Friday 22-01-2021 - 11:34

Using all your feedback over the last 10 months, we've set out our four priorities to challenge the increased need for student support at Manchester Met.

Our four priorities are defined by:

+ Students have a right to a reduction in fees

+ Students have a right to some form of rent rebate

+ Students have a right to quality online learning

+ Students have a right to increased access to mental health support

Over the coming weeks and months, these will be our priorities as your SU. We've outlined our aims, where we're up to so far and our next steps in each of these campaigns below.

Last updated: Friday 12 February 2021

 

Tuition fees

What’s it about:

Students have a right to a reduction in fees to reflect their lack of student experience during the pandemic.

Our aim:

We need the government to do their part and provide support for all students. We aim to put pressure on them by submitting our Union response to the Parliamentary group looking at this issue.

What’s happened so far?

The officer team submitted this response on Monday 18 January to the APPG (All Party Parliamentary group) explaining how Manchester Met students have been affected by the pandemic. We’ve been encouraging our students to submit their own case studies to the APPG survey to explain how your teaching has been affected, how any compensation should be funded, your thoughts on accommodation issues and more⁣.

Submissions to the APPG survey are now closed and we'll share any updates from this as soon as we find out more.

Next steps:

This is now a national campaign with NUS and we’re in full support of it. We’re continuing to support the Students Deserve Better campaign and you can too by signing the petition.

 

Rent rebates

What’s it about:

Students have a right to gain support from organisations who benefit from long term rental agreements with University, in the form of rental rebates during the pandemic.

Our aim:

We want leaders of large housing organisations to consider the consequences of not supporting student tenants now. To get there we expect the University to commit to not working with halls providers who don’t show support during the pandemic by removing them from the recommended list of accommodation.

What’s happened so far?

University - The University has offered rent rebates to students in university-owned accommodation and we’re putting pressure on private landlords in a joint letter with the University, to ask them to consider offering students the same rebates.

Unite – Their original statement is a good start but more needs to be done. Your Officer team have co-written and signed a letter to Unite with 11 other Union Officer teams (so far) where we ask for a 100% rebate for those who can’t return from the 5 January until the end of lockdown, with no penalty for early contract releases for students who don’t want to return to their accommodation at all.

IQ - iQ have published an update on their rental offer, for a period of 6 weeks starting from the 5th of January 2021, for students who pay directly to iQ and who have been unable to return to their room.

Other Private Halls and Private Landlords - We’ve created a letter template to support Manchester Met students who are currently in private accommodation, asking private landlords to consider being lenient with their student tenants.

We encourage all Manchester Met students in privately owned accommodation to download the editable document, add your own experiences and send this direct to your landlord.

Next steps:

We'll be putting more questions to our local MPs at the next Town Hall meeting. More details coming soon. 

 

Online learning

What’s it about:

Students have a right to quality online learning that equals the quality of face-to-face teaching during the pandemic.

Our aim:

We want to understand the current quality of online provision being delivered, and ensure provision is excellent across all subject areas. Our aim is to make sure no student is worse off as a result of limitations of teaching delivery and assessments during the pandemic.

What’s happened so far?

The No Detriment policy currently in place applies to Level 3, 4, 5 and 6. For Level 3, 4 and 5, the policy reintroduces a level average instead of unit average which means students need to get 40% overall to pass, instead of 40% in each unit. This is capped at 30 credits. For example this means a student can't get 30% in two different 30 credit units and then 90% the other 60 credits and pass. It’ll usually apply to one 30 credit unit or two 15 credit units.

Details on the No Detriment policy for Level 6 can be found on the University's website. 

The details of the No Detriment policy have now been confirmed for Level 7 students. Here's all the details you need. 

Next steps: 

So we can build a charter to take to the Academic Board and set out what good online teaching should look like, we’ll be asking Manchester Met students across all faculties for their opinions and experiences of their online teaching so far.

If one of your teachers has gone out of their way to make your online learning experience great, we want to hear from you. By filling in this short form, you can nominate your teacher for a Teaching Award and acknowledge their hard work. 

 

Mental health and wellbeing support

What’s it about:

Students have a right to increased access to mental health and wellbeing support at University during the pandemic.

Our aim:

Gain a greater understanding of the specific mental health experiences of students at Manchester Met via a survey we’ll be undertaking.

What’s happened so far?

The Union has been in a continuous conversation with Student Services. The University has introduced the 24/7 TogetherAll app which offers students free support from trained clinicians all day, every day.

We've also supported the Being Well, Doing Well survey to look into the mental health of our students. We're now analysing the 1,700 responses and will update you soon on our next steps.  

Next steps: 

Following our research into the mental health experiences of our students, we’ll work with the University to provide more resources in the areas we identify.

If you've got a teacher who has supported your mental health and wellbeing over the last year, we want to hear from you. By filling in this short form, you can nominate them for a Teaching Award — it's a great way to say thanks and show your appreciation for their support. 

Follow us on Instagram for regular updates on the progress we make together on these priorities.