IMPACT REPORT 2014/15
We are student led, inclusive, accountable, democratic and transparent. We believe in innovation and being ethically and environmentally sound. We strive to create social groups and a sense of belonging to communities of students. We shall be partners with the University in improving the student experience and meet the needs of a diverse membership.
Jo Ah Yow Sports & Wellbeing Officer
Ephraim Enoidem Representation & Welfare Officer
Marvin Nkemdirim Democracy & Campaigns Officer
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014/15 has been a year of significant achievement, growth and change for Coventry University Students’ Union (CUSU). This report provides the evidence of the main aspects of these developments, some of which have had real impact on our members and on the organisation and how we work for students as a student led charity. We have seen an increase in participation and a deepening of engagement by our members with CUSU. This growth has been in sports clubs, societies, course
Jen Smith Communications & Commercial Officer
Enobong Inyang Activities Officer
representation and volunteering. We have gained national recognition for our work from a range of organisations, built on our relationships with local and national bodies and created new and valued relationships. The developments have been in the quantity and the quality of our work for our membership. The confidence the University has shown in our sustained development has been demonstrated with increased financial support as proof of our improvement across all of our
work. We are not complacent and know there is much still to be done to represent all students in the University Group. We have in the last year laid down the foundations for our development over the next five years with a new strategic plan, “CUSU: the 2020 Vision”. Finally, we would like to thank all the students who volunteered their time on our behalf, the elected officers and staff of CUSU for their hard work, commitment and skills in creating a stronger and better students’ union for its members.
2,150
sports
memberships
12%
Coventry Cricket Team became Indoor National BUCS Champions
PARTICIPATION & ENGAGEMENT
T
he membership of sports clubs increased by 12% to 2,150 members; membership of our societies increased by 20% to 3,300 members; the number of societies increased by 31% to 118 societies. The number of events and activities of societies increased with more celebration events by our nationality-based societies. There was a significant increase in academic based societies too. The support for our top performing sports teams and individuals produced dramatic improvements in competitions with CUSU reaching its highest league position in the national universities overall league table at 37th – a rise of 18 places from the previous year. Congratulations to all teams and to the gold medal winners in boxing, athletics and judo.
3,300 societies memberships
20%
85
cuc course reps
COVENTRY UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
W
e began our involvement with Coventry University College as full members of CUSU with their own freshers fair and course representatives. An elected officer for CUC joined the Executive Committee and College student representatives played a full part in the Student Council. There were 85 CUC course representatives and we began to plan for the College’s Scarborough campus.
REPRESENTATION & DEMOCRACY
W
e increased our course representatives across campus to 1200 in 2014/15. We recruited Halls Representatives before the start of the year for a Halls Training Camp in September 2014 and had 80 student representatives for students in halls that organised social events throughout the year.
Student Reps participating in a training session
Student election candidate during Hustings
We strengthened student leadership through revised training programmes for student council members, increased by 100% the number of candidates for Council elections and the number of votes cast in the annual elections was our highest at over 27,000 votes.
27,000 votes cast at the annual elections
Student speaks at the annual All Student Meeting
A CAMPAIGNING STUDENTS’ UNION / A NEW APPROACH
C CAMPAIGNS DURING THE YEAR INCLUDED: Black History Month Safer Routes Zero Tolerance Legal Highs Plagiarism AIDS Awareness/Sexual Health Mental Health Day Refreshers Housing Exam Stress Healthy Eating Exam conduct One World Week LGBT History Month Go Green Week Exam Stress (Benefits of Sport) International Women’s Day/Reclaim the Night
USU made a dramatic change to one of our key functions – campaigning. This was to increase the number of campaigns from 5 to over 20 in the year and to involve all CUSU staff working with students to deliver them. The campaigns included welfare and education themes , joining with other organisations in the community, and innovative ways of working. The highlights of the campaigning year were: 1000 students registered to vote in the General Election; Gender equality Society joining other city organisations to hold Reclaim the Night event; Nearly a thousand students supporting the Zero Tolerance Campaign A student video on plagiarism and the dangers of collusion in academic work Students leading the ‘Fresh Fruit and Veg’ campaign winning an Entrepreneur award The LGBT Society winning the NUS National Award for Most Improved Society
COMMUNITY RELATIONS
C
USUs’ engagement with the local community grew through 14/15. Volunteering has continued to grow with students engaging in volunteering reaching over 1600, working with more than 145 community partners. We work closely with local schools with over 300 opportunities for students to work in local schools, the highest number we have ever had.
Student volunteers took part in a fence painting activity at Little Heath Primary School
The calibre of the volunteers was excellent and they were fully engaged in supporting the children... Mina Prabhakar Deputy Head, Longford Park Primary School
We engaged with local Residents’ Associations throughout the city, through the ‘Don’t be a Rubbish Neighbour’ campaign. CUSU also worked with the University and British Heart Foundation with a charity ‘bag drop’ and collection on campus that generated £20,000 for the charity.
GREEN IMPACT - RESPONSIBLE FUTURES
C
USU was invited by NUS to be one of only 7 students’ unions to join a pilot programme called Responsible Futures with the aim to make strategic changes to the University’s approach to sustainable and ethical future practice. We worked with University staff to transform the approach through changing the University’s Education Strategy and getting senior academic staff in each faculty responsible for embedding environmental and ethical issues into the curriculum. For this achievement we received an outstanding score for our Responsible Futures project.
7 ONLY
The Responsible Futures project is a bold project to do the right thing not just for the image of Coventry University but for the entire community and the world at large.
The Students’ Union is clearly dedicated to ensuring that the students are involved and aware of issues in their community.... your [team] is obviously dedicated to ensuring sustainability and social responsibility.”
Samuel Obirieze Coventry Student Auditor
Auditors Report ‘Responsible Futures’
Students’ Unions invited take part
CUSU AS AN EMPLOYER
90
%
CUSU Staff members at the annual staff away day
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e depend on the commitment and dedication of our staff to deliver quality services to our members. Our annual staff survey showed that 93% understood the objectives of CUSU, 90% said CUSU is a good place to work, and 78% said we are meeting our members’ needs. We recognise the hard work that all staff put in to deliver the high quality and wide range of our services. To be a good employer we have
introduced initiatives to support our staff: shared parental leave, flexitime working, adoption leave, work placement policy to protect students’ rights but also provide work experience in CUSU, a right to training and development for all employees. Student staff are an important group of employees and we have included them in the same pay scales and conditions as all other employees. Finally, we were awarded the ‘Two Ticks’ accreditation as a disabled person friendly employer.
Say CUSU is a good place to work
Student staff working reception
the
CUSU 2020 V I S I O N our strategic plan
Stude n
t Lea
n& ipatio Partic ement Engag
dersh
ip Creating Communities
Quality &
Resources
Improving the Education Experience
tion nalisa o i t a n Inter balism & Glo
W
e engaged with over a thousand students in consultation on the CUSU strategic plan, the 2020 Vision. All our stakeholders gave input into the plan: Student Council, elected officers, our members, the University and the Board of Trustees. As the University has planned for major developments by increasing the number of students, the growth of postgraduates and online learners, combined with our own development, we had to review our strategic direction. WE NOW HAVE 6 THEMES FOR THE CUSU 2020 VISION: Student Leadership Strengthen, recognise and celebrate student leadership across campus Participation and Engagement 300% increase in participation in CUSU by 2020
Quality Services Proven quality services, well managed, innovative and effective Creating Communities Develop support for students to come together for their interests
Improving the Education Experience Support the education and intellectual life on campus Internationalisation and Globalism Develop international partnerships to benefit students
RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNIVERSITY
T
he partnership with our major funder, the University, has become stronger with mutual support. This has been a real partnership in developing the University’s new Education Strategy, the review of the Student Charter and the recognition of the strength of the course representatives as individuals and as a system. The latter is now recognised nationally and has contributed to the University’s successes as Modern University of the year and for its teaching.
55
%
increase in grant funding in 3 years
The integration of strategies has brought CUSU and the University closer; we cannot meet our mission to represent our members if we don’t plan for how many there will be or where they will study. So, we have been working with the new Postgraduate Centre on how to represent the interests of doctoral students. Frequent meetings with the Chair of Governors, the Vice Chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellor have been mutually helpful on planning, communications and understanding. This improvement is evidenced by confidence the University has in the management of CUSU with a 55% increase in grant funding over the last three years. Vice Chancellor John Latham collects his NUS Extra card from CUSU
THE CUSU ENTERTAINMENTS VENUE: FROM HUSH TO EMPIRE
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USU has operated an entertainments venue on the outskirts of the campus, HUSH, for three years. We reviewed continuing to operate the venue for serious business reasons: strong competition in the local market for venues, the specialism of operating a venue was not the core business of CUSU which is a charity representing all students, the changing student market and profile, and the financial burden and risk of the venue. During the second half of the year we negotiated a transfer of the venue lease and agreed a policy that we would ‘sub contract’ entertainments to reduce financial and reputation risks. The first event with this arrangement was the Summer Ball held in the Cathedral ruins and the year ahead planned with a number of operators. We were pleased to conclude the deal to transfer the venue to a private concern renaming it ‘Empire’. CUSU is proud to be involved with Coventry’s bid in 2017 for the UK City of Culture and has begun working with the city’s steering group for the bid.
QUALITY, FINANCES & BENCHMARKING
10
TH
of all student’s unions in UK accoring to NSS
TOP
5
NUS Extra sales in UK C
USU measures itself against other students’ unions for performance, effectiveness and quality. As the University changes so does our benchmark group of students’ unions. We have reviewed our strengths and relative weaknesses with an ambitious group of large students’ unions at research intense universities. This review informed our 2020 Vision on the theme of participation and growth. However, we are confident that the quality of services is high
CUSU Campus Team now reaches all buildings on campus and in the year we prepared for the NUS Quality Mark Level 2 audit, ready to join only one other students’ union to achieve this highest level of quality services. The NSS results for the previous year put CUSU at 10th of all students’ unions in the UK. Our student survey suggested the need to reach out to our non-engaged members and we negotiated permanent staffed information points across campus to involve
the non-engaged and which we call ‘The Campus Team’. We continued to grow our commercial income streams and reduce risks. Our NUS Extra sales were in the top 5 in the UK and negotiated a first, a sponsorship to support ‘Freshers 15’.
THE STUDENTS UNION ADVICE CENTRE (SUAC)
t n e r h hig
6,758 4,214 cases for
students were handled by SUAC
S
UAC is a confidential, independent and free service available to all CUSU members. It has continued to represent students on academic, financial, housing and consumer issues. Of particular significance has been the work done to represent students in the housing market. CUSU has adopted a set of criteria, approved by students, which determines it’s engagement with accommodation providers and aims to improve standards
house repairs s d r o l d gy lan
dod
getting your de
posit back
for students. It also developed a ‘Tenants’ Union’ to enable students to work collectively to improve their accommodation experience. A total of 6,758 cases for 4,214 students were handled by the advice team during the year. The main issues handled were student finances, including welfare loans and grants; housing problems in private sector and halls residences; academic problems and disciplinary conduct.
In addition to casework, the Advice Centre has supported the student officers in welfare and community campaigns including: the Landlords Standards Agreement (with Warwick University SU); safety campaigns on safer routes, ‘best mates’ and making your accommodation secure; with the British Heart Foundation to make collections in the local community and halls to raise £20,000 which is used within the community.
CUSU AWARDS 2014/15
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Best Society Member Faraz Khokhar
News Journalist of the Year Charlotte Dyett
Senior Course Rep of the Year Ruby Duku
Best Society Official 1 Lucia Harrison
TV Journalist of the Year Matt Johnson
Course Rep of the Year Alex Cairns
Best Society Photo Club Society
Radio Presenter of the Year Paul Smitheman
Service Rep of the Year Edward Manning
Most Improved Society Saudi Society
Outstanding Contribution to Source Charlotte Dyett
Halls Rep of the Year Joshua Barclay Clarke
Outstanding Contribution to Societies Saudi Society
Deputy Faculty Chair of the Year Matthew Wilmot
Outstanding Contribution to Reps Joshua Barclay Clarke
Community Volunteer of the Year Chan Kwan Yee Cheryl School Volunteer of the Year Veenusha Vykunthavasa Student Volunteer Member Sam Cole Outstanding Contribution to Volunteering Chan Kwan Yee Cheryl Best Male Billy Paronia Best Female Natasha Hobbs Best Sport Cricket Most Improved Sport 3 Men’s Basketball Outstanding Contribution to Sport Billy Paronia Student of the Year Cameron Chalmers Campaign of the Year LGBTQIA+ – Think Outside the Box Campaigner of the Year Cameron Chalmers CUSU Green Award 2 Laura Jane Curtis Outstanding Contribution to Student Leaders Cameron Chalmers Student Councillor of the Year 4 Alexandra Smith
HOW WE SPENT YOUR MONEY Total from grants and income in 2014/15 ÂŁ1.6m
Governance costs Audit and legal fees
Other central services Finance, admin charges, transport and communications
1% 16%
20%
17%
29% 17% Democracy & representation Costs for supporting student leaders, union council etc
Sport clubs & societies Competitive and participation sports, developing societies
Volunteering & social work Cost for supporting our volunteering and social work services
Students’ union advice centre Cost for offering free independant advice
www.cusu.org