Our Officer team have been busy this week talking with Nicola Dandridge, Chief Executive for the Office for Students. Keep reading to see how they got on.
On Thursday 14 October, your SU Officer Team met with the Chief Executive for Office for Students, Nicola Dandridge. This was a fantastic opportunity that allowed for all of you to be represented at a national level.
Office for Students is the independent regulator of higher education. It was set up a few years ago by the Government to monitor higher education settings, benchmarking them against a criteria to make sure the education you receive is of a good standard.
During the time your SU Officer Team spent with Nicola Dandridge, we made sure that your needs were at the forefront of the discussion, raising issues around the lack of complex mental health support, the international student experience and issues around the additional costs for international students to access higher education here in the UK, the postgraduate taught student experience and the support needed as we settle into a new blended learning setting. Nicola Dandridge was also really interested to learn what the University and Students’ Union are doing in terms of covid recovery.
As well as this, we discussed national issues such as the potential upcoming industrial action and how higher education settings need to prepare how they will mitigate disruptions to learning, freedom of speech on campus, and finally, the role of the student submission over the Access and Participation Plan. We also highlighted the need for the OfS to have clearer communications on what they do to support students moving forward.
Your officer team championed your rights, and we are going to be keeping the line of communication open with the OfS to work together on some exciting topics over the next year. Keep an eye out, as we will reach out to you about these topics so you can get involved.