23.11.2011 amendments and supplementary agenda

Student Council Wednesday 23 November 2011 at 6.30pm in the Milton Lecture Theatre, Garrod Building Amendments and Supplementary Agenda

5.1 Executive Action Plan (pages 1-15) To note the Full-time Officer’s Action Plans. 10.1 Amendment to NUS National Demonstration (page 16)

Proposed and accepted by the new proposer of the motion Ozzy Amir (Mile End Campaigns Officer).

15.1 Amendment to Affiliation to Education Activist Network (page 17)

Proposed and accepted by the proposer of the motion Ozzy Amir (Mile End Campaigns Officer).

A. widening participation (wp)

we will: we will have achieved this when: what we have done so far: O N

A1 Plan an NUS WP Champions project To have planned a project to carry out for the NUS WP Champions Project. This should include having developed a relationship with a school, recruited and trained volunteers and got a partnership agreement in place.

- A project plan in place by the end of

November 2011. - A School identified by end of December 2011. - An agreement in place with the school by

January 2012. - Volunteers are recruited, trained and CRB

checked by end of January 2012.

A2 Run an NUS WP Champions project To run a five week project in a school local to Queen Mary University which at least 40 pupils attend.

- The volunteers have worked with the pupils for

at least five weeks. - At least 40 pupils have attended.

A3 Widening Participation Strategy Develop a union-wide strategy for improving widening participation at QMSU.

- A strategy is written by the end of January

2012. - The strategy is passed by Student Council and

Board of Trustees.

B. postgraduate students


B1 Postgraduate Events Hold at least one event every semester for Postgraduate Students to gather their views and opinions on education and welfare matters by May 2012.

- An event is run each semester. - A report from each event goes to the Vice

Principal Advisory group for Research from each event.

- At least 40 students attend each event.

0 25 50 75 achievement level: 100

B2 Postgraduate policy To develop policy that’s purpose is to directly benefit postgraduate students.

- At least two policies have been written and

passed by student council. - A mechanism has been put in place to

measure the impact of the policy over the coming months and years.

B3 PGR student’s communication strategy To put plans in place to dramatically improve the Unions communication with PGR students to make them feel a part of the Union.

- A strategy written by end of April 2012.

C. raising awareness


C1 NSS Question 23 To chair a group in the SU to look at how we can maximise our result to NSS question 23.

- The meetings take place once a month. - We are in the upper quartile of levels of

satisfaction in comparison to Unions around the country.

C2 Create a guide about the Union To improve the awareness of the role of the Union to academics, students and other bodies by creating a guide.

- It has been created before end of July 2012. - It has been distributed to all departments in

the college.

C3 Improving the awareness of the Sabbatical Trustee roles To actively publicise the role of the sabbatical trustees in the run up to the election and provide opportunity for all potential sabbatical candidates to meet with me to find out what the role is like.

- Five candidates stand for the position of

President. - I have had a one to one about my role with all

President Candidates.


C. in the higher education sector


C1 Unions 94 To take an active role in developing Unions 94 to ensure that it is beneficial to QMSU.

- My contribution has been deemed to be

integral to the success to Unions 94. - Unions 94 meet at least once a semester.

C2 Improving Quality Assurance in HE To take an active role in the QAA review that is taking place.

- I have consulted students about relevant

topics. - The research is taken to the QAA Sounding

Board.


A. creating sustainable media

I will: I will have achieved this when: what I have done so far: O N

A1 Staff support Ensure that there is staff support in place for media for the 2012/13 academic year onwards and a handover has taken place.

- A staff job description is written including

support for media by January 2011. - The staff member has been appointed before

the beginning of July 2012.

A2 Regulations To have created regulations that provide clear direction for media, both where it is going and also about how it is run. The relationship between the Union and media will be clearly defined.

- The aims and purpose has been clearly

defined by end of November 2011. - The terms of reference and a Service Level

Agreement has been written by January 2011. - All documents passed through Council and the

Board of Trustees.

A3 Running successful elections To ensure the success of media successful elections need to be run finding the editors for next year. The elected then need productive handovers.

- All positions are contested. - Handovers are planned and delivered.

A4 Funding Funding is achieved for the next year through the Union and additional sources.

- Three funding bids have been submitted and

two are successful. - £5,000 additional funding secured. - The Union budget is submitted and approved.

B. making an accountable executive officer team


B1 Sabbatical Question Time To provide an opportunity for students to come

- At least one Sabbatical Question Time has


and hear what the Executive Officer team have been working on and ask questions.

been run a semester. - At least 50 students turn up to each event.

B2 Sabbatical drop ins To ensure that sabbatical officers are in a location on campus every two weeks providing a drop in opportunity for students to talk direct to the sabbaticals.

- They take place every fortnight - Appropriate places for the drop ins to take

place are located on both campuses. - At least three sabbatical officers attend each

drop in.

B3 Fees and cuts The sabbatical trustees are mandated to work on the fees and cuts campaign through policy set at Union Council, so we therefor need to be accountable for our work on the Unions major campaign.

- At least three sabbatical officers attend all the

fees and cuts meetings. - A sabbatical officer speaks/presents at every

meeting - A briefing updating students on the progress

on fees and cuts it produces once a semester.

C. social outreach


C1 Volunteers Identify and train at least five Queen Mary students to go into schools and help set up a newspaper.

- All students have been identified by the end of

November 2011. - All students have been trained by the end of

December 2011.

C2 Location for the project Identify a school to run the project in and set up an agreement between the Union and the School.

- A school has been identified by end of

November 2011. - An agreement has been put in place by end of

December 11.

C3 Running the project To run a successful project in a school between Jan and March that supports pupils in setting up their own newspaper.

- Queen Mary students go into the school for a

10 week project. - The school has a newspaper up and running.


D. community radio

I will: I will have achieved this when: what I have done so far: S O

D1 Identifying the need Meet with local organisations to identify if there is a demand for local radio and what they would want from it.

- When enough evidence has been collected to

fill in the application form. - A minimum of five organisations have been

contacted.

D2 Completing the process To complete the application process to apply for a community radio station.

- To have completed the application and sent it

before the end of my term of office.


A. mums and dads mentoring scheme


A1 Recruit parents Recruit parents in Science and Engineering to provide mentoring and gain funding.

- 50 parents have been recruited and trained. - Funding has been gained.

A2 Recruit kids To promote the scheme and recruit an appropriate number of kids for the parents who have been trained.

- Four kids have been recruited for every parent

that has been trained.

A3 Project takes place The project starts to take place and there is a benefit felt by both the kids and parents that demonstrates a demand for future years.

- Meetings are taking place at least once a

month between the parents and kids. - Qualitative feedback gathered from those

involved demonstrates the project has been valuable to them.

B. academic societies


B1 Project plan To create a sustainable plan that allows for the development of academic societies that provides opportunities for student development, representation and improving retention.

- The plan is in place by mid December 2011. - Resources and support has been identified for

future years by April 2012.

B2 Gaining commitment To gain commitment from four societies and departments to be involved in a pilot project over the coming year and for their individual needs to be identified.

- Commitment is gained from four societies and

departments. - Individual timelines have been put in place and

progress is taking place.


B3 Provide support To have identified the main areas of support needed by academic societies to fulfil the project aims and training opportunities begin to be provided.

- At least one training session is developed and

run on gaining sponsorship.

-

C. improving the learning/welfare experience


C1 Pre-Printed Reading Packs Reading packs are provided in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for modules that do not have a single core text book.

- All the modules not providing reading packs in

History and Politics have been identified by end November 2011 and all other departments by January 2012.

- The Vice Principal for HSS has committed to a faculty wide policy on reading packs.

- 75% of all relevant modules in History and Politics have reading packs available to them by semester 2.

- 50% of all relevant modules in HSS have reading packs available to them by 2012/13 academic year.

C2 Vocational skills After reports of a lack of dedicated skills training in some departments I will identify the needs and ensure training is made available.

- Identified essential skills currently not being

offered in departments. - At least two additional training sessions have

been provided.

C3 International students Run at least one event a semester that gathers information about the international student experience.

- An event takes place at least once a semester. - A report is created from each event


D. research led decisions


D1 Creating an evidence base for claims To ensure that the Union is representing the true student experience the opinions should be evidence based.

- A searchable evidence base has begun to be

created. - At least three identified issues have either

been supported or not with a minimum of two pieces of evidence.

D2 NSS Respondents The NSS is the primary student satisfaction survey that influences the development of the University and the Union needs to be more active in promoting and using it.

- The number of respondents has increased by

5%. - At least one department in each faculty has

had a report written by a student using the quantitative data and open text comments which has then been presented to the SSLC.

D3 Student Experience Seminar The SE Seminar is a great opportunity to communicate with all academic departments on a topic at once, so its findings must be explicitly evidence based

- The topic has been decided by the Course

Representatives. - There is a 24.5% increase in the number of

respondents in the survey for the SE Seminar. - At least 10 course reps take an active role in

the SE seminar. - A minimum of one staff member per a dept.

attends the seminar.


A. societies


A1 Societies Strategy To create a societies strategy that identifies a clear route for development over the next three years.

- A strategy has been passed by May 2012.

A2 Regulations To have reviewed the societies regulations and split them from sport taking into account areas needed for development.

- New regulations are passed at the March 2012

Board of Trustees.

A3 Representation A clearly defined representation structure is in place for societies and meetings take place.

- Meetings take place at least once a term.

A4 Supporting societies To work towards creating supported well developed societies through training, resources and development plans.

- At least 4 different training sessions have been

planned and run throughout the year. - At least 6 new ‘How To’ documents have been

created and made available online. - 20 societies have development plans.

B. mayoral elections


B1 Student Manifesto To take an active role in the development of a London wide student manifesto and lead on creating a QMSU specific manifesto through consulting the student body for the Mayoral Elections.

- I attend the London meeting and a London

Wide manifesto is completed by the end of November 2011.

- A Queen Mary Student Manifesto is created by January 2012.

- A launch activity is planned and takes place to


launch the Queen Mary Student Manifesto.

B2 Lobbying the candidates To lobby the candidates and ask for them to pledge there support to the London wide and the QMSU manifesto. Also to invite local candidates to campus for an event and encourage students to attend the ULU Question Time.

- All candidates have been contacted by the end

of February 2012. - A response is received from at least half of all

the candidates and at least one candidate pledges to support either/both of the manifestos.

- Meetings are held with at least three local candidates.

- 25 Queen Mary students attend the London Student Question Time.

B3 Getting students to vote To work with the local council to get a polling station on campus and maximise the student involvement rate in the election.

- The local council has been contacted before

the end of November 2011 about getting a polling station on campus.

- A campaign is plan and carried out promoting the election to students.

C. sport


C1 Regulations To have reviewed the sports regulations and split them from societies taking into account areas needed for development.

- New regulations are passed at the March 12

Board of Trustees.

C2 Representation A clearly defined representation structure is in place for sport and meetings take place.

- Meetings take place at least once a month.

C3 Focus sport A tiered structure for sport is developed with opportunities for widening participation.

- A tiered structure of sport is developed - A policy is developed for a scholarship

programme to widening participation in sport at elite levels.


D. flagship events


D1 Partner led events To develop a pilot project for students running events with the Union Events Manager.

- A process is developed. - A pilot project is delivered in semester two.

D2 Colours and Honours To develop a process for deciding the awards and an event(s) to award students involved in sports, societies and volunteering.

- An award structure has been identified by

January 2012. - Event are planned and take place.

D3 Societies flagship event To work with societies to develop an event that showcases what they do.

- A business case is developed and a

collaboration project is planned.

E. improving finance processes


E1 Going online To move to a system where forms including expenses, claims etc. can be submitted online.

- It is made available online to submit at least

two finance forms.

E2 Immediate access to their funds To work towards identifying a process where students can have immediate access to the funds in there account preventing them from having to use their own money.

- A meeting takes place with the finance

department and the option is explored and outcomes followed up.

E3 Risk To reduce the risk involved in finance a risk register needs be created and a system which prompts staff and students when actions need to take place is introduced.

- A risk registered is created by July 12. - A prompt system is explored and actions take

place by July 12.


A. student presidents committee


A1 Student President Committee Reform Review the membership of the Student President Committee, in light of reforms to the membership of Student Council by January 2012.

- A new structure is in developed before

January 2012.

A2 Part-time Officers Meet with Barts and The London Part-time Officers at least twice a semester.

- Meetings take place.

A3 Dental Society Attend Dental Society meetings and attempt to improve communication and the relationship between the Union and dental students.

- I have attended at least two Dental Society

meetings in each semester.

B. big bl survey


B1 Development Write a survey along the lines to National Student Survey to gather students views about the student experience for October 2011.

- Survey is written.

B2 Promotion Promote the survey to classes by attending lectures.

- Over 500 students have completed the survey.

B3 Report Use the survey to write a report summarising the student experience and develop action points for the medical school.

- A report and action points are written.


C. activities


C1 Union Days Organise Union Days in the BLSA building to promote Union sports clubs and societies.

- Union days are organised and take place

before and after the BLSA refurbishment.

C2 BLSA Refurbishment Ensure activities and representation are not adversely affected by the closure of the BLSA building.

- Society Activity continues. - A contact point for the BLSA President is

established and promoted to students.

C2 GriffInn Relaunch Work with the Union’s Entertainments to successfully relaunch the GriffInn.

- A relaunch event takes place - The services provided are student-led..

D. improving the medical student experience


D1 Mentoring Scheme Work with the Medical School to re-focus the academic mentoring scheme to focus on academic advice.

- The scheme is reviewed and takes an

academic focus.

D2 Placement Feedback Survey students on their placement experiences and feedback to the Medical School.

- A survey is written and promoted. - Over 500 students have completed the survey. - Analysis is conducted and action points for the

Medical School is written.

D3 Micro-Surgery Work with the Medical School to organise a new micro-surgery component of the programme.

- The micro-surgery component is developed.


10.1 Amendment to NUS Demonstration

Proposer: Ozzy Amir (Mile End Campaigns Officer) Amend the motion to read: QMSU notes:

1. That the NUS called, funded and built a national student demonstration on November 10th

2010 that was attended by around 50,000 students over the fee rises proposed by

government.

2. This demonstration, and further demonstrations, were supported by QMSU and attended by

QM Students.

3. This demonstration was the beginning of the largest student movement seen in a generation.

4. These demonstrations culminated in a major backbench revolt over the governments fees

policy, seriously undermined the credibility of the Liberal Democrats as a party that had

previously promised not to raise fees and a won a partial reinstatement of EMA.

5. Liam Burns, NUS President, called for further national demonstrations in his NUS President

election manifesto.

QMSU believes:

1. The demonstration on the 9th November 2011 called by NCAFC and supported by the

Education Activist Network, NUS and QMSU was attended by 10,000 students and shows

there is still anger amongst students about the governments reforms

2. A further attack on higher education has been launched in the form of the government White

Paper which attempts to create a rigged market, is likely to bankrupt some universities, and

will encourage private providers to enter the system of which the main company is BPP the

British subsidiary of the Apollo Group whose flagship university, the University of Phoenix, has

around an 8% graduation rate. We do not want to see this in the British HE sector.

3. Protest is a fundamental democratic right and is an effective method of making a grievance

heard.

4. The legislation to raise fees may have been passed but it can still be overturned.

5. That Liam Burns was right to run on a manifesto that called for more national demonstrations.

6. That the weight of our national union (NUS) is required if we are to see demonstrations of a

similar size to last years demonstration on November 10th

7. The biggest, broadest demonstrations possible are necessary if the fight against the

government HE reforms is to be successful.

QMSU resolves:

1. To lobby NUS leadership to hold a national student demonstration at the earliest possible date

centred around Fee rises, the loss of EMA and the attack that the education White Paper

represents which includes, but is not limited to, the risk of private providers entering the

education system.

2. To hold Liam Burns to account on his manifesto promise to hold a national demonstration.

3. To lobby NUS not just to call the demonstration but to actively build for it and to throw its

resources behind creating the biggest possible national student mobilisation

4. To support this demonstration should it go ahead and to actively build for it at Queen Mary to

make sure our university is represented on it.

5. To reaffirm our position of Free Education in the knowledge it is realistic, achievable,

affordable and desirable and to make the call for free education central to our involvement in

any future national demonstration.

Because this item is proposed by the proposer of the motion, this amendment has been accepted and adopted into the motion.

16

15.1 Amendment to Education Activist Network Affiliation

Proposer: Ozzy Amir (Mile End Campaigns Officer) Amend the motion to read: QMSU notes:

1. The education sector is under an unprecedented attack from the coalition government. The

cap on University tuition fees has been tripled and the Education Maintenance Allowance

closed to new applicants, alongside funding cuts of 40% in universities and 25% in colleges

2. The HE White Paper now seeks to fully privatise the Higher Education sector at the cost of

educationalists and students.

3. These attacks have been met with mass action to defend education, including almost 50

occupations of universities and colleges, walkouts and demonstrations involving up to 130,000

students and industrial action against managements who have tried to implement cuts.

4. Since February 2010 the Education Activist Network has been centrally involved in building

this movement. Its conferences and events have provided links between students and

workers, between official trade union structures and grassroots campaigning bodies and

across different disputes, sectors and regions. It has created opportunities to debate the crisis

facing the education sector, the potential for alternatives and the choices facing the movement

and has been one of the main organisations in the ‘Day X’ protests of Autumn 2010.

5. With the Union unable to allocate funds or print publicity, the demonstration on November 9th

was resourced entirely by the Education Activist Network.

QMSU believes:

1. Education is a right, not a privilege.

2. That action is needed to oppose education cuts, fees and marketization. This action should be

coordinated between students and educationalists across the sector and at a national level,

and linked to a strong defence of the right of education.

QMSU resolves:

1. To affiliate to the Education Activist Network.

2. To issue a statement of opposition to the government’s Higher Education White Paper.

3. To co-ordinate with the Education Activist Network on calls for future demonstrations and

campaigns that act towards the fulfilment of policies this union supports.

4. To make a donation of £100 to the Education Activist Network to support its activities.

Because this item is proposed by the proposer of the motion, this amendment has been accepted and adopted into the motion.

17

23.11.2011 amendments and supplementary agenda

Documents

postgraduate students

project plan

participation strategy

nus wp champions project

unionwide strategy

week project

participation wp

b2 postgraduate policy