Your students’ union is here for you – a snapshot of how we have been helping
Since a cyber incident impacted students across our campuses, on Tuesday, February 22 this year, our help remains on-going. We have been here, on-site and online, to listen to students’ concerns and help solve these.
Please contact us in person, by phone, or online if you have continuing issues you need to raise. We are here to listen and make your concerns known to the University. Here we detail how we have been able to do that.
Here are all contact details:
You can speak to your Course Reps
Find out how to contact your School Reps
Get in touch with our Sabbatical Officers
You can contact our advice centre by:
- Filling out the enquiry form here.
- Emailing advice.wolvesunion@wlv.ac.uk
- Calling 01902 322038.
We have continued to monitor the on-going situation as key Uni systems were out of use and major dates rearranged for studies, exams and assignments due. We have collated information from students and have represented their concerns in at first daily, then weekly, meetings with university personnel.
The incident had an immediate impact on students as normality was removed. As your Students’ Union, our priority was to respond as quickly as possible and put in appropriate measures to mitigate that impact in whatever way we could.
Students’ wellbeing was at the forefront of our approach to be there for you as we were concerned by accounts of people feeling isolated, unsure of where to turn, with a potential downturn in emotional health. We immediately put measures in place to counteract this.
Despite the disruption that we have experienced, our advice centre remained open, both in-person at Wolverhampton City Campus, by phone and online.
Throughout the disruption, SU staff continued to work on site, and held several wellbeing and support activities on campus. These included:
- Free drinks and biscuits at our Deli Moon at City Campus.
- Free pool at Walsall and city campuses
- Painting sessions for relaxation and creativity
- Community chefs demonstration for healthy and economical meals – the chefs are returning on Monday, April 15 for sessions at midday and 2.30pm
- Free yoga sessions
These aimed to boost morale and target loneliness among students who found themselves away from family and peers, and to continue to provide a sense of normality in a time of uncertainty.
Our Student Voice team held meetings, including in reaching out to students at their accommodation, focussing on the effects of the cyber incident, twice a week and continues to do so, to collect feedback from students and identify any solutions. Your School Reps were involved in going out and talking to student who were on campus, check-in with them -- both about their course and wellbeing.
Your Sabbatical Officers went out to Telford and Walsall campuses and City accommodation to check-in with students and hand out ‘cost-of-living’ food bags, including a few essentials such as rice, beans and canned tomatoes, as well as recipe cards and information on how to access support, should you need it.
We understood that while most of you were accessing your lectures online, some may still have been on campus. Hence why, we held a mix of online and in-person ‘Let’s Chat’ events, providing students with the opportunity and flexibility to attend. In total, we held six ‘Let’s Chat’ sessions.
We heard from students living in accommodation how difficult they had found the situation, with WiFi also being unavailable on site, leading to many feeling isolated. As a result, the Student Voice team held a drop-in at the accommodation, armed with sweets, post-its for feedback and chat! Based on student feedback, the Student Voice team will now hold drop-in events at the accommodation at least once a month.
The SU has also created an online form for students to submit feedback regarding the incident. Just over 250 students have completed it and provided us with valuable feedback across different areas, which allowed the SU to pick up issues immediately and put them on the University’s radar.
Below are just a few examples of what we achieved with your feedback:
- You… Made clear to us the impact that the lack of access to portals and resources will have on your assessments and grades.
- We… Showed the University that 70% of the respondents ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ that ‘the cyber incident could impact [their] grades’. The SU encouraged the University to make clear that assessments would be rescheduled, and students would be given enough time to prepare adequately.
Your SU President was also involved in planning and editing some of the student comms.
- You… Told us about how new assessment dates could affect your visa.
- We… Set up meeting with the University, where your Sabbatical Officers made clear the tangible effect that this may have on international students. The University is now committed to ensure best efforts are made to schedule resits and other assessments within a timeframe that is not beyond the expiry of a student visa. Where there may continue to be issues, the Sabbatical Officers have worked closely with the Director of Registry Services on a case-by-case basis to support students.
- You… told us they are concerned with attendance monitoring and the impact of this on funding.
- We… ensured that the University clarified the impact this will have on students and made sure that the weeks where students cannot ‘check-in’ would be discarded. We were also able to reassure students that their Student Finance payments, or NHS Learning Support Funds would not be impacted. Where this has been the case, we have been able to work with the affected students, advocating on their behalf, to resolve their issues and concerns.
- You… Were worried about the deadline for module payments.
- We… Made sure that a new MS Forms was created by the University to process the payment, meaning that students do not have to defer or delay their learning. The SU also ensured that the deadline for these payments was extended.
- You… Showed us how this incident impact your wellbeing and morale.
- We… Produced a report on the wellbeing of students during the incident and met with Academic Lead for Mental Health and Wellbeing, to find out more about how students are being supported through the incident, what services are available and how these are shared with students.
Thank you to everyone who emailed in, jumped on a Teams call, filled in a form or came by the office for a chat, without your feedback, the changes introduced and the pace at which they were implemented would not have been possible.
Our top priority is always to keep you in the loop, where possible, with any updates that we have. We sent out emails to our School, Course and Liberation Reps with this, and our Officers held drop-ins and created videos to go on social media. We also got in touch with students on an individual basis to support and signpost them to the appropriate services.
As we continue to monitor the situation, your feedback continues to be invaluable. There are a few ways you can get involved with us:
You can fill in our online form to provide feedback on a range of topics. This is available 24/7 so you can use it whenever works for you.
Speak to your representatives! There are a number of Reps working on your behalf to ensure your voice is heard, the SU supports them in this and getting solutions to any issues.