Vote David Magee for Education on March 10th & 11th

David Magee VP for Education Manifesto

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Vote David Magee for Education on March 10th &

11th.

My name is David Magee, and I’m running for the position of Vice President for

Education in the upcoming Student Union elections on the 10th & 11th of March.

In a time where we have seen the “Student Contribution Charge” rise from €750 in

2004 to €2750 in September 2014, and the core grant to the University cut in a

similarly harsh pattern, it is important that the quality of the degree that you are

paying for is not diminished in any way. If anything we should be fighting to

enhance the value of our degrees through a greater focus on transferable skills,

industrial placement and improved benchmarking against equivalent degrees

in universities of comparable size globally.

As the University continues to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, it is

important that students are treated less like both consumers and products of the

University, but as partners who are capable of contributing to the on-going

improvement of the University.

Thankfully, some small but important changes have been made in these areas. UCC

Works, despite its infancy, has allowed students from a diverse range of courses to

develop general employability skills. There are flaws that can be amended, but this

will be addressed in a later section. Also we have seen a greater representation of

students in the Quality Promotion Unit, allowing units for review to get a student

perspective.

If you want to see change that will improve the quality of your degree, and want an

Education Officer that will fight to ensure that students are fully represented to the

University, then please read on. If you have anything you would like to say about

the contents of the manifesto or would like to discuss anything else about the

campaign, then please contact me via Facebook

(www.facebook.com/mageeforeducation), Twitter (@Magee4Education &

@Geezah91) or by email ([email protected]). See you at the polls March 10th

& 11th.

Le Meas,

David Magee

http://www.facebook.com/mageeforeducation

mailto:[email protected]


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Before we dive into what I would hope to achieve as UCCSU VP for Education,

please allow me to provide some details about who I am.

I’m a final year Microbiology student from Bansha, Co. Tipperary, having entered the

Biological & Chemical Sciences route in 2010. In 4 years as a UCC student I have

seen our university adapt so that it may continue to provide a 5 star education to

not only the students of Ireland, but of many nationalities, creeds, and cultures.

That said, with the introduction of semesterisation in September 2014, I believe that

we are about to face what could potentially be one of the biggest challenges to the

university in recent years. During this transition, I believe that I can bring much

needed confidence, experience, and leadership to the Students’ Union as the

Vice President for Education.

For those of you not familiar with my background and leadership experience, I have

provided an insight into some of these areas for you below.

Education and Quality Assurance background:

Tutor for students in the subjects of Biology and Geography at Leaving Cert

level, and Science and Geography at Junior Cert level.

Past mentor and trainer for Minis section of Kilfeacle & District RFC.

Team Facilitator for Firstsource Solutions Ireland, ensuring that agent

performance is at a level that exceeds client requirements. This includes

reviewing agent interactions with customers, and improving agent

performance based on customer feedback.

In addition I also act as a Deputy Team Leader for Firstsource Solutions

Ireland, motivating teammates to exceed client expectations, carrying out

administrative duties in absence of Team Leader, and resolving escalations

from agents.

Extracurricular activities in UCC:

Current Students’ Union College Rep for Science, Engineering, and Food

Science (SEFS), with 2 previous years of Class Rep experience (BSCB2 &

BSCMB3)

Student Representative to SEFS Teaching, Learning, and Student Experience

Committee (TLSE).

Student Representative to Peer Review Group for Quality Review of the

School of Applied Psychology in UCC.

Student Representative to Semesterisation Implementation Working Group

(SIWG).

Steering Committee member for Peer Support Programme with 3 years’

experience as a Peer Support Leader.


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UCC Works awardee for internship with UCC PASS as an administrative intern.

Current Academic Officer for UCC Science Society.

2013 UCC delegate to USI National Congress.

Other areas of interest:

Capped by Munster Rugby at schoolboy interprovincial level.

Captained several teams through underage rugby career

Qualified associate referee to the Munster Branch of the IRFU

Co-founded club shop with Kilfeacle & District RFC.

Winner of East Munster league at under 13 and 16 level with Kilfeacle &

District RFC.

Winner of East Munster cup at under 13, 14, 16, and 18 level with Kilfeacle &

District RFC.

Winner of under 21 O’Connor Cup with Kilfeacle & District RFC.

Member of Human Rights committee for Southern Leg of European Youth

Parliament in 2008.

Table of contents

1. Overview 5

2. Semesterisation 5

a. Preparation time 5

b. Results 6

3. Teaching & Learning 6

a. Library module 6

b. Marking details 6

c. Industrial Collaboration 7

d. Postgraduate tutoring and demonstrating 7

e. “Study Buddy” campaign 7

f. UCC Works 7

g. Internationalisation 8

4. Student Experience 8

a. Staff-student committee reform 8

b. “In my day…” 8

c. Surveys 8

d. SIT support 9

e. Mature students 9

5. The Union 9

a. Class rep elections 9

b. Class rep training 10

c. Union memory 10

d. Cork: Student Central 10

6. Over to you 11


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Overview

While the manifesto does outline a number of issues and areas for improvement, it

has been broken into 4 overarching themes.

Semesterisation

Teaching & Learning

Student Experience

The Union

Each topic and area will have the current state of affairs and what I can and will do

to either improve or maintain the standard of it.

Semesterisation

For those not completely up to date on what semesterisation is and what it means to

you, allow me to summarise it for you. Starting from the academic year 2014/2015,

approximately half of your exams will be before the Christmas break depending on

your course. That’s it, simple as. For a more detailed look on semesterisation, visit

http://www.ucc.ie/en/semesterisation/.

Don’t let the simplicity of the above statement deceive you however. A lot of work

has been done by staff at all levels in consultation with the Students’ Union to

ensure that the transition is as smooth as possible. There are issues that still need to

be ironed out, and without a doubt further issues will arise during the transition. This

section will outline the 2 main areas that I intend to work on as VP for Education.

Preparation time

While semesterisation is undoubtedly a positive for the university, it is important to

realise that “Study Month” will be gone. Instead, the Easter recess has been cut to 2

weeks and a revision week before the summer exams, and a single revision week

has been allocated to the first semester exams. This short turnaround between will

put pressure students who have are examined through continuous assessment (CA).

Policy has been drafted by the Students Union to ensure that CA results are returned

prior to exams. This could be further expanded for students doing project work and

those with a large number of assignments, and ensure that no assignments or

further project work are assigned in week 12 of each semester, and that no

deadlines for submission are scheduled for the revision week. This will also allow

students who work part-time to use the revision week as beneficially as possible.

This policy will also need to be amended to cater for students who have a placement

component to their course and have exams in spring (Wk. 30). While many schools

will cater for these students, it is important that the same CA policy is applied to all

students sitting exams.

http://www.ucc.ie/en/semesterisation/


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Results

The current semesterisation strategy commits to releasing provisional results for

semester 1 exams not after February 7th for the next 3 years. However, no

provisional dates are set for semester 2 results or for autumn repeat results. If

elected I will push for a release of results no later than June 23rd for the next 3

years. This timeframe matches that of the semester 1 results given that there is an

extra week for marking. I will also push to move repeat exams ahead by another

week so that an extra week is made available following repeat exams, while still

allowing sufficient time for revision and organising the finances to pay for repeat

exams. While an extra week following exams doesn’t seem like a great deal of time,

it is a vast improvement on the current plan where for 2 out of the 3 years, only 1

week is left between exam marking and the start of term.

Teaching & Learning

In recent months, the University has been marketing itself at home and abroad as

an institution with “A tradition of independent thinking”, using the slogan “Great

Minds Don’t Think Alike”. While this may be true for the Postgraduate population of

the University, given that UCC’s research income amounted to over €400 million over

the past 5 years, and UCC will lead 4 centres and co-lead another from 7 centres

created by a joint state-industry funded by Science Foundation Ireland to the tune of

€300 million. However, this tradition seems to elude undergraduates somewhat, with

most schools and departments still insisting on promoting State Examination style

100% exams, where no marks are given for continuous assessment. I would hope to

at least set the wheels in motion to improve undergrad “independent thinking”

through a number of methods.

Library Module

If elected I will work in conjunction with the Head of Information Services to develop

and introduce a 5 credit module for undergrads that focuses on developing research

and self-directed learning skills. This module would operate similarly to the PG6009

Graduate Information Literacy Skills module currently run by the Library for

postgrads. Currently, the library runs a series of poorly advertised workshops

through October for approximately 3 days per Workshop Title. I believe that a 5

credit module tailored for the specific requirements of each college could be run over

a 6 week period in a semester, and assessed in a CA basis where each unit on the

module is examined individually and marks assigned equally per unit.

Marking details

At the moment, schools and courses must deliver their modules according to the

description provided in the respective book of modules. Each module description

outlines how the module is delivered, the content of module, the learning outcomes,

and the number of marks assigned to CA and final exams. I would like to expand on


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the assessment section, and have every student taking a given module provided

with the details of how they are marked. Taking a practical session in a Biochemistry

lab as an example. Each student should know how many marks are assigned for

attendance, pre-practical theory knowledge, and the follow-up report. These details

should be provided at the start of the module.

Industrial collaboration

In order to respond to the requirements of potential employers of UCC graduates, a

greater collaboration should be made to include industrial partners in the delivery of

related courses. This could be done through a series of guest lectures or

presentations from external companies, or workshops on pursuing a career in the

relevant area. I would hope to work with the Careers Service to implement this. A

greater industrial collaboration could also be a potential alternative to traditional final

year projects (FYP). Project titles could be provided by collaborators and may

potentially provide facilities for talented students to carry out the work.

Postgraduate tutoring and demonstrating

Some schools and departments in UCC use postgrad students to deliver tutorials and

demonstrate practical sessions for undergrad students, and this number is set to

increase in line with the Teaching and Learning section of the Strategic Plan 2013-

2017. However a number of these postgrads are expected to do this without being

given any formal training or guidelines. This leads to the postgrads having to deliver

tutorials or practical sessions that may not sufficiently cover course material. If

elected I will work with Ionad Bairre and the Postgrad Officer to ensure that any

postgrad student is given a formal induction into tutorial delivery and demonstration,

and they know what exactly will be required of them.

“Study Buddy” campaign

This is a campaign that I would like to run with help from Peer Support Leaders.

Essentially it would target 1st year students and promote revision of course material

in small groups or with a “study buddy” from the same course. I would hope that

this campaign would promote collaboration, but would also help in the retention of

students who feel that they may be falling behind and are at risk of dropping out. It

would also help students who may not be able to afford private tutorials.

UCC Works

I believe that UCC Works is a fantastic way to allow students to develop general

employability skills that they may not be able to develop in their course and develop

a rounded CV, while gaining recognition through their diploma supplement.

However, it is still a relatively new programme that needs improvement. As

Education Officer, I will work with the programme coordinator to improve the

communication to UCC Works interns on their expected outcomes upon completing

UCC Works, and to ensure that all forms and report templates are available to

interns in all streams of the programme.


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Internationalisation

Internationalisation has been targeted by UCC as a high priority topic in the Strategic

Plan 2013-2017 for a number of reasons. The two chief reasons for a greater focus

on internationalisation are; it was a recommendation of the National Strategy for

Higher Education 2030 (AKA the Hunt Report); and it is an increasing source of

necessary non-exchequer funding. While UCC is eager to bring in more international

students, the supports on place for these students are still lacking.

Many international students who are non-native speakers do not sit any English

language proficiency tests until they arrive in Ireland usually during the week of

orientation. If they fail this test, they are unable to enter UCC and have wasted a

considerable amount of money. Given that the University is now promoting itself in

many non-English speaking countries such as Brazil, it would be beneficial to

students in these countries to ensure that the proficiency test is taken and passed

before they enter Ireland.

Student Experience

Staff-Student Committee reform

One of my primary aims as Education Officer will be to reform the traditional Staff-

Student Committee (SSC). In the words of the former Head of SEFS Prof. Patrick

Fitzpatrick, SSCs in their current form are “archaic” and ineffective in fostering a

positive relationship between staff and students. I will fight to change the traditional

structure of one member of staff meeting with a handful of class reps from the

school/dept. where little to no feedback is received by the class on what changes are

being made. I would like to implement a more open forum, with a clearly defined

role in the school/dept. structure, where the course coordinators and class reps from

each year meet and discuss the issues, and every discussion is formally minuted and

made available to students in the school/dept.

“In my day…”

I would like to introduce a campaign for class reps, where reps from higher years

meet with 1st year reps to discuss the issue that they faced as 1st years, and how the

issues were faced. It is my ambition that this will improve class rep engagement and

help 1st year reps to deal with any recurring issues that exist in the course.

Surveys

The word alone makes many students eyes turn to the heavens. With a call for

greater feedback from students in many areas, such as module surveys, National

student surveys, outstanding teacher/demonstrator surveys, FYP surveys, IBD/IBS

surveys, cervical cancer surveys, etc., you may be forgiven for suffering from survey

fatigue and deleting anything that even resembles a survey in your Umail. As


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Education Officer, I will work with the University and USI to reduce the number of

irrelevant surveys that UCC students are bombarded with throughout the year.

On the topic of surveys and feedback, I will keep constant pressure on the University

to provide timely feedback on module surveys, with a You Said, We Did system of

feedback for students. This information should also be made available to students

who enter the module the following year so that any recurring issues may be

identified and worked on.

SIT support

I will work to ensure that all satellite campuses receive support from student IT

throughout the year through satellite campus workshops delivered by SIT staff. I will

also continue the IT workshops for mature students.

Mature Students

It is common knowledge throughout the University that mature students are in need

for a better common room. I can’t promise this unfortunately, many groups are

fighting for space at the moment, and with the Windle building being renovated for

the Student Hub project, the current location is unlikely to be expanded. However

what I can promise as a Students Union Officer, is that I will fight to ensure that

mature students are given a proper space for a common room in the Student Hub. I

can also promise you that I will fight tooth and nail to protect the Back to Education

Allowance (BTEA) and any all forms of finance available to mature students.

The Union

We are stronger together, there is no doubting this, and as a union we can work to

ensure that third level education in Ireland is of the highest quality and that we are

receiving the highest quality of education for the money we are paying. In order to

do this however, we need a strong network of class reps across all colleges, courses

and years.

Class rep elections

This year saw a greater number of classes represented, due to the hard work of

Peer Support Leaders, Society members, and Union Officers. I would like to continue

this improvement and make sure even more classes are represented. Over the

summer I will assemble a team of students who will be assigned courses and years

other than first years, who will be elected by Peer Support Leaders again. This team

will elect the reps in class, and return the winning reps details to the respective

college reps and myself. A database of class reps will be compiled and a contact

form for class reps will be on CollegeRoad.ie so that any students who are unsure of

who their class rep is, can simply select their year and course and the contact will be

sent to the respective class rep. If no rep is elected, then this will provide an

opportunity for a rep to be elected.


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Class rep training

I firmly believe that this year’s group of class reps have been the most engaged

group of class reps that I have worked with. Without a shadow of a doubt, this was

largely due to the format of this year’s class rep training. Traditionally, training was

held in a local hotel for the day and then everyone was invited for a social at a

venue in town. The reason I believe that this year’s training was so beneficial is that

all reps that attended got to know the SU Executive, and other class reps better as

they didn’t just wander to a different venue or just not attend the social. While there

has been debate over the overnight format and the cost I would like to host an

overnight training for reps. That being said, I promise you two things

1. I will commit to reducing the cost of training as much as possible while still

maintaining the quality.

2. Not a single cent of the budget for training will be spent to provide free drink

to attendees.

Union Memory

There has been a tradition in the Union of outgoing officers not archiving any work

during their tenure, leaving their successor to search for information on case-work,

campaigns, mandates, etc. I will work to ensure that all work done by Union Officers

is documented and archived for future officers to refer to, while still abiding by Data

Protection legislation.

Cork: Student Central

With our nearest neighbour CIT re-affiliating with USI last year, I believe that Cork

can become one of the loudest voices in Ireland for student activism and united

campaigns. We have seen protests held together by UCC and CIT in past years with

some impressive turnouts, but I believe that even further cooperation can benefit

the students of Cork. An example of such cooperation has been the two Fight Nights

organised by each institute. I believe that more events such as this can be a

fantastic opportunity to promote Cork as a centre of student experience.


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Over to you

These proposals are the basis for what I would hope to achieve throughout the year.

I believe that they are ambitious, yet achievable and using this manifesto as my plan

for the year I can bring a real change to UCC while still ensuring that you are getting

the best degree for the money that you are paying. However matters will inevitably

arise throughout the year that will require the attention of the Education Officer, and

I am confident that I am prepared to respond to these issues confidently and

effectively with the best interests of students at heart.

Thank you for your time and should you have any questions please don’t hesitate to

contact me by email on [email protected] or on Facebook at

www.facebook.com/mageeforeducation or follow me on Twitter @Magee4Edcuation

or @Geezah91 and don’t forget to vote David Magee #1 for Education on March 10th

& 11th.

http://www.facebook.com/mageefor

Vote David Magee for Education on March 10th & 11th

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