In partnership with the Student Guild, we continue to develop our approaches to closing the feedback loop. Student Reps represent their peers within all of our academic decision-making meetings as well as within our Board of Directors. Student Reps are emailed all meeting paperwork in good time ahead of meetings. Secretaries of meetings will highlight specific areas of interest to Student Reps within meeting agenda’s which assist them in gathering feedback from peers.
At the start of meetings, we have begun to embed an introduction from the Chair in meetings that is targeted at student members and which outlines the work and purpose of the meeting and how Student Reps can contribute.
Our Course Committees and the Student Staff Consultative Forum (SSCF) play a key part in closing the feedback loop. For example, within the first Course Committees of a new academic year, the main business centres around the Annual Course Monitoring and Evaluation Report that presents detailed information on how a course has operated and performed over the last academic year as well as providing action plan updates (from the last year) and a plan for the next year. The content of the Annual Reports therefore gives Student Reps information on their course (to then feedback to classmates) and which either closes or updates on areas of feedback given by students previously in these meetings.
The SSCF brings all Student Reps together alongside some of our key staff. The SSCF enables us to share our new ideas or developments with all Student Reps which can then be shared with the wider student body for feedback. Each SSCF provides updates on any areas that have been carried forward from the previous meeting.
Recently, both ourselves and the Student Guild have enhanced our systems and improved the way we close the feedback loop. For example, we routinely publish a number of our committee meeting minutes on our website. The Student Guild also intend to do the same for its own meetings. In addition, the Student Staff Liaison Manager has worked closely with the Student Guild in its roll-out of website resource and information pages for Student Reps. The Student Guild website enables all Student Reps to reach out to those they represent by making online announcements (for example about meetings they are attending and advising on key agenda items) to attract classmate feedback and to later report back on what happened in meetings.