SEC09-M1
Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held
on 11 February 2009
Members:
Professor Morag Bell (Chair),
Professor Chris Backhouse, Mr Malcolm Brown, Mr David Goss, Mr
In attendance: Marie
Kennedy (secretary)
Apologies: Mr Danny McNiece and Mr Will Spinks for
non-attendance, and Mr Chris Morris for having to leave slightly early.
09/1. Minutes
SEC08-M3
The
minutes of the meeting held 29 October 2008 were approved.
09/2. Matters arising from the minutes
2.1
Hall
songs in freshers’ week
The Committee APPROVED the draft guidelines, which
had been agreed with the
ACTION: NRT/ DG
Secretary’s
note: revised agreed guidelines
circulated 12 February 2009.
2.2
Noted that:
i.
Focus groups with international students had not provided very useful
information, but that their concerns about safety seemed likely to relate to
incidents off-campus.
ii.
The recent THES
iii.
That the limited evidence in the CRSP reports on the experiences of
Loughborough’s BME undergraduates, of incidents that might be construed
as racist, were also more likely to be off-campus, and that BME students
surveyed had consistently made positive comments about their experiences here.
iv.
The safety issues could now be dealt with via the Charnwood Safety
Partnership, a multi-agency group looking at crime and disorder issues.
However, these i-grad data remained a cause for
concern, as the University had so far been unable to understand the reasons
behind them. It was possible that a few
isolated incidents over the last two-three years had negatively affected
student perceptions, and that data from the Autumn 2008 survey might present a
different picture. If, however, recent data
were consistent with the earlier results, the University would need to hold more
focus groups to further investigate the issue, and to clarify what international
students understood by ‘safety’.
The Committee noted that issues of safety were well
covered at induction and by the international students’ orientation
programme, and that support services such as Counselling had identified only a
very small number of students who had experienced racist or similar incidents,
either on or off-campus. It also noted
that a considerable proportion of international students came from cultures
where the relationship of individuals with police and uniformed staff was very
different to that in the
The
The University had recently been invited to join the
Leicestershire Hate Incident Monitoring Project (HIMP), a multi-agency
initiative which sought to improve reporting and recording of incidents related
to issues such as race, sexual orientation and gender. Unfortunately, the Project did not cover students
as a category, although this status might be another reason for
resentment. Joining the Project should
enable the University to keep better informed of any incidents, help clarify whether Loughborough was better
or worse than other parts of the county in this respect, and show whether the
problem affected all Loughborough students, regardless of cultural background. The University’s Equal Opportunities
Officer was co-ordinating a small internal group which included the Director of
Separately, a local Police officer had recently contacted
the
It was important that all students were aware
of behaviour that was unacceptable and
constituted an offence, felt able to report any such incidents, and knew where
to report.
09/3 Induction, arrivals and students living in
the community (SEC09-P1)
The Committee had agreed at the last meeting that
there should be no change to timings for arrivals for the 2009 entry. Dr Mark Hollingsworth from the Academic
Registry was consulting support services to clarify what University-level
information was currently provided to students, check for any gaps, and identify
appropriate timing and media for the various types of information.
The reference to information separately provided by
the
AGREED that:
(a)
imago would clarify any issues that might affect 2010 arrivals dates
from its perspective;
ACTION: MCB
(b)
The Chair would then consult with the Academic Registrar, the Director
of
ACTION: MB
09/4. Communication with students (SEC09-P2(a) and
(b))
The LUSI Steering Group had recently discussed the
possibility of extending the use of Learn as a communication as well as a
pedagogical tool, and its potential as an embryonic student portal. The portal was intended to be for the benefit
of the user, and it was important to identify what users most needed.
In listing areas of responsibility for the content
currently on Learn, the paper prepared for the Steering Group (SEC09-P2(b)) had
implicitly raised the issue of where overall responsibility for Learn should
lie. The overlap of membership between
the e-Learning Advisory Board, LUSI Steering Group,
AGREED that further discussion
would be held outwith the Committee.
ACTION: MB
09/5. Healthy living campaign (SEC09-P3)
The previous Committee meeting had agreed that the
Director of
The meeting had made five recommendations. Three of these, that the University should
consider a more co-ordinated approach to promotion of health-related
initiatives and develop a strategy, consider becoming a ‘healthy
university’, and liaise more effectively with local agencies, were largely
a matter of documenting and co-ordinating existing and future activities, and
should not prove expensive or unduly time-consuming. The Director of
The Director of Human Resources had been consulted
regarding the second recommendation, that staff be included in any initiative. He had been unable to attend this meeting,
but had indicated his experience of and enthusiasm for such a campaign. The Director of
The
AGREED that the Director of
ACTION: NRT
09/6. Residential Provision and Management
Sub-Committee (SEC09-P4)
6.1 Report of the meeting
held 3 February 2009
The
The Director of imago confirmed that there were no
plans in its five-year project to close any of the catered halls. However, it was possible that UPP might
object to recent arrangements to provide a meals package for students in the
new Elvyn Richards Hall, which had been built as self-catering, if it did not
prove more popular with students. He noted that the halls were now on a sound
financial footing.
The
Concern was expressed regarding item 6 (c) of the
minutes, which appeared contrary to the internationalisation strand of the University’s
Strategy, as it implied possible limits on some students’ opportunities
to study overseas. No such restrictions had
been intended, and the minute would be reworded to clarify the situation.
ACTION: JCN
16.2 Report on hall places
This report had recently been considered by Residential
Provision and Management Sub-Committee.
An additional 200 bedrooms would be provided in the Village for 2009
entry, and imago did not expect any overspill.
The new Hazlerigg and Rutland Hall would retain its name.
There had been some issues with the new John
Phillips PG hall which had been difficult for imago to resolve. Some related to facilities which some
students had expected to be available within the hall rather than nearby, and a
small minority was now raising the possibility of compensation. Imago wished to avoid this becoming an issue
which might prejudice other students from seeking places in the hall.
Some of the ‘old’ Elvyn Richards Hall buildings
would be renovated to create University Lodge, which would provide short-term
accommodation. It would be fully
catered, and could be booked for periods from one day to four weeks, at £175
pw. It would open in September 2009 with
50 bedrooms, each with wash-basin, although shower facilities would shared
between each four or five rooms; there
would a lounge on each floor. Although
shared facilities were not ideal for some users, imago anticipated only 75%
occupancy, and would keep one wing for more mature users such as visiting
staff.
The Committee noted that the Lodge would be useful
for new and visiting staff, visitors, and research students, and demonstrated
that imago had listened to requests for such short-term accommodation.
AGREED
(a)
That it would be helpful if imago circulated a brief summary of what the
Lodge offered to central support services, Registry, and academic
departments.
(b)
That it was important that any noisy renovation work did not take place
during the exam revision period.
ACTION: MCB
The
09/7. THES
Best
Four of the six areas where Loughborough had done slightly
less well compared to other universities related to learning and teaching, and
would be dealt with via Learning and Teaching Committee. Perceptions about cheap shop/bar were almost
certainly related to there being less choice for campus than for city
universities. Not surprisingly, the
results confirmed Loughborough’s position as probably the best
students’ union in the
Concern was expressed that the University’s
move towards larger cost centres would negatively impact on students’
experience of being part of a small department.
It was important that the University retained individual departmental
cultures and that small departments did not lose their sense of collegiality
when forming larger economic units.
However, it was noted that the University’s NSS results did not
suggest a simple correlation between department size and student satisfaction.
09/8.
NOTED the imminent change of name from Department of
The Director of
The DANS report highlighted the significant rise in
the number of students with dyslexia or mental health problems, and Senate had
recently supported the need for increased resourcing for this area. Thanks were due to James Kirby, the Head of
DANS, and his team, for handling the extra demand. Mental health issues ranged from minor
home-sickness to psychosis, although very few students were at the more severe
end of the continuum. The increased
numbers were more likely to be because these problems now suffered less social
stigma and students were more willing to discuss issues, and because better
support was now available, than because of increased incidence. This picture was reflected among all HEIs. The University now offered four channels of
support for mental health problems:
Counselling, Medical Centre, Wardens Service and DANS.
The Director of
ACTION: NRT
Thanks were also due to Annie Bell, who had taken
over at short notice as acting Head of the ISC and CALS. Liz Shahal had recently been appointed as
Head of service and would begin on 2 March 2009. She would head two teams, English language
support, and advice to international students on matters such as housing and
visas. The
CALS was moving to the Schofield building, and would
continue to work closely with DANS to provide an integrated service for
students with additional needs.
There was some concern about the 30% drop in numbers
of students registering for pre-sessional courses in 2008; the fall might be due to the economic climate
or in part because departments required higher IELTS entry scores. Feedback from pre- and in-sessional courses
was positive. The Centre was now providing
more tailored, department-specific courses, and was developing closer links
with
There continued to be concern that funding of the
The new Head of the
AGREED that when Liz Shahal was in
post, a small group including the Director of the
ACTION: NRT
09/9.
The Academic Registrar introduced key points from
the notes of the meeting held 21 January 2009.
The situation regarding students’ vehicle
insurance was developing satisfactorily (item 3.1 of the notes).
Discussions continued regarding additional space for
student activities, including space previously used for hall catering (item 4
of the notes). The possible use of William Morris dining hall had been discussed
by imago and the Space Manager, and the issue had recently been raised with the
Deputy Vice Chancellor and the Chief Operating Officer. The Director of imago had been asked to see
whether the
The Team would consider the
The Team had discussed two reports on the
experiences of Loughborough’s BME students (item 7 of the notes). The Director of
When considering communication with new students
(item 5 of the notes), it was important to remember that information for PGT
students was sent much earlier than information for UG freshers. Timing was therefore already tight,
especially if another DVD needed to be produced.
09/10.
Noted.
09/11. Financial Hardship Sub-Committee (SEC09-P8)
Noted.
09/12. Annual reports from
Noted (see 09/8 above).
09/13.
Noted.
09/14. NSS 2009
Noted.
09/15. Date of next meeting
Wednesday 17 June at 3.30 pm in Committee Room 2 (please note later start time).
09/16. Any other business
16.1 Loughborough student
invited to speak to House of Commons Select Committee
Lucy Hopkins, a second year LUSAD student and President
of the Hall
ACTION: DG/MK
Secretary’s
note: circulated 11 February 2009.
The
Students’ Union thanked the Vice Chancellor and the Director of Marketing
and Communications for their support in this matter.
16.2
Nominations would close on Friday 13 February, and
the elections would be held Monday 16 February – Wednesday 4 March, with
results announced shortly after.
Author – Marie Kennedy
Date – February 2008
Copyright © Loughborough
University. All rights reserved.