PG Officer Blog

When was the first day of handover?

It was last year. June 18 it was.

What date is it today?

January 18.

How far away was that?

One, two, three… seven months ago, exactly.

Yes, I have been your SU Postgraduate Officer for seven months! Here is a very quick snap of the things I have been up to:

My first win came in July, when I was in this job for merely a month. I successfully lobbied the university’s Careers Services to improve its appointment system. Now all students have access to advance booking and longer appointments.

I have made a great effort to liaise with trade unions, especially UCU, and initiated the regular catch-ups between UCU and The SU so that we can better cooperate on the topic of Postgraduates Who Teach (PGWT).

I am representing all postgraduates at different university committees and I submitted a paper to University Doctoral Studies Committee (UDSC), Doctoral Student Voice Report, which outlines the major concerns doctoral students have had in the 2017-18 academic year and there will be actions to follow.

I helped the launch of Doctoral Office Space Survey and a working group is to be established at the university to look into this particular issue.

In terms of postgraduate community building, I made sure that there were events over summer for postgraduates, for the first time. I led several postgraduate trips and chaired an international postgraduate lunch where feedback was gathered from postgraduates.

PG Freshers Week 2018 was extremely popular with postgraduates and all our events were well attended.

PG Breakfast is included in the Postgraduate Association (PGA) regular events for the first time. It is a great event to help promote healthy lifestyle, let postgraduates of all levels mingle with each other and it is an important way for us to gather feedback from them.

The PGA and I have had great fun collaborating with some of the most amazing committees for the first time, thanks to proactive societies and sport clubs who are keen to organize activities for postgraduates, like Wine Society, Volleyball Club, Mountaineering Club, Latin and Ballroom Dance Club, to name just a few.

I have helped with the introduction of a brand new Bath Active postgraduate timetable, which includes Zumba, yoga, football sessions and so on. It is worth mentioning that the Zumba instructor Katy is a current PhD student and it was she that came up with the idea of offering Zumba sessions to postgraduates.

There are a lot of unforgettable moments that I have shared with the Officer Team: processing at graduation ceremonies, delivering a student session during the Vice-Chancellor recruitment, organising and planning Freshers Week with our lovely Freshers Week Event Managers (FWEMs), handing out bus cards on the first day of term and campaigning for a better bus service and change of routes, visiting Baroness Jan Royall in Oxford, and so many more.

I have known so many amazing postgraduates or students in general at different occasions, from academic councils to leisure table tennis sessions. learned so much about their journeys. I feel that I am being trusted: I am trying my best to take care of them and they are looking out for me in return.

I would like to say thank you everyone for the amazing seven months and I am looking forward to whatever awaits me!

See you all at Refresh Week, be there or be square!

Best wishes,

Jiani

SU Postgraduate Officer