Zazie is sharing why she was nominated for this award and what it meant. There are also some comments from the students nominations to show why they nominated her.
What is your role?
I am the Doctoral Administrator for the research programmes in the Departments of Culture & Creative Industries, International Politics and Music.
Why did students nominate you?
I can only speculate, but I hope it is because they feel that if they have a problem or need assistance with anything, I am there for them to help them with it, as soon as I can and as best as I can. Wherever possible, I want to give the students the feeling that once they come to me with problem, it is in hand and it is being dealt with.
One thing that is very important to me is to let students know straight away that I have e.g. received their email or message and even if I don’t know the solution or answer right away I let them know what I will do or what the next step will be and keep them updated until the problem has been resolved or I can give them an answer. As probably everyone will have experienced at some point, things don’t always move very quickly in an organisation such as ours and can be frustratingly slow, particularly during times of reorganisation which we have recently been going through. And I think the worst thing for a student experiencing problems and uncertainties is to feel forgotten about because nothing is happening.
Some student nominations comments
Here are some of the student comments from the nominations. “She is highly efficient and can solve issues rapidly and effectively thus helping students and staff lectures enabling a better university environment”, “Zazie is very patient with all my enquiries, and responds very promptly. She always provides accurate and clear answers. She is very reliable and trustworthy” and “excellent communication skills and always immediately responsive and helpful”
How did you feel about gaining this award?
It actually meant a lot more to me than I would have expected. I am specifically thankful for it because, I only work part-time and I always worry that it could be negatively perceived that I am not in the office every day of the week. Receiving this award proved me wrong, so that’s great!
What message would you give colleagues if you were to choose one tip to enhance student experience?
I think students want to be more than just a customer. Of course, they want excellent teaching, great facilities and all that, and so they should! But I think they also want to feel that the staff, no matter if academic or not, actually care about them. Everybody will have their own way of showing it, but it is what we should bring across to them.
