2
NEWS
ISSUE 244
www.concrete-online.co.uk
concrete.news@uea.ac.uk
ANDY POTT LEAVES UNION AFTER 12 YEARS Davina Kesby
UEA’s Independent Student Newspaper Concrete Newspaper Union House UEA Norwich NR4 7TJ
concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk
Editor:
Editorial: 01603 593 466 Advertising: 01603 592 507
Danny Collins
Deputy Editor:
Steph McKenna
Chief Copy Editor
Mia Wecker
News Editor: Comment and Opinion Editor: International Editor: Features Editors:
Emma Parrott
Nisahvita Murthi Adam Fenwick Samantha Lewis
Turf Editor:
Anna Tomson
Lifestyle Editor:
James Dixon
Travel Editor:
Tom Hunt
Food Editor:
Kyle Spencer
Sports Editors: Chief Photographer: Deputy Chief Photographer: Advertising Manager: Distributor
Davina Kesby
Chris King Rob Schatten Greg Mann
Laura Smith Jean Wills
Ross Grant
Contributors:
Chris King, Georgina Wade, Roxanne Power, Gordon Malloy, Chang Su Ling, Kanishk Sharma, Allicia Chin, Isabelle Carty, Lauren O’Neill, Ellen Steers, Neil Jennings, Tim Marsh, Freya Barry, Susanna Wood, Hasina Allen, Anna Clayton, Matthew Taylor, Christine O’Sullivan, Andrew Livesey, Harry Fish, Matt Scrafton.
Proofreaders: Poppy Jones, Susanna Wood, Rachel Finlay, Ian Hobbs
News Editor
Following a role change as part of a new strategic approach for the Union, Andy Pott’s employment with the Union ended on 24 July. The former General Manager, who had become the Union’s Chief Executive in the restructuring, departed after 12 years of service. Tom Dolton, Communications Officer of the Union, said, “Over the 12 years that Andy has worked for the Union, we have seen significant growth and improvement. Not only have our commercial services continued to outperform those of other students’ unions but the service in the Advice Centre has been enhanced, and resources
available to clubs and societies have increased”. According to an advert placed on Guardian Jobs, the new Chief Executive will have a “subtle yet powerful influential ability” and will be skilled in “regular communications to improve the service offered by the union to the students”, amongst others. They will take responsibility for a range of union activities, including “maintaining and enhancing the reputation of the Union and building solid relationships with key business partners for the future” and “leading and coordinating the activities of the Union’s senior managers so as to ensure an efficient, effective and financially viable performance in all services and activities at the Union”. Rob Bloomer, the
Former Chief Executive of the Union, Andy Pott
new Finance Officer, will be leading on the recruitment process. Bill Rhodes is acting Chief Executive until a suitable candidate is found. The Union has been implementing strategies which help to refocus the organisation’s attention, working towards achieving
a nationally recognised award known as the Student Union Evaluation Initiative, or SUEI. This new strategic approach has included the appointment of a new membership services manager who has experience with the auditing process for SUEI.
available as early as possible. A critical first step towards making this possible has been to move the timetabling process from the previous stand-alone system and to integrate it into the rest of the student records system. This process has taken place during the summer of 2010. [It] has been a challenging project and, as a result, a few outstanding issues remain to be resolved, mainly concerning finalising the allocation of rooms to some events”. Professor Ward asked students to bear with the team whilst various troubles were resolved. Students were reminded to check their timetables regularly in case alterations had been necessary. Rachel Handforth, Academic Officer for the Union, said: “The Union is extremely disappointed with the failure of early provision of timetables for students for this academic year. The University used a new IT system which was meant to create individual online timetables for students, and had it worked correctly it would have resulted in a much more efficient system, with
timetables being released to students considerably earlier than usual. However, the system failed in terms of allocating rooms to lectures and seminars and as such has resulted in students receiving their full timetables with very short notice before the start of teaching. This is a regrettable situation to be in and we hope that the issues are resolved soon”. She went on to say that the Union trusts that the University will do “all that it can to ensure that this does not happen again, and makes considerable efforts to communicate with students as much as possible about any further changes to timetables”. In addition to the late timetables for many students, the school of Nursing and Midwifery (NAM) has encountered problems with the room booking system changeover. According to Faculty of Health Convenor, Liz Biscoe, rooms were being booked for practical clinical skills which weren’t fit for purpose and tutors had to change from practical to theory classes due to equipment not being available.
STUDENTS “DISAPPOINTED” BY LATE TIMETABLES Roxanne Power
News Reporter
A change in the way timetables are processed left many students receiving their timetables much later than they first expected. A large number of students did not receive their personalised timetables until the Friday before term
started. This left little time to rectify potential module clashes. In a message to all students, Professor Tom Ward, the Academic proVice Chancellor, said: “The Student Experience Committee has requested that the University make every effort to produce timetables for students