“Bye everybody…”

Student Rep newsletter

D E M O N T F O R T S T U D E N T S ’ U N I O N

Issue 4

May 09

Bye everybody 1

Election results 2

So long, farewell... 3

Accreditation and awards

4

Overview of the Student Rep Confer-ence

4

Library Student Forum 5

DSU Summer Ball 5

Opportunities within

the Students’ Union

6

Social activity 6

Good luck 6

It’s your newsletter 6

Periodic Reviews 5

Inside this issue:

Well the year is coming to an end and most of you will be

sitting your exams or trying to hand in your dissertations or

last piece of vital work or all three together!

The Student Rep system would have been totally dormant

without your invaluable contribution. Throughout the year

the Union has been busy resolving issues. organising events

and listening to your views. I first met you at the Student Rep

training sessions and it was great to see so many of you turn

up and take away the prized student rep mug!

easier. Your voice can make a difference so thank you. At our university there should be a culture whereby students

are able to say and express their concerns or issues and I believe the Student Rep system is a vital component in that

so take every advantage of it and make sure your voice heard.

The monthly Faculty Rep meetings with Philip Martin were a particular success. This gave you a real chance to air your

concerns and your delights to Philip. This forum helped speed up the process of either changes that needed to be

made or even some clarifications- whether if it was to do with the library or at Charles Frears.

The Student Rep Conference was amazing and we decided to change it a little in a hope to make it more interactive!

We went further and decided to include an awards ceremony to acknowledge Student Reps, Faculty Reps and Students

Officers for their hard work and dedication over the year .The feedback we received from you was positive but that

doesn’t mean we’ll stop making improvements!

We have also heard your support and questions regarding the marking of work anonymously. Thank you for your

opinions and various discussions over this. I produced a proposal for the University to accept in principle anonymous

marking and this was submitted to the University; we are now ready to produce a report about the reactions and pos-

sible implementation of AM. In this process the SU were mindful of the concerns students had, one of them being that

how can drama and art work be anonymised? To elucidate the system would apply to written work only and hopefully

a move towards a fairer marking system. Your input once again has been vital and we greatly appreciate it, your views

will be used in the next stage of the project.

Shazia Nazir

Deputy President Education

One of the big projects that were undertaken, which slotted under the category of repre-

sentation, was the Student Written Submission. We interviewed students, held focus

groups, and emailed and questionnaire students for their views on their time at the Uni-

versity. This was then passed on to the auditors who visited in March for review. Our

student submission was a valued part of the audit and consequently some of the improve-

ments that the University will have to make were based on our submission. The univer-

sity were extremely receptive of student’s opinion which made the whole process much

In the last newsletter I informed you that the elections for the new Executive Officers, the Student Officers, the stu-

dent Trustees and the NUS delegates would be taking place. Before announcing these results I would like to thank not

only the candidates, some of whom stood in both the main elections and the by-elections, but the Executive Commit-

tee and also Ceri Davies and Al Powell, (Election Officials) for their continued support . The results of these elections

are as follows:

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

There were 1578 votes cast in total in the Executive Officer elections.

There were four candidates for the position of Students’ Union President: Amer Reza was successfully elected, re-

ceiving 533 votes. The unsuccessful candidates were Paddy Conway, Elias Ona Olapo and James Poland.

There were two candidates for the position of Vice President Media and Communications: Andy Schooledge was

successfully elected, receiving 605 votes. The unsuccessful candidate was Matt Horn.

There were two candidates for the position of Vice President Student Activities: Amy Evans was successfully elected,

receiving 810 votes. The unsuccessful candidate was Areez Rahman.

There was one candidate for the position of Vice President Welfare: Jane Wells was successfully elected, receiving

936 votes.

STUDENT OFFICERS

There were two candidates in the Student Officer elections, meaning that there will be the opportunity for interested

students to stand in the by-elections during October / November for the remaining places.

There were 521 votes cast in total in the Student Officer elections.

Election results

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The work I have also been doing has been to recognise diversity in the student body. As part of my remit of DP Educa-

tion I sit on the committee for Equality and Diversity and Retention of Ethnic and Minority Students (REAMS). A num-

ber of areas of concern developed around prayer times, examinations taking place on religious festivals and accessibility

for disabled students. These all came back to the need for the University to recognise the diversity of their students

and to act upon their needs. Over the past months I have been in contact with various Faculties and Heads of Depart-

ment to understand the complexities of rescheduling examinations and issues of accessibility, consequently this sum-

mer I will be working with the Head of Staff Development Unit to deliver a training session on understanding diverse

needs. This has made me reflect on how inclusive we are as a Students’ Union and has inspired me. I am now working

on an Equality and Diversity Strategy for our own Students’ Union!

I could go on forever with everything that’s happened this year , the millions of meetings I’ve attended, the countless

times I’ve defended students and the small changes that have been made to courses most of which I could not have

done without you. THANK YOU.

I will be leaving at the end of June and Calvin Dass will be your new Deputy President Education. Calvin studied Busi-

ness and Management over at Bosworth and successfully won the elections. Calvin will be in office at the start of July

so please welcome him with open arms and get in touch with him to make more changes for the future!

Finally to all the Reps thank you and I am going to miss you all. For those leaving this year, all the best for the future

and for those remaining at DMU, happy studying and I hope you become a Rep again!

Best wishes, enjoy and Salamu Alaikum! (May peace be upon you all)

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Roukheela Sharif was successfully re-elected as the Mature Students’ Officer, receiving 377 of the 443 valid

votes; no suitable candidate received 66 votes.

Zoë Allman was successfully elected as the Postgraduate and Research Students’ Officer, receiving 383 of the 432

valid votes; no suitable candidate received 49 votes.

Remaining positions include: Campaigns Officer, Communications Officer, Community and Involvement

Officer, Charles Frears Officer, Diversity Officer, International Students’ Officer, Lesbian, Gay, Bi-

sexual and Transgender (LGBT) Officer, Men’s Officer, Raise and Give (RAG) Officer, Societies Offi-

cer, Sports Officer, Students with Disabilities Officer and Women’s Officer. For further information

about these positions, please email Colina, ccwright@dmu.ac.uk

STUDENT TRUSTEES

There were two candidates within these elections. There were 519 votes cast in total.

Ibukun Kadiri was successfully elected as the Chair of Student Council, receiving 371 of the 448 valid votes; no

suitable candidate received 77 votes.

Jenny Roberts was successfully elected as the Student Trustee (open place) receiving 372 of the 397 valid votes;

no suitable candidate received 25 votes.

NUS DELEGATES

John Fisher was the only candidate for the NUS delegate; he was successfully elected after receiving 322 of the

378 valid votes; no suitable candidate received 56 votes.

BY-ELECTION RESULTS

A by-election was held at a later date to elect a Deputy President Education and the two remaining Student Trus-

tee positions as these were unfilled in the main elections.

There were 783 votes cast in both the Deputy President Education and the remaining 2 Student Trustee elections.

There were 6 candidates for this position: Calvin Dass was successfully elected, receiving 208 votes. The unsuc-

cessful candidates were Paddy Conway, Gemma Armes, Danielle Golding, Liam Singleton, Matt Horn.

There were two candidates for the remaining Student Trustee places.

Bernadine Williams was successfully elected as the Academic Board Representative, receiving 254 of the 305

valid votes; no suitable candidate received 51 votes.

Jakaria Habib was successfully elected as the Student Trustee (open place), receiving 339 of the 409 valid votes;

no suitable candidate received 70 votes.

Roy Adams,

ISAS

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good night... The Students’ Union would like to say goodbye to Roy Adams, the Director of ISAS, who will

be retiring later this month. Roy has dedicated over 25 years to De Montfort, working tirelessly

to provide the best support to staff and students alike. Roy has operated an open door policy,

inviting students to question him about the developments within ISAS and offer their sugges-

tions. Roy has always listened to the students views and put students at the heart of his deci-

sion making.

Roy will be sadly missed and we wish him all the best for the future.

Accreditation and awards

Shazia and I would like to thank those students that submitted their accreditation forms. The 37 successful recipi-

ents are: Akshat Agrawal, Ahmad Alqurashi, Marie Amoateng, Gemma Armes, Danielle Carlton,

Sally Casey-Markwell, Louise Cheshire, Saffina Din, Vanetta Findley, Samantha French,

Jonathan Hudson, Charlotte James, Azhar Jiwa, Melissa Johnson, Rossana Kausar, Orla Kealy,

Roger Kelman, Shayan Khawja, Krishan Mistry, Nisma Munshi, Ihieonyehi Okaigbe, Olutobi Oluwole,

Vijyeta Parmar, Rakhee Parmar, Giselle Rambaran, Kathryn Raney, Kirstin Robinson, Sadie Ryan,

Delia Sajani Shaha, Sharon Siddons, Tom Smart, Vishan Sondhi, Terri Stow, Catherine Symmers,

Victoria Toscani, Utkarsh Trivedi and Aliya Turk

Additional awards were presented by Philip Martin at the Student Rep Conference: the two Highly Commended

Reps were Jonathan Hudson and Vishan Sondhi, the Student Rep of the Year was presented to Elizabeth

Freer and the Faculty Rep of the Year was Roger Kelman. Other students that were nominated will all receive a

certificate of acknowledgement, these students were: Thomas Bakewell, Louise Cheshire, Fran Heming-

way, Orla Kealy, Sunil Khela, Shayan Khawja, Laura Hughes, Lisa-Ann Mhandu and Marsha Weale

The Student Officer of the Year was presented on a later occasion to Adam Craig, the Students with Disabilities Officer.

There are a handful of certificates, including Student Rep training certificates, that are still to be collected from the

Students’ Union reception. If you are listed above or attended training and haven’t received your certificate, please

make every effort to collect this.

Student Rep Conference overview, 11th March 2009

In an attempt to make the Students’ Rep Conference more student-led, Simon Pizzey and Roger Kelman, two of our Faculty

Reps, took the lead in presenting this event. They did amazingly well, considering they were asked at such short notice!

There were lengthy discussions about some of the issues that the Faculty Reps had raised with Philip Martin at their

monthly meetings including IT provision and the Library. These issues were answered by Philip, Roy Adams and Kathryn

Arnold. There was some discussion about the Quality Assurance Agency and how what they do impacts on the University.

Shazia also spoke about the student written submission and I thanked Reps for their participation in focus groups and en-

couraged more Reps to get involved. Stephen Robinson and Eugene Critchlow spoke about issues that affected students—

from a Student Services perspective (finance, accommodation) and from a University perspective (the introduction of the

Academic Practice Officer).

The question and answer session proved hugely popular with several questions about accommodation and the Union were

able to inform students about the new lettings agency that we intend to run from September.

The most interesting part of the Conference for me, with the exception of presenting the Awards to the winning Reps

mentioned above, was the newest part of the Conference where Reps were divided into Faculties and given the opportu-

nity to discuss what was going in for you personally. There were several questions asked by the Union including what prob-

lems have you encountered and how have these been resolved, what successes have you had, what improvements could be

made to the Student Rep system , ideas for removing ineffective Student Reps, creating “Student Rep” missions, how can

the Union support you more and the opportunity to consider what social activities, if any, the Students; Union could organ-

ise for you. An overview of these discussions was emailed to you but if you have any points you’d like to contribute, please

email me.

It is my intention to continue to have interactive sessions with Student Reps, hopefully in a timely and consequently mean-

ingful way and possibly with the support of your Faculties.

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Kathryn Arnold, the Director of Library Services, and other staff within the Library would like to invite a small group of Student Reps to partici-pate in discussions regarding amongst other things, the library IT provi-sion and printing and photocopying. The staff would like to understand the problems in a little more detail and this is where you come in. As Reps we're interested in your views but also the views of the students on your course. It is hoped that you can feedback to the students too. Ideally we would like a selection of representatives across all Faculties and levels of study. This meeting will take place on Thursday 7th May at 12.15 until about 1.45, the room is to be confirmed. Refreshments will be provided. If you are interested, please contact me at your earliest convenience as numbers will need to be confirmed for catering and room allocation pur-poses. This is a forum that we hope will continue with the same students at-tending the meetings over the duration of their degree. At present this still needs to be finalised and no decisions have been made about the structure, content or duration of these meetings but if the library ser-vices are of interest to you, I hope you choose to be involved.

DSU and Insatiable International pre-

sent the ‘Las Vegas Summer Ball’

This is a 4 part event commencing with

Kinky to warm up on Thursday 21st

May, followed by the ‘Las Vegas

Summer Ball’ with Rat Pack, Show-

girls, Casinos, etc. at Athena on Friday

22nd May from 7.30 onwards. This will

move back to DSU from midnight for

the “Official After Party” which in-

cludes headline DJs (TBA). The event

concludes on Saturday 23rd May with

the last Big Bad Cheese of term.

Tickets are available on-line at

www.demontfortstudents.com including

VIP tickets which feature a pre-ball

meal.

Periodic Reviews

You may know that over the course of every 5 or 6 years each subject delivered at the University undergoes a

Periodic Review; this is when a group of academics and a student representative review the course, question the

staff and students about the content of the course and monitor how closely the learning objectives are being

met, amongst other things.

We are looking for Reps that are available on the following dates to review the following subjects:

Youth and Community Development, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Thursday 11th June History, Faculty of Humanities, Monday 29th June Biomedical Science, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, date not finalised but probably 23rd or 24th Septem-

ber

The panel meeting is a full day event, usually starting at around 8.30 – 9.

Students willing to participate CANNOT be students on the subject being reviewed. If you are on the course

and would like to be involved in that progress please contact me as it may be possible for you to be part of the

group of students questioned about the course.

You will receive a certificate for your contribution and an Amazon voucher. It is a fantastic experience and gives

you an insight into how course are put together and reviewed. Obviously a student input is great.

It sounds like a daunting experience but both myself and members of the Department of Quality are able to go

through this with you.

If you are interested and around on the dates specified, please let me know and I’ll ensure that the relevant pa-

perwork is sent to you.

Library Student Forum, 7th May DSU’s summer ball

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First Floor Campus Centre Building Mill Lane Leicester LE2 7DR t: 0116 2555576 ext 305 e: studentreps@dmu.ac.uk w: demontfortstudents.com

De Montfort Students’ Union

Contact us

On behalf of the Students’ Union we wanted to wish

everyone well with coursework, exams and disserta-

tions. It may seem overwhelming at the minute, but

there is a light at the end of the tunnel ... it’s just might

seem like a long tunnel!

If you are leaving us this year, we wish you all the best

for the future. If you’re still around next year, hopefully

you’ll continue to be involved as a Student Rep.

Good luck!

Social activity to celebrate the end

of year? I'm interested in organising a paintballing event to cele-brate the end of the year with the Student Reps. I wanted to know whether this would be of interest to you and when would be the best time to arrange this. This might have an impact on the cost. The place I'm currently looking at is Rebel Sports which costs £14.99 per person and includes 100 Paint-balls, camouflage coveralls & hood, V-force goggles, 300 shot ammo belt, body armour & gloves for girls, inferno semi automatic gun, 10-12 action packed games with marshals on a full day and a BBQ. I'd also need to add the cost of transportation so could potentially be looking at between £25 - £30. If this is something of interest, could you let me know when your exams finish and whether you’d prefer a weekday or weekend. Alternatively if you have other suggestions I'll look into those, possibly in addition to this. I appreciate that not everyone wants to do the same thing and perhaps you don't want to participate in activities with other Stu-dent Reps that you don't know ... but perhaps you can help you organise something for the students on your course?

Opportunities within the Students’

Union

If you would like to contribute to the Student Rep newsletter next year please email

ccwright@dmu.ac.uk. We’d really like to hear about

and publicise your successes as Student Reps…

It’s your newsletter!

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