The School President system at the University of Dundee: an update on sparqs’ involvement Monday 17 November 2008 Simon Varwell Development Adviser

sparqs: a little background sparqs = Student Participation in Quality Scotland created in 2003 funded by SFC, and works closely with sector agencies annual budget of £300,000 works with HEIs (20), colleges (43) and their students’ associations (63) 6.5 FTE staff members in Edinburgh and Inverness sparqs hosted by NUS Scotland and Inverness College 14 part-time student Associate Trainers across Scotland

what sparqs does training and support →provide training for student representatives; workshops for staff and production of resources for students and staff events →national conference on student involvement; workshops for staff of students’ associations and student officers sharing practice →publications on student involvement; benchmarking of representative systems and learning from other countries & sectors consultancy →5 days support provided to each institution in the north of Scotland

consultancy 5 days support provided to each institution in the north of Scotland → pilot in , repeated → rolled out to rest of Scotland thereafter → has helped institutions develop student engagement in locally-relevant ways → events held to explore common interests

Consultancy at Dundee : external perspective on the School President system: → “mini-audit” of the role of School President → some research from comparable institutions → observations and recommendations

sparqs’ Observations General agreement on core purpose of SP

Broad structure School Presidents DUSA Schools and colleges Class reps University committees Course committees

sparqs’ Observations General agreement on core purpose of SP Some confusion over details of role Varied method and quality of support to SPs SPs of high calibre and enthusiasm Teaching staff lacked information on role and purpose of SPs… …but had most interesting ideas for future of role – as “ambassador”: → of school “brand” → of student representation

sparqs’ Recommendations Clear information should be provided on the role – especially to staff Clarification needed on role of school forums, deputy SPs and school societies Consideration of two approaches – for single- and multi-disciplinary schools Clarification of SP role within DUSA Consideration of resources to support representation at school-level

What next? Agreement to continue focus in Consultancy to help address action points Toolkits to be created in conjunction with staff and students in: → Psychology → Nursing → Computing → Humanities

Toolkits Help create customised support for SPs → clarifying each SPs’ role → identifying most appropriate support → informing all staff and reps of SP role Provide template for expanding that support to other schools Suggest how sparqs can help university in the future

Process More fact-finding with four schools in January 2009 Presentation of an outline of toolkits Work on developing detail of toolkits Final presentation to university Exemplar of effective practice? → Addressing school-level representation → Balancing harmony and variation

Simon Varwell Development Adviser