The SU are aware that there are many students in our community that are experiencing some racist and discriminating behaviour since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the current Black Lives Matter protests. We would like to reiterate to all students that discrimination of any type will not be tolerated. If you have experienced or witnessed anything which has made you feel uncomfortable both on or off campus, please do report this via the Report and Support form. Following your report, the services you selected on the form will be in touch with you to confidentially provide advice and support and detail all your options to you.
You can also directly contact the SU Advice and Support Centre, they will provide advice and support including identifying the other services that may be able to help you. They are working remotely Monday – Friday, 10:00 – 16:00 (excluding bank holidays).
You may also wish to report through SARI, a local charity dedicated to Racism and Inequality.
*Please note all of the above services are working remotely and can correspond with you over email, video and audio online calls, therefore you can contact us from anywhere in the world and we will advise you as best we can, though you may need to research local services also.
Yesterday the university released an announcement highlighting when students should be expecting to receive their results following the summer assessment period. Final year students should be looking forward to receiving their results on the 23 July whereas non-finalists should be expecting to receive their results on the 30 July. Information for franchised and licensed students is to be confirmed; recognizing the urgency of this, we will be fighting for these dates to be released as soon as possible. Please take a look at this announcement from the university to find out more details about accessing your results on SAMIS and scaling.
As always, we wish you the best of luck with your remaining assessments and are here to support and represent you.
For queries around academic appeals and IMCs please contact SU advice and support.
Support for domestic and online violence and abuse
Nobody should have to experience abuse of any kind, and sadly the number of reported incidents of domestic and online abuse have risen since the world went into lockdown.
If you're experiencing this kind of abuse, or you need advice about someone you care about please read SU Advice's page which is full of information on how you can receive help and support.
There are ways to get help that put your safety and security at the top of the list and remember if you're ever in immediate danger please call or text 999 - further details for options if talking puts you in danger can be found in our online guide.
We have been hearing feedback from disabled students, placement/ Year Abroad students about the specific challenges they're facing in light of the Covid-19 situation... And we want to hear more from these groups.
Disabled Students
Please share your experience here.
Placement/Year Abroad Students
We are working to ensure the University understand the student experience and the particular challenges faced by our student community during the current Covid-19 situation. Your feedback will help to create a clearer picture of what is needed to ensure students are supported as best as possible as well as highlight any outstanding issues.
If you don’t fall into one of these student groups but still want to share feedback about either your studies or general student experience during the Covid-19 situation, please get in touch with us here.
If you have a personal circumstance, or welfare issue that you would like to talk about, please see here the details of our Advice & Support team, who are here to provide confidential and impartial guidance.
Well-being activities at the Edge
Wellbeing activities are increasingly more important due to the unusual situation we find ourselves in, not only due to Covid-19 but also as we learn to adapt to online assessments and exams being conducted in such a different way. We have recently started conversations with regards to accessibility to wellbeing activities within the University. Following these conversations University has dedicated funding to make sure that the Edge's wellbeing classes (including yoga and dance sessions) have been put up for free until the end of July! This is fantastic news and we encourage you to take up these opportunities. Sign up here>>
Support for students with preparing and submitting alternative assessments
The University have released some useful guidance around submitting assessments.
These can be found online via the following links.
Support
Guidance
Study Well
We are now into week 2 of our Study Well Campaign. Supporting you through exams and asessments.
View the study Well Page here >>
Casual Workers
If you hold a casual staff position on campus and are being furloughed, you should have received an email from HR confirming this by the end of Tuesday 5 May.
If you have not received an email this means you are not currently included in the scheme. Whilst there are some roles that will not be eligible (e.g. work ended previously), if you were expecting to work in the time since campus has closed, you can follow up with your direct manager or Head of Department as well as HR via CV19enquiries@bath.ac.uk.
You can always contact the SU Advice and Support Team if you want any further support with this process.
Individual Mitigating Circumstances (IMCs)
What is an IMC and how can it help you? Read our guidance which highlights the key updates to IMCs to account for COVID-19 and non COVID-19 factors. It will help you decide whether you should do an IMC and the support available to help you through the process and beyond.
Libary Update
There are now 23 PCs and 2 multifunctional printers available in the Library foyer for campus-based students who need access to PCs for exams and revision. The PCs are spaced well apart, in line with government advice. (8 additional PCs added to the existing 15 this week). Please see the library blog post and Instagram post for more information.
Tuition Fees
We understand how disorientated you all must feel throughout this time of uncertainty. One thing’s for sure: the student experience you were expecting has not materialised this year. The University of Bath, as well as many across the country, has experienced not one but two rounds of industrial action throughout this academic year, and the outbreak of COVID-19 has cut-short the physical university experience during what should have been one of the most exciting times for us all. Learning had to be moved hastily online without a sound plan to guarantee adequate provision for students, particularly those in the most disadvantaged settings. Lecturers have worked incredibly hard to do this, but it has not been easy and communication from the University has been lacking. There is still a significant amount of confusion about grading and assessments.
You have told us in numbers that you feel that you paid for an experience and level of service that has not been delivered in full, due to factors both within and outside our organisation. Your frustration is valid, and we hear you. We believe that you, our students, are entitled to compensation on your tuition fees for this semester. This should come as debt relief for those students that receive a loan, and refund for those who have paid their fees upfront.
We believe that the money required for this should not come from individual institutions, who are facing an unparalleled financial challenge due to Covid-19, but from central government instead.
Universities directly refunding money would be yet another huge financial loss, and simply an impossible one for many. We believe that the central government must step in and underwrite the loss from debt relief and refunds on tuition fees. This would ensure the financial viability of universities and a higher chance of an adequate provision for students in the long-term.
Manchester SU has created a petition, which we have signed, detailing our demands. Around 10,000 students have already signed the petition, and it would be incredible if you could add your signatures to this as well.
Sign the petition here>>
Assessments Update
This morning you should have finally received an update on what no detriment measures look like for those of you who are continuing undergraduates and those of you who are PGTs. For any questions about what ‘safety-net’ measures will look like for your cohort, please contact your department as they should be able to provide further information.
If you have read the student guide to online assessments and would like to speak to someone about submitting an Individual Mitigating Circumstances (IMC) then you can contact our Advice and Support team in the SU at suadvice@bath.ac.uk If you do submit an IMC claim this must be within three working days of the affected assessment deadline or exam date.
Next week we are kicking off our first ever virtual Study Well campaign. We will be bringing you resources to help with your revision, as well as study tips and activities. Stay tuned for further updates!
Assessment Period update
Exam Timetables
Following on from the release of exam timetables on friday, and conversations with the University, we have learned that changes to exam timetables are unlikely. However if you feel severely disadvantaged or are concerned because of any potential clashes, please do contact your department to flag this. The student guide to online assessments that was sent out yesterday highlights potential options around deferred assessments if this is a particularly difficult period of time for you. This guide also includes resources and advice on how to take online assessments. We are continuously working with the University to ensure you have the right resources and information available to you.
No Detriment Update
Many of you have been waiting to receive additional information on the No Detriment policy and what this looks like for you.We are expecting for the University to release an update on what No Detriment measures look like for continuing undergraduates and PGT students very soon in addition to a student explainer to address some of the questions you may have.
IMCs
Disability Action Plans (DAPs)
If you have a DAP and have queries regarding how this is implemented for online assessments or if you feel that your adjustments need changing in light of the changes to assessments please seek advice as soon as possible from the Disability Advice Team at disabilityadvice@bath.ac.uk.
Study Well!
Assessment Period
The assessment period is quickly approaching, and exam time tables were only released this past friday. Understandably, we have been hearing from a lot of you regarding concerns you have about your exam arrangements. We have raised all your concerns with the university and are doing our utmost to query what options are available for those students who feel that they have been hugely impacted by their exam arrangements. We will keep you updated, and are expecting the university to release further information this week. As always, the SU Advice and Support Centre team are here to help where we can, but we’ll need to await answers from the University on this.
Overnight there has been another update from the University with regards to the Casual Workers Furlough scheme. You can view the latest announcement here>>
One of the biggest updates is that the University has agreed to pay 100%, topping up the 80% received from the government to all eligible casual workers.
If you hold a casual staff position on campus and are being furloughed, you should expect to receive an email from HR confirming this by the end of Tuesday 5 May. If you do not receive an email this means you are not currently included in the scheme. Whilst there are some roles that will not be eligible (e.g. work ended previously), if you were expecting to work in the time since campus has closed, you can follow up with your direct manager or Head of Department as well as HR via CV19enquiries@bath.ac.uk.
This news will be a great relief to many of you and for those who are not included there is still plenty of support available to you. The SU Advice team can advice and support you through any financial concerns as well as Student Services. You may also wish to consider applying for the University Hardship fund.
Online Learning Experience
Given all learning is now being delivered online, we are gathering your feedback about your online learning experiences: what's working well, what's not and what you want to see in the future. We will be using this data to lobby the university to ensure high quality online learning. The deadline for this is 23:00 Wednesday 6 May. Take the survey >>
Education Update
Taught Students (Undergraduates, PGT students) No detriment Policy: As you know we have been holding the university to their promise of releasing further detail regarding continuing UG students and PGTs on no-detriment and safety-net measures. We are actively engaging with the academic registry in conversations about the policy detail to ensure that academic achievement is safeguarded. Online Assessments: We have been assured by the university that Exam timetables will be released by Friday at the latest. Your departments should have communicated any changes to your assessments to you.
Doctoral Students SU senate members provided a consultation response to a recent senate paper granting a three-month fee free extension to final year doctoral students. We expressed at the Senate meeting on 22 April that the three-month fee-free extension should be available for all doctoral students given the widespread impact on our doctoral community by Covid-19. We are glad that the University has communicated with final year doctoral students its decision to grant them with the extension. We are continuing to fight for three-month fee-free extension for all doctoral students.
We have previously released an update with regard to casual student workers being able to take part in the Furlough process. We appreciate updated communication on this has been slow from the University and many of you who are employed with us may be feeling anxious about the exact details of how this will work for you.
We are working hard on this for you. The University updated its guidance again on Friday evening as further guidance has emerged and they are seeking to make progress for casual workers this week, and provide an update to all casual workers in the first week of May.
We want to assure you that we are working alongside HR to go through all the details, the process is complicated and isn’t a one size fits all approach. Our aim is to get as many of our student workers onto Furlough as possible, and have provided HR with data from work rotas and other commitments to help them with the government’s eligibility test.
It is important to note that some roles will not be eligible, for example if there was no ongoing requirement for work or where students are still able to work remotely. If you have other employment or have since found alternative employment, this may also affect your eligibility.
Once HR have confirmed Furlough status for roles, we will have the opportunity to follow-up with any student workers who have not been included in the scheme, understand individual circumstances, challenge status and explore other options with you.
We are continually grateful for the opportunity to make sure students who were expected to work will receive some pay and we are doing all we can to speed up any communication and messaging around the details. If you have any individual concerns, please do contact our SU Advice team who can look into your specific case.
If you are on campus and observing Ramadan, you can collect a fee meal bag from the Lime Tree between 17:30 - 18:30.
It's safe to say that the past few months have been a bit strange for all of us. For those of us that are observing Ramadan over the next month, please check out BUIS's guidebook full of tips and tricks on how to get through Ramadan and exams in the middle of a global pandemic.
We know we are in an ever-changing environment and nothing feels quite the same as it did. This week if we were in ‘usual’ term time back on campus, we would be gearing up for our awards week. You’d all be planning your outfits, getting your hair done, booking your end of year meals and celebrating the amazing work that you have done over the last year. Even though we can’t physically put on our awards ceremonies we are offering a variety of virtual celebrations which we hope to enjoy with you remotely.
All week we will be announcing the award winners of ‘The Blues Awards’ our annual sporting ceremony, via a mix of sport social channels. This is a celebration of the amazing individuals and groups who have helped to shape student sport at Bath. So keep tuned in! Remember if you are a sports club member you can place your vote for Sports Personality of The Year now.
On Tuesday 28 we will be streaming live our first ever virtual SU Awards, this celebrates the achievements of our wonderful student groups. We have 11 awards to present as well as performances from two of our amazing societies, we will even be joined by the VC who will be presenting the big one….. Best Overall Group! So join us online form 19:00 (BST).
Finally, work is still going on behind the scenes to bring you the Education Awards virtually in the next few weeks. So, keep connected for updates on how you can join in the celebrations.
As well as the awards we are continuing to bring you challenges, games, workouts and more via our online Corona Community. So there are plenty of opportunities this week to feel even more connected this week.
Earlier this week the University released details on No-Detriment measures for Taught Students, and on the specific Safety Net provision for final year undergraduates. Despite these details being released, we know that many students are still awaiting detail on how some ‘similar principles’ to the safety-net policy might also be applied to current PGT students and continuing undergraduate students. The University has provided reassurance that the guidance on support for all non-final year undergraduate students and PGT students will be made available as soon as possible.
In addition, the details lack information on Individual Mitigating Circumstances (IMCs), which may be unique to the current Covid-19 situation. We are lobbying the University to ensure students in vulnerable and precarious positions are protected during this time. For any advice on IMCs, please do contact SU Advice and Support on suadvice@bath.ac.uk who will be able to support you.
Going forward we are having constructive conversations with the University’s senior management and Academic Registry about the information circulated to students, and have emphasised the importance that further clarifications and communications need to be easily understandable, digestible and reassuring to you. We are pressing hard on the getting those communications out to you as soon as possible as we know the delay is causing anxiety amongst the student body. To date, we have emphasised this directly with the VC, at Senate (highest academic governing body), the PVC for Learning and Teaching and in multiple other meetings.
If you have any concerns or questions about the latest information on the No-detriment measures, we want to hear from you. We have created a short form for you to submit your questions, which we will be presenting to the University and asking that these are addressed. Please use the form here>>
For any questions about what ‘safety-net’ measures will look like for your cohort, please contact your department as they should be able to provide further information.
We hope you have a lovely weekend, stay safe and connected, and we'll be collating responses on Monday to get you the answers you deserve.
We hope that you're doing well and staying safe. The weather has been quite gorgeous in Bath, and we hope that wherever you are, you are taking the time to enjoy spring, taking walks, and finding time and space to relax. As predicted, we have been slower on our updates recently - everything has started slowing down, particularly with the SU being on a skeleton staff structure now. However, worry not. The Officers and staff members are still working hard on an institutional, local and national level to represent you and weather the impact of coronavirus on your academic life and your wellbeing as much as possible. Francesco - Activities Officer
NUS Student Safety Net Campaign
This week, the NUS has launched its Student Safety Net campaign, based on three key demands:
The SU Bath fully supports this campaign, and has started working on the matter of tuition fees throughout the past weeks. In particular, the SU Officer Team has signed an open letter created by Manchester SU which called the government to relieve students of this semester’s tuition fee debt, if they go through Student Finance England, and to ensure non-EEA students are reimbursed of their fees when paid upfront. We will be writing to Wera Hobhouse, MP for Bath and North East Somerset, outlining these demands and asking for her to advocate for her student constituents in Westminster.
The SU Officer team believes that students, who will be the workforce of the future and rebuilding economies in the post-Covid world, and who have been put under an unprecedented risk due to the coronavirus crisis, and that the government should step in to help.
Affordable Future - Francesco SU Activities Officer
I campaigned heavily on the subject of affordability on our campus - the hidden costs that University life carry have put an unprecedented strain on students' mental health and financial stability. That was before Covid. As universities will have to fight off deficits and cover financial black holes, there's a real risk continuing and incoming students will pick up the prices - we can't allow that to happen.
Read my Wonkhe blog for more of my thoughts - The future has to be affordable and we’ll need to fight for it.
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