Passed Policies and Progress

Council congratulates our Principal, Professor Craig Mahoney on his new role as chair elect of British Universities & Colleges Sport. Council notes Professor Mahoney's comments that he is"passionate about both sport and higher education, and as Chair I will strive to shine a light on the UK’s amazing university sport provision and the impact it is having on a global scale. I hope to inspire students to participate in sport during their studies, to realise the benefits it can bring and most importantly, encourage them to make the most of their educational journeys having enjoyed a dynamic, well-rounded and inclusive university experience." Council further notes that despite this passion for Higher Education and the transformative rebalancing program the University is currently undergoing, Professor Mahoney has not yet had a chance to attend council this academic year to discuss his vision with the representatives of the student body he serves. Council instructs SAUWS to ensure that well in advance of each future council meeting the UWS Principal is personally invited to council to discuss matters students feel are important and ensure that UWS students really do have a dynamic, well-rounded and inclusive educational journey. If the Principal is unable to accept this invitation council instructs the Union Chair to report to council why this is the case so that council can endeavour to ensure that future invitations are able to be accepted.

It is fantastic that UWS Academics are being recognised for senior roles in the UK Education Sector; that said the principal goal of our Principal must be to ensure that our students get the best possible quality education.

In the paper "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Applied Sport Psychology Practice: Making the Case for a Case Study Approach" Professor Mahoney and others proposed a framework to allow sports psychologists to "collect evaluative information that will increase their accountability to the stakeholders". The paper argues that there are four stakeholders, the athlete, the funder, the profession and the practitioner themselves. Higher Education would seem to have similar stakeholders, the student, our funding bodies, the profession and the academic themselves. Short of having conversations with each of our nearly 16000 students, I can think of no better way for the Principal to garner evaluative feedback on the real consequences of high level management decisions than speaking to the elected representatives of the students those decisions directly impact. Accountability is paramount and leaders must have the courage to own their decisions. Sources: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/1442/1/Evaluating%20the%20effectiveness%20of%20applied%20sport%20psychology%20practice-%20Making%20the%20case%20for%20a%20case%20study%20approach.pdf https://www.uws.ac.uk/news/uws-principal-selected-as-next-chair-of-bucs/