You said: we did
In April and May 2022 we held some open forums where students where invited to discuss the particular opportunities and challenges we face together around equality, diversity and inclusion in the School of Divinity.
The School's EDI Committee has been working on different ways to respond to the variety of concerns and suggestions. Here we provide a series of 'you said...we did' explanations. We will develop this response section in the light of future forums and other discussions.
Postgraduate
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You said: Direct contact with prospective supervisor is valued – although not available in every case. Generally, recruitment experience is of efficiency and clarity.
We did: Additional clarity in our communications. ACTION PENDING: Additional note on website and note to staff.
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You said: Emailing school but no replies – had to persevere during aa transition period; a few years ago now).
We did: An historical issue. Since addressed.
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You said: Not a lot of information about transitioning to Scotland when bringing a family.
We did: Raised this with St Leonard’s College team. Our action - information sheet developed in the past by the PGR student committee has been updated to include, e.g., more links to Fife Council website, and email address for each level of education, etc.
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You said: Visa financial sureties – proof of finances – demands of system-checks need to be indicated sooner.
We did: Raised with St Leonard’s College team as this is about core Admissions information.
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You said: Costs of studying (over and above tuition fees and accommodation). Suggestion that we show how people have raised money in the past, or options to defer while you raise the funds.
We did: Staff at School Council on 8 December 2022 were asked to think about students we might approach for case studies. (Any volunteers can contact divedi@st-andrews.ac.uk.)
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You said: Extra challenge if incoming student misses the start of semester (e.g. due to visa delays) or is scheduled for a non-September start date – everyone else gets information but there are gaps to fill. Orientation for mid-years (e.g. January) starting students is non-existent. Suggestion that there is a ‘welcome back after Christmas / New Year break’ and pick up all new starts (esp. January).
We did: Raised with CEED. Also brought to School PG committee – who scheduled a coffee morning event on 22 February 2023.
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You said: Online matriculation is challenge – never quite knowing if one is ‘done yet’. Explanation as to why certain information is requested is key.
We did: Raised with St Leonard’s College Team.
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You said: Whilst scholarship opportunities on the university website do have a number that are available for international Divinity students it appears that sources available specifically for US students is quite limited.
We did: Are providing additional social media information on scholarships that are available to a wide category of PGR students.
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You said: Dramatic drop-off with female pgr recruitment – how to encourage a return to education at a later life-stage.
We did: Will be more clearly signposted discussion of challenges at the Junior Honours Research Seminar (3rd year undergraduates).
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You said: Good feedback coming in as a student with a disability.
We did: Thanks for letting us know.
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You said: Buildings not disability friendly.
We did: Significant constraints on what we can do with historical buildings. We are endeavouring to ensure student committees have designated EDI person (students already represented by four of their number on the School’s EDI Committee) to raise accessibility when planning events. We note that the Student Association now facilitates elections to roles of School Undergraduate EDI and Disability representatives. They now sit on the School’s EDI Committee in addition to the School UG President and PGR elected student representative.
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You said: St Andrews perceived as overwhelmingly white and privileged – how to address this? History of racist practices. Lack of staff representation from minorities.
We did: £500 awarded from EDI Accessibility Fund of the ‘(Re)thinking Inclusive Academic Conferences (Theology, Divinity and Religious Studies)’ held on 20 September 2022. This student-led conference aimed to understand the underlying issues and point to practical steps to overcome barriers.
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You said: Bias at para-school events.
We did: Events organised by people under the auspices of local churches are not under the direction of the School. As a step we can take, we have augmented the arrival/welcome leaflet.
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You said: Could we provide exemplars of a personal statement + research statement?
We did: ACTION PENDING: Provide exemplars of research proposals on School website.
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You said: Challenge in working out if St Andrews is a good fit for me? There’s no clear sense of the culture. Currently descriptions are logistical not cultural description.
We did: We emphasise importance of having a prior chat with a prospective supervisor – especially if you’re first in your group of friends to apply to the UK.
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You said: Not a lot of PGR-specific outreach.
We did: More outreach takes place than is perhaps realised, e.g. at annual international meetings of AAR/SBL.
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You said: We don't know what are current student projects.
We did: Each research cluster/centre has its own wordpress site with some of this information. Regular reminders are given to key staff to update and enhance information on their respective wordpress sites. We aim to signpost the sources of information better.
A further response: a web editing assistant post (a few hours a week) is being established with particular focus on School’s Centres and Institutes. Recruitment likely to start in late March 2023.
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You said: Lack of international outreach.
We did: The colloquial use of ‘international’ to sometimes mean North America was brought to attention of staff at Council on 8 December 2022.
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You said: Lack of information for students of different beliefs, i.e. places of worship.
We did: Enhanced information on the welcome leaflet. ACTION PENDING: Clearer signposting on School website to information on Chaplaincy website.
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On a matter not raised at the forums... A School initiative: PGR Travel Award Scheme upper limit of grants raised from £400 to £425 by School PG Committee on 12 October 2022.
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You said: If a woman and from an ethnic minority – need to be talking about this in terms of specific career barriers. Have a forum for these issues.
We did: £500 awarded from EDI Accessibility Fund of the ‘(Re)thinking Inclusive Academic Conferences (Theology, Divinity and Religious Studies)’ held on 20 September 2022.
An opportunity for women students to meet with the Smith Lecturers is made following each public lecture.
Issue also raised with St Leonard’s because much wider than Divinity – and wisdom elsewhere in the University.
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You said: Role of staff mentor is unclear. Perhaps mentor-matching – e.g. women with women?
We did: Reviewing of mentoring scheme. To also include matter of passing on mentees when a member of staff leaves.
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Chilcare provisions
You said: Nursing spaces when breast-feeding.
We did: Provision of nursing spaces is made by the university centrally, not at School-level. Space is available in the Psychology Building (off St Mary's Quad). We invited the student PG committee to designate one of its members as a ‘family rep’.
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You said: Nursery fees can be between £1200 and £1310 per month in St Andrews (many overseas students not entitled to funded programmes).
We did: Raised with St Leonard’s College Team. The School launched a pilot childcare grant (£660 per child under three years of age) instituted and four awards made; three taken up in semester 2 of 2022-2023.
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You said: Good to see events being held at different times of the day as some students have childcare responsibilities that preclude certain times. Major issue of childcare provision.
We did: We are endeavouring to not do everything within the same core hours over the year – so not always same type of event at same time. Issue was raised at Staff Council of 8 December 2022 requesting clearer identification of ‘children welcome’ events.
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You said: Opportunities for childcare-appropriate tutoring hours at subhonours.
We did: Additional information on availability / preferences of time of day to be sought when offers for tutoring are made; where possible spread tutorials over both Friday morning and Friday afternoon. (The School has limited control over central timetabling of tutorials.)
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Other tutorial matters
You said: Subhonours tutorials should not scheduled against hours of religious observance on Fridays. (Many of our PGR students tutor.)
We did: Most of our subhonours modules have more than one tutorial option on Fridays. However, we note that the hours of meeting of the Muslim community for worship in winter begins at 12.30pm; in summer months it is 1.15pm. Anything requiring attendance can clash within 12noon-2pm. We aim to ensure that, if possible, not all tutorials for a particular module fall within 12noon-2pm in 2023-2024.
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Other matters
You said: Could there be a buddies scheme?
We did: We note that pre-covid there was a buddy scheme organised by the PG Student Committee. We hope this will resume and also include MLitt students.
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You said: Students on fieldwork. Involve them in online activities, not just school but university training events like those of CEED. Continue these online.
We did: Raised with CEED. Research seminar coordinators asked (at School Council of 8 December 2022) to consider hybrid delivery in 2022-2023 (where possible) and to communicate to students on fieldwork.
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You said: Advertising is inadequate for the opportunities for training / accreditation via Higher Education Academy.
We did: ACTION PENDING: Add more information to PGR Handbook and School website.
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You said: Gender assumptions at social events (that a husband is the PGR student when it may be his wife).
We did: Although most social events are not organised by the School, we encourage the use the phrase ‘women and men’ when referring to about PhD students.
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You said: False assumptions of religious affiliation of students.
We did: We recognise that assumptions arise from historical demographics of students. We endeavour, in public welcomes, to acknowledge that the School of Divinity community comprises not only Christians but also Muslims, Hindus, people of other faith traditions and of none.
We aim to increase visibility, and therefore use, of a list of religious festivals being developed by the university.
A new annual opening lecture for the School of Divinity and a reception will offer an additional focal point to that of the traditional opening service of Christian worship run by the St Mary’s College Society.
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You said: Availability of ASC and other student services, especially in terms of mental health support beyond the 4-5 sessions they might offer. NHS shortages, long waiting times. This information is not made available in advance. Could students be given an ongoing individual contact within ASC throughout their studies? Emotional support for students with a disability - most resources directed towards undergrad; little actual access to/follow-up on disability resources; facilities inhospitable to physical disabilities; accessibility for visual impairments.
We did: Raised with St Leonard’s College team as these are university, rather than School responsibilities.
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You said: Report & Support system. Some positives, some negatives. Lots of bureaucracy.
We did: Information was added to School PGR Handbook (p.27 for 2022-2023). Already on School EDI webpages.
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You said: Opportunities for networking and socialising are more limited for single people when so much of informal activities are family-focussed.
We did: We invite the student PG committee to explore opportunities.
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You said: Collegiality varies greatly. Sometimes a student can feel isolated in their research topic.
We did: We have been re-launching in-person meetings that had to be abandoned during covid restrictions.
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You said: Advertised opportunities and support not followed through – there is a need for clearer messaging because infrastructure is institution-biased.
We did: We are looking to introduce a topical aspect to the agenda to Student-Staff Consultative Committee, e.g. standing items on EDI, communication, etc.).
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You said: Some crucial information is buried in the PGR handbook – perhaps a ‘cheat sheet’ or quickguide?
We did: We are increasing sign-posting of the importance of the handbook at PGR Training Sessions.
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You said: Opportunities, resources may be lacking, networks based on institution.
We did: We have encouraged application to the EDI Accessibility Fund to enhance such opportunities. Reminders issued about the Fund deadlines.
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You said: Process is unwritten for opportunities, e.g. viva [what a viva looks like].
We did: We considered links to recorded vivas of other institutions but concluded this would be misleading. Supervisors are key resources for advice.
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You said: Being made aware that once past viva then no longer exempt from Council Tax.
We did: We await outcome of a university-wide project to enhance information on financial aspects. For the moment, see this Money Matters page.
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You said: Expectations (in the sector as a whole) of geographical location flexibility and willingness to take up 0.2 fte or other limited hours contracts. Need perhaps for spouse to follow you. More explanation, preparation for the career development aspect of portfolio careers.
We did: We are reviewing our PGR training but the employment features of the sector are not in our control.
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You said: Possibly have the university agree to offer nothing less than a 0.x contract.
We did: We invited the PGR Student Representative to feed this suggestion up their reporting chain to the Students’ Association.
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You said: How do we hold our students beyond graduation + finding a job; not everyone is privileged to have time to network as they write thesis?
We did: We will include consideration of this in a review of our PGR training.
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You said: Career centre – has dearth of religious listings in general but specifically of other-than-Christian religious listings.
We did: Whilst the School can draw attention to places with more resources, we invite the PGR Student Representative to feed this issue up their reporting chain to the Students’ Association.
Undergraduate
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You said: Need better advertising of resources (esp. to 1st Years).
We did: Resumed our in-person meeting with Director of Teaching on Friday of Orientation Week.
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You said: Need better coverage of queer ethics, current issues, ordination, link between colonialism-imperialism-Christianity; money and power; faith and capitalism.
We did: This has been drawn to the attention of the School’s curriculum review group.
Furthermore, an LGBTQIA+ affirming Reading Group was piloted for a few weeks in Semester 1, 2022-2023. At request of participants it now meets weekly from Week 2 of Semester 2 in 2022-2023.
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You said: Diverse curriculum in the required modules (could be a historical thing) – ‘Reading Religions’ has been quite diverse but an optional module. Be more inclusive to non-Christian backgrounds (e.g. East and South Asia). Have Biblical Studies links with other sacred texts, e.g. Qur’an. Overall, more diversity is needed in Christian and non-Christian perspectives.
We did: These have been drawn to attention of curriculum review group.
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You said: Resources to find definitions etc, especially for those who haven’t studied theology at school.
We did: Will be added to future versions of the UG School Handbook.
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You said: Need to advertise ‘Report & Support’ more widely.
We did: Has been added to UG School Handbook (p.9 of 2022-2023 version).
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You said: Supporting exchange students in thinking about PG studies.
We did: We are inviting the School’s Director of PGT Studies to hold a session for exchange undergrad students during each semester.
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You said: Events beginning the year – we need better outreach to those doing just a few modules.
We did: Where feasible we are using the messaging system to advertise to ‘anyone taking a module in Divinity’.