A lot’s happened in the last couple of weeks so I thought this would be a good opportunity to let you know how I’ve been representing you to reduce the impact of Covid-19 and what changes I’ve worked on.

What I’ve been up to

The University has increased the frequency of its committees, each with a different remit but now with the main goal of minimising disruption. This includes the Teaching and Learning Executive Group that made key decisions like suspending face-to-face teaching and moving on-campus assessments online. It is here that I have worked with the University to introduce the No Disadvantage Policy so your grade won’t suffer as a result of the outbreak.

I also attend the Student Support Group which covers visas, graduation, DASS and recruitment. I successfully made sure the hardship fund was reinstated, and available for all students with different criteria so more students are eligible to apply and got a refund on rent for term 3 for those who moved out from University-owned accommodation.

Transition to online

As you know, lots of your teaching and learning will now have gone online. This has been out of necessity, but online learning has been used in bits of the University for a while. Now that we have such a large scale test, I’d be really interested in hearing what is and isn’t working well for you, so we can fix issues that come up now but also plan for the future. Are online lectures, seminars and assessment working for you?

Changes to the hardship fund

The University’s Living Cost Support Fund allows students to apply for financial support based on personal circumstance. Given the huge impact that Covid-19 is having on everyone, I’ve worked with the university to remove some unnecessary barriers so the hardship fund now has the same requirements for all students.

All students — undergraduates, postgraduate taught students and postgraduate researchers — can now apply to the fund. We have also removed unnecessary eligibility criteria for international students so the application process is now the same for all students. And as more people are going to need it, an extra £150k has been added to the fund.

Accessing online learning materials

As all the libraries have shut, all collections have now moved online so here’s how to access all the library’s services from home. If there’s something you need that isn’t available, you can still order an electronic book or article and if you need some extra help you can still access My Learning Essentials and My Research Essentials online.

The library has now suspended all recalls of books and you won’t get any fines. If your account says your book is overdue and you need to pay, you’re okay to ignore it!

As I’m still meeting with staff, if there’s anything you think is a big issue that isn’t being talked about, please get in touch and let me know!