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PSU EGM - 4th July
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Just bumped into this thread now as I was forwarded on the below email and was curious to what is going on. As an MIC Postgrad in my first year I am concerned that we are potentially loosing our connection with the UL PSU. I deleted some irrelevant material from the below email but it speaks for its self in relation to the removal of the MISU Rep. I am not the MISU Rep btw
Dear all,
Sincere apologies for the delayed reply I have been out of office on contract work over the last two weeks, I would like you all to take serious note of this email, perhaps grab a strong coffee before reading, instant will do. I have divided this email in three sections:
3. Constitutional Changes. If you want to get to the serious part skip to part three.
We must look at the national state of Postgraduate studies in the country, cuts of funding, manipulation of calls for research funding, a blatant lack of employee rights or training for Postgraduates that work as lecturers or those who give tutorials. The low rate of employment for PhD graduates, work schemes coercing MA and PhD graduates into lackluster positions. But hey, that is just my two cents…
3. Constitutional amendments
Now that the housekeeping is out of the way, I would like to point you all in the direction of a more important issue. I noticed on the proposed “new” agenda that the MISU Representative has been taken out of the Executive team. This is a grave concern to me personally but also to the MISU.
Unlike UL having two SU’s, Mary Immaculate College has one SU. The MISU Postgraduate Officer acts as an executive member of the MISU.
a) We have our own constitution, the Postgraduate Officers role according to the current - 2013/14 MIC Constitution is;
" (v) The Postgraduate Officer shall liaise with all postgraduate class representatives and the Postgrad Students Union in the University of Limerick, where s/he is a full member, regarding their activities and those of the Union."
b) The current UL PSU constitution lists the MISU representative as:
“Article 8. Executive: 8.1 Executive shall consist of a Mary Immaculate College Representative”
This current version that was passed through quorum in May 2014, lists this position seven times throughout the document. This is in accordance with the MISU constitution. I ensured that the wording and position remained the same as the previous constitution to avoid a referendum in MIC.
c) The draft ‘proposed’ constitution, lists this role at a lower standing of PSU council, and lists the position once in the document:
“ARTICLE VIII: PSU COUNCIL 1. e. A Mary Immaculate College Representative.”
It also fails to list the responsibilities or role of the position. I am aware that the UL PSU can change their constitution by quorum (50 persons). However your proposed draft eliminates the position of the Mary Immaculate Representative from the Executive Team, hence not complying with the MISU constitution.
It is imperative to note that the MISU constitution may only be amended by referendum. A referendum can be called by the Executive Committee (MISU), Union Council or a petition from at least 15% of the Union’s membership. For a referendum to be valid, at least 10% of Union members must vote, that is 353 students of MIC. If you can all understand this causes a multitude of problems for MIC. We would have to hold a referendum costing in excess of €2,000 for printing and staff, we would need to get 353 minimum number of students to vote and an executive committee to veto the referendum. All which is impossible as they are mostly undergrads and not on campus till September. You then need to give two weeks notice during the academic year.
I hope all members of the UL PSU Executive team realise the basic fact that the University of Limerick awards all Undergraduate and Postgraduate degrees of Mary Immaculate College. More importantly, all Postgraduate courses and running of the courses must adhere to your guidelines, in the UL Academic handbook. So if there are any major changes to this handbook, you would think that the MISU Postgrad Rep should be at Executive level to discover these changes and be given the opportunity to report to the Postgrads of MIC? Even more importantly, I am not too sure if you can comprehend that UL are the governing authority of all Level 10 degrees in MIC? In layman’s terms UL are in full control of all PhD’s in Mary I. If these are not important reasons to maintain the MISU Postgraduate Rep on the Executive team then I do not know what else is.
Besides all of these technicalities and inconvenience for the MIC student body to host a referendum in the first place, we should be strengthening the ties between MIC, UL and indeed LIT. Only on the 7th of May 2014 Mary Immaculate College (MIC), Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) and the University of Limerick (UL) have committed to a new strategic alliance involving a detailed programme of enhanced collaboration, co-operation and development between the three higher education institutions.
Further to this, the three colleges submitted draft ‘Performance Compacts’ to the HEA in January with the expectation that the Performance Compacts of all HEIs would be formally approved by the HEA shortly. It was agreed that the members of this Regional Cluster had adopted the name ‘Shannon Consortium Strategic Alliance’ and had forwarded a MoU to the HEA. Noted also that the MoU set out how Mary Immaculate College, Limerick Institute of Technology and the University of Limerick had committed to a detailed programme of enhanced collaboration, co-operation and development in accordance with HEA recommendations for the future higher education landscape.
In summary, there will be a type of merged Graduate School between three institutions. I would envisage that now is the time to collaborate any issues or ideas from the Postgraduate students that will be affected by this merger. It is also the time not to take our eye of the ball with smaller insignificant issues and look at the bigger picture of events that concern the Postgraduate students.
I endeavor that you will not perceive my email as a rant but as a letter of grave concern over the issues I have raised. I would hope that the year is not consumed by disagreements on wording of constitutions or coffee but that the Executive team with support from the UL SU will give 110% commitment of representation of the students.
Remember in all students’ Unions, it is the students that are the supreme governing body, not the President, not the Executive Team, and not the PSU Council, you must never forget that.
Le Buíochas,0 -
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