As you know, Paul Frazer has moved roles and is no longer the Student Voice Coordinator for Academic Representation. In the interim, Charlotte Doak (Student Voice Coordinator for Engagement) will be helping produce the newsletter.

In this newsletter you will find: Information on the Leadership Elections, Networks, and an update on SEAtS.

SEAtS: Thanks to your feedback, change is coming to SEAtS! I have had productive meeting with Student Operations and the Timetabling Team who have assured me that they understand your frustrations. I have received verbal confirmation from Helen Elliot that international student visas are safe. Students will never be penalised for a flawed system. With that said, Student Operations will be introducing Publish Ambassadors in Semester 2 to help students gain confidence in using SEAtS and Publish. For a more detailed update, please read below.

Disability History Month: Thank you to all students we got involved with Disability History Month, we had great online engagement! There are plans for future awareness weeks, but if you have any suggestions for more inclusive events, please get in touch and let us know what you would like to see in the future.

Education Campaign: Planning for my Education campaign is well underway! I'll need your help to make it work. I need you to give me honest feedback on areas of your education that could be improved! SEAtS, RARs, Timetabling, and Communication will be covered in the survey. AI will be covered separately. Please get in touch if you have more ideas!

Mental Health Campaign: Keep an eye out for the launch of the UBelong bursary! We will be offering £500 to groups of students to run their own mental health events. I'm also planning the Stress Less campaign for April. Please get in touch with any ideas you have - no one knows better about exam stress than students!

• Magee MU Building Tuesday 27th January
• Coleraine Diamond, Wednesday 28th January
• Belfast BC Foyer Thursday 29th January

for more information on events, activities, and most importantly, where to find the free pizza (!!) 🍕🍕🍕 follow us on Instagram @uusu_online

Leadership Elections open soon, with opportunities for students to step into both

• Full-time Paid Officer Roles
• Part-time School, Faculty and Sport Rep roles
  (which come with a bursary)

These roles give students a real voice in shaping the academic experience, wellbeing support, sport and student life and play a vital role in representing students’ interests to the University. Getting involved builds valuable skills in leadership, advocacy, communication and decision-making, alongside practical experience you can take into future careers. Even if standing isn’t for you, encouraging a friend or classmate to nominate helps ensure student leadership reflects the diversity of our community.

A direct update from Helen Elliott,
Director of Student and Academic Operations.
The most important message is that students will never be penalised for any inaccuracies recorded in SEAtS. Our UKVI Attendance and Engagement Team will always give students the opportunity to highlight any errors in SEAtS or within their timetable. Likewise, circumstances outside a student’s control, such as strike action, will have no impact on their attendance record or their sponsorship at the University.

If SEAtS is not working for a student, we would ask that they raise this either in writing (via email to the Student Visa Support team at ukviattendance@ulster.ac.uk) or by informing their lecturer or the Attendance team. Any of these routes is perfectly acceptable, but we will need some form of evidence that they attended or there has been a specific issue with SEAtS. Are part of our changes / enhancements that I have mentioned above, we do plan to start using automated forms / issues logs – which should be easier for students to complete and cut down on email traffic, but it will also help us track / resolve issues more effectively (and quicker!).

Where our team has noted that a student has not attended, we will contact them by email and ask them to provide any evidence via a linked form. Once their information is submitted, it will be carefully reviewed to ensure no student is unfairly disadvantaged. We will then email them with the outcome - but if the issue is found to be SEAtS-related, the absence will be recorded as authorised.

As a gentle reminder to our sponsored students, absences fall into three categories:

• Excused – An acceptable reason for absence.
• Authorised – Approved in advance by reporting it to the Course Director or Supervisor (for specific reasons).
• Unauthorised– An unacceptable reason for absence or no explanation provided.

If any sponsored student is having challenges that are affecting their attendance, we’re always here to help them get re-engaged with their course. We’ll reach out to students we think may not be attending to offer support. Withdrawing a student for non-attendance is never something we want to do, and it’s definitely not a decision we take lightly. Students will always be given plenty of opportunity to explain any absences or highlight issues with SEAtS. They’re also welcome to meet with the team in person or on Teams if that’s easier.

I’ve added some links below with support for SEAtS and information on sponsored students’ responsibilities. Attendance Visas

Have you joined your course society?
Meeting with other students on your course outside of the classroom is a great way to socialise, share study resources and network with others in your field.
Find your course society here

If it’s not currently up and running, consider taking on a society rep role
by completing our start up form:

Women’s Empowerment Network (WEN) is a community for our students who have a passion for gender equality, addressing misogyny and lobbying for issues raised by the membership. Through this network, membership can raise awareness of societal or localised issues, promote organisations working in this area and lobby for positive change.

DEN stands for ‘Disability Empowerment Network,’ it is one of our networks that specifically aims to provide students with additional needs with support and guidance.