SSLC Meetings
Remember: SSLCs for full-time courses should meet at least four times a year.
Who should be on the SSLC?
Students should be in the majority. As a general guide there should be at least two representatives per year.
Student representatives should be elected from each year of each course, or students representing various stages of progression in a part-time or postgraduate research degree.
SSLC rep elections are usually held in week 2. Elections for first year undergraduates are normally arranged by the departments with assistance from the Students’ Union. Elections for all other undergraduates and all postgraduates are normally arranged by the Academic Convenor.
The Chair and Secretary of each SSLC must be Students. At least two members of academic staff elected by their department should sit on the SSLC, one of whom will be the Academic Convenor. If the SSLC covers more than one course, a member of staff representing each course should attend meetings as often as possible.
The Head of Department, or another senior member of academic staff, should be invited to SSLC meetings from time to time.
Issues to be Discussed at Meetings
For Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate courses:
- Course content and delivery (but not individual members of staff), including changes to course structures and proposals for new courses
- Assessment and examination, including feedback on assessment
- Skills development
- Progress monitoring
- Timetabling
- Joint degrees and related guidance
For SSLCs with undergraduate students:
- National Student Survey results and actions taken by the department in response to issues raised through the NSS
For Postgraduate Research courses:
- Monitoring, progression and supervisory systems (but not individual supervisors)
- Assessment
- Research training
For all SSLCs:
- Student support and guidance
- Library provision
- IT issues and availability of e-learning resources (eg digital resources)
- Careers advice
- Departmental liaison with the Library, IT and Careers, and induction and training arrangements
- Learning facilities, including the Learning Grid in University House and/or the Biomed Grid at Gibbet Hill
- Other academic resources, including accommodation, seminar size, timetable.
People to Invite to Meetings
The SSLC (with the assistance of the Academic Convenor) should invite a representative from the Library and the Careers Centre to attend at least one SSLC meeting. The SSLC may also wish to invite:
- Members of University staff who support skills development and Warwick Advantage – see: warwick.ac.uk/services/careers
- A representative from IT services, if the SSLC wishes to discuss a matter concerning the provision of IT (eg IT accounts, email system);
- An e-Learning Advisor; e-Learning Advisors provide support to departments in developing e-learning resources. See warwick.ac.uk/services/elearning/support/people
What Happens After the SSLC Meeting
Immediately after a meeting the Secretary should write and circulate the minutes. Members of the committee should ensure assigned actions are progressed. Members should also ensure that SSLC decisions or actions are reported to the student body - see 'completing the feedback loop' - and that the minutes are made available to all the Students within your department via the SSLC Portal.
If you are unable to access editing rights (enabling minutes, meeting times and agenda updating) to the SSLC Portal, please email Roisin.OBrien@warwicksu.com for editing permission.
Departmental Meetings
As a minimum, a representative from each SSLC within the department should be invited and encouraged to attend departmental staff meetings to discuss SSLC matters.
In this context, ‘department’ includes departments, schools or centres, and ‘departmental staff meeting’ means a regular (e.g. termly) department-wide staff meeting, rather than ad hoc, informal meetings between a small number of staff.
In addition to inviting SSLC reps to discuss SSLC matters, departments are strongly encouraged to invite reps to stay for discussion of all open business at departmental meetings (i.e. all items other than those involving named members of staff or students). Inviting SSLC reps to attend discussion of all open business provides a further channel of communication between staff and students, and SSLC reps can offer a valuable perspective on issues affecting students, including departmental facilities and teaching and learning resources.
If a department has more than one type of ‘departmental meeting’ (e.g. teaching committee, undergraduate and/or postgraduate meetings, in addition to the main departmental meeting), the department and the SSLC(s) should discuss, periodically, which meeting(s) it would be most beneficial for SSLC reps to attend. This would normally be expected to include the main departmental meeting. The arrangements within a particular department should encourage a productive use of SSLC reps’ time, whilst ensuring that SSLC reps are invited to the meeting(s) at which key issues connected to teaching and learning are discussed.
SSLC reps should take the opportunity to attend departmental staff meetings and should report back to the SSLC on discussion of issues affecting students.