Emily Sellon, Arts SU Educational Quality Officer
June 5th: 4:30-5:30
Overview goal: To understand how the Arts Su is structured in regards to Course Reps and student participation. I was particularly interested to know if communication networks exist or can be established between course reps. I also wanted to give some feedback about the opacity of the interactions with the Arts SU as a student participant.
Since Course Reps are self-selecting representatives from each course, it would seem a natural communication channel to leverage as I begin to think about creating networks of exchange within the university system.
I heard from Emily that this is a good time to raise these issues as there are 1200 reps across UAL and previously there was only one staff member dedicated to helping. They are onboarding 4 more staff to work with reps, and the position I’m rising into—CSM School Rep for the cluster of Culture & Enterprise, Spatial Practices, and GCD—is a brand new one this year. This means that as things are moving already and with more structural support staff, there is greater possibility things get implemented.
I proposed that I could pilot a case study of building a communication network between reps and that could be something that, if successful, could be rolled out across UAL.
Conclusion: Emily is also American, just arriving in London in December from a masters at Brown University and was very eager to hear these ideas and information. There is a planned, day-long training session for rising Arts SU officers on June 17th, and we discussed adding this issue of communication to the agenda for the day.
Next steps: Deans Forum on Wednesday, June 8th where these issues can be raised.
Note: can Arts SU also solicit notes/reports (or at least offer) to the next round of course reps so that they aren’t starting blind with each new cohort?