So it’s been a fair while since the start of term and it’s time I updated on some of the things I’ve got done in this time and some of the things still going through the pipeline that will be surfacing soon.
- I’ve got the university to stop cutting students off from MyUca and the UCA email over the summer if they still have retakes to do by mid July. Previously they would cut you from both these services making it complicated for anyone still retaking units. This also applied to students with outstanding debts and left some students coming back in September and finding that they had to pay money to the university before they could enrol.
- Despite it having been raised before, I’ve pushed the university to shut down the “campus” email group, this was the main cause of spam being sent out to students and sections for advertising and selling things has been added to MyUca but means that blanket spam will be significantly reduced.
- I informed about and attended the 9th of November Demonstrations against the governments planned reforms of higher education (bit more about this later).
- I’ve been heavily involved in the reforms made to the course representative system this year. Though these changes have been minor from the outside this was a very hectic month of planning and organising work led by the Maidstone Campus Officer, and the initial feedback we are getting is that these changes are positive.
Here are the things that are still working their way through the system
- I’ve lobbied the university to hold separate workshops for mature students on the basic necessary software used at the university (photoshop and illustrator). Though for students who have grown up around computers all their lives this is second nature, for those who have not grown up around computers it’s much more of a struggle. When they go through their basic induction to these software it’s very easy for them to find it harder to keep up with the speed of the rest of the class. As a result I’ve been arranging for there to be workshops with small class sizes to help them get more 1 to 1 tuition.
- At my request; Student Development Services are creating an information sheet for any student that has to do a retake year. For any student who has had to come back and repeat only one or two units over an entire year you will know just how much of a struggle this can be financially. If you were expecting to enrol in September and instead have to wait until January with no student loan to keep you afloat during this period it can be a massive nightmare. This document will help lead students in this situation to what financial help is available to you to keep you going until January and advise you of the best solutions. This situation is often most damaging to students who don’t have solid financial backing from their parents to fall back on and these students should not be the students worst affected by this situation.
- In January we will be asking you to sign a ‘Visual Petition’ against the governments planned higher education reforms. What we have dubbed “UCA’s £1,200,000 Nightmare” has only one place… In the Bin! Come support our campaign against this reform by throwing a copy of the document into one of our ‘Purpose Built’ recycling bins while we take a picture of you doing it. This will form a visual petition to be given to our ‘illustrious’ MP so he can see the faces of the people who don’t agree with his party’s decision to create a climate that will only support large and elite universities
Expect to see the following in the new year
- Some things about new and existing Clubs and Societies
- Some videos about things I need to know from you guys
- More questions about MyUca
- Questions about the university I.T
- Some video blogs
- Some information videos
This is all for now, enjoy Christmas (even if you don’t celebrate it), Enjoy new year and enjoy catching up with some friends you probably haven’t seen in a while. I hope to see you all back in the new year.
Don’t let the deadlines after get you down and I’m always here if you need help or advice.
Steve
I wanted to quickly put something out in a public space to thank and commend you all for the past week. It was an incredibly difficult week for many students on the Farnham Campus and the actions, sympathy and conduct of the student body has been nothing short of amazing. It was a pleasure to see so many come together to support each other and to see all treat the situation with a great deal of care and respect. Many thanks go to those who made donations and supported each other through a very difficult situation.
Hi, I’m Steve
I’m 25, as a student I studied Animation at Farnham, I’ve been the Campus Officer here since July 2011.
I wanted to give you guys a brief intro to who I am and why I’m here. I didn’t have the most traditional entry to university, I wasn’t formally trained in an art or design based subject before I came here and was working a full time job as a book keeper and administrator for a small company at the time I applied. When I was doing that job I knew it was not what I wanted to be doing, I had an underlying desire to make and develop things and have an outlet for me to express my thoughts and feelings to people. I started learning to use a 3D CGI animation software in order to give me a way of telling people stories; I’ve always been a bit of a rambling story-teller.
For me, in this situation UCA was a great opportunity to completely change the direction of my life and to be evaluated on the work I had done in my own time instead of the grades I had from years before. As such I had great expectations and high demands because this was my last route out of the office jobs I’d been working for the previous three years. Though at times I found UCA to be frustrating, I found the best part was always being around loads of other creative people with amazing knowledge of artists, films, music and whole ranges of other things. It didn’t matter that most were a few years younger than me, I still learnt loads from them.
In November of 2010 I sat doing work for an assessed presentation the next day, watching both then news from the student protests outside Westminster and the parliamentary debate going on inside about the increase in tuition fees. I was so frustrated. I couldn’t be at the demonstration and watching it alongside some of the ludicrous arguments made by people who had benefited from completely free university education just enraged me. I took a much keener interest in what was going on and despite having very little free time on my hands wanted to try to get involved in any way I could. I got a chance to meet some other people who felt the same way and strike up some conversation with them.
April 2011 rolled round and it was suggested that I ran to be the campus officer. I hesitated about it for a while knowing that I was at a really important stage in my final major project and didn’t want to give up time to campaign. I questioned a good friend at the university about whether they thought I was suitable and thought I should do it. They told me to stop making excuses and do it, that I knew I’d throw myself at the job and pursue it with the same geeky vigour I threw at my course.
So here I am, sitting my first term as the Farnham Campus Officer. I hope this gives everyone a slight insight into who I am and how I came to be representing you for the year. As always I’m here for questions, advice and help with any of the problems you face in your time at UCA.
See you around
Steve
Thanks for your feedback!
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