Thursday 15 February 2007

The Saga continues...

Following on from the previous postings the Steering Committee has met, and worked very hard during their first meeting stretched out over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of last week. The outcome, the preliminary order paper for Conference, will be published tomorrow and despatched to all branches, regional forums and other units as CD5/6.

That's the fact! The interesting bit, though, is that every unit may now submit amendments to any motion in the paper. It is essential that any unit wanting to make amendments reads, and understands, the rules which are given in full within the document.

So that is the next step; but there's more that can be done right now! Are your branch delegates prepared for the Conference? Now's the time for a bit of training, which your Regional Forum is probably providing in the next month. Why not ask them?

The timetable for the rest of the run-up to Conference is:

16 February Preliminary Order Paper (CD5/6) mailed with OFF 6-7 (these are the forms for submitting amendments). All units will receive these papers, but they are also downloadable.
16 February Ballot papers for the Executive Committee Members for the Regions and for Student Academic Links are mailed out.
23 February Deadline for receiving nominations for OUSA Officers and the Societies Representative to the Executive Committee.
9 March Deadline for provisional registration of delegates to Conference(Please note this one especially!)
9 March Deadline for the submission of amendments to motions
9/11 March Steering Committee meets for the second time. Final Order Paper produced.
16 March Provisional attenders list completed.
23 March Final Mailing for Conference.
13/15 April OUSA Annual Conference and AGM, Warwick University

There's still time for members to become delegates to Conference, speak with your branch officers, if they have not already been elected.

Regards
John

Vice President Constitutions
Open University Students Association
www.ousa.org.uk

Thursday 8 February 2007

Students who are also employers - an advisory panel

In a university the size and make-up of the Open University there just has to be a large number of students who also just happen to be employers.

Recently OUSA was invited to get a group of employer students to join an advisory panel to support a new group of the University. The University group is called the 'Work related employers engagement group' or WREEG; it is intended to be a hub for all vocational and continuing professional development (CPD) activity carried out within the whole University. This area of work has huge potential for our university to take a lead in the further development of vocational qualifications ans CPD, however, it is employers that need to signpost and lead developments, because employers are the very people who will be most affected by these developments.

Do you run a business or enterprise that employs anyone?
Do you undertake CPD yourself? Are the National Vocational Qualifications (Scottish VQs in Scotland) aimed at your sector of industry relevant, useful or pertinent to you or your business? Do you know where to find training for you or your staff?
Is your industry fast paced and in need of a fast changing training or education system to cope with it?
These and many other similar questions need to be addressed, and will be addressed by WREEG in the coming months and years. The group could only ever be successful if it is actually answering the questions that employers are asking - which is the reason for forming this group.

This advisory panel will be the employer, non-academic, input to this group; a resource to the university; a direct influence on the direction that future vocational training and CPD takes.
It will be a virtual group, with participants offering ideas, suggestions, criticisms and hopefully asking the very questions that WREEG needs to answer.

If you are a student and an employer, and you have an interest in vocational training and assessment or CPD, then the Student employers advisory panel is your chance to have your say. It is particularly important for employers in what the government describes as small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) which represents the vast majority of employers in the UK.

For the time being I shall be the one representing your views to WREEG, since the President and Vice President Education have asked me to represent them. They have done so because I am an OU student, I have owned or have been the senior manager in a number of SMEs over the past thirty years and am an NVQ Assessor; so I have the right background for the role.

If you wish to take part in this panel then please get in touch and we'll get you linked up. If you have already volunteered, please be patient, we wanted a few more before going live. If you wish to make contact then do so via First Class (Ousa Vp Constitut) or by e-mail ousao3@guest.open.ac.uk

Please tell us your PI number (please do not post it in this Blog!) and a bit about your background. The panel will be available on First Class and will not be any more time consuming than you wish.

I hope to hear from you,

Regards
John
Open University Students Association
Vice President Constitutions

Tuesday 6 February 2007

Conference Steering Committee

In my earlier post I gave an update on the current position of preparations for Conference 2007; now I'd like to add a few words, so that you might give a passing thought for the small group known as the Conference Steering Committee upon whose shoulders sits the preparation of all the business elements of the Conference.

The committee consists of the President, the Vice President Constitutions (who chairs the committee), a member of the Executive Committee elected by the EC, two branch or regional forum officers elected by the last Conference, a past member of a regional forum or Executive Committee elected by the rest of the Steering Committee, and the General Manager. So it is a small and compact group, as you can see.

The committee meets twice before the Conference weekend and then immediately prior to the start of the Conference on site. The first meeting is this coming weekend, which will be to prepare the provisional motions paper. The committee have to work hard to try and ensure that all motions from units are included - but also that all motions meet the rules. They will scrutinise, analyse and debate each one before eventually reaching the point where the provisional paper is ready. This paper will be sent out within days of the weekend.

The second meeting deals with amendments to the motions, and the final order paper is put together. The committee then deals with the timing of the business and appends any comments to the motions paper to give guidance to the delegates at the Conference.

The meetings of Steering Committee are intense and work-filled weekends - but there are still plenty of new volunteers each year. Will you be one?

It's a great way to get to grips with the inner workings of Conference and the Association. If you want to volunteer - then get yourself to Conference 2007! If you do or not, please spare a thought for the hard-working Steering Committee over this coming weekend.

Regards
John

Vice President Constitutions

Conference is coming

The annual OUSA Conference will be held at Warwick University over the weekend of 13-15 April 2007. This is the governing body of our Association and determines what we do, and to some extent, what we say thoughout the year.

It is here that delegates from branches, regional forums, the disabled students group and the OU societies come together to judge the stewardship of the Executive Committee over the previous year and to set the scene for the next. It is a mixture of business and social and a chance to meet all sorts of members that you may well have met already, virtually, on the First Class forums and conferences.

It is now too late for motions to be submitted, as the closing date was the 2nd February, but all units have the right to submit amendments. When your unit receives a copy of the preliminary order paper and you see a motion that you think needs amending - then following the discussion in your unit (branch, regional forum etc.) then submit the amendment on the appropriate forms and send them to the OUSA Office before the close on March 9th (see forms sent to you for the precise time of deadline).

Your unit delegates need to be provisionally registered also by March 9th; if your unit wants a say, then make sure that a delegate comes along.

I look forward to meeting you at Warwick.

Regards
John