Student Quality Reviewers wanted: receive £150 stipend

Student Quality Reviewers work with UCL to take an in-depth look at different areas of academic practice, and help to improve them by providing detailed feedback and analysis from a student perspective.

Applications for this role are open until July 3.

What would I do?

As a Student Quality Reviewer, you'll have a chance to look 'behind the scenes' at how different parts of UCL run, develop a new expertise and transferable skills, and work closely with senior UCL staff.

If you meet all the role requirements, you willl receive a stipend of £150.

Student Quality Reviewers will have the opportunity to take part in four different areas of review, depending on your flexibility and what you are most interested in.

Whatever you choose, we will train and support you to make sure you have the expertise to get stuck in.

You can take a closer look at:

• an academic department by acting as a Student Reviewer for an Internal Quality Review; a two-day panel review of a department. Each department undergoes one every five years.
• teaching by acting as a Student Reviewer of Teaching Practice, working with teaching staff to discuss and reflect on their teaching practice.
• new programmes at UCL by acting as a Student Reviewer for the Programme and Module Approval Panel, which scrutinises new programmes before they're launched.
• how students and staff work together to plan change, by being a Student Reviewer during the Annual Student Experience Review, and supporting students and staff as they develop a departmental action plan.

What kind of time commitment is involved?

The different areas you can get involved in as a Student Quality Reviewer have differing time commitments. Initially, you will need to complete several hours training to take up the role. The different areas should each involve around 10-20 hours of work overall. In some areas this is spread out over time, and in other areas this may involve fewer, lengthier sessions. There should be a Student Quality Reviewer role to suit everyone's timetable.

Application deadline

Yes! Applications for the role are open until midnight on Monday 3 July. To apply, please complete the online form.

Activities you could be involved in:

• IQR Reviewers: IQR stands for Internal Quality Review, a UCL process in which a panel of senior members of UCL staff and academic specialists review academic departments every 5 years. The panel will examine practice within the department and issue recommendations about how the department could better meet UCL's policies and procedures and grow areas of excellence. The review takes around a day and a half, and there will be a half-day meeting of panel before this to agree lines of questioning based on the documents the department will provide you with. 

• Student Reviewers of Teaching Practice: Students Reviewers of teaching practice have discussions with staff about their teaching, based on a minimum of 3 hour's worth of teaching observations and review of an assignment brief and a Moodle course. These discussions provide a chance for reflection and review about the staff member's teaching practice and the learning experience of students on the course. Staff benefit from having the perspective of a student, which particularly provides insights into how engaging their teaching is. Students have enjoyed focusing on the process of learning and also valued the opportunity of meeting staff who are genuinely motivated to improving the experience of students. Activities are agreed between the student-staff pairing and spread out across one term. There is an initial briefing session and full support from the UCL ChangeMakers team throughout. 
• New Programme and Module ReviewersThis role will mean acting as a member of PMAP (Programme and Module Approval Panel) meetings, taking an in-depth look at new proposals and looking at whether they are ready to go, or whether more work is required. These meetings last for around two hours, and you'll need to attend 2-3 meetings during the year, working with other students to make sure you swap thoughts on the paperwork and that one of you can be available to take part in the panel and feed back. You'll also be able to access support from the Students' Union to help interpret and understand the paperwork you'll receive throughout the year should you need it.
• About ASER Facilitators: UCL is committed to enhancing the student experience through the Annual Student Experience Review (ASER) process. As part of this process, ASER Facilitators from another department work with Student Academic Representatives (StARs) and departmental staff to create a departmental action plan. ASER Facilitators play a key role in collecting data from students about the changes they would like to see occur. This data then opens up a dialogue with the department and a discussion is facilitated between students and staff to help shape the action plan. ASER Facilitators also help to ensure the plan is easy to implement.

Dr Jenny Marie, UCL Arena Centre for Research-Based Education