Beth Button, Education and University Affairs Officer

E-mail: EducationOfficer@cardiff.ac.uk
Phone: 029 2078 1428
Twitter: @EducationCSU

Beth’s role as Education Officer is to represent the 28,000-strong student body at Cardiff University on educational issues. Beth will lobby the University on issues raised by students, as well as sitting on various committees and councils representing high-level decisions. She aims to use her role to champion, develop and campaign to improve the system of Student Academic Representatives; enhance opportunities for students to have their voice heard within the University, and work to improve staff-student relationships.

Introducing Beth

I have just graduated from the School of Social Sciences with a degree in Education and Sociology. Not only was my degree really enjoyable, but it gave me a basic understanding of Higher Education policy, which will prove extremely valuable for this role. During my time in Cardiff I was a course rep, chair of my school’s Staff-Student Panel (SSP), and also involved in Student and Academic Council — experiences which gave me a comprehensive understanding of the types of issues faced by students within the University, and, I believe, also provided me with great preparation for this role.

Beth’s Objectives

Over the next year, one of my main priorities is to develop the Student Academic Representative (SAR) system — both in terms of promoting opportunities for students to get involved as representatives, and improving their subsequent training, but also promotion of the system itself in order to increase its use by students and ensure that it is effective in resolving student issues and increasing student satisfaction. I will be developing an online network to enable Student Academic Reps to share their ideas. I’ll be working with the Student Co-ordinator, Bethan Foweraker, in order to make this a reality, and would like to encourage students to ‘like’ the Student Academic Reps page on Facebook (Cardiff Student Voice)and follow us on Twitter (@CSUStudentVoice) in order to keep up to date with developments.

I also plan to work with the University to continue to develop the current assessment policy through the effective implementation of the Assessment Matters policy across all schools, so as to ensure that the feedback you receive is consistent across all schools and is relevant and coherent. I will continue to work with the University to increase library opening hours, specifically during non- term-time. Finally, I will be lobbying the University to provide all Personal Tutors with pastoral training, so as to ensure that they are effective in offering the necessary support to students.