Daniel Lo, Deputy President (Education), tells us what he's been up to!
Time flies and it seems like only yesterday that I started my term in office! This year, we welcomed over 8,000 new UG and PG students to the College and Union. After those feelings of doom and gloom during lockdown for the past 18 months, we’re coming out of it now and gradually getting back to normal with a higher proportion of in-person teaching in place.
I was delighted to see students mingling and enjoying themselves during our welcome week events, and now having full access to campus facilities. It has also been exciting to meet students, College and Union staff in-person – something that we never had imagined at this time last year!
I came into my role aiming to be efficient, transparent, and to communicate to our stakeholders effectively. All the Officer Trustees have continued to make positive changes for students, ensuring your voices are being heard. We have been working hard, and with your best interests in mind as always. Here are some of the highlights of my work so far this term:
- Developed the College-wide NSS response and made academic and welfare recommendations for the College. This was presented in the College’s Provost Board
- Supporting departmental representatives in shaping NSS departmental recommendations and presenting them to staff-student committees
- Assisted other Union staff during welcome week
- Organised and delivered rep training sessions for UG and PG academic and wellbeing representatives
- Conducted initial analysis on postgraduate research experience survey (PRES) results in collaboration with the Union President, and conducted a consultation on PGR students
- Met with the Vice Deans (Education) and the Vice Provost (Education and Student Experience) to advocate for maximising in-person teaching and adjustments from timed remote assessments to in-person exams in Easter and summer
- Currently investigating the adaption of the new Christmas SOLE survey to ensure student voice is not diminished
- Raised student concerns regarding the modification of Academic Misconduct policy
After a productive first term, I’m so excited to continue with my work for the rest of this term and term two. I have many projects in the pipeline, including the Mums and Dads review, continuing with PRES analysis, improving the processes for collecting academic student feedback, and working on ways to further support international students during their studies.