisfying. If there is anything being reported to the meeting, the chair should have emailed it around to the committee members beforehand as meeting papers, and it is absolutely key that everyone who attends has read these papers in advance.

•��Timely. Start on time and finish quickly.

•� On topic throughout. If you have an issue to bring up that is relevant to the meeting but unrelated to the topic being discussed, wait for an appropriate moment so that the current topic does not get unnecessarily cut short.

Each member of a committee should be prepared to contribute to any of the matters arising in a meeting before it starts; this is achieved with the agenda and papers. Expect to be emailed an agenda in advance of the meeting that mentions each matter for discussion in a list. If any matters on the agenda involve a document of interest, be it a report, a letter, an email, a proposal or a page of 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 of the minutes from the previous meeting.

If 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 of a committee for reading in advance of the meeting.

Check your emails to find the agenda, papers and previous minutes. Read them thoroughly in advance, and print them to bring to the meeting. They can be printed for free in the Student Activities Centre (SAC) on level 2M of 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 if each attendee is not on an even keel, so if you have read the minutes from the previous meeting and the papers in advance, and you still are unfamiliar with something, do not be ashamed to ask for an explanation or a definition, and do not be reluctant to give someone else such an explanation.

A guide to getting the most out of your meetings is available on the Union website (imperialcollegeunion.org).


This year, College has agreed that “the student experience” and “Feedback” 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 if it is not then bring it up with the Departmental Representative. Feedback relating to the Transferable Skills Programme should also be considered.Feedback from supervisors and course work should also be discussed at Academic & Welfare Committee meetings.

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

•��In�departments�where�students�historically�set�up�the�Staff-Student�meetings,�you�may find it useful to use this agenda as a starting point when you prepare agendas for the meetings.

•��It�details�the�current�standing�agenda�items�as�set�by�senior�quality�assurance�staff at Imperial. It is your responsibility to ensure that all of these standing agenda items are discussed exhaustively. They should be points of discussion at all Faculty and Departmental representation meetings as well, and the dialogue between Representatives and students should always touch on these topics (particularly feedback and supervision), in order that the discussions at all meetings are well-informed.

Suggested agenda template for all meetings



Departmental Staff-Student Committee Meeting in the Department/Division of ____________ held on ______of ______ 20___ at ___:___

1. Apologies for absence2. Approve: Minutes of the last Staff-Student Meeting, held on ________ 20__3. Matters arising 3.1. Discuss action points from previous meeting

4. Staff Reports 4.1. DUGS 4.2. Senior Tutor 4.3. Departmental Administrator 4.4. Etc

5. Student Reports 5.1. Departmental Representative (PG) 5.2. PGT Representative (PG) 5.3. PGR Representiative (PG)

6. Agenda items

7. Standing agenda items 7.1.Discuss feedback quality and timeliness and how it has changed 7.2. Discuss recent survey results, particularly feedback and personal tutoring 7.2.1. SOLE, PG SOLE/POLE/TOLE 7.2.2. NSS/PRES and ISB 7.2.3. Staff advise what actions have been taken as a result 7.2.4. Improvements for next term/year e.g. participation 7.3. General discussion on personal tutoring. 7.4. Positive comments: students to report noteworth examples of instances of teaching practice, or evident improvement in teachin practise.

8. Matters arising from staff

9. Any Other Business

10. Date of next meeting

Useful ContactsPosition Name Email Address

@imperial.ac.ukDeputy President Jason Parmar dpeducation(Education)

Representation Coordinator Andrew Keenan representation

GSA President Robert Tang gsa.president

GSA Secretary Florian Rathgeber gsa.honsexc

Graduate Schools Liaison Caroline Hargreaves caroline.hargreaves

Graduate School Manager (Postgraduate Development)

Sally Baker sally.baker

Graduate School Manager(Communication�&�Quality�Assurance)

Sophie White sophie.white

GSA Academic & Welfare Officers

Engineering Mark Collins awo-eng

Physical Sciences Ned Yoxall awo-physsic

Medicine Mai Kadi awo-medic

Life Sciences Lisa Hale awo-lifesci

Business William Wu awo-bus

Departmental Representative/s (fill in yourself)Departmental Representative/s

Departmental Representative/s

Course and Group Representative (fill in yourself)

Departmental staff (fill in yourself)

Head of Department

Director of Postgraduate Studies

Course Director

Postgraduate Administrator

Postgraduate Tutor

DTC Directors

Other contacts

Advice CentreStudent advisor

Nigel Cooke advice

College Tutors Mrs Margaret Cunningham m.cunningham

Dr Mick Jones m.d.jones

Dr Simon Archer s.archer

Graduate Students Association

www.imperialcollegeunion.org/gsa

Graduate School

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

Student Hub

www.imperial.ac.uk/studenthub

Information/Support for Research Students

www3.imperial.ac.uk/registry/researchdegreeswww3.imperial.ac.uk/registry/researchdegrees/support

Useful Contacts for Research Students

www3.imperial.ac.uk/registry/currentstudents/researchstudents/contacts

Imperial Study Guide for Master’s Students

workspace.imperial.ac.uk/college/public/pdfs/ISGMasters.pdf

Careers Service

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

Chaplaincy Centre

[email protected]

College Guidelines for Proper Scientific Conduct in Research

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

Computer Service Desk

www.imperial.ac.uk/ict/servicedesk

Disabilities Officer

[email protected]

English Language Support Service

www.imperial.ac.uk/humanities/english

Ethical Permission Imperial College Research Ethics Committee

www.imperial.ac.uk/research/researchethics

Health Centre

www.imperialcollegehealthcentre.co.uk

National Research Ethics Service

www.nres.npsa.nhs.uk

Registry Enquiry Service

www.imperial.ac.uk/registry/enquiries

Scientific Misconduct

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

Student Counsellors

[email protected]

Useful Links

Imperial College UnionBeit�QuadranglePrince Consort RoadLondon SW7 2BB

Tel: 020 7594 8060Fax: 020 7594 8065Email: [email protected]: @icunion imperialcollegeunion.org

Documents

Postgraduate Representation Handbook