Words by your Academic Executive, Laura Flowers
It has been a while since I last updated you on our Are You Okay? campaign.
As many of you will remember, Are You Okay has been our way to check in on many of you, ensure you have a place to raise your concerns and when needed, take you on a personalised feedback journey where we are able to rectify any issues you're having.
This campaign has also given me the opportunity to be direct with the University about how you are feeling, and ask them to incorporate that in planning, and for them to make changes.
In this, we have found that from October 2020 to February 2021, 58% of you told us you were not okay, and the top three reasons for this are:
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Mental Health
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Academic Experience,
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Lack of part-time work
65% of you also told us you were finding learning difficult, mainly because it did not suit your learning styles but also due to lecturer availability and internet access.
We also learnt that 42% of you are feeling lonely which is why we decided to add more social events to our calendar and encourage societies to create more social interaction. You can find our upcoming events here.
The University has responded to these concerns and have told us their plans to better improve your wellbeing. These are:
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Faculties to work with staff to ensure staff are responding in good time.
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They will also support you in working online by signposting you to support materials that were prepared in the summer of 2020.
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Staff are encouraged to access training and support to use Collaborate and Teams to the best of their abilities.
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Personal tutors asked to ‘check in’ with students.
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We, as DSU are supported in signposting you to the best mental health and wellbeing support.
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Faculties are being encouraged to seek feedback and work with Course Reps to address concerns.
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Faculties are to continue to run student-facing events.
We value your feedback and will continue to develop what we are doing as your Students' Union to ensure that you're kept our top priority. If you would like to access to full results, you can access them here.
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