Student Services Committee

SS04-M1

Minutes of the Thirty-fourth Meeting of the Student Services Committee held on 3 March 2004.

Professor Morag Bell (Chair)

Mr M Brown Mr J Burnard Mrs N Honey (ab)

Mr H E Jones Professor M R Lister Mrs W E Llewellyn

Mr M Moghal Mr H M Pearson (ab) Mr A Steeles

Mr J M Town Ms R A C Warren Mr A J Westaway (ab)

Mr J B White (ab)

In attendance: Mr C Dunbobbin (Committee Secretary), Mr D Jackson, Rev D MacGregor, Ms Barbara Shannon

Apologies for absence were received from: Mr H M Pearson, Mr J B White

04/01 Minutes

The minutes of the Thirty-third Meeting held on 5 November 2003 were confirmed as a true record, subject to the following amendment:

Minute 03/17(iv) should have referred to users of the Muslim Prayer Room, rather than users of the Chaplaincy being forced to pray in the corridor.

04/02 Matters Arising

(i) Department of Student Guidance and Welfare Website

Mrs Llewellyn reported that the establishment of the Student Guidance and Welfare web-pages had been announced to staff and students on the web-based Lboro Noticeboard.

(ii) Guidelines for Following Up Absent Students

It was noted that a memorandum and guidelines on this matter had been circulated by the Associate Deans (Teaching) on 27 March 2003.

(iii) Universities UK Report

Mrs Llewellyn provided an update on progress in implementing the main recommendations of the Universities UK Report on the retention of non-traditional students.

· A reminder of the availability of the student support services had been sent to all first year students by email. A similar email would be sent to all other students before the end of the academic year.

· The Universities UK Report emphasised the benefits of a ‘one-stop-shop’ for support services, and proposals had been put forward to relocate the English Language Study Unit to the Herbert Manzoni Building, as part of a long-term strategy to accommodate all of the student support services in the same building. However, it had been decided that the Herbert Manzoni building was not suitable for development into further office space. It was difficult to identify available space in other areas that might be used to house all of the student support services, but discussions were ongoing.

(iv) Moving towards a Centre for Faiths and Spirituallity

Mrs Llewellyn reported that the working group established to consider this matter was due to meet with architect John Warren the following week to take advice on possible sites on campus for a new building to house a Centre for Faiths and Spirituality. In the meantime, a short-term solution to the shortage of space in the Muslim Prayer Room had been found – the Victory Hall was now being used for prayers on Friday lunchtimes. It was stressed that this was the only time of the week when the space available in the Muslim Prayer Room was insufficient.

It was likely that the Chaplaincy would relocate from the Edward Herbert Building to the Brockington Building. It was anticipated that this move would provide additional office space for the chaplains, and an extra room that could be used as a meeting place by faith groups other than Christians and Muslims. Rev MacGregor noted that the availability of additional meeting room facilities was particularly important, as new employment regulations on religion in the workplace would apply to students as well as workers, and facilities made available to one faith group would also need to be made available on request to other faith groups.

The Committee noted that it was important for the University to meet the needs of all faiths, and that particular consideration needed to be given to Muslims, who were required to offer prayers 5 times each day, and on Friday afternoons. The Committee heard that the two main Leicester hospitals and the Police Station in Leicester offered a main prayer room that could be used flexibly by different faith groups at different times, and at least one separate room, which different groups could use for storage while they were not using the main room.

(v) Policy and Guidelines relating to Illicit Drug Use

The Committee noted that the updated policy had been sent to the Student Disciplinary Committee for comments.

(vi) Recycled / Pastel Paper

Mr Jackson noted that Departmental Disability Co-ordinators had been made aware that off-white or pastel-coloured paper was more suitable for students with some disabilities. The Director of Media Services had received a new tender for recycled and pastel paper, which gave lower prices (although such paper remained more expensive than standard paper). It was noted, however, that for Departments to provide all students with pastel paper would be an unnecessary additional cost, as the use of pastel paper for students with disabilities needed to be considered on an individual basis, according to the needs of each student.

(vii) David Collett Hall

Mr Brown reported that the change in the use of David Collett Hall to a 31 week let, catered, undergraduate hall had progressed well, and had been confirmed in time for accurate information on the nature of the hall to be included in University recruitment and publicity material. Meetings had taken place with the Warden, Subwardens, and Hall Committee, and only a small number of negative views had been expressed. It was anticipated that the hall would retain and international flavour.

04/03 Mental Health / Dyslexia Support for International Students

Mrs Llewellyn raised concerns relating to the funding of support provided to international students by the Mental Health Adviser and the Dyslexia Unit. It was noted that the Mental Health Advisor (fully) and the main Dyslexia Tutor (mainly) were funded by the Premium Disability Fund, which was paid to all Universities according to the number of disabled students in attendance. The remaining part of the main Dyslexia Tutor post, and the other Dyslexia Tutors were funded by Disabled Student Allowance money, which home students received through their Local Education Authority. International students did not receive equivalent funding in this area, so while it was felt that these services should be made available to international students, a funding gap existed, which was stretching the resources of the Disabilities and Additional Needs Service and the English Language Study Unit, as the number of international students continued to increase.

The Registrar noted that the increasing number of international students was bringing the University more money, and it was reasonable for the Student Guidance and Welfare section to apply for extra resources to cover these costs in its bid to the next budget round.

04/04 Student Guidance and Welfare

.1 Annual Reports

(i) Chaplaincy (2002-03)

(Rev D MacGregor, Head of Section for the Chaplaincy, attended the meeting and presented the Chaplaincy annual report)

Rev MacGregor drew attention to the introduction to the report, which outlined the Chaplaincy’s role within the University, and the basis on which it offered its ministry on campus. The Chaplaincy was funded differently to other support services on campus in that the different denominations funded the staff, while the University provided rooms, an office budget and some housing. The Chaplaincy was a small department with five chaplains in all (three part-time), and one part-time administrator. The Chaplaincy premises continued to be a live issue as plans to change the use of parts of the Edward Herbert Building were developed. The existing premises were very small, and this caused problems at times, and affected the service offered. It was hoped that the proposed new premises in the Brockington building would improve matters in this area.

Regarding the work of the Chaplaincy team, it was noted that the Anglican service of Holy Communion on Sunday mornings had ceased at Christmas 2002, as the regular congregation had dropped to just two. Various changes had contributed to this, including the fact that most students lived off-campus and were encouraged to get involved in local churches.

45% of the Religion, Faith and Spirituality forms sent out to new students with joining instructions packs had been returned, and the report included an analysis of the faith groups represented among these students. Most were Christian, but other faiths including Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains, and atheists were represented. All were sent a welcome letter, and details of student religious societies where appropriate. The forms now had been sent out for five consecutive years, and an analysis of responses over that period was planned.

The Chaplains continued to support all the student societies in a variety of ways. Support for international students included participation in the coach collection provision from Heathrow, taking part in the ELSU induction programme, and attending the Vice-Chancellor’s Welcome for International Students. One Chaplain was also a member of the International Students’ Support Network.

Students and occasionally staff continued to avail themselves of the individual pastoral case provided by the Chaplaincy. The Chaplains offered a listening ear, a chance to off-load, prayer if desired, and referral to other agencies, including the counselling service if appropriate. The Chaplaincy’s links with the counselling service in terms of referrals in both directions were felt to be good.

The Chaplaincy also helped to manage the University’s Garden of Remembrance, was involved in the establishment of the student Mental Health Website, and continued its work at Loughborough College, and the RNIB Vocational College.

The new Chaplaincy Assistant was involved in promoting the sale of Fair Trade goods on campus. Loughborough Students’ Union had responded well on this, and discussions were ongoing with the Residential Organisation (RO). Mr Brown noted that at Birmingham University, all drinks on sale on campus were fair trade, and RO were aiming to reach the same position at Loughborough within 12 months. There were already some Fair Trade products in RO shops, and a new appointment in RO would be tasked with developing this area. It was noted that Nottingham University had recently obtained some good publicity by being able to declare itself a ‘Fair Trade University’ and it was agreed that such publicity would also be good for Loughborough.

Finally, Rev MacGregor drew attention to:

· the three themes in the Chaplaincy’s vision: Nurturing communities, supporting and enabling spiritual development, and raising awareness and facilitating service, and

· the Chaplaincy’s lines of accountability: University, College and Denominational.

The Committee thanked Rev Macgregor for an interesting report. Mr Moghal asked whether the Chaplaincy had considered engaging the services of a Muslim chaplain, given that the University had a significant and growing number of Muslim students. Rev MacGregor noted that the Chaplaincy had considered this, and had looked at what other institutions were doing in this respect, but that the question of whether to make such provision was a matter for the University rather than the Chaplaincy.

It was noted that if the University did provide a Muslim chaplain, this may cause difficulties, as it would then be obliged to make similar provision for all other denominations. However, it was felt that if the Muslim group brought forward a person to perform this role, then the University would be likely to provide the appropriate facilities. This linked into the question of whether a new Centre for Faiths and Spirituality would be pursued, with sufficient space for groups of all denominations to meet.

(ii) Counselling Service (2002-03)

(Ms B Shannon attended in place of Ms J Bell, and presented the Counselling Service Annual Report)

In drawing attention to the introduction to the report, Ms Shannon noted that in terms of the therapeutic work undertaken by the service, the numbers of students presenting with multiple, long-standing and severe problems was increasing. It was felt that considerable barriers to accessing the service still existed in the form of preconceptions that undertaking counselling was somehow ‘weak’ or ‘uncool.’ The service was attempting to take steps to tackle the prevalence of these ideas, and although progress was likely to be slow, there was some evidence of attitudes changing, for example in the increased number of young men undertaking counselling.

As part of developing the preventative work undertaken by the service, Ms Shannon had worked closely with the Students’ Union Community Action group, to develop ‘student to student’ peer-support networks, and had been impressed with the dedication and commitment of the students involved.

Staff changes within the service meant that some plans for strengthening liaison links with academic departments had been put on hold. However these would be followed up in 2003-04, and a document outlining possible strategies for academic departments to prevent problems, to aid student retention, and to maintain the quality of the Loughborough experience had been circulated to all departments.

The table of statistics on page 8 of the report showed that the total number of sessions booked had continued to grow over the previous five years (although it was noted that the total student population had also grown significantly in that period, and that additional figures plotting the growth in the number of students visiting the counselling service against the growth in overall student numbers would be helpful in this area).

Overall, it was felt that the service had been successful in making itself accessible to all student groups. Mature students made up around 10/11% (not 17% as printed in the report) of the service’s clients, although they formed only 7% of the student population. Students from ethnic minority groups made up 14% of the service’s clients, compared to 10% of the total student population.

The pattern of issues brought to the counselling service was broadly similar to that in previous years, with the largest portion suffering from depression (17%), anxiety (17%), and problems directly affecting their work (17%). The proportion of clients presenting as suicidal and self-harming was around 5%.

The amount of group work offered was also similar to that in previous years. Some workshops were particularly popular and booked up very quickly. The service was keen to expand on this area of work, to allow as many students as possible to benefit from the workshops offered.

The Committee thanked Ms Shannon for the report, which showed an interesting range of existing and new activities. It was suggested that statistics which offered an analysis of problems presented by student group might be an interesting addition to the report. It might be useful, for example, to be able to identify whether certain problems were more prevalent in relation to first year students. Ms Shannon undertook to investigate the availability of such data.

In responding to questions on the report, Ms Shannon noted that the service sometimes made referrals to specialist agencies, and brought in personnel from outside to assist with training. The service was stretched at certain times of the year, and students sometimes had to wait to see a counsellor. However, it was recognised that all student support services had to deal with the problem of high demand at certain times of the academic year. This linked into the ongoing debate on the structure of the academic year, and it was noted that while there was support in some quarters for all exams to take place at the end of the Summer term, there was a fear that this would cause problems for the counselling service, and others, as demand for their services might become concentrated in one period of the academic year.

04/05 Hardship Funds

(i) Financial Statement on Hardship Funds 2003-04 to date

Mr Jones presented a report on the allocation of Hardship Funds in 2003-04 to date. So far the Hardship Fund Panel had allocated more than half of the total sum available for 2003-04. The number of applications was accelerating, so the Panel was on course to spend the full allocation by the end of the academic year. Payments made ranged from the low hundreds up to a maximum of £3,000. Many of the higher payments approved by the Panel were to mature students, who were identified as a priority group.

It was noted that widening participation bursaries, targeted at students from under-represented groups would be provided by the Alumni Development Trust over the following three years. Five bursaries, each worth £5000 would be available each year, and it was felt that they would act as something of a bridge between the bursary position now, and that when the new HE Bill came into force. It was noted that some institutions appeared to be ahead of Loughborough in terms of the provision of alumni-sponsored bursaries, although there was some scepticism as to whether the headlines about such bursaries were always completely realistic in terms of the actual sums paid.

(ii) Financial Statement on the University International Hardship (Emergency Payments) Fund 2003-04 to date

Mr Jones presented a report on the allocation of International Hardship (Emergency Payments) Fund in 2003-04 to date.

04/06 Date of Next Meeting

Wednesday 2 June 2004.

Author: C Dunbobbin

Date: March 2004

Student Services Committee

SS04-M2

Minutes of the Thirty-fifth Meeting of the Student Services Committee held on 2 June 2004.

Professor Morag Bell (Chair)

Mr M Brown (ab) Mr J Burnard Mrs N Honey

Mr H E Jones Professor M R Lister Mrs W E Llewellyn

Mr M Moghal (ab) Mr H M Pearson (ab) Mr A Steeles (ab)

Mr J M Town Ms R A C Warren Mr A J Westaway (ab)

Mr J B White (ab)

In attendance: Ms D Cracknell (Committee Secretary), Ms C Harby, Ms G Hassall

Apologies for absence were received from: Mr M Brown, Mr J B White, Mr H M Pearson, Mr A Steeles

04/07 Minutes

The minutes of the Thirty-fourth Meeting held on 3 March 2004 were confirmed as a true record, subject to the following amendment:

Minute 04/02(iii) should have clarified that the ‘one-stop-shop’ for support services did not include the Student’s Union services.

04/08 Matters Arising

(viii) Universities UK Report

Mrs Llewellyn reported that the issue of space for the ‘one-stop-shop’ for support services was ongoing. The issue had been referred to the Space Committee.

(ix) Moving towards a Centre for Faiths and Spirituality

Discussions on a Centre for Faiths and Spirituality were ongoing and the
item was on the agenda for the next Space Committee meeting. Mrs Llewellyn reported that there was a possibility that a lecture room in Brockington would be available to be portioned off for the Chapel when the Chaplaincy moved out of the Edward Herbert.

A member raised the concern that the matter of a Centre for Faiths and Spirituality had been reported in a negative manner with too much focus on the hurdles faced. It was reported that this had not been intended.

(x) Policy and Guidelines relating to Illicit Drug Use

The Committee received a copy of a e mail from Mr D Wolfe containing the draft, unconfirmed minute of the Student Discipline Committee (12 May). The Student Discipline Committee had received and considered the proposed new policy as recommended by Student Services Committee. It had been resolved to invite the Student Services Committee to reconsider its paper in light of the Student Discipline Committee’s comments.

The Committee addressed the comment on student alcohol abuse. It was felt that this was a larger problem than the policy and guidelines relating to illicit drug use aimed to address. A separate group, the Drink Action Group chaired by the Registrar had been set up with representatives from across the University including the Student’s Union, Halls, Sports and Security. The purpose of this group was to discuss where the drinking culture stemmed from and how it could be tackled. The Committee agreed that this group needed a higher profile and that a representative from this group should report to the Committee, which could then report to Council. It was agreed that the representation on this group should be considered. It was recommended that the actions that the group took should be documented.

The Committee agreed that it was unable to comment in detail on the rest of the document as it had not received the latest version. Mrs Llewellyn briefed the Committee on how the document had reached its current format. She reported that she had arranged for the policy to be examined by a representative from the NHS who had been undertaking a project on drug use in higher education. It had been agreed that an updated policy, taking into account policy change, was to be submitted to the Student Discipline Committee rather than a completely revised document. In light of the feedback the Committee agreed that the document should be reconsidered to address the comments made.

ACTION: WEL

(xi) Fair Trade week

The President of the Student’s Union reported that, following Fair Trade week, it had given a follow up presentation to the Vice Chancellor and the Residential Organisation on why the University should become Fair Trade. Members of the Ethical and Environmental Committee had formed a steering group with Residential to move this forward. The Committee requested that the group provided a report of the steering group’s activities.

(xii) Mental Health/Dyselxia Support for International Students

Mrs Llewellyn reported that there was some extra funding to provide international students with mental health support. Although no extra funding for dyslexia support had been made available, it was anticipated that it would be possible to move funding across. On the whole the general level of support was believed to be adequate to keep up with the level of students.

04/09 Student Services Committee Terms of Reference

The Committee agreed that the Terms of Reference needed the following amendments to be made:

· The second item ‘To consider and recommend annual estimates for the Student Services Section to the Resources and Planning Committee’ should be amended to ‘To advise on the resourcing of the Student Services Sections to the Resources and Planning Committee’.

· Item three to change from ‘To receive reports and recommendations from all the Student Services Network Group’ to ‘To receive reports and recommendations from all Student Guidance and Welfare Sections’.

· Item 4 to be amended to incorporate the report from the Residential Provision and Management Sub-Committee.

· The list containing the composition of the group was to be updated by taking the following actions:

§ The Convenor of the Student Services Network Group was to be removed.

§ The Chair, Sub Committee on International Students was to be removed.

§ ‘A Senior Warden’ to was to be changed to ‘The Senior Warden’.

§ Co-opted members of the group were to be reconsidered.

· The following sentence was to be added under item 1 ‘to propose actions and undertake research in order to promote welfare and well being of students on campus’.

· An opening statement was to be added to the Terms of Reference emphasising that the purpose of the Committee was to enhance the welfare of students.

ACTION: The Chair, Secretary

04/10 Careers Service Staffing

Ms Llewellyn reported concerns on the staff resource level in Careers Services. Staff numbers remained at the same level as in 1989/90. In 1989/90, the unit dealt with approximately 1,300 consultations, while in the 2003/04 academic year it dealt with approximately 3,000 consultations. In the previous two years circumstances, such as a retirement handover period, allowed for extra staff at the start of the academic year. This extra resource was unavailable for 2004/05 and it was anticipated that problems would arise in October. A request had been made for new staff but there was no positive outcome to report. The Committee agreed to support and be referred to in any further bid for staff.

04/11 Student Guidance and Welfare

1 Annual Reports

(iii) Medical Centre (2003-2004)

(Geraldine Hassall, Lead Nurse, attended the meeting for this item and presented the Annual Report of the Medical Centre)

The Committee received the Annual Report of the Medical Centre. Ms

Hassall highlighted the section referring to the new GMS contract. This had progressed since the Annual Report had been written. From December 1 2004 all out of hours emergencies would be dealt with by the new out of hours service. It was planned that the sick bay service would continue 24 hours a day, every day, during term time. Admittance into sick bay out of hours would be via the Doctor on call at the walk in centre in Loughborough. Ms Hassall confirmed that the £10 annual student contribution would remain in place.

The President of the Student’s Union agreed to advise on what would be the most appropriate time to communicate the changes to students. It was agreed that the communication would need to be clear and should be sent jointly by e mail from the Medical Centre and the Students Union. It would need to be clarified that this was not the University’s decision but a requirement of the new practice rules.

The Committee asked for a copy of the in-house training notes for the course in Substance Misuse to be submitted at the next meeting for comment.

04/12 Hardship Funds

(iii) Financial Statement on Hardship Funds 2003-04 to date

Mr Jones presented a report on the allocation of Hardship Funds in 2003-04 to date. So far the Hardship Fund Panel had allocated less money than it had at the same point last year. Mr Jones clarified that the approach to the distribution of funds had not changed and government guidelines had been followed. The only change in the manner in which the fund had been allocated was that the process had been front loaded during 2002/03 and had needed to be slowed down in Spring. For the 2003/04 academic year the money had been apportioned accordingly over the year. The Hardship Fund Panel was able to carry forward a discretionary 10% of the fund for the next academic year. The Committee discussed reasons why there were fewer applications to the Hardship Fund under item 04/13 Project to Provide Financial Advice for Students.

A member of the Committee queried what had happened to the income retained by the University during a recent staff strike. In the past such sums had been made available to the Hardship Fund. None of the members of the Committee were aware of any policy decision made on this at the time of the meeting.

(iv) Financial Statement on the University International Hardship (Emergency Payments) Fund 2003-04 to date

Mr Jones presented a report on the allocation of International Hardship (Emergency Payments) Fund in 2003-04 to date. Mr Jones confirmed that it would be possible to support dyslexic students from the fund.

04/13 Project to Provide Financial Advice for Students

(Ms C Harby, Manager of Loughborough Students Advice (LSA), attended the meeting and presented the Annual Report of LSA 2002-03)

The Committee received a report from Loughborough Students Advice. In particular attention was drawn to the reduction in the number of applications to the Hardship Fund.

The Committee queried why Hardship Fund applications were down. It was suggested that this was because the fund had been more widely advertised in the past and also that changes in student working patterns may have influenced applications. No evidence was available to back this up. A concern was raised that the University would not spend this years fund allocation. This was being dealt with by targeting postgraduate students and revisiting applications from the past year. In particular mature students were being considered alongside second year students who had received a payment lower than that which they had applied for.

It was suggested that the question of awareness of the fund and why it was not being used should be incorporated into routine surveys. It was felt that there was a need to understand the proportion of Loughborough students working during term time and how this compared at a national level. If there was not an appropriate survey there may be a need to carry one out for this specific purpose.

ACTION: CH, HEJ

04/14 Any Other Business

The University’s Financial Memorandum with HEFCE required the University to have in place a strategy for managing risk. A key part of the strategy required the embedding of risk management at all levels in the University and committees had an important role to play.

Although each significant risk had been assigned to a member of EMG to manage it was seen as being important that policy-making and supervisory committees in the University also played an active part. It had been decided that the relevant risk management schedules would appear on the committee agendas on a regular basis and be subject to formal review and report on an annual basis, as close to the financial year-end as possible.

Such a report was required for the year ending 31 July 2004. The report was to give the Committee's view on the extent to which relevant risks had been identified, mitigated and managed and whether further improvements could be recommended.

The Registrar presented papers on the Student’s Union, food poisoning and disability. The Committee offered the following comments on the papers:

§ Food poisoning – It was felt that the Committee was not in the best position to advise on the risks associated with food poisoning although a member did comment it would be difficult to prevent students bringing food from a third party onto campus.

§ Student’s Union – The Committee did not feel that it was in a position to comment on the financial matters detailed in the document. It was suggested that another potential risk could be extremist groups trying to infiltrate the University. The President of the Student’s Union reported that the election process safeguarded the Union from any extremist groups taking over.

§ Disability – It was felt that the risks associated with disability were mitigated against through the work of departmental disability co-ordinators.

The Committee commented that it would have been useful to see these papers in the context of the larger document. Members were concerned that the papers they had been asked to comment on were not necessarily ones that were in the remit of Student Services Committee. It was felt that there might be other committees in a better position to comment on these papers.

The Committee agreed that it would have been beneficial to have time to consider the papers rather than have them tabled the morning of the Committee meeting.

ACTION: The Secretary was to feed the comments from the Committee back to the University’s Finance department.

04/15 Date of Next Meeting

Wednesday 3 November 2004.

Author: D Cracknell

Date: June 2004