As part of SCAN’s reconfiguration for the coming academic year, the SCAN Investigations section is to be revived as a staple contribution to the student media diet.
Working in close collaboration with the News team, the Investigations boffins shall be sleuthing their way across campus in a bid to unearth, dissect, and expose the issues affecting our student population.
We will delve deeper into the issues most pertinent to Lancaster’s student community, as well as looking at these issues by comparison to a wider, national context. The section’s objective is to provide greater analysis of contemporary events in relation to their impact on us as students at Lancaster University.
We hope that the student body, along with teaching staff and administrative personnel, will augment the core foundation of source material – from which any concerns, information and general matters warranting investigation that may have flown under SCAN’s radar can be obtained.
By working for and with students, we will focus on issues that the reader cares most deeply about, as well as harnessing the creative and intuitive talents of Lancaster’s progenies. Crucially, the Investigations section’s remit is such that we shall not only report what is going on in and around the University, but also analyse the factors contributing to, perpetuating or aiming to resolve these matters.
Though there are already particular topics flagged for attention – as outlined in this issue – the direction of our efforts is, in part, the reader’s to direct. We shall be responsive to current events as they unfold throughout the year, and value the input of any and all who have concerns they want assuaged. By presenting a united student front, we aim to ensure that those in positions of authority at the University are properly held accountable for the measures they effectuate which impact upon our student community.
The issues on the investigative cards so far include crime on campus (students as victims and students as perpetrators); the process of academic feedback and whether students feel it gives them adequate direction for future assessment; standards of academic achievement and the economics of achievement; the counselling service; accommodation provision both on and off campus; making the most of the university experience; students’ perceptions of prejudice and stereotyping at university; and the current JCR structure of student-led management within the colleges.
SCAN Investigations welcomes the input of writers both familiar with and new to the paper. Helping to ensure the collective student voice is heard in the midst of a changing and often bewildering Higher Education environment is a worthwhile and fulfilling way through which to contribute to university life. We are interested in hearing your experiences of the issues under investigation, so that the picture we build is one that adequately represents – and explores the factors underpinning – the true student experience at Lancaster.
Please get in touch with the SCAN Investigations editor via email at scan.investigations@lusu.co.uk to find out more or to express interest in getting involved.
