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d e n ts u n io n @ b r ig h to n st u @SUBrighton @subrighton su.com www.brighton
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Whether you’re 18 or 118; a full-time, part-time, postgraduate, commuting, mature or international student - we are here to make sure your experience at university is the best it can be. We ensure that your voice is being heard, provide services and opportunities, activities to get involved with, advice, support and a whole lot of fun along the way. We’re led by you, for you.
, e r a e w o wh ! o d e w t wha community:
a member of You are automatically ion - welcome to Brighton Students’ Un 00 students. a community of 22,0
independent:
m the university We are independent fro r change so that you and are here to fight fo nce. have the best experie
Not-for-profit
charity:
ck d at the union goes ba Every penny you spen en ev make your time here into activities to help better.
ney: Value for mo s to be
rvice We aim for all of our se ide you with great ov pr d budget-friendly an her you’re purchasing value for money, whet d more. event tickets, food an
Jobs:
150+ student staff in We currently employ ng you with great our SU teams - providi employability skills.
campaigning:
response to feedback We run campaigns in you in an effort to that we receive from ic experience. improve your academ
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Societies:
societies at BSU that There are 100+ active e to meet new people you can join at anytim isting interests. and enjoy new and ex
n:
Representatio
urse Representatives We have over 850 Co ic em ad ac ur back about yo providing us with feed anges at course level. experience to make ch
Student Voice:
votes cast in our There were over 18,000 ership Elections to Students’ Union Lead who will lead the democratically decide present you. students’ union and re
Events:
attend our Over 1,200 students lebrating their events each year - ce time in Eastbourne.
ADVICE:
lped over 1,000 BSU Support have he em on the ic issues and advised th students with academ their degree. best route to securing
Outlets:
and entertainment We provide great food year round. at The Starting Gate all
this handbook provides you WITH info on how we can support you and make your time at uni even better. read on to find out more...
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full-time m a e t r e c i f of Tomi IbukunT
UNION PRESIDEN providing a ion and ensures we’re
tat Tomi leads SU represen rks between mbers (you!). Tomi wo me r ou for e vic ser ty ali qu stings campuses. Moulsecoomb and Ha
son Parker Robin ence
ri VP Academic Expe ensures demic representation and
t aca Parker looks after studen resents r uni experience. Parker rep you h wit d ase ple that you’re Grand Parade students.
Sam Shew
PARTICIPATION VP ACTIVITIES & ts sports teams, he also suppor
and Sam works with our societies te, Sam ies. As an Eastbourne gradua ivit act t den stu er events and oth pus. covers the Eastbourne cam
Amy Jaiteh
PAIGNS VP WELFARE & CAM ntal and physical health,
h their me Amy supports students wit ded. Amy ed with support where nee vid pro e y’r ensuring that the mer. represents students in Fal
from the student body! yOur officer team are elected e to get your voices they work for the union full-tim es that matter to you. heard and campaign on the issu
s at:§ Find out more about the officer ers bri ght on su.c om /of fic
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campus Eastbourne is a social campus within the University of Brighton. It’s nestled in a town with a range of bars, clubs and the great South Downs and Beachy Head. You’ll have a range of options when partaking in activities on a campus with a 25 metre swimming pool, sports hall, gym, artificial outdoor pitch and dance studio. Relax in our SU cafe-bar, The Starting Gate, and meet new people. Eastbourne is cosy with a community feel: you’ll feel right at home amongst other Eastbourne students and be part of a large family.
bishopSbourne, welkin site • The starting gate • SU Office • su shop
hillbrow site
darley road site 7
LIVING IN e n r u o b t s ea Eastbourne is known as the sunniest town on the coast and a beautiful place to live. The community feel and fantastic scenery allows you to relax in a friendly place whilst studying.
e include: Highlights of living in Eastbourn Eastbourne Seafront
Spend hours relaxing along Eastbourne seafront, eating fish and chips on the pier and appreciating the picturesque views.
Beachy Head
Beachy Head is an iconic British landscape, known for its outstanding beauty and attracting tourists for miles.
Nature Walks Eastbourne is rife with nature, whether you’re heading to Seven Sisters, the Cuckmere River or further afield – if you’re a nature lover, this is the place for you.
Brighton, Hastings & Surrounding Areas Brighton, Hastings and other seaside towns are also a stone’s throw away. See the rest of Sussex with ease.
Attractions
Eastbourne Bandstand, the Miniature Steam Railway and the annual Airshow are just some of the many interesting attractions in Eastbourne.
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societies We have many societies at Brighton Students’ Union, all are student-led and cover a range of interests, from academic and cultural to leisure and faith. Societies (Soc) are a great way to find a group of friends that share common interests with you and become integrated into a community. From ArabSoc to Young Greens Soc - whatever your interests, there is a society for you!
“Joining a society was the best thing i did at uni” Leanne Bayley, second year student and member of the LGBTQ+ Society
“I’ve made some amazing life-long friends through Music Society, and I’m thankful to have had the space to meet new faces every week” Francesca Thornton, third year student and member of Music Society
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societies How to join: Come along to one of our BSU Freshers’ Fairs to meet our societies or head to our website to find out more about them. It’s easy to join a society online all year round.
u.com/societies to Simply head to brightons and sign up there! join or create a society Can’t find a society you like? If you can’t find a society that matches your interest, you can create your own! BSU will support you in setting up and give you training and access to funding.
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sports Sport Brighton is the University of Brighton’s sport and recreation department, providing you with the opportunity to develop and maintain your fitness, compete in sport and have fun with friends.
There are 3 main sports programmes delivered by Sport Brighton: 1. Gym and sports facilities, including fitness classes 2. Student-run sports clubs 3. Parklife (social and recreational sport programme) Your local gym and fitness facilities are located in the Hillbrow Sports Centre. A fitness programme is offered throughout the week and the latest timetables can be found at the Sport Brighton website or any sports centre reception. Parklife is a great way to get involved with sports at a low cost! There are a wide range of sports to get involved with including Pilates, Climbing, Judo and more. Just when you think it can’t get better, most sessions are just £1. Look out for special Parklife events, the first big one being the annual Parklife Ice Skating event on Monday 19th November.
Read about all things Parklife at parklifeplay.co.uk
at: n can be found io at rm fo in re o M c.uk sport.brighton.a 11
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a i d e M t n e d u St Student Media is a fantastic way of expressing your creativity outside of your studies and is open for all students at the university. We support three main media outlets: The Verse newspaper, Buzz Radio and Brighton TV. These outlets are run by students, for students across all of the university campuses. Anyone can get involved in student media regardless of their degree subject. It’s a great way of getting valuable work experience and employability skills whilst having fun with friends.
olved with If you’re interested in getting inv re at: student media, you can find out mo The Verse Student Newspaper Verse Brighton theverse.co.uk
Brighton TV BrightonSUTV youtube.com/BrightonTVSociety
Buzz Radio BuzzRadioBSU blogs.brighton.ac.uk/buzzradio
or contact us at righton.ac.uk bsucommunications@b 12
g n i r e e t n u l o V
There are a number of ways that you can volunteer with Brighton Students’ Union to gain valuable work experience, employability skills and meet new people. • • • • •
Join our Health and Wellbeing teams and support with Pet Therapy and other campaigns. Be a helper at one of our events and gain insight into the event industry whilst having fun. Run in our Students’ Union Leadership Elections to be a volunteer officer. Become the Course Representative for your peers. Lead a society or student group as a member of the committee.
es other great opportuniti There are a number of /volunteering listed at: brightonsu.com The university also run Active Student which has additional volunteering opportunities brighton.ac.uk/careers.
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y t i l i b a y o l p m e Working for your students’ union is a great way to earn extra money whilst studying. We can provide work around your university timetable and you’ll gain valuable skills that can be used in your future careers including teamwork, customer service, food hygiene, cash handling, negotiation skills and more. Joining our group of over 150 student staff is a great way to gain experience, get involved in the students’ union, make new friends and have fun whilst earning money! We have jobs within our café-bar, general admin work and ways in which you can gain experience working in events. This is a great addition to your CV and a fun part-time job during uni.
nsucom/jobs find out more at brighto
ebsite FAQ’s on our w re. Check out our to find out mo bs o /j m o .c su n to brigh
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Events We host a number of events that are open to all of our student members. We have large-scale gala events and a wide range of smaller events throughout the year to help you settle in, meet like-minded students and have fun!
we have Freshers’ fortnight to start the year off right, Freshtival is a two week programme of nighttime events that are designed to get you settled into university life. There is something for everybody - check out our Hello Eastbourne programme too! Our Union Awards are designed to celebrate students, staff and volunteers at the university. We have an upbeat award ceremony, with winners that are nominated by staff and students at the university. The Garden Party is an end of year celebration on Bishopsbourne Lawns. This festival-style day has a range of entertainment and is designed to get you all out in the sun, reminiscing on your year and getting excited for the start of summer! We host events in our cafÊ-bar, The Starting Gate on campus during term-time which include society and sports socials and meet-ups, quiz nights and film nights. You can also use this space to host your own events.
ming events at: Check out upco /e ve n ts br ig h to n su .c o m 15
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CAFe-Bar We have an SU café-bar on campus, The Starting Gate, and it’s based in Bishopsbourne next to Welkin Halls. The Starting Gate (TSG) welcomes you with open arms, it’s a great place to hang out between lectures or spend an evening socialising with friends. We show a variety of live sport events and host regular events and activities throughout the year for you to get involved with. The money spent in our students’ union outlets is invested back into your union. We provide you with affordable, on-campus food and drinks, helping you save money and benefitting your own student experience! VEGAN AND GLUTEN FREE OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE IN ALL OF OUR CAFE-BARS.
US ON LI NE AT: SE E OU R FU LL M EN /C AF EB AR S BR IG HTON SU .COM
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Shops We also have a shop on campus that sells university merchandise, this is upstairs in Bishopsbourne, above The Starting Gate. When visiting, you’ll meet the legendary Di and Nigel (Digel). They will help you throughout your time at university and are available to answer any questions about the campus that you may have – they know a lot about Eastbourne and the SU so don’t hesitate to ask. e! You can also shop onlin
We have a wide range of university hoodies, t-shirts, baseball jackets and more. Head to brighton.universityhoodies.org to buy yours today!
yoyo You can now pay in all of these outlets with the Yoyo app. This app allows you to pay with your phone and earn points to gain rewards.
Download Yoyo today on the app store .
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Buy a 1, 2 or 3 year card from just ÂŁ12 TODAY brightonsu.com/totum
Over 200 discounts across the biggest brands
Lots of local discounts in Brighton too!
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Student Voice We are here to represent you throughout your time at university and support student-led campaigns to improve your academic experience.
ctions Students’ Union Leadership Ele The Students’ Union Leadership Elections are held every year in the spring term. By standing for a position, you can make a real difference to the university experience for all students at Brighton. Every student has the opportunity to vote - it’s important that you do as these people will lead the student body and shape your university experience.
full-time Officer team You’ll see your full-time officer team around campus during your time here. They represent your views and work everyday to improve your university experience. Make sure you get to know them by popping in for a chat, catch them at events throughout the year or contact them on social media.
Become a Volunteer Officer
You can also become a volunteer officer. These officers represent specific communities within the student body such as BME, Ethics & Environment, Mature, LGBTQ+ and more. You’ll get the chance to run awareness events and campaigns that improve the lives of students.
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question of the month We are committed to finding out more about your academic priorities and ensuring that you’re happy with your experience whilst studying at the university. That’s why we’re out on campus each month asking students how they feel and campaigning to improve anything you may be unhappy with. Chat to us on your campus and give feedback!
WE ’re here for you If you see things on campus that you’d like to change during your time at the university, you can contact us and campaign. We will support you and do whatever we can to improve your university experience.
e .com/studentvoic Visit brightonsu s for more detail
your volunteer officers 2018-19
Women’s Officer Kirsty Hearn
Disabled Students’ Officer Mark Harvey
LGBTQ+ Officer (Open) Christopher Thomas
Ethics and Environmental Officer LGBTQ+ Officer - Non-Binary/Trans Identifying Jamell Brown Kip Webb-Heller
Mature Students’ Officer Daniel Jackson
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International Students’ Officer Farhoud Salmanmohajer
Course Reps What is a Course Rep? A Brighton Students’ Union Course Representative is a student that volunteers to represent your viewpoint at course level and ensure that you’re getting the most of your university experience. The elected Rep will attend meetings and raise any issues that their peers are having in order to enable student feedback and ensure changes are being made.
why do we have course reps?
Course Reps are an essential part of your student voice at uni. As our student members, they feedback current issues and give us an insight into your student experience which we can then help make change. We want to give students the chance to speak about their university lives in an informal, friendly setting.
How to become a Course Rep?
Becoming a Course Rep is a great way to support students on your course and gain valuable skills. If you’re interested in becoming a Course Rep, let your course leader know at the beginning of the year. An informal election is held to decide who will be the representative for each course during your time at university.
/coursereps To find out more, visit brightonsu.com or email coursereps@brighton.ac.uk
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Health & Wellbeing Here at Brighton Students’ Union we do many things to support your health & wellbeing. We understand that whilst university is an amazing experience – it can sometimes be stressful, so we provide services to help you.
we do a number of things: port Providing information and sup
We run activities throughout the year that have lots of information and somebody to talk to at Brighton Students’ Union, whether that’s our Health and Wellbeing Projects Coordinator or our friendly volunteers. Rest assured that you’ll always be able to find somebody to talk to, get more information and point you in the right direction.
Pet Therapy
One of our most popular wellbeing activities is Pet Therapy which happens twice a year. This is a chance for you to take some time out of your day to stroke some dogs and meet our BSU Support team who will be able to answer your questions around academic issues.
ns VP Welfare and Campaig
Our VP Welfare and Campaigns, Amy is here to support you and campaign for the welfare of students at the university. If you’d like to speak to Amy further contact her at a.jaiteh@brighton.ac.uk.
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Health & Wellbeing Groups Representing Liberation
We represent liberation groups in many ways: through our Volunteer Officers, in our societies and within campaigns that happen throughout the year. We strive to be inclusive to all students at the University of Brighton.
Local services
We work with local services and charities in Brighton and East Sussex including the Terrence Higgins Trust and the Oasis Project to raise awareness of their support on campus.
campus services
We provide free sexual health & wellbeing goods at all of our campus receptions including condoms, pregnancy tests, STI testing kits, and self-care activity kits.
t he alth and we llb eing, To find out more abou odadvice visit: br ightonsu.com /go 25
advice
Our Advice team, as part of BSU Support, are here to help you with any difficulties you may face as a student. You can visit us if you need to find out more about academic misconduct, mitigating circumstances, appeals; complaints, thinking of leaving university, disciplinary issues, Fitness to Practice, and Bullying and Harassment. We are here to inform you of the options available and to help you make informed choices to resolve any issues that affect your university life. We are independent from the university and any information you share with us is confidential. BSU Support team help over 1,000 of our members every year. Don’t hesitate to visit them if you need any advice.
Contact Please book an appointment before popping in, so we can make sure we’re around. If it’s an urgent matter, you can check our website for drop-in details. To book an appointment, email bsusupport@brighton.ac.uk
t advice at bsu, To find out more abou pp or t visit br ig hton su .co m/ su 26
Travel & Transport BUS
Get from the town centre to campus with ease on the 3 or 3A bus. Check out the Stagecoach website for a range of prices and discounted prices.
TRAIN
If you’re planning to get the train, you can buy a Unizone ticket which is an affordable way for students to travel. This ticket allows you to travel freely between all train stations in Brighton, Eastbourne and East Worthing.
walk or cycle
It’s simple to walk or cycle between campuses in Eastbourne, they are quaint and peaceful. This is also a great way to stay fit and be environmentally friendly!
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Bucket List Fish and chips on the beach
Visit the Redoubt Fortress and The Pavillion
Visit Beachy Head
See a show at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre
Go to Eastbourne Freshers’ Fair
Admire the live music at the Eastbourne Bandstand
Walk or kayak along the Cuckmere River
Go on a boat tour
Head to Hastings for Jack in the Green
Have a country lunch in Alfriston
Stroll around the Towner Gallery
Cycle along Beachy Head to Birling Gap
Party in Embassy, TJ’s and Cameo
Test your golf skills at Eastbourne Golf Club
Go to the Arlington Bluebell Walk during April Attend the infamous BSU Toga Party Have fun at Eastbourne’s Miniature Steam Railway End the year at the Garden Party Spend the day at the Airbourne Air Show Go to the Extreme Sports Festival Hop on the train to Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Head to Bexhill and visit the De La Warr Pavillion Treat yourself to something new at the Arndale Centre Pick your own fruit and pumpkins at the Sharnfold Farm, Pevensey Take a day off at Holywell Retreat Beach Meet the animals at Drusillas Park
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Top tips for freshers Have the best university experience possible by following our top tips! Get involved Whatever your age, campus or background there is something for you. Joining a society or club is such a special and unique opportunity that you may never get to do again! We also have mulitple volunteering opportunities and events, where you can meet other like-minded students. Budget Financial stress can be a problem for some students during university, but there are ways to ease this worry. Deciding on a budget and sticking to it is so important as it’ll help you stay on track all year. There are also many great ways of saving money through discounts, one of which is buying a Totum (powered by NUS extra) card for exclusive offers. Seek support if you need to… Don’t hesitate to visit our BSU Support team if you’re struggling, they’re here to help you navigate any difficulties you may have. Manage your workload Try to stay on top of your workload to minimise stress, this can be achieved easily by making a manageable schedule. Use your BSU wallplanner to plan your week, you’ll get one from us when you start!
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Give feedback If you’re not having the best time at university, remember that there is something you can do about it. Speak to us about campaigning for change or give your feedback in surveys. Take advantage of every opportunity Make the most of every situation and get the best experience you can by trying new things. Document it! This will be such an important time in your life, filled with happy memories. Don’t forget to document them and share them with us on social media using #helloeastbourne
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