Two student representatives from each academic year are elected at the beginning of each year to represent students at the Staff-Student Liaison Committee. One of the student representatives goes forward to act as our representative on the Staff-Student Committee of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Science, and further opportunities then arise to be a student representative on University committees. We encourage student representatives to take an active role in gathering the opinions of their peers, presenting those opinions at meetings, and reporting back to students on the outcomes.
We also encourage all students to make any matters they wish to be raised at meetings known to the student representatives. There is a separate notice board for student representatives and for general notices to all students in the foyer. Information such as minutes of Staff-Student Liaison Committee meetings, requests for student feedback and so on are posted on the notice board.
(i) Staff-Student Liaison Committee
This deals with both academic and non-academic matters within the School and reports back to the School Board. It consists of an equal number of staff and students, with two students from each year elected to serve on this committee. The members of academic staff who serve on this committee are the Head of School, the Chair of the Teaching Committee and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Student members represent their year and are expected to be proactive in bringing ideas and problems to the notice of the committee. At least three meetings are held each year to facilitate communications between staff and students.
(ii) Teaching Committee
The Teaching Committee is responsible to the Head of School for all aspects of undergraduate teaching. It monitors the functioning and effectiveness of undergraduate teaching and is composed of academic staff from the three teaching groups. The Committee meets at least three times per semester. Any student is entitled to refer any matter regarding undergraduate teaching to the Committee for its consideration. Students who have problems of any sort relating to any aspect of teaching within the School can raise the issue in confidence with the Director of Undergraduate Studies or the Director of Teaching.
In addition to student representatives, the School and its degree programmes provide a number of both formal and informal opportunities for student feedback.
(i) End-of-semester questionnaires
At the end of each semester you will be asked to fill in a questionnaire and comment on the content and delivery of each course unit. The scores and comments are passed onto the teaching staff, who are invited to comment. A report of these comments will be produced for each course unit, and placed on the Chemistry intranet for students to view.
(ii) Other ways of making your views known
You can make known your views on any aspect of your degree programme at any time: simply write it down and send it to the Quality Assurance and Enhancement Officer or the Education Office and your comment will be dealt with by staff.
If you have a specific concern and feel that none of the mechanisms described above is an appropriate way of raising the issue, you are welcome to discuss it with your Personal Tutor, Programme Director or the Head of School.
If you have a complaint against the School or any of its staff which you either do not want to air via any of the above mechanisms, or if you have brought up an issue but are not satisfied with the outcome, you may complain to a higher authority. You should make a written complaint to the Head of School (except if the complaint concerns the Head of School, in which case the written complaint should be sent to the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Science).
The written complaint should set out briefly:
- the nature of the complaint.
- the informal steps already taken together with full details of the response received.
- the reasons why you remain dissatisfied.
You should receive a written response to your complaint, normally within 10 working days. If you are still dissatisfied, you may make a formal complaint to the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. For more details on the complaints procedure please refer to the University website.
The University also offers a Mediation service, which is open to staff and students, which offers an alternative method to resolving difficulties.
The University has a policy on feedback and the School will comply with this.
(i) Tutorials
Years 1 to 3 submit tutorial work to subject tutors in advance of tutorials. Tutors will make written comments on the work. Model answers are provided and further discussion takes place in tutorials. Many course units in year 4 also offer tutorial sheets and staff will mark these and discuss with students if submitted.
(ii) Laboratory work
Feedback is via interview with a member of staff or demonstrator as the work is being marked, or by an experiment feedback sheet.
(iii) Skills work
Feedback differs for different components. All work is marked and returned to students with the exception of the computer assisted learning unit.
(iv) Essay work
Feedback is via interview with your Personal Tutor or essay marker (for year 1) and the essay feedback sheet (for year 2).
(v) Group work
Feedback is via return of marked work and a debriefing lecture at the end of the unit.
(vi) Project work
Direct feedback on project work (i.e. release and justification of marks) is restricted since the material is under examination until publication of final degree results. However, detailed advice on the progress of the project and project preparation is available from the project supervisor. Those students entering the fourth year of MChem programmes will be given the opportunity to collect a copy of their third year project report feedback at the beginning of the next academic year.
(vii) Examinations
Examination marks for all years are released via the student system and we expect all students to discuss their performance with their Academic Advisor during the feedback weeks set aside for this purpose. Advisors will provide advice on areas of improvement and so on. An opportunity for all students to make an appointment to view their exam scripts will be offered, usually in March for the January exams and in October for the previous year’s May/June exams.
In order to safeguard the security and objectivity of assessments, students' work must be available to examiners not only when it is first marked but also when marks are being reviewed. For this reason the University frequently retains students' work after it is has been submitted. The School follows the University policy on retention of work. Work in this category, which will be retained for a period of 12 months after the final examination board meeting of the academic year in which the work is considered, includes examination scripts, project reports and lab books.