STUDENT COMMUNITY FEBRUARY 2024 END OF SEMESTER ROUNDUP
The start of teaching brings us officially to the end of the first semester, so here’s a roundup of some of the fantastic things our students and academic colleagues have been getting up to within their subjects, the School and across the Faculty.
Welcome Week
We welcomed over 3000 new students to the Faculty in September, with a varied programme of information based and social sessions. There were a fantastic mix of social activities hosted within Programmes and at School level to help students make connections and explore their new subjects, including quizzes, buffets, video competitions, arcade games social and sandcastle building!
Last term, our Foundation Year students have taken part in laser tag and crazy golf, American Studies students enjoyed a meal at Pub on the Pond, Media organised a pizza social to bring together the January and September-entry cohorts.
MLTI enjoyed a Christmas Social including a quiz and signs from around the world, and History Heritage and Classics ran a range of activities including a “Mystery Event”. Foundation Year continue their weekly “Study Break”, and MLTI have launched their weekly “Homework Hub” where students can study together, ask questions and explore what they’ve learned in class.
We offered our students the chance to explore outside their subject area with an object handling session delivered by Meg from the Egypt Centre. Taking a spooky theme for Halloween, we discovered a scarab, a mummy tag, a "slender man" looking wooden statue to come alive as your future servant, and heard the crazy backstory of the mummified arm discovered in a student bedroom! Our School Pub Quiz continues to be a regular, popular event in the school calendar.
SPOTLIGHT ON..... SOCIETIES
Our student societies have been active and engaged this term. They each receive a budget from the Faculty, and have come up with some creative ideas to spend this. Applied Linguistics are funding software to host their society-run journal, History Society held a talk, and a trip to Bath, German Society have been to the Women’s UEFA Germany v Wales match, and the Media Society held a pizza and study social.
This year we welcomed Chedza Simon as our new Student Engagement Partner. We have an enthusiastic team of subject reps, and they have already been generating positive change to student experience.
We worked with the Students’ Union to have subject reps in Y2 and Y3 elected during the summer term so that they could hit the ground running in September.
Many Reps were active in supporting subject and School events in Welcome Week, as well as providing valuable input at Boards of Studies. Based on Rep feedback at the first Student-Staff Forum, we’ve improved our communications about the revised EC policy and system - particularly for students with disabilities.
Our PGT Rep, Rhianedd, organised a Study Skills and Social Session for PGT students in SoCC and SoSS, which built community among the PGT cohort, and generated some brilliant study tips for assignment writing that were shared to students across the two Schools.
Across the Faculty, we have hosted a programme of activities that support student wellbeing. Creative activities such as mug painting have been particularly popular with over 100 attendees, as well as four Makers Markets comprised of a majority of student and staff stalls. We’ve engaged with other teams across the university to run joint events, including crafts with Discovery, and study skills sessions with the Centre for Academic Success.
At “Welcome to Wales” on Bay Campus, students were treated to an afternoon of Welsh music, storytelling, food and traditional Welsh crafts. All these events provide an opportunity for students to meet new people, take time out from their studies, and try something different. Our Faculty Festive Fiesta was a Christmas spectacular, with carnival stalls, buffet, music, snow and a visit from Santa Claus himself!
Chedza Simon and the SIO team organised “breaking the stigma”, an event to explore some areas that impact on student life, such as mental health, increasing student understanding of different conditions, their impacts and the support available.
The Student Information Team kicked off the term with “Making the Most of Your Year”, an event for students who were repeating the year or repeating failed modules. The session delivered advice and information around study skills, wellbeing, and personal development through employability and volunteering.
To tackle period poverty, free period products are available from our Student Information Offices in the Digital Technium and School of Management Reception. Anyone who feels uncomfortable asking explicitly can ask for a bag for “Penny” and a discreet bag of products will be provided.
Looking ahead to Semester 2: There’s plenty to look forward to, with a busy Semester ahead. During the term, we’ll continue to run student engagement events. Mark the dates in your diaries, and keep an eye out for announcements on the School Canvas Hub.
Games & Bingo! 1st February, 5.30pm SoM Room 011
Jewellery Making 8th February, 2pm Studio, Taliesin Create
Get Creative! 14th February, 1pm SoM Room 011
Lunar New Year 15th February Taliesin Create
St. David’s Day 29th February SoM Atrium
Scrapbook Making 22nd February, 11am Mall Room, Taliesin Create
Mug Painting 5th March, 2pm Mall Room, Taliesin Create
Soup Social 6th March, 1pm SoM Atrium
JOIN US FOR OUR: ‘MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE EVENT! Hosted by your Student Information, Support and Experience Team
FREE PIZZA
This session will provide information on services, resources and activities at the University that will help you to make the most of this academic year, and the remainder of your studies. This is chance for you to identify any areas of your studies, university life, employability or student community where you might want more support or information. It’s never too late to start making the most of your year, so pop along, enjoy a slice or two of free pizza, and find out more!
Singleton: Tuesday 6th February, 1pm Union House, room 301
Bay: Thursday 8th February, 12.30pm School of Management, room 239
If you have any questions about the event, please contact community-humanitiesandsocialsciences@swansea.ac.uk
12TH MARCH
KEEP IN TOUCH!
Your Reps will next be meeting during this term at the next Student-Staff Forum. If you’ve got any feedback or suggestions to improve your student experience, remember to get in touch with your Rep. You can find a list of Reps here. If you can’t see a Rep for your subject it means the position is vacant – perhaps consider becoming a Rep yourself?
If you’d like to nominate yourself as a Rep, or would like to pass on feedback where there isn’t a course Rep in place, contact community-cultureandcom@swansea.ac.uk.
Follow your School on Instagram @socc_community
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