Most people know who their School Officer is, and hopefully most people are aware of what we eventually do.  It’s the pieces in between that are somewhat ambiguous, and so we thought it about time we filled you in!

Every Monday evening, all the Riccarton Campus Officers meet in our union, where we take apart the affairs of the university discuss progress that has been made, and plan further progress.  To briefly exemplify how we actually progress, we can contrast our first meeting in September with our most recent meeting.  Our first meeting was centred around issues like Class Rep and School Officer Training, Platinum Volunteer Awards, and NSS.  At this stage, all the training has been done and dusted, and  the Platinum Volunteer Awards first social event is being held today (24.10.2011).  However new discussions have replaced these, such as the suggestion of having our Semester One exams after Christmas, and the expected appropriate time to wait for feedback from a lecturer (two weeks).

 

School Officer Meeting

Once we have discussed the general issues applicable to several schools, we go ‘around the schools’, where we sit in with the other officers within our school and report back to the rest of the meeting.  This is actually a really interesting exercise, as even though our schools can seem disjointed, we are often able to come up with practical suggestions relevant to the issues of other schools.

Normally at this stage, 7.15 is looming, and so we wrap it up with any other issues not yet discussed.  Our meetings are actually really interesting and useful in giving a unique look at how the cogs of other schools are working, and always a bit of banter!

A good representative has ability to effectively portray the views, feelings and thoughts of the group of individuals they are representing. For class reps these are the views of their class, for school officers these are the views of their department and for me it is about representing the views of all students at Heriot-Watt. It all sounds so simple in practise however it’s a lot more complicated and fraught with great inconsistencies and difficulties. So how do we know that representation is any good and how do we know that it is improving?

In order to make good representation possible in a university environment there are three things that are essential. The first of these is an excellent representative structure. Without a good structure it is very difficult to represent with any consistency across the university. Good structure ensures that class reps are recruited and trained in an effective and timely manner. An excellent structure also helps to ensure that the views of each student are heard. For academic representation this is fed from class reps to school officers up to, myself as President although not everything a class rep or a school officer deals with will have to come to the most senior representative level. It is important that a structure allows all information to be as accessible as possible.

The second thing you need is excellent engagement from students and staff. It’s all very well have a good structure for representing but without anyone engaging it’s pretty useless. Excellent engagement without any structure makes it very difficult to represent in a timely manner. It would be like me trying to talk to all of the students of Heriot-Watt in order to work out how students across all departments felt about a particular issue. This just isn’t realistic and is not a good use of time. It is important that both staff and students engage with representation as it helps to create an environment in which students are co-creators in their learning experience.

Finally, engagement and good structure have to get brought together. In order to do this you have to have a great working partnership between students, the students’ union and the university. This partnership must happen at all levels within an institution. At Heriot-Watt this partnership ensures that students have the ability to be equal partners in their learning experience. In bringing together excellent engagement, good structure and a great working partnership a representative utopia seems attainable however their are a huge number of obstacles that exist that need to be overcome to get anywhere near this ideal.

 

Mairi Farquharson – Sport and exercise Science School Officer

Degree and year of study:

2nd Year Sport & Exercise Science

How have you been involved with representing students?

1 year as a Class Rep for 1st year Sport & Exercise Science

What are you looking forward to the most during next year in your role as school officer?

Getting the chance to make sure Sport & Exercise Science isn’t forgotten as it is phased out as well as making sure changes are made to make the course better for students. Helping to voice the opinions of students and making sure that those thoughts are acted upon.

Is there anything else you’ve been involved with during your time at HW?

Sports Clubs – Social Sec & Head of Fundraising for the Womens Rugby Club as well as being part of the Snowsports and Canoe Clubs in 1st year and now a member of the Ladies Hockey Club.

What are you looking forward to the most during next year?

Getting to know lots of new people and getting more involved in university life.

School Officer training took place on the weekend starting the 23rd of September at the Loaningdale Centre down in Biggar. Below is a picture of the main building in the centre. We stayed and trained in some buildings just round the corner to this one. Most people managed to get there with only a few minor difficulties for those that arrived on the minibus.

Loaningdale House

The training gives School Officers a more in depth view of what their role will involve as well as showing how they can have an impact on improving the student experience within learning and teaching.

The first night kicked with some team building and an amazing murder mystery (pictured below). This gave school officers a chance to use their detective abilities to ascertain the murderer in the room. Despite everyone’s excellent performance the murder managed to get away.

Murder Mystery

Saturday was the first real day of training which looked at what the work of school officers involved. It was also the start of developing school officer action plans within schools as well as starting to look at what we would be doing collectively as a group.

Finally on Sunday we pulled together all the training that we had done during the previous day and looked at NSS (Nation Student Survey) results from each department and started to look in more depth at what school officers could work on. We then looked at some of the potential impacts rest of UK tuition fees would have on learning and teaching. This focused on the impact on induction process and curriculum development as more students inevitably go directly into second year as a cost saving measure. We finished off the weekend by pulling together an outline for our plan of work for the year ahead and looking at we had gained and learnt from a very successful weekend.

While the madness that is freshers week took over campus, a group of 9 Class Reps from SBE and the Civil Engineering School Officer ventured to Bathgate to take part in a trial of a programme called Constructionarium.

Constructionarium allows built environment students to get their hands dirty, and actually build something. The challenge for Heriot Watt was to build a replica of the Barcelona Tower, and although only a fraction of the size of the real structure (1/32nd!!), it was still 9m high.The aim of the programme is to ensure that graduates have an idea of what happens on site, and to give students an insight into how a site runs, health and safety concerns and in general – how to design something that can actually be built.

Heriot Watt has worked with Balfour Beatty on this project, one of the largest Contractors in the country. They provided an Engineer, and tradesmen to support the project, as well as the materials used during the week.

While on the programme, students start with the plans and create Risk Assessments, Method Statements and a Programme of Works before going to site. While on site, students do most things, from creating the formwork, to fixing steel reinforcement, as well as pouring concrete and building the steel frame that can be seen above. Actually doing this work helps to show what take time to do on site, how jobs are completed, and in general – how a project actually work on site.

The week was an outstanding success, with the project being completed on-time, and to a high standard. Craig Lafferty and Louis from Balfour Beatty were fantastic throughout, as was Tam Stenhouse from Heriot Watt. Everyone who attended enjoyed the week, with students saying the following on completion of the project:

“Constructionarium has been the best week I’ve had at University so far. I believe that the skills I have learnt during the week will be invaluable in my future career as an Engineer; whist the programme has shown me how a site operates, and what and Engineer has to do whilst on site.” Fraser Drew – CE3

“I feel extremely privileged to be part of the constructionarium, the whole experience as a package is priceless. The skills you learn are something you cannot learn in a classroom, its down to the pure experience you accumulate on site. And that’s what we got to do for a whole week, gain a bit of experience. As with any project, ours too faced problems but it was how we dealt with them quickly, efficiently, and as a team that I will take away with me as a learning step. Craig from Balfour Beatty told us on our first day his job title should be ‘problem solver’ because that’s what he was constantly having to do, and he gave us a taste of exactly that. I would recommend the constructionarium to anyone who wanted to gain some hands on experience as an undergrad.” Laura Alpagot – CE2

It is now being worked on to try to ensure that Constructionarium becomes available to all students completing a Civil/Strucutral Engineering or CMS Course, most likely towards the end of 3rd Year. All those who took part believe strongly that this should become a permanent part of the degree programmes, and will be working to ensure that this is what happens.

The participants were (L-R): Daniel Brotherston (QS3), Johnny Lorraine (QS4), Laura Alpagot (CE2), Fraser Drew (SO Civil Engineering), Lewis Kinnear (CE1), Daniel McKendrick (CE4), Kurtis Wood (CE4), Craig Lafferty (Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering), Rita O’Neill (CE3), Christina Holmgrün (CE3), Helen Allan (Planning 3). Christina Holmgrün (CE3) was still in the Cherry Picker (above) when this photo was taken.

For more information, email hwusbe@gmail.com or speak to one of the Class Reps mentioned above

Mohamed Mohamed – Economics School Officer

Degree and year of study:

Year 3 Economics and Accountancy

How have you been involved with representing students?

In the past i have done various roles within my School background, but up until know i haven’t been involved in representing students. I believe that now I am in my 3rd year this perfect time to be involved in improving our University and in particular the SML School for all students.

What are you looking forward to the most during next year in your role as school officer?

I am most looking forward to having an active role in coordinating the improvement in communication with teacher, student relationship and the way in which feedback is given.

Is there anything else you’ve been involved with during your time at HW?

In my time at HW I have also been an active member of the Tennis Club competing regularly for HW in University competition.

What are you looking forward to the most during next year?

I am most looking forward to getting involved within my School and getting to know the other School officers and class Reps.

So Just What is a “School Officer”?

A School Officer is just one part of the way students are represented at Heriot-Watt. Every class in the university has at least one Class Rep, whilst each department as a School Officer. School Officers work with the class reps within their department, and represent them at a University-wide level, at the union, and with staff within the school.

School Officers also meet weekly, to discuss issues from across the university, and give the union an overview on issues across the university.

Where else can I get info about School Officers?

We plan to post all the information about what school officers are doing through this blog, however you may get emails through your uni email account from time to time from your school officer, or of course you can get in touch with your school officer directly, see below. We’re not scary, honest!

We’re also on Facebook (here) and twitter (@hwunionreps).

Who’s MY School Officer?

Your School Officer is listed below, click on their name for a profile of what they’ve done within the union. An email address is also shown for each school, you can contact your School Officer using that address.

SBE
Fraser Drew - Civil Engineering
Demitrios Moudouris - CMS (Stepped down as School Officer and the post is now vacant)
Mwansa Kunda - Urban Studies

Katharine Oyler - Architectural Engineering

EPS
Peter Pick - Electrical Engineering
Debbie Redpath - Chemistry
Ross Donaldson - Physics
Rowan Russell - Mechanical Engineering

Tomos Morgan – Chemical Engineering
MACS
Kaylea Haynes - Maths
Anna McMullan - Actuarial Maths

‎Konstantin Devyatov - Computer Science/Information Systems
SML
Rachael Stewart - Accountancy and Finance
Vicki Inglis - Management
Mohamed Mohamed – Economics

Rebecca Brookes – Languages
SLS
Emma Todd - Psychology

Mairi Farquharson - Sports and Exercise Science

Helen McGregor – Biology
SBC
Laura Gregson - Textile and Design

Caoimhe Sweeney – Textiles and Design

Jonathon Andrews – Textiles and Design

Howard Walker – Borders Business Program

Peter Pick – Electrical Engineering School Officer

Degree and year of study: 

BEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 4th Year

How have you been involved with representing students?

I have been School Officer for the Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering Department for the last six months. Throughout my time at Heriot-Watt I have been an active volunteer within the Union mainly within events sector. For the first two years of my study I represented all Union Events Volunteers.

What are you looking forward to the most during next year in your role as school officer?

Assisting the department to continue improve the student experience. I want to involve more students in the decisions that are made on a departmental level so every student feels they can get the most possible from their degree.

Is there anything else you’ve been involved with during your time at HW?

In my first year I was a volunteer in the Events and Publicity Crew. For the last year I have been Events Staff. In this role I help set up the and manage the events that take place at the union and have an active role in making Freshers Week happen. I am also a keen and active member of the Mountain Biking Club.

What are you looking forward to the most during next year?

I only took on the roll of School Officer half way through last year so this year I am really looking forward to getting stuck in right from the beginning to improve the student experience.

Mwansa Kunda – School Officer for Urban Studies

Degree and year of study:

3rd Year Urban and Regional Planning

How have you been involved with representing students?

Been involved as a school officer last year

What are you looking forward to the most during next year in your role as school officer?

Working along side the class reps and making an effective impact in the Urban Studies programme for SBE .

Is there anything else you’ve been involved with during your time at HW?

I took part in the protest over student fees where we marched down to parliament. That was really nice because I am some what reserved and this was sort of like being on the wild side becuase there were so many rowdy peole expressing their views in various different ways including with clothing and slogans on plaques. My reservednature still showed it self in that I was interested in what every one else had to say.

What are you looking forward to the most during next year?

Getting outstanding grades, being on top of my course work and fitting in better when part of a team….. oh and the Barcelona Class Trip in 2nd semester.

Rachael Stewart – School Officer for Accountancy and Finance

Degree and year of study:

Accountancy and Finance 2nd year

How have you been involved with representing students? 

I was a Heriot-Watt year rep in 1st year. I have had various roles in school, including deputy head of house, form captain, a member of the formal comittee and director of ICT in young enterprise.

What are you looking forward to the most during next year in your role as school officer?

I am looking forward to passing on my experiences from first year and encouraging all students to participate fully in university life. 

Is there anything else you’ve been involved with during your time at HW?

I am treasurer of womans basketball in 2011-12. Freshers helper in the coming year. I have been on the CENA netball team and a member of the snowsports society 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are you looking forward to the most during next year?

Making new friends