Glasgow University Students Representative Council

Hello University of Glasgow students,

This is your regular update from the SRC as told by your 4 sabbatical officers, Liam (President), Amy (VP of Student Activities), Ella (VP of Student Support) and Grigoris (VP of Education).

In these updates we report to you on the work that your student representatives and the SRC staff team have been doing to support you, represent you, and engage with you. We also let you know about upcoming projects and activities.

The past few weeks have been pretty busy as we held 2 virtual award ceremonies, our Spring elections and a number of other campaigns and events. We can’t believe that the Semester is over and Spring is here again. Well done to all of you for making it through the year so far, we hope that the Spring break gives you a bit of time to rest and relax before the revision period starts in earnest.

At the base of the update are a list of contacts you can use to get in touch with us. Thank you for your time and we hope you have a great Spring break and enjoy the sunshine wherever you are in the world. Remember that the SRC are here to support and represent you.

Take care and stay safe,

Liam, Amy, Ella and Grigoris

GUSRC Executive 20/21

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Updates:

Gender-Based Violence (GBV)

Content Warning: survivors of gender-based violence & assault

We have been in contact with Glasgow City Council (GCC) to arrange a meeting regarding student safety around campus. We are aware of the student petition regarding lighting on Kelvin Way and Kelvingrove Park and we will be working to lobby GCC to act on this. Work is also progressing on our online GBV Moodle module,  which will complement our Let’s Talk About Sexual Violence workshops. We hope to roll these out in the next academic year.

Assessment Support Measures

We have been in discussions regarding the latest version of Assessment Support Measures with Senate Office, which were finalised and communicated to students on Tuesday March 30^th. These build up from previous communications and include information on exams and deferral of the exam diet, a video for final year students on the calculation of their degree, and further advice for PGT students who started in November and January.

Rectorial Elections

Elections to choose the next UofG Rector will be held this month on April 20^th and 21^st. All registered students have the right to vote and voting will take place via the UofG Life App. A full list of candidates will be posted at the end of this week, and we will be working with the University to host Rectorial Hustings on April 19^th. For all info on these elections visit: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/students/uofgrector/

Exam De-stress

Our regular campaign of de-stress events and activities will return this month, starting on April 19^th and running until the end of exams on May 21^st. We will be collaborating on a programme of activities with the other student bodies on campus as well as our clubs and societies. Look out on our social media for announcements.

Sustainability

We have been working with the University and GCC to extend the 1 hour of free access students currently get on the Nextbikes located around the city. At the moment all students are entitled to 1 hour of free access, and we hope to extend this for all students as it us something that would make these much more accessible and hopefully encourage more students to choose bikes as their method of transport. In other sustainability news, the first of the Climate Citizens’ Assemblies was held yesterday, hosted by our Environmental Officer, GUEST and the UofG Green New Deal coalition. Watch out for more of these in future in the run up to COP26.

Fearless Flat Hunting

Finding a flat can be tough in normal times and has been made even trickier by the pandemic. To help remove some of the stresses involved in flat hunting our Advice Centre team have put together a few top tips. Read the full blog on our website: https://www.glasgowstudent.net/news/top-tips-fearless-flat-hunting/. If you have questions about flat hunting, we want to hear from you. Submit your questions via this form and we’ll answer them very soon in a flat hunting video: https://forms.office.com/r/TTG9DCiy33

Student Teaching Awards

The 11^th Annual SRC Student Teaching Awards took place on the Thursday March 25^th. After weeks of preparation, reading through, and shortlisting nominations, we had a day-long ceremony to celebrate all the nominees and winners. The full award ceremony can be watched back on our YouTube channel. Thank you once again to everyone who made the awards possible.

Academic Representation

We held a second Virtual Class Rep Forum on Wednesday March 17^th. This included two main discussions: on student academic experiences during the pandemic and decolonising the curriculum. Prof Moira-Fischbacher-Smith, the Vice Principal of Learning and Teaching, attended the discussion on decolonising the curriculum and provided a brief overview of how it fits in to the new University Learning and Teaching Strategy. A report based on feedback from attending class reps will be collated and communicated to various University committees to inform future practice, similarly to the first Virtual Class Rep Forum held in November 2020.

Following the Virtual Class Rep Forum, the Academic Forum expanded on the discussion of student experiences during the pandemic. Academic reps highlighted the desire of students to return to campus and the issues that students have faced because of online learning this year, as well as potential issues that may come with future practice. We continue to emphasise the need for some on-campus activity for all students as soon as it is possible in the next academic year, and the need for lab- and practical-based teaching to be prioritised for students that have completely missed out on that crucial aspect of their learning this year.

Clubs and Societies

We have a few updates in relation to our work around clubs and societies. On Tuesday 30th March we held our Interclub Forum for Semester 2. This event gives society members a chance to come and mingle with other societies, also tell the SRC how this year has been for them and what we can do to support them in the move back to campus next year. The event went really well and it was great to hear about the issues that matter most to clubs.

In other club news, we are delighted to have successfully lobbied the University to let us use the marquee in the Main Building quads left over from Freshers’ Week for use by sport and active clubs. This will allow for activities with up 15 people at a time outside. To enquire about booking this space please email events@src.gla.ac.uk.

Currently we are in discussions surrounding how the SRC can encourage clubs and societies to be more inclusive to the wider student body. If you have any suggestions yourself or would like to share how your society currently works to try and be inclusive, drop an email to a.mckenziesmith@src.gla.ac.uk.

Home Students Working Group

For all home students (e.g. students who live in their family home and commute to campus) at the University, keep an eye out as soon we will be circulating a survey for you to tell us what more the University can do to improve your experience as a commuting student.

Contacts:

For general day-to-day enquiries, please contact us via enquiries@src.gla.ac.uk or message us over social media. We will be closed over the Easter weekend from Friday 2^nd to Monday 5^th April, returning on Tuesday 6^th.

For free, confidential, and impartial advice on a range of issues including finances, studying, accommodation, wellbeing and more please contact the SRC Advice Centre: advice@src.gla.ac.uk

To find the email addresses of your council representatives, please visit our website: https://www.glasgowstudent.net/about/representation/council/