Keep Wednesday Afternoons Free - Jamie Smith (Students' Union President)
I want to make Wednesday afternoons free from lectures to give all students the opportunity to take part in extra/co-curricular activities, catch up on their studies or to just generally practise self-care.
Extra and co-curricular activities are a extremely important aspect of the student experience. Employers are constantly looking for candidates who can offer more than a degree.
“There are a large number of graduates looking for jobs and employers no longer recruit simply on the basis of degree status. A degree might be necessary or desirable but employers are looking for a range of other attributes when employing and retaining graduates.”
Harvey, Moon and Geall, 1997 – Graduates Work: Organisational Change and Student Attributes
I believe having Wednesday afternoons free would give all students the opportunity to participate fully in all activities and develop key employability and personal development skills.
Aim: For all students at Anglia Ruskin University to have the opportunity to take part in co/extra-curricular activities after 12pm on a Wednesday by the academic year 2017/18
- We will lobby the University to make an ongoing commitment to avoid the scheduling of lectures for all courses after 12 pm on a Wednesday
- We will lobby the University to commit to support students to change seminars after 12pm on a Wednesday where possible and provide alternative methods for affected students to access materials or resources
- We will ensure students are informed of their responsibility, where lectures are still in place, to receive permission to be absent from their Course Leader as early as possible
Semester Two Update (Academic Year 16-17)
The Keep Wednesday Afternoons Free policy was passed at Student Council and can be found here.
I am currently creating a report to circulate which will support this policy and present the argument for Wednesday afternoons to be kept free.
End of Year Update (Academic Year 16-17)
A lot has happened since my previous update and I'm happy to announce that the university have always been on board with this initiative and we now have an agreement to review the number of lectures being held on Wednesday afternoons for undergraduates annually. This 'pledge' was signed in May by myself and Iain Martin, Vice Chancellor of ARU. See my article on the 'KWAF Pledge' here.
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Tell me how you would spend your Wednesday afternoons...