Make your voice heard

The University takes your views about your course and your experience as a student seriously.

This section of the handbook provides information on how you can contribute to the quality assurance of the course and modules you are studying on.

To help address any concerns you may have with the course and to help the university improve its services we would like you to ‘make your voice heard’. The following are the formal means by which you can voice your concerns. They are meant for concerns on the general conditions and course related issues, personal concerns should be addressed to your Personal Tutor, Course Leader, etc.

Student feedback is obtained in a number of ways, both formal and informal. Staff/student relationships are characterised by a relaxed and informal approach. Students are encouraged (and show no reluctance) to approach Module and Course Leaders directly with comments and queries. If you have a general concern on an issue relating to the course you should contact your Course Representative first.

The senior management is always pleased to see students but you must address any concerns you have to the appropriate person and please follow the procedures for more formal complaints.

5.1 The Course Committee

The Course Leader is responsible for organising a Course Committee Meeting in semesters one and two of each academic year. The Course Committee is the forum for students and staff to present their views on the operation and development of the course. As a formal Committee within the University's Committee Structure, the Course Committee provides an important mechanism for the collection and consideration of student feedback. The Terms of Reference and Composition of Course Committees are set out below. Any alternative mechanism approved for student-staff consultation e.g. for part-time students, should accord with these Terms of Reference and Composition.

Terms of Reference

The Course Committee has responsibility for considering the effective management of the course, including enhancement of provision. The remit of the Course Committee covers the:

• Academic welfare of students, and specifically the course induction and the Personal Tutor system;

• Student feedback comment on course operation, curriculum content, teaching, study skills, support, assessment, facilities, library and computing support and administrative support;

• Monitoring information/comment on previous year's course audits, operation of course academic standards, i.e. ‘progress statistics' of students enrolled, progressing, graduating (and withdrawing); aggregated Module Feedback Questionnaire data; student survey outcomes (internal and the National Student Survey where appropriate);

summaries of external examiners' reports; reports of University Review Panels and University Validation Panels or external bodies which accredit the course;

• Consultation on proposed changes to module content, assessment and/or course structure.

The Course Committee minutes provide part of the evidence base for the annual monitoring exercise conducted each year by the University, and the periodic review of the course conducted by the University (normally every six years).

Composition

• Elected student representatives, forming 40% - 50% of total membership, including representation from all modes of study and subject areas as far as possible

• Course Leader

• Dean of Faculty

• Full-time staff teaching the course, to include representatives of all major subject areas

• One member nominated by Information Systems & Library Services (ISLS)

51

• One member of administrative support staff nominated by the Academic Registry Manager.

Total membership should not exceed 30. The quorum shall be 40% of the approved membership.

Where the traditional model of face-to-face meetings is not considered to be the most appropriate mechanism to gather and respond to student feedback, Course Teams may present an alternative approach to a University Validation or Review Panel for consideration.

Good practice in committee organisation indicates that:

• The Course Leader should organise a pre-meeting for all student representatives in advance of the first Course Committee meeting of the session, and provide copies of the previous year's Course Committee minutes;

• Agendas should be circulated one week ahead and put on course notice boards/

WIUT Intranet site to allow for items to be researched and responded to by inviting relevant parties to respond;

• Meetings should be held at least once each semester but preferably twice;

• A Secretary should be appointed from the Academic Registry Office and should be responsible for posting minutes and the associated actions and outcomes on the WIUT Intranet site;

• Issues raised at the Course Committee should be reasonably representative of the student and/or staff group and not just of a minority;

• Urgent practical problems (e.g. access to IT facilities or teaching rooms) are to be raised with the Course Leader and/or Head of Department in-between Course Committee meetings, rather than delayed;

• Issues raised at the meeting and decisions taken are recorded on an ‘action list', and draft minutes or notes should be approved by the Chair and circulated within three weeks of the meeting and the list of actions reported back to the next meeting as

‘Matters Arising'.

5.2 How Course Representatives will be selected

Student representatives are elected by the relevant student groups to ensure that students from each level, mode and major subject area are represented. Elections take place within timetabled classes for core modules to encourage maximum participation. Elections will be held annually early in semester 1.

All students are eligible to be a course representative and it can be a good experience if you are chosen.

If you are interested in becoming a representative for your course and get elected, then you will receive an induction and some training. This is done in collaboration with the WIUT Student Union each year for all course representative. A ‘course rep’ handbook is provided to each new course representative. In addition the Course Leader, Dean, Student Union executive and the Academic Registrars office can help with any concerns you may have as a course representative

5.3 Feedback from the Course Committee

The outcomes of each Course Committee are documented in a set of minutes. The minutes are a formal record of the meetings they will be held in the Academic Registrar’s office and be published directly following each meeting in a similar manner to the agendas. There are also

opportunities for Course Representatives to seek informal advice on the outcomes from other course representatives and the course team as well as providing feedback of meetings to the student body either during lectures or electronically.

It will be the responsibility of the Chair of the Committee to ensure that direction is given to the appropriate person or area for action or consideration on any aspects of the minutes.

The actions noted by the Course Committee are produced as an ‘Action Plan’. These action plans are then progressed in the following way:

• A Course Leader (CL) is asked to organize a post CCM meeting with the other CLs and other relevant parties to prepare list of common problems;

• After that meeting the CLs prepare draft course action plans, and may raise at this point any concerns with the appropriate senior manager to resolve any issues;

• The CLs prepare a final version of action plan including any resolved issues and pass it to SU Welfare and Education secretary;

• The SU Welfare and Education secretary will pass the final action plan to course reps;

• Course reps pass this info to students.

5.4 Module Feedback Questionnaires – why complete them?

The University has a standard end-of-module student questionnaire as an additional means by which students can give feedback on the quality of academic process (teaching, assessment, etc.). The questionnaire is concerned with the quality of the teaching and learning process on each module. All modules are surveyed at the end of the semester. All students on the module are surveyed.

The questionnaire is confidential and anonymous. The questionnaire is filled in on-line and its results are processed by computer software. Completion takes approximately ten minutes.

The results are used to address any concerns with particular modules, to assess the overall performance across all modules, they are also made available to the UoW liaison tutor and are used in the annual review of all courses.

They are important and are used by staff and senior managers to help improve the delivery and outcomes of modules.

Individual members of staff may also use their own questionnaires or methods of evaluation.

These do not form part of the overall Quality Assurance system of the university and students are free to participate as they wish.

5.5 Student Experience Survey

The Student Experience Survey is held once a year for all non-final year undergraduate and postgraduate students and will seek your opinions on:

 The teaching on your course

 Academic support

 Skills development and employability

 Learning resources

 Welfare resources and facilities

 Representation and social opportunities

53 The results are made widely available within the University and used in the Annual Monitoring to identify any action they need to take to enhance the student experience as a result of the survey outcomes.

6. What to do if things go wrong