Thursday 03-12-2020 - 10:00

Hello from your Bristol SU Officer team! 

This week we’ve been busy supporting students in University accommodation and planning ahead to support students through the January assessment period. We’ve achieved some great wins and are excited to share them with you all: 

 

Extenuating Circumstances 

We are calling on the University of Bristol to introduce more academic mitigations for January exams. The University’s planned policy for Extenuating Circumstances during the January assessment period does not go far enough to protect students. We are asking for the University to take urgent action to change this, and ensure students aren’t left to fail through no fault of their own. Students can add their voice to the campaign and sign the petition here. 

 

Bursary U-Turn 

We have successfully forced the University to U-turn on their policy of taking student bursaries to cover rent arrears. This is a great win but we want to make sure this doesn’t happen again. We are reviewing the University’s rent arrears and debt collection policy to make sure students are being treated fairly. 

 

Tuition Fees 

Your officer team are busy developing a campaign around student tuition fees that we will be launching in January!  We have been meeting with local MPs to discuss how we can make the biggest impact with our campaign. We also recently held an Education Network Forum with students and course reps to discuss our approach to face-to-face and online teaching – look out for more of these events coming soon! 

 

Support for students in halls 

Ruth, your Student Living Officer, and the Bristol Rent Strike have successfully won a new compassionate case-by-case contract release policy for students who need to end their accommodation contracts early. Ruth is also working with the University to rewrite the rules for halls of residences so that they better reflect a harm reduction approach. We are also working closely with the BAME students, Multifaith, and Wellbeing Networks to make sure students who don’t drink are better supported in halls.  

 

Decolonising the Curriculum Working Groups 

We have been working with Khadija, the BAME Network Chair, to set up working groups across the University to Decolonise the Curriculum. The first of these are in the Languages and Management departments. You can read more about our work on this here. If you’re interested in setting up a working group in your department, please contact David. 

 

Advice and guidance on Coronavirus can be found on the Bristol SU website here.