This post is based on the information that the then Centre Administration Manager Sarah Armstrong put together for the IFP tutor induction at the start of the 2017/18 academic year.
Do tutors realise the sheer breadth of tasks being handled by the Professional Services Team? Take a moment right now to estimate what the CELFS Admin Team do.
Done? Well, we bet that’s just the tip of the iceberg… Read on to find out
- who we are
- what we do
- the significance of the number 3,856
- what it takes to get our students into CELFS, and
- what happens after they leave
Who we are*
*Jennie Brettell, Hannah Coe and Sarah Armstrong are leaving CELFS soon for other departments in the University of Bristol (on 25th Jan, 2nd Feb, and 23 Feb respectively).
We’ll miss you all! Thank you for your amazing work and we wish you all the best of luck in the future.
What we do
= the number of students that were studying at CELFS in 2017
What does it take to get the students here, and what happens after they leave?
1. As you can see below, for the pre-sessional alone we processed 1,826 applications, plus nearly another thousand for the International Foundation Programme (IFP). This was done by dealing with over 13,000 emails, plus another 3000 for Learning, English, and, Academic Development (LEAD) courses (the provision for current University of Bristol Students).
Timetables need to be organised for all these different units, each unit’s Student Handbook needs to be updated and proof-read and classrooms need to be set up. Last year’s summer pre-sessional required the booking of 84 classrooms. All the new tutors and students need UCards, so that they can access buildings, print/photocopy and use the libraries.
2. While students are with us, each class register needs to be set up and every student needs to be given access to the correct Blackboard site. Because the University of Bristol is a UKVI Highly Trusted Sponsor, attendance has to be checked weekly and non-attending students chased up.
3. When the students have completed their assessments, tutors input their raw scores. All of these marks are then checked by the Professional Services Team and input into the UoB system, after the relevant exam board has met. This is why we ask that tutors do not divulge the scores recorded on registers, as these may well not be the final results that are sent to all students in the course after all the procedures have been completed.
4. Links within the University of Bristol and beyond.
5. Finally, the graphic below shows a selection of questions we hear from students, tutors and other staff while behind the reception desk on the 4th Floor:
Thank you for reading this post, and thank you to the CELFS Professional Services Team for all your hard work!