eqal
What is EQAL all about?
E.Q.A.L stands for Enhancing Quality and Assessment for Learning and is looking at every aspect of undergraduate learning at MMU, including:
- How your course is structured in the future – what modules are available, learning objectives, how you will be assessed
- What changes can be made to processes to make students lives easier – timetabling, regulations, information provided, how we enrol, work submission procedures, etc.
- How the university can embrace technology to help improve things for students
- How the quality of courses can be improved
Why should the University listen to you?
Although the changes won’t affect students graduating before 2013, the union firmly believes that current students are the best resource the University has to help generate innovative and effective new ways of meeting future student needs.
Whilst we understand that the University are experts in creating academic change and writing courses, and its staff members are experts at delivering them, we also believe that students are the experts in understanding what impact courses have on their own academic experience at University.
“Who better help solve course problems, and test proposed solutions than the the current students who have experienced the problems first hand?”
Liz Marsh, VP Education
What is the Union doing about it?
The union is pushing for the University to work in partnership with students to improve future course experience, and not to implement changes in isolation.
We have 4 main objectives for the campaign:
- Ensure that students are informed about EQAL and able to consider the implications for their own degree subjects from a position of knowledge
- Identify areas of student concern on a course / faculty level and tackle these through existing representative structures
- Identify which courses and departments are working best with students in making the changes necessitated by EQAL
- Get University commitment that all course changes will be subject to student scrutiny, following a process agreed with students union, prior to being implemented
What’s are the next steps?
- Read our Sabbatical officers' blog to find out what they've found out from the various committees they've attended on your behalf
- Talk to your course rep next term when we'll be running a major campaign to involve students in exploring the possibilities of a new curriculum at MMU
- Tell us what you think from 31st January to 4th Feb when we'll be running a week of activities to gain as much feedback as possible as to what you think should be integrated into our curriculum
“It’s vital that students have their voice heard and that this feedback should be engaged with and utilised to the benefit of future generations to come.”
Rob Croll, MMUnion President