On this event page you will find full descriptions of the workshops and activities within this room. To explore other rooms click on the links to the right, or return to the Southern Conference home page here. To access your chosen activity click the timetable below to be re-directed to the Zoom Call for your session.
The conference begins with a welcome talk in Room One: Peter Taylor House you can find the link to this below.
Following this you will be reading the sessions available in Room Two - Tindal.
Room Two: Tindal
Winning for students under a 'new' government: December saw a significant Conservative majority government elected. We were getting Brexit done...until a pandemic hit. It's been difficult to take a step back and look at the new government, what it means for education, and crucially, how we can use our power to win for students on campus and nationally. In this session, we will discuss our tactics and strategies for lobbying in the year ahead, how the pandemic could change our approaches, and how we can work together as unions to be most effective.
Combining Data: Recent research from LSE and Prospects highlight worrying signs from the graduate labour market in light of the COVID-19 crisis. Given the growing emphasis on HE value for money, could this mean a significant shift in the priorities of students going to university? Will we see an even greater focus on employability and securing future employment? What could this mean for the work of SUs? At LSE Careers we’re developing a nuanced data driven approach to our support and provision.
We will consider opportunities for SUs working closely with their careers services and thinking differently about their students, and role, in a changing landscape.
AQS: The Advice Quality Standard (AQS) is the only sector-owned, independently audited standard that focuses on advice. ARU Students’ Union Advice Service is one of only 21 Students’ Union advice services in the UK which hold the AQS accreditation. In December 2019, as a new team of staff, we undertook the thorough audit where we evidenced,‘an impressive number of Areas of Good Practice across most headings A-G of the AQS Standard (an achievement in itself), where the Organisation has exceeded the requirements of the AQSv2 [the most recent version] to a significant extent’ and demonstrated that we are,‘obviously dedicated to the support that they provide to students’. In this session, Caroline Way, Advice Service Manager at ARU Students' Union and Liz Morris, Quality Manager at Recognising Excellence (the AQS Assessment Body), will explore and reflect whether this accolade is any more valuable than good student outcomes and feedback.
Changing PGR Experience: Post-graduate researchers (PGR) are in ‘limbo’ of sitting not quite as a student, but also not quite as a staff member. This talk will highlight how the PGR student representatives have transitioned into a complete collegiate during a global pandemic; sitting on panels, attending ‘high-level’ meetings and bridging the gap between staff and student. This talk will be delivered by numerous representatives from differing faculties discussing how they have supported the entire cohort of the doctoral school and overcome such a challenging time.
Student Parents: Student parents are the least recognized but a highly prevalent group within universities. Due to the sector's lack of representation, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected this group in a number of ways. This session will help share ideas and best practice of issues student parents face, how to mitigate this and what the sector needs to do to address it moving forward.