Annual Impact Report 17/18 Responding to our members’ needs
04. 07. 09. 11. 13. 14. 17.
Vision & Values Wins for Students Chief Executive SU President Student Engagement and Satisfaction Balanced Scorecard Progress (2017-18) Representation
19. 21. 23. 27. 31. 35. 37. 41. 43.
Democracy Student Development Activities Student Advice Venues Shops & Services Heath Park Cymraeg Finances
44. Balanced
Scorecard 2018-2019
48. Trustees and Senior Staff
A LEADING STUDENTS’ UNI N
Cardiff University Students’ Union (the Union) is recognised as a leading students’ union and an integral part of Cardiff University. The next three years will see the Union confirm its place at the heart of the Cardiff student experience and will create more opportunities to impact on students’ lives. Our Strategy 2018-2021 sets out our vision and priorities so that we take advantage of the once in a generation opportunities in front of us and work with Cardiff University to create a sector-leading, inclusive and engaging student and learner experience.
OUR STRATEGIC VISION orking with every Cardiff student to W enhance their University experience.
OUR VALUES tudent leadership S Inclusion Partnership Diversity
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OUR PURP SE Cardiff University Students’ Union advances the education of students at Cardiff University for the public benefit by: Promoting the interests and welfare of students at Cardiff University during their course of study and representing, supporting and advising students;
B eing the recognised representative channel between students and Cardiff University and any other external bodies; and P roviding social, cultural, sporting and recreational activities and forums for discussions and debate for the personal development of its students.
Wins For Students Through the course of the year, the University and Students’ Union worked together on Partnership Groups. These groups focused on the issues raised within the student written submission (a report compiled from all the feedback we collect from students). These groups were actioned to investigate: • • • •
The Heath Park experience. The Postgraduate experience. Academic Representation Review. Saturday exams, Wednesday afternoons, and Friday prayer hours. • Enhancing the study environment.
Heath Park • The Students’ Union held 4 successful Student Family Days that engaged student parents providing them with a place to network with others who are also student parents. • A bespoke March intake of nurses induction with a treasure hunt to help new students starting at a different time of the year to feel part of the University community.
Democracy • The Officers launched a ‘Democracy From Day One’ campaign that allowed students to
quickly engage with the issues that mattered to them. The campaign involved the Officers going out to schools with tubes, ping-pong balls and a question with multiple choice answers. Students would then vote by putting a ball into the relevant tube. Each campaign day engaged over 100 students each time and gave some valuable insight into students perceptions of ‘Academic Interests’ as well as what type of food should be served in the Food Court, which consequently saw the introduction of a pizza outlet based on the feedback. • Spring Elections saw the most individual votes ever cast – with students voting for a variety of positions.
Education • Lecture Capture was rolled out across the university – 8,000 students streamed 1.23 million hours of recorded content in the first week of May alone! • The ASSL opening hours were extended during the winter period to support students who were still studying in Cardiff and/or don’t celebrate Christmas.
Sport • Wellbeing Officers were established in every sports club to provide a further support mechanism for students.
Welsh Language • UMCC (The Welsh Union) was launched at the Eisteddfod.
Welfare • The Union’s “It’s No Joke” campaign around sexual harassment was launched. • Funding for Suicide Prevention and Bystander Intervention training was introduced.
Postgraduate Students • Perspective Masters students were given the opportunity to learn how they could afford a Masters through presentations delivered from the VP Postgraduate. • 12 Postgraduate socials were held across the year.
Revision Aid • 2,000 cups of tea and coffee were distributed to students – fuelling and relaxing them for a busy revision and examination period.
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Chief Executive It gives me great pleasure to introduce this report and share the achievements of our student members and the output of our dedicated staff and volunteers. It’s incredible to see that the Union has achieved new highs in student engagement and satisfaction – again – in 2017/18. This unbroken sequence goes back four years and we’re determined to keep it up! In total, 73% of students have a relationship with the Union and 90% of all students are satisfied with what we do. We’ve achieved these UK-leading levels by continually improving what we do and diversifying our appeal. Recently created programmes such as Give it a Go and Medics Varsity have introduced us to different students, whilst rapidly expanding areas such as Cardiff Volunteering, Student Advice and Societies are having a broader appeal. Our students, staff and volunteers have done amazing work to get us here and this year see’s the launch of the Centre for Student Life project, in partnership with the university. It is our hope that when completed in 2021, our combined cocurricular and extra-curricular activities will be unmatched in supporting students, developing their potential and preparing them for life after graduation.
2017-2018 has also seen the development of our new Strategic Plan, that sets out our organisational aims and objectives for the next three years. We are focusing on four main themes and four enablers which will enhance the Union’s role at the heart of the Cardiff University student experience. Our plan was developed after gathering feedback from our students, staff, volunteers and University stakeholders so it feels appropriate that this report gives a snapshot of the kind of feedback we are gathering and responding to on an ongoing basis. From small wins to major changes, we are listening to our students to make sure the Union is responding to their needs.
“In total, 73% of students have a relationship with the Union and 90% of all students are satisfied with what we do.” - Daniel Palmer, CEO
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SU President 18/19 I am very honoured to share with you the great achievements we have accomplished over the academic year 2017/18 and the impacts we have created together for our students. 2017/18 focused on engaging with our students and working with students, for students. It has seen a record breaking level of student engagement in nearly all departments of the Students’ Union, with overall engagement at 73%. We have launched a new campaign called Democracy from Day One to make sure we are always listening to our students. In addition, we had a record breaking number of Speak Week cards filled out by our students, a total of 3425, with 7518 individual comments. This proved a robust and reliable source of the student voice and helped us to create change that enhances their experience. For example, we lobbied the university and had a lecture capture policy passed, and together we extended the ASSL opening hours over the Christmas and Easter breaks to 24 hours a day. We launched the first ever Academic Reps Training Conference that resulted in a 97% satisfaction rating from the students who attended. As a result of this and other work we have done to improve students’ academic
experience, we were awarded the NUS Wales Education Award! For the first time ever we have worked on five partnership projects with the university, namely, Improving the Heath Park Student Experience, Enhancing the Postgraduate Experience, Student Academic Rep Review, Study-life Balance, and Enhancing Social Learning Spaces. Without a doubt, it was a great way to collaborate and I am sure it will continue to improve. One of the biggest achievements of 2017/18 was to have Cardiff University stop investing in fossil fuels after 3 years of campaigning from the Students’ Union and student groups. We have also seen the launch of Undeb Myfyrwyr Cymraeg Caerdydd (UMCC), our Welsh Students’ Union, at the National Eisteddfod. We won the bid to host the National Societies Awards in our Students’ Union and went on to deliver a hugely successful event in May. We also won just under £10,000 in a lottery bid which has funded the delivery of Suicide Prevention Training. Finally, we were delighted to launch our new Strategic Plan 2018-2021, which reinforces the Students’ Union at the heart of the Cardiff student experience. It shows our new
aspirations, endeavours and future plans for how we will work with every Cardiff student to enhance their experience. These are only a glimpse of some of the achievements of last year. I believe we will continue to grow and achieve more for our students. We will continue to #MakeItHappen.
“As a result of the work we have done to improve students’ academic experience, we were awarded the NUS Wales Education Award!.” - Fadhila A. Al Dhahouri
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Varsity | 4,794
Student Advice | 4,195
Academic Reps | 1,023 Annual Members Meeting | 724
Voter | 6,578
Associations | 251 Athletic Union | 5,493 Cardiff Volunteering | 1,592 Cardiff Student Letting | 1,623 Union Volunteers | 581
Driver | 175 Election Candidates | 96
Venues | 12,073
Give it a Go | 5,289
Student Led Service | 173 Student Senate | 30
Guild of Societies | 9,528
Student Media | 306 Skills Development Service | 2,027 NUS Extra Card Sales | 1,554
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Jobshop | 3,016
Student Engagement and Satisfaction ENGAGEMENT Engagement with our student members is integral to our success, and our activities and services are focused on broadening our appeal to all sections of the student community. Last year saw a further increase in engagement, meaning that over 73% of students have a relationship with us that we can measure. We now have more students engaged with us than there are undergraduate students at the university. In the past year, we expanded our volunteer opportunities across various service areas and consequently we saw some significant increases in engagement and usage. In particular, we saw big increases within Student Advice, the Guild of Societies, Jobshop, Venues and Cardiff Volunteering. We saw a drop in Welsh Varsity attendance this year, but this is to be expected for years when we play away in Swansea. Looking forward, we don’t expect to see continued growth in our established service areas, with growth mainly coming from new
or redeveloped services. Our focus will shift towards engaging under-represented groups in our activities and ensuring that students who study away from the Cathays campus get a more comparable student experience.
“We now have more students engaged with us than there are undergraduate students at the University.”
From 2017 onwards, the National Student Survey (NSS) question concerning Students’ Unions has changed from general satisfaction to the Union’s role in representing students’ academic interests only. In 2018, our score dropped slightly to 65% (from 66%) but we have maintained our place as the 3rd highest scoring Russell Group University Union.
SATISFACTION We are proud to be ranked highly by our students and in the past year we have maintained 90% satisfaction within our internal survey and the Times Higher Education (THE) Student Experience Survey. In addition, we have consolidated our place as a top 4 UK Students’ Union and ranked 4th in the THE survey, 4th in the WhatUni Student Choice Awards and in the Top 4 within the Which? University Guide.
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Balanced Scorecard Progress (2017-18) SATISFACTION & ENGAGEMENT “Maintaining excellent satisfaction ratings with students, staff and the University, whilst maximising levels of engagement across all sections of the student community.” Targets 1. To launch the Union’s new strategy – including a Heath Park strategy - to students, staff and University stakeholders before 31st Oct 2017
ACHIEVED 2. To implement the outcomes of the democracy review by 31st Dec 2017
ACHIEVED 3. To achieve 90% satisfaction from undergraduates, 75% with PG taught and 85% with PG research students in the Welcome to Cardiff Survey by 28th Feb 2018
ACHIEVED
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4. To maintain 75% of both student and career staff recommending the Union as a great place to work whilst also achieving stage 2 Investors in Diversity status by 30th June 2018
ACHIEVED 5. To develop a Centre for Student Life communications plan by 31st Dec 2017
DELAYED LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT “Continually improve what the Union does whilst equipping students & staff with the skills and knowledge they need to achieve the Union’s Vision.” Targets 1. To establish development plans for all student facing services in response to the Union’s equality impact data, focusing on developing higher engagement from underrepresented groups by 31st Dec 2017
IN PROGRESS
2. To establish an insight and research function, within the Union’s new Communications Directorate, evidenced with the strategic plan for the Directorate, by 31st Jan 2018
DELAYED 3. To agree an updated Partnership Agreement with the university regarding Jobshop that meets the university’s regulatory requirements and expectations for Centre for Student Life partnership working, by 30th June 2018
ACHIEVED 4. To achieve Best Companies 1-star status and to be placed within the Sunday Times top-100 organisations to work for by 31st Jan 2018
NOT ACHIEVED 5. To ensure that at least 50% of all career and student supervisor staff undertake personal development training during 2017/18 by 31st July 2018
ACHIEVED
SUSTAINABILITY “Achieving financial stability in the short term whilst also ensuring the long term, financial, strategic and reputational sustainability of the Union and having a least possible negative impact on the local community and the environment.” Targets 1. To achieve the overall budgeted surplus and cash position for the Union’s group of companies for 2017/2018, by 31st July 2018
ACHIEVED 2. To achieve the overall budgeted income position for CUSL by increasing profit and / or maximizing the benefits of the Union’s CSL mitigation agreement by 31st July 2018
ACHIEVED 3. To develop and present a business case for the redevelopment of the Great Hall, Reception and the former Graduate Centre by 28th Feb 2018
DELAYED
4. To complete the final year of Operation 200 and establish an ongoing efficiency review programme by 31st March 2018
ACHIEVED 5. To achieve funding for a comprehensive maintenance package for the Union building and to achieve the year one targets by 31st July 2018
DELAYED QUALITY & ASSURANCE “Ensuring that the Union’s activities are underpinned by quality systems, with easily understandable procedures which are well followed and regularly audited.” Targets 1. To agree a renewed partnership agreement with the University, including a shared vision for the Centre for Student Life by 28th Feb 2018
2. To complete a governance audit and enact the proposed changes by 31st March 2018
IN PROGRESS 3. To establish a new Tendering Policy and to tend at least 5 of the top 10 (out of contract) Union suppliers by 31st July 2018
IN PROGRESS 4. To review and update the Health and Safety Management System, including an updated audit programme by 28th Feb 2018
IN PROGRESS 5. To ensure that the Union has prominent bilingual signage and branding on Park Place, priority use of the CSL terrace and an extended lease for the Union building by 28th Feb 2018
IN PROGRESS
NOT ACHIEVED
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Representation Another record-breaking year for representation and democracy for the Sabbatical Trustees, Academic Reps, Campaign Officers, and the Student Voice team. The Union has a long and proud history of representing Cardiff students and shaping the learner experience at Cardiff University. Every year the student leadership of the Union is elected by students, with College and School Representatives (Reps) being elected by students from those areas.
REPRESENTATION Student Academic Reps play a vital role in the partnership between students and the university and ensure that the student voice is taken seriously at every level. Reps attend student-staff panels within their school to bring feedback from their cohort and suggest improvements to the academic experience. 2017/2018 was another year of success for Student Voice. We held 43 training sessions where 512 attendees took part in training (last year 370 students attended training). This year’s training also saw satisfaction reach 98%! All schools received induction talks from the Students’ Union.
2,910 completed feedback cards 6,885 individual comments
“The Rep training we provide was changed based on Academic Rep feedback. During each session, students are encouraged to provide their thoughts and opinions on how these sessions could be improved. Based on this, we made the sessions we delivered in the autumn semester much more interactive, including more activities to keep students engaged.”
2016:
- Student Voice Department
SPEAK WEEK In February 2018, we organised Speak Week in conjunction with the university; a week offering students the chance to give feedback on their university experience through feedback points across both campuses. Speak Week has gone from strength-to-strength each year, and 2018 saw another record broken with a total of 3,425 Speak Week cards completed. From those 3,425 cards we received over 7,500 individual comments about the university and Students’ Union.
2018:
3,425 completed feedback cards 7,518 individual comments
2017:
2,200 completed feedback cards 5,013 individual comments
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Democracy All students are given the opportunity to participate in the Union’s democracy and influence the direction and policy of the organisation. This is done in a number of ways, but includes electing the Sabbatical Trustees in February every year, and through participation in policy making bodies like the Student Members’ Annual General Meeting and the Student Senate. There were 73 candidates who ran in the 2018 Spring Elections, and 6,205 students cast their vote!
AGM Last year’s AGM (Annual General Meeting) passed policy on financial support for postgraduates, amending the roles of Vice President Societies and Vice President Welfare as well as better facilitation for Muslim students. At the AGM in 2016, students tweeted saying that they would like a little ‘something’ to make AGM more fun, so this year we provided every attendee with some form of snack for the duration of the meeting. At the 2017 meeting, students were unhappy with the plastic bottles of water we were providing so in 2018 we’re
going to provide jugs of water and encourage students to bring a keep-cup or refillable bottle with them.
STUDENT SENATE Motions that were passed included removing all plastic straws from the Students’ Union, mandating NUS UK to lobby the UK government to provide bursaries for postgraduate students, and better support for students with caring responsibilities.
“Election candidates told us they would like us to focus more on their welfare – this came directly from our candidates in a feedback session in 2017. We ramped up the fruit, water, pizza, and training sessions to support out candidates for the Spring Elections 2018.” - Student Voice Department
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Student Development This year Jobshop relocated to the 2nd floor of the Students’ Union and the former Centre for Skills, Enterprise and Volunteering was renamed the “Skills Hub”. Through the work of Cardiff Volunteering, Jobshop, Skills Development Service, and in partnership with the university’s Enterprise team, we aimed to get at least 25% of students volunteering, undertaking student development or being engaged in Enterprise this academic year. In total during the year, the Skills Hub teams engaged with 8,329 students between them, which represented approx. 26% of the student body.
DEVELOPING SKILLS This Union was one of the first in the UK to develop student development programmes to enhance students’ skills and employability. In recognition for the growing importance of employability, the Union partnered with the university to develop the Centre for Skills, Enterprise and Volunteering within the Union building, completed in 2012. The Centre offers an excellent space to deliver the Union’s skills programmes in areas such as communication, leadership, and personal
effectiveness. Students gained certification for completing at least 5 units and in 2017-18 124 completed Bronze (5 units), 48 completed Silver (10 units), 22 completed Gold (15 units) and 12 completed Platinum (20 units). 2,029 individual students took part in skills development sessions. In total 6,698 contacts were made as a result of repeated attendance and working closely with individual schools. In addition, 158 students became Emergency First Aiders, 27 gained Foundation level in Health and Safety, 8 successfully completed level 1 British Sign Language and 11 were awarded the The Pacific Institute® STEPS® to Excellence for Personal Success. 158 took part in short Deaf Awareness sessions and 11 attended Mental Health Awareness. A new award was piloted in 2017-18 entitled the Diploma of Professional Development, which aimed to reward students in key executive/leadership/supervisory roles which triangulated attendance at 5 key leadership skills sessions, between 50 and 200 hours of experiential work, and attendance of an articulation & reflection session. 33 students successfully completed this.
“We implemented a new ‘Apprenticeship-type’ award entitled the Diploma of Professional Development which is applicable to students in positions of authority. The award triangulates attendance at five core Leadership sessions, experiential learning, articulation and reflection. This change was instigated by feedback collated from students’ evaluations.” - Skills Development Service
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FINDING PART-TIME WORK & GAINING WORK EXPERIENCE Jobshop offers a student employment agency for all Cardiff University students. Jobshop places students in part-time and temporary work both within the university and the wider community, and is based in the Skills Hub on the 2nd floor of the Students’ Union building. This academic year has seen a 10% increase in registrations with over 4,800 students registering for work. Jobshop provided students with a huge 149,641 hours of work (an 11% increase on the previous year) and paid £1.6m into students’ bank accounts during 2017-2018.
“We revised our job ads to include more information about experience required and recruitment timescales following feedback from a student focus group.” - Jobshop
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GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY Volunteering is a valuable part of the student experience at Cardiff University. It connects students with the wider community, and provides them with opportunities to learn and develop. It can help them settle into university life, broaden their horizons and provide opportunities for leadership and skills development. Our commitment to volunteers and volunteering remains our priority and we have worked hard again this year to engage with new and existing partners to create some incredible opportunities for our students that will transform lives and inspire local communities. This has been Cardiff Volunteering’s third year of operation and has seen it go from strength to strength. The portfolio of projects has increased this year, providing even more incredible volunteering opportunities for our students as well as bringing enormous benefit to the local community. Focus this year has been on six pillars of voluntary activity – Children, Young People, Environment, Community, Sports & Recreation,
and Welfare; with more than 60 regular weekly projects being delivered across these categories. We understand that students choose to volunteer for many different reasons, and the expansion of the project portfolio this year reflects our desire to encompass this and ensure that there is something for everyone on offer! Over the past year, Cardiff Volunteering has engaged with over 1,500 students who between them have volunteered over 14,000 hours on various on-going and one-off projects. This is an amazing achievement that has contributed directly to the delivery of some life-changing projects across Cardiff. This year, over 60 students took up the opportunity of becoming a Lead Volunteer – gaining a Certificate of Personal Development in leadership and other accredited training and skills along the way. Many of them have gone on to complete the Diploma of Professional Development in leadership, and will undoubtedly go on to be leaders in their chosen fields beyond university! Our student volunteers are not only incredible ambassadors for the
Students’ Union, but also for Cardiff University and the student community as a whole – we are very proud of them all! We delivered a series of exciting Give It A Go one-off volunteering events this year as part of our Freshers’ programme, which helped us reach out to students who wanted to try volunteering for the first time. There were a diverse range of activities on offer, including a City Centre Walkabout with Big Issue Cymru, dog walking with Cardiff Dogs Home and supporting visually impaired people to go bowling with Cardiff Institute for the Blind, which helped to demonstrate to students how interesting and varied volunteering can be. In 2017-18, Cardiff Volunteering assisted a number of student-led initiatives which have gone on to become established volunteering projects. The Periods In Poverty project officially launched during Freshers’ Week 2017, and through its donation points around the university, has since helped many hundreds of local people in need get access to sanitary products. Other exciting new student-led projects this year included Make A Smile (in which students dress up as story-book characters and visit children in hospitals) and
the Compassion Initiative (who have devised a teaching programme for delivery to local Primary School children). We are continually amazed and inspired by the incredible ideas that our students bring to us – and really pleased to be able to help them make their ideas a reality.
“Students told us that the way they signed up to projects and collated their hours was cumbersome, so we have completely redesigned our webpages, including investing in a ‘bolt-on’ package that will allow students to log their hours and any skills gained elsewhere online all in one place!” - Cardiff Volunteering
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Activities SPORT Sport is a great way to bring people together, whether it’s elite athletes competing for a long-awaited trophy, or just a study group forming a team for a weekly kick-about. Our Athletic Union provides opportunities to Cardiff University students, whatever their skill level, giving them a chance to continue competing in a favourite sport or to try something completely new. 2017-18 saw more than 5,000 students joining the Athletic Union. We maintained our BUCS ranking of 11th out of over 150 universities. This placed us as the highest Welsh University in the list and the highest university that does not offer any sport related undergraduate degree programmes. Some of our teams performed outstandingly well throughout the year, Men’s Cricket won the BUCS Trophy beating Loughborough in the final, our Ladies’ Cycling team won the BUCS 25 Mile Time Trial Championships and our Men’s Rugby 1st team got promoted to the BUCS Super Rugby League for the first time. Outside of BUCS our Ladies’ Hockey represented Wales in the EuroHockey Championships in Vienna and managed to come away as divisional champions. After recently winning the Welsh Cup again they will travel to
Europe next year as the Welsh representatives in the competition. Whilst the above information is based around the performance sport element of the Athletic Union, it is also important to highlight the activity that takes place at more of a participation/recreational level. Intra Mural leagues are run in the form of weekly fixtures in football, netball and 7-a-side football. The leagues are made up of 28 football teams, 40 netball teams and 12 7-a-side football teams. This programme provides over 1,000 students with the opportunity to be active and play sport in a safe and structured environment on a weekly basis. Welsh Varsity is now a massive highlight in both the student sporting and social calendars. It has grown into the largest University Varsity event in the UK with over 40 sporting fixtures taking place in one day. The 2017-18 event was held in Swansea with nearly 6,000 Cardiff University students travelling down the M4 to support nearly 500 participants who represented their specific clubs on the day. Once again we came out as convincing winners in the Welsh Varsity Shield and the Men’s Rugby team capped a fine day for us off by winning the
Varsity Cup in the last fixture of the day, which was held in the Liberty Stadium in front of over 12,000 spectators.
SOCIETIES The Guild of Societies is a diverse collection of groups broadly broken down into political, recreational, cultural and course based groups. Over 8,500 students joined the Guild of Societies which equates to more than 25% of the student population at Cardiff University. 207 societies were in operation in 2017-18, a new record number. The annual Cardiff Fringe Festival and Go Global event was hosted by the Guild of Societies, and is a week-long celebration of the diversity amongst the student population. Events took place in March 2018 and were a resounding success, with over 30 events being held, and over 50 societies showcased their talents. For the first time, Cardiff University Students’ Union hosted the National Societies Awards in the Great Hall. Nearly 300 students, staff members and Sabbatical Officers from across the UK were in attendance. To top
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off a fantastic evening our Bollywood Dance society were crowned the UK’s Best Arts and Performance Society and CoppaFeel won the award for the Best Volunteering and Charity Society.
GIVE IT A GO Give it a Go is an alternative, non-membership based programme of events, activities and trips, allowing students to engage in many of the Union’s activities and services without any commitment. Now in its third year of operation, over 5,500 individual students engaged with activities, and over 200 sports clubs and societies offered taster sessions, giving students a chance to try new things and meet people. Day trips were run to Stonehenge, the Gower, Oxford, Bristol, Jurassic Coast, Brighton, Cambridge, Bath and Birmingham, while weekend trips were run to give students a chance to experience places further afield such as Prague and Madrid. These trips were facilitated using an enthusiastic group of student volunteers who gave up their time and learned new skills.
STUDENT MEDIA The Union supports a range of student led media outlets – Gair Rhydd newspaper, Quench magazine, Xpress Radio and CUTV. These
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media groups are run like societies and produce media content for all Cardiff students.
“The students who gave up their time to gain valuable experience in the media world had a successful year in 2017-18. Xpress Radio were nominated for Best Branding and won bronze for Best Speech Programming at the Student Radio Awards 2017. In the Wales Regional Student Publication Awards 2017, Gair Rhydd won Best Impact Journalism and Quench won Best Publication and Best Journalist.” - Student Media
Life-Changing Help And Support In 2017/2018, the Students’ Union saw an 83% increase in the numbers of students receiving support and guidance from our dedicated Student Advice service. 4,195 students approached Student Advice for help and support on academic, housing, monetary and personal issues. The independent and confidential service was used by over 1,108 EU and international students, 747 mature students, 708 postgraduate students, 625 healthcare students and 109 part-time students. Our expert team of staff helped 1,157 students engage with the extenuating circumstances procedure to safeguard their academic interests. We helped 712 students lodge an academic appeal against their results and we supported 157 students through difficult unfair practice cases. We spoke to 148 students who were considering withdrawing from study or applying for an interruption of study. Our team supported 90 students through disciplinary based investigations and represented over 40 students at University Panels. In total we spent 56 hours sitting in A&E with
vulnerable students. The phrase ‘depression or anxiety’ appears in over 850 students case notes. Suicidal ideation is a theme in over 100 students’ case notes. Three members of the team have counselling qualifications and all have received Mental Health First Aid training.
received over 40 hours of training, seven ran for Sabbatical Office and 13 became paid members of staff in Higher Education. One of our volunteers even handed out 64 mince pies to students studying in our building on Christmas Day.
We provided legal advice to over 1,400 students in relation to housing issues. We advised over 812 students who were in dispute with the landlord or letting agent. We checked 424 tenancy agreements and signposted over 385 cases of housing disrepair to Local Authority Housing Enforcement. We provided advice to students disputing over £300,000 of tenancy deposits.
We held three ‘Blue Sky Thinking’ sessions with our Exec Volunteers who suggested that we help them launch three new Student Led Services (Mind Your Head, Housing Action and Talk it Out). These great new services will be launching to students during 2018-19.
In 2017, we recruited more than 400 passionate student volunteers to support students’ transition into university life during Freshers’ Week. We retained and trained 35 studentvolunteers to assist our day-to-day operations. As a result, our volunteer-led reception desk triaged over 2,000 student cases and handled 1,600 student enquiries. We accrued over 13,000 volunteer hours in 2017/2018, equivalent to over £100,000 in staff costs. Every volunteer
- Student Advice
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Student-Led Services Student-Led Services are student groups that come together to provide services for other students and the local Cardiff community. The students involved in these societies usually volunteer their own time to run projects, events or services and are always looking for new members to join.
NIGHTLINE Cardiff Nightline is a confidential student led phone service. The volunteers provide information and serve as a listening ear to students in the Cardiff area. Nightline is open every night during term time between 8pm and 8am. The volunteers are there to listen to students who wish to discuss anything in confidence. The service is non-directive, nonjudgemental, non-advisory and practices twoway anonymity.
SHAG SHAG is a student-led service committed to increasing awareness and understanding of fundamental sexual health issues. They are an extremely passionate group of student volunteers dedicated to supporting the welfare of the Cardiff University student
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body. Volunteers work closely with staff and Sabbatical Officers at the Students’ Union and various sexual health organisations to deliver accurate and relevant information.
CARDIFF STUDENT MINDS Cardiff Student Minds help to support students with eating difficulties by facilitating weekly self-help support groups. They also aim to raise awareness of all mental health disorders through campaigns, and host fundraising events throughout the year.
SUPPORTING OUR SUPPORT GROUPS Our Student Advice team supported dedicated student groups who handed out over 4,000 condoms and answered 2,000 Nightline calls – quite an achievement!
“During 2017-18, we supported groups of students to start developing new student-led services. These services will launch during the 2018-19 academic year and focus on housing, encouraging students to talk about their problems and mental wellbeing.” - Student Advice
Entertainment, Venues & Catering Within our Park Place building we have a four room night club space, a pub, a large live music venue and a smaller, intimate party space. Our Venues team work around the clock to provide plenty of opportunities for our student members to have fun and meet new friends. In 2017-18, 58,685 music fans attended our live music shows (16,493 more than last year) with 20 of our 51 shows totally selling out. 136,444 students filled the dance floor at our regular weekly club nights. Every year we increase and diversify the range of ways students can make the most of their social time. This means we are constantly looking at new ways to help students socialise, meet new friends and enjoy their time living in Cardiff. Over the summer of 2018, we worked with the LGBT+ Officers to organise our first ever Freshers’ LGBT+ club night, hosted our second Freshers’ Comedy Central Live event and held a day of Laser Tag fun in the Great Hall on the second welcome weekend of the first term!
We know that it’s hard to concentrate with an empty stomach, so we make it our mission to keep our students well fed at an affordable price. In 2017-18, we served 1,067 loaded nachos and 2,800 Sunday roasts to hungry students in The Taf. We also sold 1,400 BBQ chicken and bacon melts and got festive with over 1,000 Christmas meals. Alongside all that food, we served 4 tanker trucks of VK and 232 bathtubs of beer.
“Our Venues team are keen to make the customer experience better for students who attend our evening events. Following feedback from students in 2017-18, we reviewed and improved our queuing systems, added more rooms of entertainment and opened extra toilets in the building.” - Venues Team
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Shops & Services Cardiff Student Letting
Ground Floor Retail
Cardiff Student Letting, the Students’ Union’s very own letting agency, has been working hard to house our students since 2006. For over a decade, they have consistently saved students money through not charging agency fees. In 2017-18 they housed 1,231 students, and saved them £123,100 (based on an average agency fee of £100 per person). They also travel on average around 500 miles a month, transporting students to and from viewings.
2017-2018 saw the ground floor into its first year of existence offering a range of services across 15 different retail outlets. New for 2017-2018 was the introduction of Repair IT, a mobile, laptop and computer repair service. In November 2017, Uni Hair and Beauty opened its doors offering both hair and beauty services. The ground floor space hosts a range of national and local retailers’ all with the student needs and wants at the forefront of their operations. At the end of 2017/2018 we had successfully let all units.
“Students have told us anecdotally that our website wasn’t as good as it could be, so we’ve been working with the Web team to improve our presence online.”
Post Office The Post Office is now in its second year of operation, proving ever popular with our student members, Cardiff University staff and the general public. In the last year we have experienced 100% increase in activity. Over 55,000 transactions have been processed through our Post Office counter between August 2017 and July 2018.
- Cardiff Student Letting
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Love Cardiff Love Cardiff, our clothing and merchandise store, expanded its operations at the very beginning of 2017/2018. A new ground floor store opened on 4th of September occupying a front facing unit previously housing ‘Inc’. Initially both stores (ground floor and second floor) were operational. After seeing the majority of sales transfer to the new flagship ground floor store, a decision was made to close the 2nd floor outlet in favour of using this to expand The Taf social space. Love Cardiff has had a further year of success and growth; doubling 2016/2017 sales figures. Such a pattern of success was emulated across our Graduation pop up stall. Now in its third year, we once again increased sales by 100%. We ensure products are chosen with quality and value in mind, and ensuring they are student centric in their design, therefore all clothing items are ethically sourced. December 2017 saw the re-launch of our online store, expanding our services to provide a delivery option for both UK and International orders. Over £7,000 of online sales were achieved between December and July.
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“We received feedback from international students and graduates that they wanted to be able to purchase our branded merchandise online so we introduced a range at shop.cardiffstudents. com in November 2017 with International, EU and UK postage options available, as well as Click & Collect.” - Love Cardiff
Heath Park The Students’ Union at the Heath is our second site dedicated to our students that are studying at the Heath Park hospital site. We have been working over recent years to increase our engagement with this group and it is an ongoing focus for the organisation. Gaining a better understanding of the needs of Heath Park students has been important in increasing engagement. For instance, based on student freshers’ feedback, face to face enquiries and Speak Week cards, the Heath Freshers’ Fair was expanded to have 84 Stalls and a gazebo installed to include more clubs/ societies and outside companies. Jobshop registrations at the Heath Campus reached a new high with over 400 students joining. Jobshop, along with the VP Heath Park Campus, put out more social media comments and advertised the service face to face with students to make them aware that the service was available at the Heath from 09:00-17:00 during the week. More students also used and enquired about the Student Advice service. This service was again promoted through social media, talks and through links with lecture staff after some students fed back that they didn’t know where to turn with certain issues.
Plans were set in place and designs were finalised for the refurbishment of the IV Lounge Café. Students have always given feedback through Speak Week, face to face meetings, comments and recorded data from surveys that they wanted the IV Lounge refreshed to be more comfortable to eat in, as well as making it more of a study space. The Students’ Union worked in partnership with the university to hold feedback groups, to allow students to feed directly into the design plans that were used to renovate this space. More Students’ Union signage was put up around campus as we received student feedback that the Students’ Union wasn’t visible enough and some students were unaware of the location. New signs included labelling meeting room doors, a large sign on an external wall to direct students into the Students’ Union and floor stickers to lead students across from university locations. Every year in March, new nursing students enrol in the university. This group can often feel disconnected as they don’t arrive during the main induction period. The VP Heath Park introduced a treasure hunt to engage and educate the March nursing students on what the Heath has to offer. 100 nursing students followed clues that led them around campus
to the buildings they would need to visit and work in during their time at university. This was so successful the university asked us to run the same treasure hunt during Freshers’ Week inductions in 2018.
“Due to student feedback through Speak Week, social media, face to face inquiries, and comments during campaigns it was recognised that students needed more bike racks installed on the Heath campus. Off the back of this in partnership with the University and NHS Trust, 70 new bike racks were installed at the Heath site in May.”
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Cymraeg As an organisation based in the capital city of Wales, we are extremely proud of our Welsh culture and heritage.
BECOMING A BILINGUAL ORGANISATION Our bilingual policy was launched publicly to students in November 2016. During the first 12 months of operation, 93% of the action points in the Policy were either completed and in operation, or were on track to being delivered. Two years into the operation of the Policy, 97% of the action points are either completed and in operation, or are in progress.
UNDEB MYFYRWYR CYMRAEG CAERDYDD (UMCC) UMCC is a new Union within the Union that represents Welsh speakers and learners which launched at the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff in August 2018. During 2017/18, the UMCC and Social Integration Forum was established with the goal of creating the new UMCC. The Forum was made up of the Students’ Union President, Vice President Societies, Welsh Language Officer, Welsh Language Coordinator and a number of Welsh speaking students.
@UNDEBMYFYRWYR For a number of years, we have communicated with students through dedicated Welsh language accounts on Facebook and Twitter. This year, we hit 1,000 followers on @UndebMyfyrwyr on Twitter which we’re excited about! We have also started to provide targeted content through these channels, as well as duplicating content from our English language channels to ensure we’re communicating bilingually.
CELEBRATIONS Each year, we celebrate days of cultural significance including Shwmae S’umae Day in October and St David’s Day in March. We work in partnership with the university Welsh For All team to promote opportunities to learn Welsh to students. During Freshers’ Week, we also offered Welsh language taster sessions through our Give it a Go programme, allowing students to learn some basic phrases to get them started.
“We trialled posting some bespoke content on our Welsh language social media accounts and students really responded to it. Based on this, we’re growing our bespoke content to get more students engaged!” - Marketing & Communications Team
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Finances The Union’s financial performance in 2017/18 was excellent and follows the turnaround in performance gained in 2016/17. The Union continued its growth within its commercial and charitable activities and overall income exceeded £9M for the first time. Overall, the Group made a net income of £262K (after depreciation and pension deficit contributions) and moved from £121K net liabilities to £689K net current assets. The Union’s trading subsidiary, CUSL, continued to grow its income in 2018 with turnover of £4,501K. Overall, the trading company made an operating profit of £324K after charging depreciation of £683K, with £602K arising from the depreciation of the Union building. The Union’s future obligations to its former pension scheme, the Students’ Union Superannuation Scheme (SUSS), fell from £4,428K to £4,408K after deficit contribution payments and unwinding of the discount. The scheme was closed to future accrual in 2011 and the Union is satisfied that it has funds to meet its obligations over the life of the scheduled deficit recovery plan up to 2033.
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CUSU SUMMARY
Student engagement and participation income rose by 260K in the year, due to significant increases in activity within Jobshop, Give it a Go, societies and transport. This income growth reflects the increased overall engagement in these activities, which provide further financial and non-financial benefits. The Union received a fair increase in block grant from Cardiff University (£119K) compared to the previous year, which was important to ensure that the Union could meet its rising pension costs without reducing funds available for student activities and representation. The Union is grateful for the additional support from the university and acknowledges the university’s current income and expenditure constraints.
CUSL SUMMARY The Union’s trading activities continued to grow with additional turnover, gross profit and cash inflows from ongoing activities. There were significant increases in income from night time entertainment, lettings, advertising sales and leased spaces.
At year end the company made an operating profit of £324K, continuing the progress made in 2016/17. CUSL’s turnover increased to £4,501K during the year and administrative expenses reduced to £3,592K creating a profit before tax for the first time since pension liabilities and building depreciation costs have been recognised. Although welcome, accounting profits are unlikely to be achieved in future years due to the impact of pension accounting costs and the depreciation of the Union building.
Income and Expenditure Consolidated statement of financial activity for the year ended 31 July 2018
2018 Unrestricted 2018 Restricted 2018 Funds £ Funds £ Total Funds £
2017 Total Funds £
2,925,000 2,115,910 4,500,911 787 9,542,608
30,883 - - - 30,883
2,955,883 2,115,910 4,500,911 787 9,573,491
2,806,000 1,856,246 3,975,803 424 8,638,473
Raising funds Charitable activities Total expenditure:
6,064,629 3,237,732 9,302,361
- 9,087 9,087
6,064,629 3,246,819 9,311,448
7,657,086 2,946,177 10,603,263
Net Income/ (expenditure) and Net movement in funds
240,247
21,796
262,043
(1,964,790)
8,519,492 8,759,739
- 21,796
8,519,492 8,871,535
10,484,282 8,519,492
INCOME FROM: Donations and legacies Charitable activities Other trading activities Investments Total income:
EXPENDITURE ON:
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS: Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward
“Overall income exceeded £9M for the first time.” - Finance
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Balance Sheet
Consolidated balance sheet as at 31 July 2018
2018 £
2017 £
FIXED ASSETS Tangible assets 12,426,877 12,995,212 Investments 73,563 73,563 Total fixed assets 12,500,440 13,068,775
CURRENT ASSETS Stocks Debtors Cash at bank and in hand Total current assets
39,936 539,582 1,174,851 1,754,369
41,387 441,917 469,186 952,490
CURRENT LIABILITIES Creditors: amounts falling due (1,065,570) (1,073,810) within one year Net current assets/ (liabilities) 688,799 Total assets less current liabilities 13,189,239
(121,320) 12,947,455
Provisions for Liabilities (4,407,704) (4,427,963) Net assets 8,781,535 8,519,492
CHARITY FUNDS Restricted funds Designated funds Unrestricted funds Total funds
21,796 8,019,173 740,566 8,781,535
8,519,492 8,519,492
“Overall, the Group moved from £121K net liabilities to £689K net current assets.” - Finance
Cash Flow
Consolidated statement of cashflow for the year ended 31 July 2018
2018 £
Cash flows from operating activities: Net cash provided by operating activities Cash flows from investing activities: Dividends, interest and rents from investments Purchase of tangible fixed assets Net cash used in investing activities:
828,361
2017 £
253,815
787 (123,483) (122,696)
418 (52,789) (52,371)
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year:
705,665
201,444
Cash and cash equivalents brought forward
469,186
267,742
Cash and cash equivalents carried forward
1,174,851
469,186
“Full financial statements are available at cardiffstudents.com/ financial-statements.” - Finance
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Balanced Scorecard 2018/19
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Trustees 2016/17 & Senior Staff SABBATICAL TRUSTEES
STUDENT TRUSTEES
SENIOR STAFF
President: Fadhila Al Dhahouri (from 1st July 2018)
Emma Mattin (to 1st July 2018)
Chief Executive: Daniel Palmer
President: Hollie Cooke (to 1st July 2018)
Lilly Ryan Harper (to 1st July 2018)
Deputy Chief Executive: Ben Eagle
VP Societies: Henri Page (from 1st July 2018)
Alex Williams (to 1st July 2018)
VP Societies: Lamorna Hooker (to 1st July 2018)
Megan Perkins (from 1st July 2018)
Director of Engagement and Participation: Steve Wilford
VP Sports & AU President: Georgie Haynes (from
Niall Yasseen (from 1st July 2018)
Head of Finance: Christine Akers
1st July 2018)
VP Sports & AU President: Tom Kelly (to 1st July 2018)
VP Education: Jackie Yip (from 1st July 2018) VP Education: Fadhila Al Dhahouri (to 1st July 2018) VP Heath Park: Jennifer Kent (from 1st July 2018) VP Heath Park: Kirsty Hepburn (to1st July 2018) VP Postgraduate: Jake Smith (from 1st July 2018) VP Welfare: Amr Alwishah (from 1st July 2018) VP Welfare: Nick Fox (to 1st July 2018)
Director of Communications: Raechel Mattey
UNIVERSITY NOMINATED TRUSTEES Gethin Lewis Mark Leighfield (to 21st March 2018)
EXTERNAL TRUSTEES Richard Roberts CBE Rakesh Aggarwal (to 23rd March 2018) Bethan Walsh Denise Rich (from 1st May 2018) Registered Office: Park Place, Cardiff, Wales. CF10 3QN Registered Company Number: 07328777
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Registered Charity Number: 1137163
(from June 2018)