12 February 2007

PSANA EXCO Meeting
Monday 12 February 2007
FABI Boardroom

Disclaimer: Please note: the matters discussed herein are the personal views and opinions of the members present at the meeting. They are therefore not the views or policies of PSANA or the University of Pretoria and PSANA and the University of Pretoria therefore do not accept liability for any damages or implications arising from the correctness of the facts stated in these minutes, unless specifically stated.

Present:

• Werner Barnard
• James Mehl (Chairperson - PSANA)
• Inger Plaskitt
• Jackie Nel (Chairperson – NatHouse)
• Khanyiso (NatHouse Representative)

Apologies:

• Marelize van Wyk
• Corlia Hayward

1. Approval of Previous Minutes (James)
- The minutes of the previous meeting were approved (James and Werner)

2. Report Back on the Postgraduate Student Survey (Werner and James)
- The report was released sometime in December last year but we haven’t seen it yet. We plan to ask Juan-Claude for permission to view it. A summary of the report should then be circulated amongst the students of the faculty.
- Phase 3 of the survey (just for the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences) was decided against. We, however, would like to push to have it done as we feel it is important.

3. Report Back on the Final Year Symposium (James)
- There were only about 200 students present at the symposium held last year and the majority were from the School of Biological Sciences.
- In the Faculty’s marketing meeting it was suggested the Final Year Symposium be done away with and that each department do its own with the exception of the School of Biological Sciences, who do one for the School.
- Some of the departments might, however, not do anything.
- Marie Venter will be contacted to determine whether PSANA can still assist in ensuring that a Symposium is done for each School, in collaboration with the Schools concerned.

4. Webpage Feedback (James)
- The minutes of previous PSANA meetings are now on the webpage (in full).
- James in trying to get photos for the website to change the index/welcoming page.
- The format of the webpages will also change to include a banner, the PSANA logo on the left hand side and the UP logo on the right hand side.
- Marie Venter and Emmarentia Nell will be contacted with regards to this proposed format.

5. Job Offers on the Webpage and the Webpage in General (Inger)
- The website currently only displays jobs for the School of Biological Sciences. At the individual departments, job opportunities are usually printed out and stuck on the notice boards, but they are not available on the web for people to view.
- Department heads will be asked to forward any job opportunities arising in their department for the students to James so that every School is well represented.
- The format of the webpages will change to include a banner, the PSANA logo on the left hand side and the UP logo on the right hand side.
- Marie Venter and Emmarentia Nel will be contacted with regards to this proposed format.

6. NRF Postgraduate Indaba (James)
- James and Werner will be going.
- This takes place next week Tuesday (evening) – Thursday (February 20th to 22nd).

7. Parking (James)
- Apparently the RAG floats are still obstructing parking to the east of the university in the parking lot opposite Nerina Hostel. James will contact the RAG office to get this dealt with and to ensure it is not a problem in future years.

8. PSANA plans for 2007 (James)
- PSANA is to do a presentation at the Faculty Bosberaad around the end of the month. We plan to discuss our activities of last year and our plans for the year ahead, namely the Symposium, NRF feedback, Student survey, and departmental representatives amongst other things.

9. NatHouse Plans for 2007 (NatHouse)
- They are planning to redo their marketing: t-shirts, office setup, website etc. and are planning a braai for the undergraduate students of the faculty. Lectures (via secretaries of each department) will be contacted to advertise this to the students. They have all the email addresses of the students so this is also a possibility for communication.
- They plan to focus on academic help.
- They are busy setting up a proposal to attract possible sponsors and are planning a raffle as a fundraiser.
- They currently have a soccer and cricket team and plan to include a chess, netball, rugby and hockey team during the year.
- They also plan to approach the Dean to discuss possible parking solutions.

10. General (All)
- Werner is still waiting for input from ASC - he plans to follow this up at the next meeting.
- Werner is also still busy with the quality criteria summary.
- Werner was informed that the university has done away with advanced payments on NRF payments to students. We plan to query this.