Presidential Monthly Report (August)
Hello everyone, August is already over wow! The main objective of my term is to provide more opportunities for our Keele postgraduates to engage and develop their social and academic skills at Keele. We, at the KPA, are preparing quite amazing events to welcome all our postgraduates this year. Here is a quick summary of what your committee was up to in August.
KPA President August Summary:
We kicked off the month by focusing on having updated and more relevant governance documents, therefore, we hired Stephen Dowson to join our team. Further updates will be in the September report. We are also happy to introduce our new Trustee Rebecca Bowler who, we believe, will have a great contribution to improve, our PG community while focusing on its charitable purpose. And saying goodbye to our lovely trustee Rachel Bright we, appreciate all the great work she did for us and hope to continue her support to the PG community at Keele.
This month, my focus will be on strengthening communication with our university management and leadership team to find out the best way the KPA may operate with other university bodies of interest.
In this process, the first step will be an introduction meeting with Mike Farrar, the new chair of the council, on the importance of having our views and concerns shared. As a result, we can all work together to assist students at Keele. Additionally, with the assistance of Alison Tansey, KPA Coordinator, Clare Stevenson, Director of Legal, Governance & Compliance, and Secretary for Council, Jo Sylvester, Governance officer, we are going to update the council on our progress made on the issues related to Constitution and Elections.
We have happily conducted the Language exchange session at the KDA summer school and hosted the KDA Summer School BBQ. For this, I would like to thank Bethany Edge, Olalekan Olatunji, and Rachana Dhaka our KPA Committee members, and special thanks to Dr. Ben Coleman, KDA research developer for facilitating this session for us. We are happy to announce that we are planning to have more such collaborations in the future, this is why we will have a meeting with Alexandra Lamont, Director of the Keele Doctoral Academy, in September.
We know how crises affect our lives, especially international students who are studying at Keele, to address that Kristyan Miller, Pro vice channeler for Education is going to start a shared international Student Experience group with the KPA and SU. This will remove the pain points affecting our International PG student experience.
Moreover, I had the pleasure to discuss with Eran Edirisnghe, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), on providing more opportunities for our Postgraduates to benefit them to grow in academic and industry perspectives. We will reflect more on that in the September report. Finally, another important meeting I had with Trevor McMillan our Vice chancellor, on the importance of the PG community in Keele and how the KPA and the University can work hand in hand to grow this community. Speaking about our community, we are preparing a number of great events with Julia Lawton, clubhouse manager, and her lovely staff to provide the best services, (for this, you can check the timetable below for September welcome week events). Moreover, we are joining hands with Dan Lay, Thomas Guilbert-Newell, and Matthew Meehan from the SU for campaigning on mental health issues and addressing the same for our postgraduates. Also, we are putting efforts to increase the engagement rate of PG students in different activities, while initiating some new ones too.
Please follow our social media accounts and our email newsletter to stay updated with all the opportunities and events we are having or going to organize in the coming year. Also, try to join us every Monday to be familiar with your fellow students and enjoy a free hot drink and a 50% discount for food on productive postgraduate sessions at the KPA Clubhouse, upstairs. Visit us at the clubhouse every Thursday for a free hot drink and nice company with the committee members.
Now with an updated summary from Rachana Dhaka KPA vice president on her meetings and progress in august.
KPA Vice President August Summary:
The meetings attended by Vice President- KPA
Apart from taking up certain cases from the students regarding their courses or extra support, and participation in the KPA committee and trustees meets, I have gone through the following:
1. Disciplinary Committee training by the student services and resident advisor department of the university
2. Part of the focus group discussions for the recruitment of Director of Student Futures- organised by Mr. Mark Bacon Keele COO and Ms. Katie Laverty Director Of Student Services
3. Meeting with the GSA- the postgraduate association from York University, members about the in person meeting and their visit to Keele in the near future, so that we can learn from each other and improve our strategy
4. Meeting with the Strategic space manager Ms. Vicky Gould-Boam from directorate of estates and campus services- to discuss the possibilities of the shift of the KPA office to a more visible and accessible space on campus rather than being at the top floor of the Keele Hall, where students think a hundred times before visiting us and till date none has visited in last two months.
5. Meeting with Ms Emma Price and Hanna Taylor from the Global student recruitment and access department, about the pre departure briefing session
6. Induction strategy group meeting by Mr Richard Fairwether
7. meetings with SU officers to plan the welcome week and other events or campaigns in the coming academic year, and to ensure the wellbeing of the students for their better student life experience
8. Meeting with the PVC Education- Kristyan to improve the international student’s experience and sharing the issues the international students face from the day of their offer acceptance till they are awarded the degree from the University and construction of the committee in this regard
9. The Be Kind week planning meeting with the KPA committee and the clubhouse manager
10. participated in the summer school for a week by KDA and part of the events by the KPA there to talk to students present and let them know about who we are and what we do.
11. Participated in the pre departure briefing by the global recruitment and access office for the international students and shared with them about our work and ways to approach .
Link for September Welcoming Week:
Link for our indication presentation for more information about the KPA:
Best,
Abdelrhman Rayis