February 2017 Impact

• Following on from the success of the Sporting Activities Awareness day, we held the Societies Activities day.  All Societies had a stand out in the mall showcasing what they do and recruiting new members. 

 

• The SU President, Vivienne, attended a Student Engagement Partnership Conference at the beginning of February. The conference was designed to equip practitioners with new insights and provide a collaborative space for development of new thinking and practice sharing on student engagement. Vivienne, who delivered a workshop at the conference concerning the role of learner identity in Engaging a Diverse student body said she was looking forward to sharing exciting new ideas ways of working.

 

• Members of SU staff and the CEC’s attended a 1 day workshop and received training enabling them to deliver the Look After Your Mate workshops which the SU will be holding in the future. Staff and CEC’s learned about student mental health and the challenges that students face. 

 

• We held our annual Hate Crime Awareness event, this year called ‘Let’s End Hate Crime Together’. We invited various agencies who had stands in the Chancellor’s Mall, we raised awareness about hate crime, and gave students the information they need to report a hate crime.  We cut out hand shapes and students were invited to write down on these hands any issues they wanted to ‘let go of.’ The hands were displayed on our SU office window and we received some great feedback about them.  Remember, your Students’ Union is a Hate Crime Reporting Centre, and anything you tell us will be kept confidential.  Call in for help and advice.  

 

• As part of the Hate Crime Awareness Week Aiysha Khan, a third year Youth and Community Work student on placement here at the SU, organised a fabulous Diversity Day event.  This was a celebration of students’ different cultures and backgrounds.  There was a packed programme of events including live music, dance and stalls all showcasing the rich cultural world of the University and its communities.  Stands at the event included henna tattoos, Arabic calligraphy and the sampling of different teas from around the world. There was an international fashion show and a Bollywood dance performance.  SU President, Vivienne said: “It’s fantastic to see a student-organised event attended and supported by such a wide range of students.”

 

• The Annual General Meeting took place in the SLZ on 22^nd February which was open to all students.  This was your opportunity to discuss the SU’s annual report, view and discuss the audited accounts and question Vivienne, the President, about her work to make student life better and help students love student life.  After the AGM we held the Question and Answer session with the candidates running in the SU Leadership Race.  Voting commenced on 23^rd February and the results will be announced on March 1^st.

 

• Evening students at Queens Specialist Building (QBS) told us they often came straight from work to Uni and that the Café was closed so they were unable to access food and drink. We petitioned the University for the Café at Queens to be kept open late for evening students. Win: Evening students are now able to access sandwiches and drinks when they arrive for their evening classes.

 

• Students located at QSB told us there was not enough access to computers. Win: We spoke to the Uni who agreed to freeze one of the computer rooms as a general non-timetabled room, thereby freeing up 24 P.Cs for use by students at any time.

 

• Students told us they would like outdoor furniture at QSB. Win: We can confirm this has now been purchased by the University which will be in place for summer.