Thursday 07-11-2024 - 09:29

 

 

On Saturday, over 100 members of the Academic Rep Community came together for Rep Conference 2024.



 

 

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education) Wendy Robinson and I opened the conference and spoke of the importance of Academic Reps, with Wendy reminding the cohort how vital reps are to positive decision-making within the University.



The conference was made of four sessions. Two of these focused on contemporary issues that reps may be keen to take forward and focus on this year – AI and Climate Education, delivered by Phil Cheeseman (Associate Director for Teaching and Engagement), and I respectively.
Another session trained reps on how to effectively handle difficult conversations with senior university officials and make the most for students out of these situations. Finally, the fourth session saw the even more ambitious folk from amongst the cohort run for the roles of department and faculty reps.



The conference was a great success. It was particularly inspiring to see such great engagement from this year’s representatives. The fact that so many people got stuck in fills me with a lot of confidence for the year ahead. This year is a really exciting time in the academic representation space due to the University’s curriculum transformation project, and I’m more than satisfied that the critical voice of students will be elevated exceedingly well.

Rep Conference 2024 is just one of the ways that Reps will be developing this year, and falls as part of a large package of training and collaboration that will be delivered throughout this year. Watch this space to see what the system as a collective achieves.