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► VP Education & Academic Affairs

Education & Welfare Office: SOAP Centre
Elected: March 2008 & March 2009
Hometown: Halifax / London
Course Graduated In: BA Hons Crimnology
Biography: Kayleigh ran on a manifesto based around the 24hour library petition in her first year (March 2008) and for her second year re-election campaign based her manifesto around Course Reps, Higher Education funding and tuition fees, Postgraduate inclusion and FE support.

Week 22: 12th March

Back into the swing of things post elections excitement. Filmed for a final production for a group of Media students which was fun, talked lots about fees, bursaries and the general election! Can't wait to see the final cut. We also had a visit from Lord Young, who works with the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, some excellent input from students so we'll see what representations he makes on behalf of UL back to the Government. Also had my first Mature Students Working Group and a meeting with the Graduate School about some enrolment/induction things, potential handbooks to help students along in the first few weeks, and to get some clarity on Postgraduate issues and where to go.

Week 21: 5th March

We had a massive push from the current officers for voting this week, and managed to get 1586 voters in the elections. This is a 2% increase on last year but with more students, we did really well.

I also had a meeting with the Dance/Drama student reps about some concerns they were having about space utilisation. I'm taking their concerns to Teaching and Learning Committee on Wednesday and will be reporting back on any outcomes shortly after that.

Week 20: 26th February

This week has been full of elections and hustings speeches and other campuses. It was my first time at Holbeach, as every time I've intended to go, my meeting got cancelled or it was my Graduation. It was interesting to speak to the students down there, even if it was a poor turnout, despite efforts made, they still feel quite isolated which I think we need to further improve on as we haven't done enough.

It has been good to spend time out on the campuses which I don't always get to do, but also good to spend time in some board meetings and do what I'm really passionate about which is improving the academic experience. We talked a lot in Academic Affairs Committee about the use of students in quality enhancement, in particular the rep system and I'll be having a further meeting about this in the next few weeks.

Another thing I've got in the pipeline is the issue around student printing which was raised at Council and I'll be having a meeting about this issue at the start of next week and reporting back at Council.

Thats me over and out for now, I need my weekend!!

Week 19: 19th February

Had a meeting this week about Research Engaged Teaching, which is something that the Faculty Reps are quite keen on. The University is thinking of having a festival of Teaching and Learning next year which would be great, involving some really big names and getting students more involved in their curriculum instead of sitting in a lecture and listening. Sounds good to me?

Week 18: 12th February

Vendebta this week! The debate went really well, students turned up and were asking great questions, its a shame that the politicians didn't answer as well as the students asked questions.

I also went to AFAS Faculty Board and supported the reps there. Some interesting developments coming with the library up there and some of the teaching space.

Week 17: 5th February

NSS NSS NSS! I've been in and out of Media Humanities and Technology lectures most of this week promoting the benefits of filling in the National Student Survey, so please do it: www.thestudentsurvey.com and make your opinions known!

Week 16: 29th January

VENDEBTA VENDEBTA VENDEBTA!! I had 3 days off this week to spend some time in a secondary school in Lincoln. Such hard work! But now I'm back its all about the Student Vendebta campaign. We have the flashmob dance lesson on Monday 4pm in Mezz and then a week to chill before it all goes mad!! The flashmob is Tuesday 9th at 1pm in the main building. The debate is Thursday 11th at 6pm in LPAC and then the protest is on the High Street on Saturday 13th at 1pm. Don't worry though there'll be loads more information about everything and the reasons behind the protest etc as soon as all the promo goes out!

We've also finalised a lot of stuff for the upcoming elections (www.lincolnsu.com/elections) which is looking super good! We have much more on offer this year to help students who are thinking about running. Manifesto masterclasses to help with those sticky statements you don't know where to put, meet the officers who currently are doing the roles and candidate briefings. Plus its all done online now so if you're not on campus to submit your manifesto, don't worry! You do still have to come to the candidate briefing though!

Week 15: 22nd January

This week has been all about the NSS, I've done over 10 talks in a week to various subjects... Herbal Medicine being the most grilling, Biomedical Science being the earliest and Drama being the easiest (no students turned up!!) but its been fun again and I love getting around all the subjects and talking to people I might not normally meet. But please, make my life easier and fill it in ASAP!!

Week 14: 15th January

So, the National Student Survey has started. I've spent a lot of this week planning that, organising my lecture talks so all finalists, watch out for me, coming to a lecture near you soon! And I've also designed the t-shirts and sent those off to be made this week. You can fill in the NSS here: www.thestudentsurvey.com or we'll be having a stand in the Atrium again with laptops so you can fill it in there too and get your t-shirt from the first week in February!

This week we've also finalised everything for the Student Vendebta campaign which kicks off on February 9th with a flashmob! More about that in a later blog with all the details! Its gonna be good!!

Week 12: 18th December

This week has been so busy, I can't wait to put my feet up and have a break. We kicked off Monday with a meeting about promoting the National Student Survey which starts on January 11th next year, very exciting plans and giveaways for students who copmplete the survey to say thankyou for making your opinions known! Its a survey of all third year undergraduates on the whole student experience at Lincoln, including your course, the personal development and learning resources/facilities we have, so have your say on the good points and maybe the bad points if there were any!!

I also went to Chad Varah for a meeting with the reps up there who we didn't have details from at the start of term, they raised some issues about toilet facilities not being fixed and also an issue with a lack of first aiders up there which I have taken back to Health and Safety down here and they are looking into that.

We had a meeting with Bishop Grosseteste SU about plans for our HE Funding events coming up in February, we now have dates and all the promo will be kicking off in the New Year but we have some very exciting events going into the planning!!

First Academic Board with our new Vice Chancellor, Mary Stuart was on Wednesday and the SU reps (myself and Chris C) raised some really good points and we both felt the meeting was very positive, lots of laughter and Christmas spirit and some great outcomes for students in terms of more Research Engaged Teaching which I'll have some more info on in the New Year and positive feedback on course reps and Student Council! Great work from the reps, School Liaison Reps and Faculty Reps this year, in the style of Aaron Porter, Vice Pres HE at NUS, thanks for coming and thanks for all that you do!

See you in 2010, I've got a weekend skiing before all the students come back but have a great Christmas and New Year!!

Week 11: 11th December

Just updating before I leave to go and chair the first meeting of the newly formed and very exciting Course Rep Executive meeting. We will be discussing student rep training, the recent national Course Rep Conference that they went to and lots of exciting other things.

Also in other news this week, I attended the second NUS Higher Education Zone Committee at University College London to try and finalise the HE report to NUS National Conference, I will be posting a link to it as soon as its made public.

We also in the SU received a letter from Gillian Merron about the HE Funding lobby Chris and I attended, I have attached a copy and I'm sure we will be circulating the text very soon.

Week 10: 4th December

This week has been slightly less busy than last, went and spoke to level 2 and 3 PR students about getting involved with our HE funding event in February and had some great responses and ideas. Also this week I've had a lot of students in with various complaints, 'tis the season' and all that...but hopefully most of them are now on the way to being sorted, and one definitely is sorted!

Met with some Postgrad and Mature students at the most successful sub-committee yet, 11 students and we ran over time chatting about so many ideas, we're holding the committee launch party on the 10th so pop down and see how to get involved and what we're working on and we'll also be holding a "holiday" dinner in January to kick start semester B.

I attended the Learning Landscapes conference on Friday which was really interesting. The keynote was from Professor Diana Laurillard, who spoke about the use of digital technology and how it can influence the learning spaces, it was great to hear different ways of using technology to improve the student experience. We also had many discussions about various buildings on the campus and whether they work as learning environments or not.

Week 9: 27th November

This week was mentally busy, I had the first of my NSS Faculty Executive meetings, going with the Senior Pro Vice Chancellor Mike Saks, and the Uni Registrar Chris Spendlove to Media/Humanities/Technology and also Agriculture/Food/Animal Science to talk about what they are doing to improve the student experience and how the SU can help promote/lobby for change on key issues. MHT look to be doing some really exciting things so all third years should look out for the new Dean, David Sleight, coming to a lecture theatre near you, to let you know what is good, what is bad and what they're doing to improve.

I also went to Cambridge to see Anglia Ruskin SU's higher education funding event and to ask questions at a debate with local councillors, it was really interesting and gave me some great ideas for our event.

Week 8: 20th November

Good week this week, I took a paper on Assessment Feedback to both Teaching and Learning Committee and Student Experience Committee. It was well received and we got some positive comments, the SU and the Uni are going to work together to promote feedback and raise awareness amongst students and really find out what you guys want from your feedback.

We also had our All Student Meeting (AGM) which was well attended, better than ever before, and had some positive outcomes but not really relating to my particular role, but it was great to see students getting involved and voting on issues.

Another thing that went to these committees was the results of the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) and so we'll be working with the Graduate School to make some good links and get the reps active.

Week 7: 13th November

WIN FOR THE SU Number 2.

24/4 Library for 6 weeks this year. The SU have been in constant contact with the Library lobbying for what students want. We are now happy to announce that we have secured 24/4 library for 6 weeks this year starting with 2 weeks in December (weeks commencing 7th and 14th December) and then a further 4 weeks in Easter which we will be asking you for your input on the most important weeks!

Also myself and Chris Charnley went to parliament this week to lobby MPs to sign a pledge to vote against raising tuition fees in future years. We managed to get 2 MPs to sign the pledge:

      

However local MP Gillian Merron would not commit to voting against tuition fees rising. Our Vice Chancellor publicly announced in her talks to staff this week, that she is opposed to students getting in any more debt than they currently face.

Week 6: 3rd November 4pm

Exciting news, SU once again delivers on what you asked for!

You can now print wirelessly from your laptop in the library! This is on a trial at the moment but its up and running so go and test it out, also if you test it from the first floor on the library, you're right next to the IT Helpdesk if anything does go wrong.

Let us know how it goes and if you like it or not!! Email katurner@lincoln.ac.uk or reply on Facebook (Ulsu Ed) and give us your comments!

Week 5: 30th October, 9pm

I'm writing this from home as I've had a crazy busy week out and about. On Sunday&Monday, Steven (VP Welfare) went over to Manchester to an NUS conference on Society & Citizenship, got lots of tips on getting students involved in the general election as if students vote, you are 15% of the population and could swing the vote on way or another and make a huge difference to issues like tuition fees, bursaries, climate change and students in the community, amongst many other issues!

I then came back on Tuesday and had a meeting with Chris Charnley (President) and Ian Snowley, the guy in charge of the library, about some exciting news which we'll be informing everybody about over the next week or so, including some changes to the facilities!

Then on Wednesday I went back to the Higher Education conference in Manchester again where we discussed issues like assessment and feedback, postgraduate representation and supervision and lots of other topics. We also had a session with David Willets MP who is the Tory shadow Secretary for Universities, Innovation and Skills, which was amazing and he was really candid about his views on higher education funding and the next few years.

Oh and I also got elected to Higher Education Zone Committee, woop!

And today I've been busy with our second lot of rep training which was great and also giving a tour to one of our ex-SU Presidents from 2000-2002 Verity Coyle, who was amazed at the way that Lincoln has changed in the last 7 years!

Week 4: 23rd October 5.30pm

So this week I spent two days at an Arts Group meeting in London with a student from Greestone campus. We spent two days discussing how to improve the experiences for Arts students, what we can do to help interns out on getting placements and being paid an acceptable amount and also planning a nationwide meeting to bring arts students across the country together to share experiences.

I also had a meeting with the Secretariat about complaints, appeals and offences and how I can support students better so hopefully you'll all be happy and not have any issues and if you do, I can help sort it out!

Week 3: 16th October

This week I've been out and about quite a lot of the week. On Tuesday myself and Gloria (Student Officer and temporary President of International Students) went to Sheffield with the lovely Jo from the Advice Service, for a conference on Internationalising Students' Unions and how to support international students and make everyone's experiences at Uni great. We didn't necessarily learn a lot but we came back with lots of information and ideas. Then on Wednesday we had STUDENT REP TRAINING (woohoo!!) and myself and Dan got to meet nearly 200 of you beautiful people! Training went really well, everyone seemed to get a lot out of it and the feedback was very good! We're doing School Liaison Rep and Faculty Rep training next week and we'll be announcing our first social soon too!
 

Week 2: 9th October, 2.00pm

Had quite a quiet week this week, I've been out of the office Tuesday, Wednesday morning and Thursday on annual leave. So today I've been catching up and planning reps training ready for next Wednesday. Just had a meeting about postgraduate students, particularly researchers, and how to improve the student experience and work better with the Grad School. We're having a meeting next Thursday (15th) from 2-3pm in the Tower Bar so come along and have your say, or alternatively you can email katurner@lincoln.ac.uk if you can't attend.

Week 1: 30th September, 6.10pm

Dan and myself are still in the office waiting for the Bullet launch party and catching up on some work. We're in the middle of student rep training planning and are trying to think up fake degree courses...so far we have BA Dinosaurs!! Any more ideas please email katurner@lincoln.ac.uk

We went to College of Deans today to talk about Council reps and how they'll work and also a bit about getting postgraduate representation sorted. We are trying to get a East Midlands postgrad networking day set up, so if any PGR students are interested, drop me an email!

Off to Bullet launch in the Tower Bar now to celebrate an excellent first issue! Congrats guys and enjoy the champagne!

Week 0 (Freshers HE): Its Tuesday 22nd September, 6.20pm

We've just finished Freshers Fayre part 1 (the one where you get all the free stuff!). Freshers is going really well so far, we did all of the induction talks yesterday and got to meet probably 90% of our new students, we've had 2 nights out which have been very successful and last night we were up at Riseholme where the students beat the SU team at the quiz! We had a really successful day promoting the new Campaigns Team today at the fayre so hopefully that'll go amazingly well this year!

For the rest of the week, I'm now about to go to an International Students talk and buffet, we've got more Freshers fun, Sports & Societies fayre, enrolment and meeting our new Hull students on Friday and the highlight for me of the Engine Shed plan, Zane Lowe :) :)

Week 0 (Freshers FE): Wednesday September 16th 2009, 7pm.

I just asked if I should let someone know we're working alone... except there's 3 of us so we're not alone at all.

Its 7pm in the Ed & Welfare office and Dan thinks he's Alan Sugar.

We're halfway through the first of our welcome weeks at Riseholme and Holbeach, but Steven, Dan and I are still in the office. I've been writing induction presentations, going to meetings (Academic Affairs Committee today - not much to report, bit of an update on Reps and lots of strategy and Quality stuff) and writing training guides for our new student reps. Most of the HE (University degree level) freshers arrive on Sunday and thats when the fun kicks off with a 60+ hour week and meeting about 300 new people!

Over the Summer while we don't have many students around, the Education team (myself and Daniel D.) have been mainly doing reps stuff, planning the training guide and training sessions, booking rooms, paying for conferences, reading lots and lots of papers and having arguments about various things.

I also did lots of work for Gradball '09 which was an amazing night that I hope everyone who attended enjoyed. We had DJ SASH! Jaguar Skills of Radio 1 fame, 2 fairground rides, a casino, a live rock band karaoke which was so fun, and lots of other little things.

before the event at the Vice Chancellors drinks reception

one of the rides outside in the square

Thats all for now folks, I'm off to meet the first of our International Students arrivals.

 

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