Hi All,

Hope you are keeping safe and well.

Over the last few weeks we have been working hard, as mandated by Union Council, to support you in the fight for tuition fee refunds and compensation. We are currently working on some SU content to help you make sense of how to seek support at the University and what we mean by ‘quality’ in teaching and learning so you can divert your issues to the correct place. One of the things we did about a month ago was reach out to the University and ask for their response to our letter on tuition fees and the learning experience of students at this time. You can read their response here. I apologise for the delay in publishing their response. We wanted to try and address some of their points in the letter with them and as a result of our discussions, many universities including UEA have come together to raise their concerns with government and ask for interest rate reductions. You can read the press release here. Whilst there is still lots to learn about this approach and seek your views on if this is a useful suggestion that will be positively felt by many, we think that sticking the head above the parapet is a step in the right direction and that our continued conversations with UEA about your concerns are effective.

We have also addressed international student experience through writing to the VC on this issue and Ayane has been working hard to make the voices of international students heard. Some of this letter will ring true with actions we have taken several weeks ago and for that we apologise for the delay in getting this out to you. We have so much we need to tell you and our teams are working as quick as possible to give you quality communications that are transparent and beneficial to you all.

There is still work to do around making sure the University continues to monitor the standards of learning and teaching during this time. I want to thank every single course rep, convenor and student that has come forward to help represent their peers on issues affecting them. Without these amazing leaders, with positions that are incredibly more demanding this year, we could not gain the insights we do without you. As many of you have had January assessment, there are bound to be worries about how these went and how the quality of your learning played a part in this. We want to hear and support you. I was lucky enough to be involved in watching some presentations by students the other day and I was so proud of them in the way showed resilience and tenacity in learning online and dealing with all the difficulties that come with this. Now more than ever, we need to support one another and I hope that we are demonstrating to you how we are taking your concerns seriously and raising them regularly. We are beginning to see how your voice can help push outcomes both locally and nationally. This is a complex and difficult topic and we want to continue to work with you.

Any questions, please do let me know.

All the best,

Cal X

Callum.Perry@uea.ac.uk