General Information

The Academic Board is the ultimate academic authority of the University, including that of the curriculum and quality and standards. It focuses on areas such as academic strategy, policy, priority and performance. Academic Board meetings occur three times a year in October, February and May and are usually held at the London Moorgate campus.

 

Students are represented by the Students' Union President, Students' Union Manager and three Student Members of Committees (see latter sections).

 

Reporting to the Academic Board

The Students' Union Manager reports to the Academic Board on all SSLC minutes. This is usually split by course and campus and also with overarching themes and quasi-verbatim comments split by programme. ‘Interim’ reporting is usually for the February meeting and ‘final’ reporting at the May meeting.

 

As SSLC meetings occur twice per year, around November / December and March / May, reporting cannot be undertaken at the October Board meeting.

 

Additionally, the Students' Union Manager and President report to the Board on all student engagement activities, including on Clubs and Societies, SU recruitment, development of a new strategic plan, and development of The Students' Union website.

 

Academic Board Committees

The Students' Union are invited to sit on a variety of the Academic Board’s Committees:

 

Academic Enhancement Committee

This committee is chaired by the Vice-Provost, Academic Enhancement, and looks at academic enhancements at the strategic level, including reviewing and enhancing the provision of learning opportunities and teaching practices. The Students' Union has a regular slot to feedback on any enhancement activities underway, and to discuss any related matters and student feedback arising from Student Parliament meetings.

 

The AEC (and V-P, AE) takes a strategic lead on the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) for the University. The SUP is the Students' Union lead for the TEF and is a full member of the TEF Project Working Group within the AEC. This includes attending external, HEFCE conferences, and contribution to the production, and concluding remarks, of the provider’s submission for the TEF.

 

Academic Standards and Quality Committee

This committee is responsible for matters relating to standards assurance and compliance. The Students' Union Manager is a member of this committee and this can look at matters such as examination results across cohorts and campus.

 

Also, the Students' Union Manager is involved with the appointment of External Examiners onto programmes, which is a separate sub-panel of the ASQC. The key contact for this is the Head of Awards, Standards & Integrity.

 

Widening Participation Committee

The Widening Participation and Access (WP&A) committee is the key strategic committee of the Academic Board responsible for articulating and systematically reviewing and enhancing provision to ensure that students from all backgrounds are supported to access, succeed in and progress from University of Law (“ULaw”) programmes. It will have a particular focus on provision for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and groups under-represented in higher education. The University works in partnership with the Students' Union, and the President is a full member of the committee and is active across the Working Groups.

 

Programme Approval Committee and Panels

Programme Approval Panels consider applications for new programmes, courses and modules within the University, and also in collaboration with other providers in the UK, EU or internationally. The President, Students' Union Manager and Student Members of Committees (SMCs) are invited to be a panel member for programme approval or re-approval events and will act as a student panel member (but are considered full panel members).

 

The Programme Approval Committee considers applications once they have gone through the panel stage. Therefore, this is more of an oversight of the panel process and requires reading the minutes of the panel meetings and feeding back in a similar way.

 

Occasionally, there will be a Quality Assurance Review (or ‘QA Review’) panel, this is preliminary review conducted in a similar way to the Programme Approval Panel, but not formally part of the approval process. Again, the President, Studnets' Union Manafer or a student member is invited to these if there are different student members for the main panel event, to ensure that a wider representation of the student voice can be obtained.

 

Working with Others (B10)

The ‘WwO’ committee deals with Chapter B10 of the QAA Quality Code (as of December 2017). This part of the code focuses on arrangements the University has with other providers, including collaborations (in differing forms). The Students' Union Manager attends this committee meeting to represent the student voice for potential collaborations, and also to ensure that the Student Association is aware of potential collaborations and can implement measures i.e. in the representative structure to equally and fairly represent all University of Law students.

 

The President attends the Third-Party Relationships (TPR) meeting. This usually occurs on the same day as the WwO meetings, but focuses on collaborations that do not fall within “B10”, but are classified at TPR’s.

 

Other:

Programme Directors Group

The PDG is a meeting of all National Programme Directors, and other invited colleagues, to discuss matters related to the University’s programmes. The Students' Union Manager and President are invited to discuss any Students' Union matters and to feedback any programme-related student feedback, including that arising from the Student Parliament.

 

 

The University is regulated by HEFCE/Office for Students and PSRBs. The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) undertakes periodic reviews of universities to ensure that they are meeting threshold academic (and other) standards on behalf of HEFCE/Office for Students. The University of Law’s most recent review visit was in October 2017. The University wrote a Self-Evaluation Document (SED) and the Students' Union drafting a Student Submission, approved by Parliament.

 

The Students' Union Manager was the Lead Student Representative for the visit, which involved sitting on all of the student meetings with the QAA and being a focal point of contact for the QAA. The SUEO was also on the HER Core Team, assisted with drafting the Self-Evaluation Document, authored the Student Submission and ensured student attendance during the review visit.

 

The QAA report in relation to the review visit can be found HERE

 

The Student Association Constitution governs the Association and provides the vast majority of information on roles, duties and responsibilities. This is supplemented by the Terms of Reference for the Student Parliament and Student Association Governing Board (please see the relevant documentation for further information, both of which are available from the Students' Union Manager).

 

Please also see the “Communications Policy” on how we communicate with key stakeholders and the “Expenses Guidelines” for the policy on expenses for the non-paid (and voluntary) student representatives, which mirrors the University’s Finance Policy for staff.

 

The SUEO is responsible for maintaining control over the Union’s financial expenditure. This involves tracking all incoming and outgoing expenditure. Previously, this has been undertaken via a Spreadsheet on Excel. A more recent development is that the Finance Business Partner sends monthly reports to the SUEO detailing and listing all expenditure – an edited version of this is now used to send to the Trustee Board at each meeting.

 

Expenses; all student expenses and those for the Students' Union Executive are taken from the Students' Union account.

 

The Trustee Board (or SUGB) receive a copy of the Spreadsheet for each meeting (December/March/June) to ensure an oversight of expenditure is kept - this is in addition to the yearly financial reports.

 

Please see the “Trustee Board” section or Union’s Constitution for further information on the financial requirements of the SUEO role, including Trustee Board authorisation for some expenditure.

 

The Students' Union Governing Board ("Governing Board") (formerly Trustee Board) is an oversight feature of the Union (including the Executive and Parliament). The Governing Board also meets three times per year at a date set by the Students' Union Manager, but not more than 6 weeks after the last Parliament meeting. The Students' Union Manager also acts as secretary to the Governing Board.

 

Attendance for these meetings is always ‘virtual’, and the list of attendees can be found via the Trustee Board Terms of Reference. All (current) External Members of the Governing Board are members of University alumni, and this shall be continued when new External Members are to be elected; the contact for this would be the Alumni Manager.

 

Students (who are not Student Members of the Governing Board) are not permitted to attend these meetings, but the minutes can be placed on the Union website – in redacted form if necessary, and if requested in writing to the Chair of the Governing Board and Students' Union Manager.

 

In a similar way to the Student Parliament meetings, the Students' Union Manager sends an e-mail invitation and the documentation to the attendees.

 

Usually, the Students' Union Manager and Chair of the Governing Board hold a one to one meeting around a week or so before the next Governing Board meeting to discuss the agenda and associated documents and to see where the possible lines of questioning may occur and so the Students' Union Manager can answer any questions the Chair has.

 

Due to the Students' Union Manager being independent from the Students' Union (please see below for further information), they have taken on an advisory function in relation to Complaints, Academic Appeals or Reviews and Disciplinary matters.

 

The Students' Union Manager can advise students on the process and procedure for making a complaint, an academic appeal or review and in responding to a disciplinary allegation. It is also important to stress to students that they require evidence for any assertions that they make, however, the role is not to assist students in finding that evidence or pointing out where to find the evidence or in proof reading any documentation.

 

Students will usually contact the Students' Union e-mail account (studentsunion@law.ac.uk), and then the Students' Union Manager can book a call if necessary to discuss the student’s case and advise appropriately. The Students' Union Manager always (also) save’s a copy of all e-mail correspondence in a folder to ensure a record of all conversations with students. If advice is given via the telephone, the Students' Union Manager may follow up with an e-mail to the student to ensure that the advice is in writing.

 

 

The Students' Union Manafer assists and advises students if they wish to appeal a disability support agreement, i.e. if a student has been refused or a student feels that the support offered is not ‘reasonable’ and they deserve enhanced support.

 

The first stage for a student is to request a Disability Support Review Panel, a Disability Appeals Panel is the final stage.

 

The Students' Union is trained on the process for disability appeals and any ongoing support that is needed.

 

The Students' Union Manager advises students on the process and procedure for a disability appeal, and also on any timescales. The Students' Union Manager is not able to proof-read documentation or provide evidence to the student. This is to ensure that the Students' Union Manager is not a ‘co-author’ of the appeal.