MEETING WITH THE DEAN

Time: Monday 15.0107 at 15:00

Place: Dean’s office

Items on the agenda:

1. Presentation of the new student government

1. Info from the Dean’s office:

1. Jolanta informs about loan procedures

1. Any issues the Dean wishes to discuss with us.

i. The Dean has received complaints from students regarding date of histology commissions being moved. He stressed that individual departments have authority to decide this without involvement from the dean’s office.

ii. Regarding flow of information between Dean’s office and students. There have been complaints from students that it is not good enough. To address this the Dean wishes to use an improved web site (currently under construction). He also proposed that the Dean’s office can use student representatives and the SG to relay important messages to the students. We agreed to present the Dean with a list of class reps as soon as they are elected, and to post information on our web page.

iii. Loan procedures relevant for students from USA: In order to get loans, students must each year submit a form stating that they are enrolled at the school. This will be provided by the school at the end of June, if submitted at this time the money should arrive in September. However, students with more than one retake are not guaranteed to be able to continue to the following year, so the form can not be filled until the necessary exams are passed. The Dean’s office cannot guarantee against any delay in receiving loans due to this. 1^st year students will receive this form as soon as they are enrolled, in mid-July.

iv. Total quality management: The Dean’s office has analysed evaluation forms from the courses. The courses with the least good feedback from the students were physiology, anestesiology and epidemiology. He will arrange meetings with the persons responsible for each of these courses, and we may have representatives present at these courses.

v. The Dean requested us to produce a text on how it is to study in 1^st year by the end of June. He intends on putting it in the booklet which is given to all new students on the orientation day.

vi. The Dean wishes to increase the tuition fee from next year for new students to 10 000 euro per year for 6 year students and 12 000 euro per year for 4 year program students. This is due to stronger PLN in relation to the euro. He argumented that the school receives 35 000 PLN per Polish student, and that presently this figure is lower for English division students.

1. How EDSG wishes to work this year:

1. Closer cooperation with the PDSG as we are now an officially regognized structure at this university. Among other things, this means that we will try to include rector and dean of 2^nd faculty to our list of channels to communicate our agenda through.
2. Input on which issues are important for us to address this year was provided by the open meeting we arranged with the students of ED on the 11.01.07. These include:

i. Request for a study room in the Didactic Centre. It is quite common for students, to have a few hours between classes in the Banacha area. To have a quiet room with chairs and tables in the Didactic Centre would be of great benefit!

1. The Dean informed that building of a library next to the Didactic centre will start in September. Until it is completed, he agrees that room should be made available in the Didactic centre.

ii. Better web pages for the University. As of now, the web pages do not provide a translation to English of everything which is on it. It also lacks links to the various departments of the University. Student Government requests that links to the Student Government web page is also included. It was further mentioned on the meeting that it would be of benefit to the students if all the departments had updated web pages.

1. The Dean will relay our requests to the ones responsible for creating the new web page.

1. Other issues addressed by the EDSG:

1. How is the Dean working with the issue of cheating this year? Will he do anything to implement the Honors Code?

i. The Dean admitted that not presenting the new students with the honors code on the orientation day this year was a miss. He intends to do so next year.

ii. Formal regulation of exam situations is something the Dean does not wish to do. Arranging of exams is the responsibility of the individual departments, and this includes assessment of means necessary for preventing cheating.

1. Meeting with the Physiology department.

i. This will be held in February. Deans office will contact Kristin regarding it.

1. Educational committee will meet once per semester, and the class representatives will be present at the meetings. The Dean informed that this is not intended as a forum for addressing organization of courses, but will serve to discuss individual problems and students. Issues regarding organization of courses these should be prepared individually and discussed in separate meetings.

1. It is common in universities governed after a democratic model, with transparency with regards to budget and accounting. In a matter related to EDSG’s efforts to improve the quality of our education, we would now like to enquire about the possibility of us gaining insight into the budget of the 2^nd faculty. Considering the tuition fee students of ED pay, we believe this is a reasonable request.

i. The Dean will find out if we can get insight into budgeting process, meetings etc.

1. We argumented that handouts should be given to students in all classes.

i. Dean nodded without commenting.

1. Accreditation of the school in New York. As this is one of the states with the most teaching hospitals in the USA, many students wish to do residency there. Like California in the West, New York represents the standard for accreditation in the east.

i. The Dean was initially negative to but listened to this new information. He said the school is starting process of applying in California now.

1. Lack of toilet paper and soap in lavatories in anatomicum.

i. Agreed that this is unacceptable.

1. Clinical group sizes in 3^rd year.

i. Group sizes will not be reduced in the next semester even though some groups are slightly larger that the school’s own standard. The Dean agreed to discuss the situation at the educational committee meeting in April, but he made no promises for coming years. However, the school will not accept any more transfer students from other schools as this would put more pressure on the clinical groups.

1. Mould and water leaks in dorms

i. Suzan agreed to document the problems in the specific rooms and the Dean promised to make sure necessary improvements are made.

1. Mould and water damage in pathology and paediatrics lecture rooms and class rooms.

i. By next year, the Dean said, this should be improved.

1. Completion of schedule in good time before semester starts.

i. The late completion of the schedule is due to late arrival of plans from the departments.

1. Any other business
1. Grading system.

i. The grading system is the same as im polish division. If this is to be evaluated and possibly changed, it must happen through cooperation with PDSG and be valid for both divisions.