Impact Report 2009-10

Staffordshire University Students’ Union Striving for the best experience for students

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Staffordshire University Students’ Union Impact Report 2009/10

The Students’Union mission

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The Union strives to improve the experience of all of its members by:

It would be wrong to deny or blur over the fact that this has been a very challenging year for the Students’ Union and that the impact of some events this year has been negative.

However, within that cloud, there have been many silver linings and in many ways this has been one of the most successful years for students.

This year has seen a record amount of money raised/saved for students by the Student Advice Centre (£1.2m at the time of going to press).

The University has agreed to a maximum period in which to provide academic feedback and the quality of the feedback given is likely to improve.

Following a review of its effectiveness, the main libraries at Stafford and Stoke will remain open 24 hours a day, something which the Union first achieved for students in 2008.

The number of Clubs and Societies has risen markedly, as has the number of memberships. Our Clubs and competitive societies have achieved success in national leagues and competitions and others have taken their activities into the local community, raising the profile of students as positive role-models.

There is far too much to mention in this brief introduction, but I hope that you will read on past these selected highlights and discover, in detail, just what we have achieved for you in the 2009/10 academic year.

Tim Robinson Communications Officer 2009/10

Foreword

Total number of students: 17,000Over 40% of students are 18-21Over one-third of students are over-25One-third of all students are part-time13% of students are from outside the UK

• Representing students’ views, concerns and aspirations

• Campaigning, educating and advising on student issues

• Delivering quality social space and services on campus

• Encouraging students to interact through cultural, recreational and social groups and activities

I would like to welcome you to the 2009/10 Staffordshire University Students’ Union Impact Report. We have produced the Impact Report for the last two years and we believe that it is an important and useful document for our members. Through this document we can demonstrate to our members (students) what the Union has done for them over the past 12 months and, more importantly, what benefits that has achieved.


Contents Foreword Officer team Membership services Activities Commercial services Finances Plans for 2010/11

Officer Team

Executive Non Portfolio Officer – Hyder Kamran Executive Non Portfolio Officer – Christopher Milne Executive Non Portfolio Officer – Saim MemonChair of Students’ Union Council – Gary McNally Site Councillor (Stafford) – Sudheer Bandaru International Students Officer – Anant Tyagi LGBT Officer – Charley Hasted Welfare Officer – Mohamed Asim Post Graduate Students Officer – Mohamed Haseen Local Students Officer (Stoke) – Syed Hammad Ahmed Local Students’ Officer (Stafford) – Vic Casambros Academic Affairs Officer – Shakir Quresh Campaigns Officer – Amos Sawyers Activities Officer (Sports) – Kyle Haresign Equal Opportunities Officer – Natasha Thompson School Rep Law – Kyrsty Bonham Students With Disabilities Officer – Adrian Baggott School Rep AMD – Emma Harris School Rep Science – Abigail Robertson School Rep FCET – Muhammad Sarfraz

President Assed BaigCommunications Officer Tim RobinsonStudent Activities Officer Gareth BarronEducation and Welfare Officer Vanessa BrumbyCommercial Services Officer Becca McLellan

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The Student Advice Centre (SAC) saw over 4,000 clients and raised more than a million pounds for students, with Money Doctors accounting for £772,994 of this.

A staggering 1,737 Staffs students responded to the Money Doctors Survey conducted by the Consumer Finance Education Body (CFEB), which was overwhelmingly positive. Awareness of this service continues to grow with more than 9,000 current and prospective students accessing the Money Doctors’ website. The interactive financial tools have proved very popular, particularly with prospective students wanting to calculate their funding entitlements. The SAC has recently secured a grant to develop an interactive financial statement to complement this.

The SAC successfully piloted a new Quality Mark project led by Advice UK and the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux and have broadened their appeal with a regular weekly radio show. Staff and Officers have worked collaboratively with the University on ALF (Access to Learning Funds), academic feedback, student debt, the student experience, policies and regulations.

Work continued on the development of STARS (Student Academic Representatives Scheme) with the appointment of two dedicated staff members, the first annual STARS conference, improved training and communication, and the introduction of an engagement allowance and regular newsletter.

With the creation of the new post of Student Engagement Assistant, support to Officers, Student Council and the membership in general was much improved. Student

engagement with the democratic processes of the Union has seen a significant increase with over 2,500 students actively participating in the elections or referenda and a record number of students standing in the elections. There were an increased number of Student Council meetings throughout the year, with all meetings attracting student observers. Greater transparency and communication has also been enjoyed with minutes and papers being freely available online.

A more co-ordinated approach to Boards and Committees has ensured the Officers are well prepared and able to take an active role in decision making leading to tangible outcomes including improved feedback provision for

“2009/10 was a very productive year for Membership Services at Staffs”

Engaging with the student membership

“Student engagement with the democratic processes of the Union has seen a significant increase”

“Officers are well prepared and able to take an active role”

The two new dedicated staff members enable us to have a full-time presence at both Stoke and Stafford. Both will offer ongoing support to students. Reps took an active part in the two University “unconferences”, met with the Quality Assurance Agency who completed their audit of the University this year and contributed to the Union’s Student Written Submission.

2009/10 was a very productive year for Membership Services at Staffs:

students in the future.

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Sport One of the main areas of focus this year was to improve our sporting performance and our league table position within BUCS, at the end of session we have moved 15 places up the league table. This has been achieved through the hard work of our students participating in sport and working closely with local community coaching groups to improve training and week to week performance.

Societies This year has seen over 12 new start-up society groups, meaning we now provide 35 diverse groups to enable us to improve our student participation. We have over

2,000 students getting actively involved in extra curricular activity on a weekly basis. One of the major successes for this year is the development of a community scheme getting our students out into the local community and schools. They can now talk to students of the future about university life and some of the extra curricular activities you can become a part of.

Volunteering The recent launch of the community rep scheme means that we now have students in the heart of the community working with local residents and fighting important issues collectively.

A partnership project working with Stoke-on-Trent Safer City Partnership, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue, CopShop and Union volunteers saw students offered the opportunity to dispose of their end of year waste in an environmentally-friendly way. The event was deemed a huge success with all skips being full by mid-afternoon. All parties have agreed to look at making it an annual event.

OMGStudent media groups have gone from strength to strength this year, recruiting over 100 students to take an active role in leading and delivering student media across our campuses.

One of our major successes this year, due to the commitment of our volunteers, was the coverage of the annual Varsity event at Keele. Over 60 students covered 15 sporting events throughout the day and night, producing live commentary and coverage to our students back on campus as well as producing a CD of sporting clips sold on to students for charity after the event. Their use of social media has really taken media to a new level, enabling students to actively engage with elections, political debates and sporting events day and night.

“We now have students in the heart of the communityworking with local residentsand fighting important issues”

Union’s local and national victories

• Netball first team won BUCS Midlands Netball League 4B and second team won BUCS Midlands Netball League 5A

• Men’s Rugby Union 2nd’s won BUCS Midlands Mens 3B League and BUCS Midlands Conference Cup

• Men’s Hockey won BUCS Midlands Mens 3B league

• Fencing made the final Midlands Mens Conference Cup

• Football Mens Midlands Conference Cup Winners

• Men’s Volleyball England Universities cup final – top 15 teams in country

• Dance Society competed nationally at Loughborough University and Royal Holloway University competitions and placed 3rd in jazz

• Cheerleading won the Level 2 Senior Stunting Division

“Student activities has seena year of great successes”

“This year has seen over 12new start-up society groups”

Student activities has seen a year of great successes in both sports and societies, complemented by successes in the local community

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The now vibrant Student Space in Stafford is now truly student owned. Many students have already given positive feedback about its relaxed atmosphere. This space provides an ideal area for both students and staff to relax, use one of the many computers and enjoy the benefits of free Wi-Fi access.

We have continued to harness student enthusiasm involving student focus groups in the planning of events such as the Summer Ball. We continue to seek feedback on all of our events through online polls and social media groups.

Student-run events form a key part of the student experience and we continue to have weekly events for Clubs and Societies in Stoke and Stafford. Highlights include a Love Music Hate Racism concert and The Diversity Fashion Show.

The Squeeze Box juice bar now provides an excellent range of hot and cold healthy snacks, and is popular with both students and university staff alike.

September 2009 saw the opening of the newly re-fitted Ember Lounge, providing a second room for seating and relaxation with large screen TV. A larger kitchen has also been developed, providing more food choices with reduced waiting times.

Our Stafford venue The Lounge saw a significant improvement in its food provision, with an ever expanding menu focusing on quality and speed of service in a relaxing but vibrant environment.

Taking student ownership to the next level

The Union continued to improve the ownership of space on campus this year, working with the University to ensure all space is beneficial to the student experience.

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However, in the current economic and social climate, the generation of these surpluses is increasingly marginal. Against a downward national trend in licensed trade sales, the Union was able to slightly increase its overall trade by 4% in venues (£1,613,000). This was only by vastly growing our food sales, up 48% to £307,000 from £207,000 in 2008/09. This was made possible by the investment in serving and kitchen space at Ember Lounge, and improving kitchen specifications at Beaconside Venues. However, this move

towards an increasingly catered offer, whilst striving to deliver student value, has reduced the surplus generated from venue operation. The surplus has dropped by 24% to £119,000, from £152,000 in 2008/09. Retail, however, has remained buoyant with overall sales increasing by 15% across the three campus stores to £777,000 (£677,000 in 2008/09), although gross margins only increase by 9%. But because this increase in sales volume came without increasing overheads, net surpluses rose by £30,000 to a grand total of £74,000.

In 2009/10 the block grant provided rose by 3% to £648,000 (£630,000 in 2008/09). This block grant, together with the provision of the premises and ancillary services, are crucial to the Union’s ability to deliver such a positive experience to students and contribute to the University’s output. In addition to this funding, the Union were successful in securing additional grants to deliver new pieces of work. These included an enhancement of the Student Academic Reps (StARs) and development of the quality and breadth of student media.

Despite taking on the additional programmes and continuing the Money Doctors, Welcome Week, Learning Fund support, and Volunteer Programme, there has been a continued focus on efficiency and value. This meant that total organisational expenditure after trading rose by just 5% to £973,000, from £925,000 in 2008/09.This enabled the organisation to generate a small surplus and transfer to reserves of £34,000, at year end.

Resources & Financial

Staffordshire University Students Union is a not-for-profit organisation, with charitable purpose. Because the Students’ Union delivers core representation, student support and sporting and recreational programmes, the Union receives a block grant from the University. But to deliver the range and diversity of support services and programmes, the Union has to generate contributory surpluses from the trading services it operates. So, as well as having a direct impact on the student experience outlined earlier, they indirectly contribute to the resources necessary to operate the Union.

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Throughout the year the focus on efficiency and value has extended beyond the pure financial. All areas of the Students’ Union have been striving to ensure their service delivery and operation reduce both waste and impact on the environment, as well as raising members’ awareness of ethical and environmental concerns. The result of these efforts was recognised in the achievement of Silver Standard for Sound Impact, up from Bronze in 2008/9.

A Sound Impact


Since our appointment in August, we have been working hard on achieving this and I would just like to take a moment to reveal the plans ahead.

We will be continuing our support for our Student Academic Representative programme (StARs). In July the Union appointed two full-time staff who will assist and coordinate the many student academic representatives throughout the university.

With the Students’ Union governance due to change this year we will be asking students, via a referenda, to adopt a new constitution to finalise our move to a registered charity.

We want to improve students’ understanding of what the union does for them. You can expect to see our faces about campus talking to students, holding officer surgeries and letting the membership know what achievements we have made. We will be leading a number of campaigns throughout the year, the first being against government cuts to higher education. We are already asking our membership to join us in the national demonstration. We will also be encouraging our students to take part in the Census in 2011 to ensure they are counted.

Local issues are equally important and we will be doing a lot of work to rebuild positive relations with different sectors of society and encouraging our students to help improve their local communities. We have already started a Raise and Give (RAG) Society, where students take time out to raise money for good causes over the year. Being environmentally-friendly is something the Union and its students take very seriously. This year we are pushing for gold in the Sound Impact Environmental Awards and we will be constantly lobbying the university to be as green as it can be.

On a social level, we have already introduced The Other Room in Stafford and are offering more diverse nights of entertainment at our venues on both campuses.

And, of course, we will be supporting students to create new sports teams, societies, events and nights throughout the year. In particular, Team Staffs is going from strength to strength, with many students embracing the new brand. As we head towards Varsity, we hope to build a great base of support so we can bring the cup back home.

This is just a small selection of some of the work that you can expect from your officer team for 2010/11. To close, I would like to reiterate that we may be your representatives, but this is your Union. Fiona ‘Fee’ Wood

President 2010 - 2011

The year ahead

Students’ views, concerns, aspirations and expectations are our guiding light. As the officer team for the 2010/11 academic year, we believe that students should feel able to engage with the Students’ Union.

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Stoke CampusStaffordshire University Students’ UnionCollege RoadStoke-on-TrentStaffordshireST4 2DE01782 294629

Stafford CampusStaffordshire University Students’ UnionBeaconsideStaffordStaffordshireST18 0AD01785 353311

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Documents

Impact Report 2009-10