News Category: Academic

Write a blog covering everything you’ve done in two years, they said. You’ve been here for two years, there must be loads to talk about. However when I think back over the last two years most of it blurs into one long line of meetings, email and lots of papers to read. That’s probably what…

It’s been quite a while since I’ve written a blog post for the GSA. They’re normally long and contain information about the work I’ve been doing as VP Academic. This one contains some personal news. I’m incredibly lucky to be offered and to be taking up a position as College Life Coordinator within Halifax College…

Update 11th February 2022 At an extraordinary Council meeting called on 10th February, the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) Council supported the motion put forward by the GSA sabbatical officers on behalf of our postgraduate members to support the upcoming UCU industrial action from Monday 14th February. This is also mirrored by student responses to a…

There are a few words that I’ve been using a lot this term. Hectic, challenging and a huge learning curve are the ones that I usually say when I’m asked how my first term has gone. The learning curve has been steep; I’ve spent a significant proportion of my days running from meeting to meeting,…

Industrial Action at the University of York Members of UCU (a Trade Union for academic staff) have voted to take industrial action on pay, pensions and working conditions. UCU have announced eight days of strikes will get underway from Monday 25th November to Wednesday 4th December. At this stage, it is hard to say exactly…

During Week 2 of Autumn Term 2019, the GSA held an event to help new students learn about the differences in study and assessment at York compared to universities around the world and indeed the UK. As part of the event there was a question and answer session. We have written up some of the…

The Augar Review has been published! With Higher Education all over the news today, I thought I’d provide a quick briefing on the most pertinent changes. The Augar Review (Review of post-18 funding) has been looking at aspects surrounding the funding of Higher Education – the report published today is over 216 pages long, so…

Integrating Interfaculty Ideas Call for Abstracts for Presentations Calling all postgraduate researchers! Are you bored over the summer? Keen to meet new people? Want to see if you can make someone from a completely different area of academia understand your research? The York Postgrad Summer Forum is a series of seminars which will take place…

We have two great full-time roles now available at the GSA. Representation and Democracy Coordinator – Full-time – £22000pa Advice and Welfare Coordinator – Full-time – £22000pa Over the last few years the GSA has developed and expanded the services it offers to its members and these staff posts are part of the latest phase…

So it’s April, Mid-Easter break and the sun is finally out! Deadlines and exams are approaching with speed – if you find that things aren’t going as planned, please do remember to use our advice and support service, you can book an appointment here https://www.yorkgsa.org/students/welfare/arrange-an-appointment-with-the-gsa/ . The last term has been a tricky one: adverse…