College Announces Residential Experience Review

College has set up a consultation process to review the “residential experience” at Imperial. The review process will be conducted by a panel chaired by Professor Myra McClure, College Consul from the Faculty of Medicine (non-clinical) and includes the Union’s President and Deputy President (Welfare), David Goldsmith and Marissa Lewis. The panel also includes Ian Spencer, Director of Residential Services at LSE, who has extensive knowledge about university accommodation best practices after a similar review carried out at LSE in the last year.

The purpose of the review will be to shape the residential experience for students in College accommodation and will set out a plan of action for the recommended changes. This report will be submitted to the Vice Provost for Education Debra Humphris’ Advisory Group who will bring the recommendations to the Provost’s Board.

According to the Terms of Reference, while reviewing the residential experience the panel will: consider evidence and make recommendations on areas where current practices can be enhanced, make recommendations about the role of residential staffing in accommodation, review various parts of the administration of the residential experience, ensuring accountability for service delivery, and review the communication of the residential experience to current and prospective students.

The panel will cover a wide range of issues, including the operational activities supporting the residential experience, residential staff accommodation, residential resources, College’s responsibilities to students in terms of the accommodation licence and a service level agreement.

The review will be presented to the Provost’s board on the 28th of March, in time to be implemented for next year’s academic cycle (if approved). This however means that there is a limited time for some stakeholders (especially students) to provide feedback before the panel reviews the evidence. Student feedback will be collected by the Union by the 6th of February, who will report their findings to the panel on the second day of evidence. Some students have welcomed the review, however several have been concerned about the relatively short duration of the review and would welcome a longer future consultation period which would be able to cover a wider range of issues.

If you would like to submit feedback to the panel, fill out the Union’s online form by Feb 6th:

http://tinyurl.com/icRER