Souther Unions Conference - Session Outlines

Day 1 | Monday 27 February

Secret Life of Students

1pm, Owen Harris 2

What’s really going on with student life? Why do students score the way they do on the NSS? What drives students to say they think the SU represents their interests, and how “full time” are full-time students in a cost of living crisis? In this session you’ll get a sneak preview of new research to be launched at Wonkhe’s student experience conference and find out how you can get involved in generating local results and insights in the year ahead.

Growing Participation with Data

2.05pm, Owen Harris 2

Data is all around us and we use it in a range of different ways to aid our decision-making processes. But, how can we make our membership data work harder and improve levels of participation and engagement? In this session, Simon and Nellie will be exploring the ways that Bucks Students’ Union use participation data to analyse engagement and to identify segments of the student body that we can better support.

What’s Next for Southern SU’s

4.05pm, Owen Harris 2

Following on from previous conversations, this session will explore how we want to move Southern Unions forwards to make it even more effective, particularly in terms of regional and national representation.

Understanding OfS’s Proposals on Harassment & Sexual Misconduct

4.45pm, Owen Harris 2

OfS has launched new proposals in England on harassment and sexual misconduct. As well as being important for students they could have a big impact on SU conduct and complaints processes. This session will tell you what you need to know.

Jim Dickinson Wonkhe

Simon McDowell & Nellie Hughes

Sufia Begum & Ilia Mirsky Katz

Jim Dickinson Wonkhe

Day 2 | Tuesday 28 February

Life After NUS

10am, Gateway Lecture Theatre

The realities, high and lows of a life after NUS - musings and practicalities from recent leavers and the long termers.

Growing Participation with Data

11am, Gateway Lecture Theatre

This session will highlight the collaborative projects between the Student Unions’, Universities and Community Partners in Canterbury to support student safety in the Night Time Economy including our Zero Tolerance Project, our Safer Streets Project and a range of partnership initiatives including street marshalls, tackling spiking messages and visibility of reporting mechanisms.

Refreshing Your Freshers

noon, Owen Harris 2

A freshers’ fair, a set of welcome talks and a wristband giving access to club nights. The formula for freshers is ubiquitous - but is it what students want or need? Drawing on examples of practice from across Europe, in this session we’ll consider how the welcome perido might be reshaped, identify the role that SUs and student volunteers might play in it, and determine how to maximise the chances of the period delivering on belonging, confidence and skills in the student interest.

What Makes a Good SU?

3.15pm, Gateway Lecture Theatre

Is it the campaigns we run and win for students? Is it the sense of belonging students get from taking part in our activities? Is it commercial service we run? This session will explore SU staff and officers opinions on why students are satisfied or dissatisfied with their SUs and why they score us the way they do in the National Student Survey. It will look to create a series of questions to be explored in a research project that will take place over the next 4 months.

Anna Clodfelter, Craig Stephens, Ryan Bird

Kent Union & Christ Church Students’ Union

Tom Foy Brighton Students’ Union

Jim Dickinson Wonkhe