If you’re a first year undergraduate student who’s free this Thursday (5 November) from 12-1pm you're invited to sign up for a focus group.

At the focus group we’d like to hear your thoughts on the design and content of our new undergraduate student recruitment communications. This will include the prospectus and emails.

In return we’ll give you a free lunch and a £5 credit on your Eating at Warwick account!

To sign up, please click on the link: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/students/news/newsevents/recruitmentfocusgroups

A unique opportunity to develop your skills, enhance your CV, share your love of philosophy at Warwick and earn some money!

Job description

We are currently recruiting for a small group of ambassadors to represent the department from those in their 2nd/3rd/4th year and on any of our degree programmes at the upcoming Open Day on the 24th October 2015 and at future events. The rate of pay will be £10 per hour (approx. 4 hours for the Open day on 24th, 12pm-4pm).

Our Student Ambassadors are an important part of our Open Days, helping prospective students get a sense of what it's like to study Philosophy at Warwick and what to expect if they choose to come here. As a student ambassador, you will be expected to talk with prospective students and their parents about the department and your experience of studying philosophy at Warwick, promoting our degree programmes and answering any questions they have to the best of your ability. You will also be asked on occasion to give a short 3-4 minute presentation on your experience of studying philosophy at Warwick. It is essential that our ambassadors project a positive image of the department and the University at all times.

In addition to the 24th October Open Day, we may call on our pool of ambassadors for future open days (including our Spring term post-offer open days) and for some of our widening participation events. If you are not available for the upcoming open day but would like to be considered for future events, you are welcome to still apply. No prior experience is necessary and full training will be provided.

Person Specification

Ideally, you will have the following skills/attributes:

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Professional and approachable
• Evidence of working successfully with others
• Good knowledge of the department and the University
• Good presentation skills

How to apply

Please send a covering letter detailing your experience and why you think you are suited to this role along with an up-to-date CV before 6pm on Thursday 15th October 2015 to k.d.simecek@warwick.ac.uk.

*Please state clearly whether you are available on the 24th October for the next Open Day*

Student Careers and Skills have some useful information on putting together a CV: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/applications/cv/

They also offer helpful advice on how to produce a good covering letter: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/applications/coveringletter/

Thanks to all of our students, recent graduates and staff for our good results in the 2015 National Student Survey (NSS). The NSS is completed by finalists, throughout the UK, and is a key component of league tables published in the media.

We are delighted to announce that we have achieved an overall satisfaction rating of 82 per cent for studying philosophy at Warwick. This was achieved through a 76 per cent response rate.

Other key NSS headlines for philosophy include:

• 94% of respondents said that our staff are good at explaining things (up 3% on previous year)

• 92% said that staff are enthusiastic about what they teach (up 9% on the previous year)

• We have also had significant increases in students saying they received detailed comments on their work (up 14% on the previous year), that they received sufficient advice and support with their studies (up 10%) and that students found that good advice was available to them when they needed to make choices about their studies (up 14%), compared with the 2014 NSS results for the department.

• Philosophy at Warwick ranks in the top ten of the Russell Group in the 2015 NSS in the following areas: 4th for learning resources, 9th for making the subject interesting, and 9th for delivering detailed comments on students' work.

We look forward to working with our excellent community of students and staff to build on these results and continue to make studying philosophy at Warwick thoroughly rewarding for our students. We will work closely with our SSLC to identify further improvements we can make to enhance our students' experience of studying philosophy at Warwick.

Starting in 2015/16, we have a new Director of Student Experience and Progression who will work in partnership with students and staff to improve the experience of our students and to ensure continued improvements to teaching quality, assessment and feedback, and personal development.

The National Student Survey 2015 is open until the 30th April 2015, and only takes a few minutes to complete. This is an important opportunity to give your opinion, in a national forum, on teaching and learning within our department, and on your overall experience at Warwick.

If you respond to the survey before it closes on 30 April 2015, £5 will be credited by the University to your Eating at Warwick account. More details can be found here.

In addition, if the Philosophy Department reaches an overall response rate of 80% or more (i.e., if more than 80% of our finalists fill in the survey), there will be a special Philosophy prize draw to say thank you. All finalists on the following degree programmes count towards the Philosophy result in the National Student Survey and will be entered into this prize draw if we reach the 80% response rate: Philosophy; Philosophy and Literature; Mathematics and Philosophy; Philosophy with Psychology; Philosophy with Classical Civilisation; all intercalated year versions of those programmes are also included.

The prizes for the Philosophy prize draw are:

• First prize: £75 Amazon vouchers
• 2 runner up prizes: £25 Amazon vouchers

The Philosophy Society is holding a book sale in the Philosophy Common Room (S2.71) this Friday, the 16th January.

Come along to pick up some pre-loved Philosophy books, and if you have any you would like to try and sell on, just come by reception and drop them off any time before the sale.