Maria Andreou Reporting Back Project

University of Sussex
Life Sciences
“Rep-orting Back” Project:
Student Rep Activity and Students’ Satisfaction Survey
Maria Andreou
(Second-year Psychology Student Representative)
Academic year 2014-2015
Context
PART I
 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………3
 Things student reps have been working on by year:

Year 1………………………………………………………………………………..4
Year 2………………………………………………………………………………..4
Year 3…………………………………………………………………………………7
“Rep-orting Back”:
Student Rep Activity and Students’ Satisfaction Survey Page 1
Postgraduate Masters Students …………………………………………………….8
Postgraduate Research Students ... …………………………………………………8
PART II
 Students’ Satisfaction Survey ……………………………………………………..10
 Results: Areas in need of improvement, comparison to the NSS, and Bath Uni…… 10
 Educational needs ballot……………………………………………………………16
 My personal view on the course………………………………………………….16
 Positive things we are all grateful for…………………………………………….18
 Last Comments…………………………………………………………………18
 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….18
Introduction
As Psychology student reps, we have been working very hard this academic year and made
our best to make the most of our role and represent the students of our department as well as
possible. As a result, many of us have been nominated for student rep (and other) awards at
the University of Sussex Student Awards ceremony.
The purpose of this report is to summarise and showcase the Rep activity as well as students’
satisfaction in Psychology department. Any comment (positive or negative) aims to highlight
the issues arisen and improve students’ satisfaction as well as the overall quality of our course
and department.
I really hope that you find this report useful, interesting and easy to read. Any feedback on
this will be more than welcome!
Happy reading!
Things student reps have been working on and issues arisen
Year 1
Katy Francis: ksf21@sussex.ac.uk
Jack Hunt: sh550@sussex.ac.uk
I have repeatedly contacted both student reps asking them for some feedback on their rep
activity but noneof them, unfortunately, have responded.
Year 2
Maria Andreou (author) ma676@sussex.ac.uk
Lenart Celar lc360@sussex.ac.uk
Complaints:
1. The software used in our last coursework FOCUS II should have been more
accessible, not just in 2 small computer rooms, but rather in a 24 hr cluster room and
be accessible to macs.
2. “There is a massive lack of training for the PhD students who teach us. They haven't
been given proper training to teach or mark our coursework and the marks seem very
subjective from one marker to another. They don't often pay the PhD students enough,
if at all. Apparently the University has found a shortcut in the contract to not pay them
if they don't work a certain number of hours and don't pay them for the full time it
takes to mark our papers. Due to these reasons it seems they might not actually put
their full effort into it or be trained to mark our work in the first place. We pay a large
amount of money so they can at least pay and train our teachers enough. Especially
when those in other subject areas have their professors run their seminars and mark
their coursework.”
3. Marking criteria are not consistent between tutors. Different tutors seem to sometimes
give different answers to the same question. Also, while some of them are strict in
their marking, some others seem to be too strict and their marks do not seem to agree
with their feedback.
4. Some students also reported that they were marked down for doing something that
they have been encouraged to do. Feedback sometimes includes suggestions for
improvement than are not in line with the information we are given in face to face
conversations with the marker during office hours. Marking has been characterised as
subjective and not fair by some students.
5. A tutor did not turn up in one of her seminars, without notice. The seminar group
attended another seminar that was held by a different tutor at the same building. After
I communicated with her, it turned out that it was just a simple misunderstanding
between her and the students (about the place of the seminar).
6. I was contacted by a tutor who has received complaints from students for not having
their credits received (after they have participated in her study). Due to the nature of
the system used to arrange credits, the tutor could not identify who has and who has
not received. After I communicated with students, the problem was resolved.
7. We are not allowed to have an assignment re-assessed, while in other

departments/universities students are given the right to do it.
8. We think that the exam sample papers should be put up online before the academic
year starts, so we can organise our notes. More sample papers for each module would
also be very helpful.
9. Students think they don’t get much from the seminars and it has been suggested that
seminars should be limited or be replaced by workshops, in which they will be
working on past papers, quizzes and other revision resources.
10. A student has told me that the school office has lost her assignment. They have then
found it, however, and apologised. Issues like that will be resolved, as the submission
will be online for everyone in the near future.
11. It has been reported that some students access (through SD) assignments and feedback
from last year students and that’s unfair. (I understand that there is not much the
University can do about this. Maybe try changing assignments’ topics from year to
year if possible?)
12. Students asked for a reading week. I was said that this is not possible because of the
nature of the course. However, we will now have a week off after A1, which is great!
13. Study direct lecture slides sometimes lack information in comparison to the lecturers’
PowerPoint slides.
14. Exam Timetable Issues:

-Students requested to have exam dates released earlier. The A.O. is working on this.
-Bigger gap between exam dates (there was a massive disappointment by 2nd years
who had 4 exams within 5 days - in a 12-day exam period, and while students in other
courses only had 2 or less exams, within the same time period. While in some other
courses with less exams the exam. office agreed to make changes, no changes have
been made for us.
15. There is confusion about the password needed to access our study space in Pevensey 1
and students do not know where to get it from when the school office is closed. I
suggest that students have it emailed at the beginning of the year.
16. Many other issues have been reported, which might be less important, but it would be
nice to sort them out. Examples include:
-Request for microwave and more milk supply (resolved).
-Request for more clean lecture theatres, with proper air conditioning and clocks.
- The hand dryer in Pevensey 1 women toilets is not working.
17. Students do not understand why tutors cannot give any mark they want to, but for a
2:1 for example they can only give a 62, 65 or 68.
*I would like to mention that most of the issues listed above have been mentioned in
various meetings. Some of them have been quickly resolved, but for some other issues I
am not clear about their progress. It is important to say that the staff has always been
willing to listen to any complaints and tried to give answers.
Other activities I have been engaged in as part of the Student Rep role:
 Attended school meetings, teaching and learning committee meetings, student

experience forum, etc.
 Worked with the Psychology society and prepare lecture presentations for 1st and 2nd
years.
 Getting involved in the Rep-orting back project.
 Participation in the Academic Advising Task & Finish Group.
 Worked as a NSS promoter and promoted the survey online as well.
 Promoted the Buddy Scheme online.
 Promoted various studies/experiments of tutors or PhD students online.
Year 3:
Vanessa Summers: vs213@sussex.ac.uk
Ollie Heathcock: oh53@sussex.ac.uk
1. Student reps changed the date of the positive psychology exam - It has moved from
May 11th to may 23rd.
2. Fixed the lights in the computer rooms 1A9 (a & b)
3. Highlighted the difficulty of the 2nd year brain and behaviour module, which has now
been changed to suit the level of psychology students and not just neuroscience
students.
4. Microwave in the study space (Pev 1A)
5. Student reps are now more involved with the Sussex Psychology Society Committee
2014-15 and are helping to make it more inclusive and popular
6. They have had complaints that there have been repetitions of coursework essay titles
in exam papers and they are working with lecturers to make them more aware that
students do not agree with this.
7. Asked Tom Ormerod, the Head of School, to introduce himself to all years, which he
did in the first term.
8. Created a student rep forum site on study direct where students can contact student
reps, post any ideas or questions about their student experience, or just have a chat
with fellow students and faculty.
9. They hope to bring the Time to Change campaign to students in the school of
psychology which would help all of us understand mental health stigma in the real
world and how we can combat this.
10. They have been organising a results day celebration (in the form of a BBQ) and have
had some very great suggestions about what students want to see there.
11. They have been working to reach 75% in the NSS so that they can receive the prize of
£1000.
12. They have worked with the student experience committee to make sure that students
are able to have a good relationship with their academic advisors from the start of 1st
year, so that they do not get to 3rd year and feel as though they cannot ask their AA
for help.
13. Lecture presentations for 1st and 2nd years about 2nd and 3rd year in Psychology at
Sussex.
Postgraduate Masters Student Reps:
Ahuti Das- ad466@sussex.ac.uk

Abigail Christine Wright- aw395@sussex.ac.uk
1. There were some issues with the coursework on one of the Ethics modules as students
were not happy as they were only told in the last lecture that their chosen study had to
be 'low-risk'. After a meeting with Mike Morgan he has agreed to include this
information in the module handbook and make it explicit to students at the beginning
of the assignment. Although students were still not happy (and expected marks to be
changed). Robin followed this up further and confirmed that the marks couldn’t
change and gave a detailed answer as to why.
2. There was an issue with the statistics module exam as it was open book but students
were placed in an exam hall with people who had a longer, closed book exam. Many
students were raising issues and concerns e.g. being shouted at for looking at their
notes when it was open book, having calculators swapped but as it was open book this
shouldn't have matter. Student reps talked to Alan Garham about this and he was
really helpful and was happy to take this to a University level e.g. exam committee, so
exams could be in-class assessments which were more appropriate. It seems that this
issue is being resolved. Student reps will need to check out how this is going and
whether any further action is being taken.
3. Students requested for another 'applying for PhD and research careers' talk. This was
quickly organised by Kathy Greenwood and Jamie Ward to take place on 17th April.
4. Ahuti and Abigail are currently organising dissertation hand-in event i.e. gathering
ideas from students.
5. There was a request that the colloquial talks to be recorded of which they were being
recorded, but now they are accessible to students on study direct.
6. Student reps were involved in the study direct thresholds meetings to discuss what
standards there should be for study direct e.g. slides put up 2 days before, layout of
the site, what information should be on there and where. It seems good action is taken
on this and in September these standards will be officially upheld.
7. They have been involved in developing the PG psychology prospectus for next year
8. They will be taking part in some focus groups for the masters course which will
provide feedback to their course director (Kathy Greenwood)
Postgraduate Research Student Reps:
Sarah Fielding Smith: S.Fielding-Smith@sussex.ac.uk

Samuel Berens: S.Berens@sussex.ac.uk
Yasin Koc: Yasin.Koc@sussex.ac.uk
Progress facilitated by PGR reps:

1. Improvements to intermission process for PhD students
2. Improvements to policy around advanced participant payments
3. Changes to proposed office space development and student office allocation.
4. Increased funding for student-lead talks (i.e. DREADed)
5. Availability of free mobile phones for those making frequent work-related calls.
6. Improved kitchen facilities (water boiler, free school milk, etc.)
7. Pressure on SEF to improve standards of cleanliness in School [still a work in
progress!]
8. Another successful end of year party!
The Students Satisfaction Survey:
 The survey has been generated online and has been completed by 100 students across
the department (1st years, 2nd years, 3rd years, Postgraduate Masters, and
Postgraduate Research Students). It consisted of 10 questions which have been taken
from the NSS. The reason that the survey did not include more questions is because I
wanted to make it brief and quick; I do know that students would not spend more than
a couple of minutes to complete it.
 The questions represented the following categories: The teaching on the course (Staff
are good at explaining things), Assessment and Feedback (The criteria used in
marking have been made clear in advance, Assessment arrangements and marking
have been fair, I have received detailed comments on my work), Academic support (I
have received sufficient advice and support with my studies), Organisation &
Management: (The timetable works effectively as far as my activities are concerned),
Learning Resources (The library resources and services are good enough for my
needs), Personal development: (As a result of the course, I feel confident in tackling
unfamiliar problems, Overall satisfaction: Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of
the course.
Results
(Questions are shown at the top of the figures).
 Teaching
As indicated below, almost half of the students are satisfied with the teaching on the course,
48.4% agree that staff are good at explaining things, 24.2% of the students are not sure, and
27.5 % of them disagree with this statement.
 Assessment and Feedback

As can be seen below, 49.5% of students, agree or strongly agree that the markng criteria
have been made clear in advance. While 24.2% of students have given a neutral response to
the statement, 26.4% of them believe that the criteria have not been made clear.
As shown below, the majority of students (58.3%) supports that they have received detailed
comments on their assinments, while 16.5% of them have given a neutral response and one
quarter of them (25.3%) disagrees with this statement.
As illustrated, less than half of the students believe that assessment arragmenets and marking
have been fair (48.4%) . Almost one quarter of students (24.2%) are not sure about it, and
29.5% of them believe that marking and assessment arragements have been ufair.
 Academic Support
Concerning academic support, 61.6% of students are satified with the support and advice that
they have received with their studies, while a minority of them (14.3%) neither agree or
disagree with the statement and one fifth of them (24.2%) do not feel that they have received
sufficient support.
 Organisation & Management
As shown below, the vast majority of students (73.3%) believes that timetable works
effectively as far as their activities are concerned, while 16.6% of them are not sure
about it, and a minority of 10.1% disagrees with the statement.
As demonstarted in the figure, most students support that the course is well organised and
running smoothly (78.9%), while one tenth of them have given a neutral response, the other
tenth of them, disagrees with this statement.
 Learning Resources
It was found that the vast majority of students (85.4%) believe that the library resources and
services are good enough for their needs, while a minority of 7.9% neither agree or
disagree with this, and only one student (1.1%) argues that resources and services are not
good enough.
 Personal development
It was found that most students have gainED personal development and confidence in
tackling unfamiliar problems (56.7%), while 27.8% of them are not confident about this, and
15.6% believe that they have not gained personal development as a result of the course.
Overall satisfaction
It was found that 78.9% of students are satisfied with the quality of their course, while only
of 7.8% are not sure about it and a small minority of 13.4% are not satisfied.
Results: Areas in need of improvement, comparison to the NSS and the University of
Baths
Taking everything into consideration, the students’ satisfaction survey has revealed that the
areas that are in need of improvement are: Academic support and Assessment and feedback.
Academic support: Only 61.6% of students believe that they have received efficient academic
support with their studies, following a decrease of 14.4% in comparison to last years’ NSS
results (76%). The problem becames more obvious when we compare this number to the
University of Bath, which according to the complete university guide is ranking second in
overall satisfaction among the UK universities, with overall satisfaction of 99.4% (Sussex is
25th). Ninty- three percent of Bath students agreed that they have received sufficient advice
and support with their studies.
Assessment and feedback: While 58.3% of students support that they have received detailed
comments on their assinments, (following a decrease of 5%), (the equivalent number for Bath
is 91%). Only 49.5% of them agree that the markng criteria have been made clear in
advance (following a decrease of 20.5%) (Bath 85%) and even less than half of the students
believe that assessment arragmenets and marking have been fair 48.4%. (following a
decrease almost 20%) (Bath 87%). As demonstarted by the NSS results of the last 3 years,
students satisfaction in this domain, seems to seems to have been incrementally decreasing
(2012: 81%, 2013: 70% 2014:67%). As shown, students satisfaction in this area has been
dramatically decreased within the last 3 years falling from 81% to 48.4%!
*Educational needs ballot
The results of the ballot carried out last year to investigate whether extra tuition
classes before exams or study packs for all core modules would be beneficial to the majority
of students revealed that 72% of Sussex students would highly benefit from extra tuition,
while 28% of them would benefit from study packs.
My personal opinion on the course
Overall, even though I have been through countless problems and had to deal with many
exams and difficult assignments, I am very satisfied with the course and I do believe that
Sussex is an amazing place to study psychology. The course has helped me to improve my
communication skills and acquire many other essential skills and qualifications. Additionally,
I have become more confident in dealing with unfamiliar problems. I believe that the course
is well organised and is running smoothly, also, study timetable works effectively as far as
my activities are concerned, but our exam timetable has been absolutely ineffective and no
change has been made when we asked for it. I believe that the library resources and services
are good enough the needs of our assignments. I have been able to access general IT
resources when I needed to and I have been able to access specialised equipment, facilities, or
rooms when I needed to. I really am glad to have choosen Sussex, and I would recommend it
to everyone!
 Academic Support
Concerning academic support, I would say that I have received sufficient advice and support
with my studies and that I have been able to contact staff when I needed to, but some light
should be shed on the role of academic advisor and I think advisors should have a more
active role on students’ academic success. I have contacted 15 people that I knew they would
have something to say about academic advising and it seems that the majority of them has
never met up with their advisor so far, while most of them are not clear what their advisor
could help them with. To overcome this, it is suggested to increase the familiarity of students
with the availability of academic advisors, to discuss work with students and to create a non-
pressurised way of engaging with these. It is also suggested that meetings with the AA are
οbligatory and listed on their timetable.
I am aware that the university has been working on this through the “Academic Advising”
task and finish group, so hopefully the academic advising scheme will improve soon and
students’ satisfaction on this area will be much higher next year!
 Assessment and Feedback
Concerning Assessment and Feedback, I personally believe that this is an area that needs to
be reviewed. It is true that we have been receiving detailed comments on our assignments
and that feedback has helped us to clarify things we did not understand. However, it takes
three weeks for an assignment to be marked and as a result we end up handing in the next
assignment before we receive the feedback for our previous one. This in turn results in
missing the opportunity to improve our skills and marks, as we cannot directly benefit from
the feedback. Additionally, I would say that the criteria used in marking have not been made
quite clear in advance. That is to say, even though there is of course a general marking
guideline for essays and lab reports, the level and nature of each assignment vary, and I think
that it would be helpful to be given specific marking criteria for each assignment separately.
Also, assessment arrangements and marking have been fair, but only in the sense that there
has not been any discrimination – it seems that many times marking has been subjective, in
the sense that there is often discrepancy between tutors’ marking that probably deprives from
the fact that a general marking guideline does not cover everything, and tutors mark in a non-
consistent way. This sometimes results in unfairly low marks. As can be seen in the results
section, it seems that the survey results support my opinion and most students would agree
with me.
Even though the areas of assessment and feedback and academic support seem to be in
need of improvement, there is a plethora of positive things we are all grateful for:
 Friendly, passionate, enthusiastic, and approachable staff that tries to make the subject
interesting and enjoyable.
 Detailed feedback on our work.
 The various ways to get help (forum, office hours, etc.)
 The fact that we have been treated with equality.
 The opportunities we have been given to take part in important decisions, by

participating in projects, groups and forums.
 I am well aware that every information we need is somewhere on SD, but most of the
times it is hard to find it, so I often contact the psychology office. They have always
been very helpful!
 And of course, we are all grateful for our beautiful, full-of-facilities campus!
Last Comments
 Equality Culture and Gender Equality Survey:

The school of Psychology has carried out a survey concerning culture and gender
equality. You can contact them or me, if you wish to view the results.
 I found surprising the fact that it was so difficult to get people to complete my survey,
even though I highlighted and repeatedly mentioned that it was very important for our
course.
Conclusion
This report summarised and presented the things student reps have been working on
throughout the year, the issues students have reported and highlighted the areas that are in
need of improvement.
I really hope that you have found this report useful and informative, and that action will be
taken to improve student’s satisfaction.
Please do not hesitate to contact me in case you need any further information. I would be
more than happy to help! (email: ma676@sussex.ac.uk).
Any positive or negative feedback or comments on this report would be more than welcome!
Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to carry out this survey and write
up this report. Also, thank you for taking time to look through it.

Maria Andreou Reporting Back Project

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University of Sussex

“Rep-orting Back” Project:

Student Rep Activity and Students’ Satisfaction Survey

 Things student reps have been working on by year:

 Educational needs ballot……………………………………………………………16

 My personal view on the course………………………………………………….16

 Positive things we are all grateful for…………………………………………….18

7. We are not allowed to have an assignment re-assessed, while in other

14. Exam Timetable Issues:

 Attended school meetings, teaching and learning committee meetings, student

 Getting involved in the Rep-orting back project.

 Participation in the Academic Advising Task & Finish Group.

 Worked as a NSS promoter and promoted the survey online as well.

 Promoted the Buddy Scheme online.

 Promoted various studies/experiments of tutors or PhD students online.

2. Fixed the lights in the computer rooms 1A9 (a & b)

4. Microwave in the study space (Pev 1A)

Postgraduate Masters Student Reps:

Ahuti Das- ad466@sussex.ac.uk

Sarah Fielding Smith: S.Fielding-Smith@sussex.ac.uk

Progress facilitated by PGR reps:

The Students Satisfaction Survey:

 Assessment and Feedback

My personal opinion on the course

 Detailed feedback on our work.

 The various ways to get help (forum, office hours, etc.)

 The fact that we have been treated with equality.

 The opportunities we have been given to take part in important decisions, by

 Equality Culture and Gender Equality Survey:

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