Skills Online At Reading

Skills Online At Reading - www.rdg.ac.uk/soar

Whether you are an undergraduate, postgraduate, international or home student, you will develop these transferable skills during your time at the University of Reading. SOAR is here to connect you to a wealth of opportunities to further develop your skills. Explore this website to find out how you can enhance your skills, both through your studies and extra curricular activities.

This site is great, both Emily and I have had a lot of input into this along with students across campus. This was an outcome of a Transferable skills review that finished last year. The core transferable skills you find on this website will be appearing in programme specifications over the next year and will be fully embedded into your studies. Its great that all this skills that you can gain in or outside your degree can now be found in one place!

www.rdg.ac.uk/soar - Let us know how you find it.

Also RU Ready training now has its Spring Term timetable ready...Presentation skills, time management, meeting skills, elections, CV writing and interview skills. visit www.rusu.co.uk/ruready or www.rdg.ac.uk/soar

Ryan

r.j.e.bird@reading.ac.uk

National Student Survey

We fully support the NSS, giving students at Reading the opportunity to asses their degree experience against students against other Universities. Last year Reading University came 13th in the UK, and we have used the results to lobby for improvements within the University, particularly in the area of assessment and feedback.

The survey is for final year undergraduates ONLY, and if you lot want to do it now, you can at http://www.thestudentsurvey.com/survey.asp

The Union gets a chance to see the full results, with lots of comparative data, which for the 2006 Survey showed that younger students were more satisfied with their course than mature students, male students were happier than female students, that white students were more satisfied than black students, that the least satisfied students in the areas of Assessment and Feedback were Construction Management students and that Agriculture was seen as the best department in terms of personal development.

Please fill it in and make a difference for future students!

So whats been done since last year's survey? Click here to see the University press release of last years results

The press release above is all very good, but what it doesnt say is that the feedback & assesment results were dissapointing, as it was for most institutions....

.....so what is being done about this?

Well, the University has very quickly acted on this, the committee responsible for Exams and Assesment is currently collecting information from departments/schools of best practice and through the Course Rep system i have recieved feedback on good practice and some not so good practice! All this in turn will be fed into the planning and delivery of programmes.

Student feedback is vital to ongoing development of the student experience here @ Reading, the work done by your Students' Union and your sabbatical officers could not be done without it. Thats why our Course Rep system is so important, and why surveys like the National Student Survey are key to helping us and helping you!

For more information visit http://www.rusu.co.uk/DisplayPage.asp?pageid=21092

Ryan

r.j.e.bird@reading.ac.uk

Happy New Year!

New year, new plans......well work in progress...back to work to start planning at least. More to follow.

I am 1/2 way through my sabb year, the time has flown by. When reflecting on last term i am pleased to say i enjoyed it even though tough at times...!


My personal highlights of the term include: The National Demo, training more course reps then ever before, Freshers week and seeing so many students support and help with the Save Physics Campaign - it was good to see students actively campaigning on what they felt so strongly about.

The term seen some great student activism with the demo and the physics campaign, i would certainly say the education portfolio at RUSU has been keeping educational matters high on the agenda - and rightly so - as i regularly get quoted in the office:


'We are all here for an education'


Some of the lower points for me: Walking out of the University Council meeting alone, to see physics students waiting outside for the result - having to tell them that despite a strong campaign physics would be no longer at Reading was pretty tough. But having said that i was so impressed with their passion and belief in the subject, they really are a great bunch. I still struggle to understand why such a fundamental and important science can be axed in such a way. I guess also the 60-70+ hour weeks (which i always said i would never do) mid term were also hard, people sometimes think student officers have it easy, well as much as the job is great it is certainly something that becomes your life! But i would recommend it to anyone - so much to gain to learn and to enjoy!


Despite the low points, the Autumn term has been great....with each and every day so different, bring on the spring term.


So after my short reflection thoughts - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here's to a great term, lots of laughs and more great work for students!

Ryan

r.j.e.bird@reading.ac.uk