School Student Representatives (School Reps) met in November with senior University colleagues to share feedback at the new Student Voice Forum, which was co-chaired by Sal Jarvis, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) and Zahra Butt, UWSU President.
The forum is a collaborative space for students and colleagues to work together and make a difference to the quality of education and experience delivered at Westminster. It is a safe space where all members can bring their ideas and concerns for discussion, and where they can work together to bring about change.
Open discussion
Every School Rep is a member of the forum and their input at the first meeting enabled a great atmosphere for discussion of ideas. Some of the major themes that came up included:
- The current cost of living crisis, including ideas on how to further support students during this time.
- Teaching quality, both examples of great teaching and further improvements students would like to see, such as more consistency with online/recorded lectures and developing more active ways of learning.
- Feedback on the campus libraries, including ideas on different study spaces that are needed and the cleanliness of the facilities.
Solving problems
The aim of the forum is to generate ideas and actions that enhance education and student experience. Plenty of action points were agreed at the first meeting, with feedback provided directly by School Reps to University colleagues.
Attendees were able to resolve an issue related to the hot water tap at Regent campus which had previously been reported by students. Other actions taken away from the meeting included re-introducing the ‘Find your Course Rep’ site on the UWSU website and a further look into informal (formative) feedback on essays and how this can be improved to help students perform at their best.
Make your voice heard
As a student, you can contact your Course Representative (Course Reps) with any direct feedback or concerns - these can be big or small. The contact details for the Rep on your course can be found on Blackboard. Alternatively, you can also ask your Course Leader to put you in touch with them.
Course Reps will pass any larger concerns (which can’t be solved at a course level) up to School Reps who can talk to Heads of Schools or bring ideas to the Student Voice Forum, making sure all your feedback and concerns are worked on. So please do get involved and speak to us!
