CUSU CATCH UP Issue 01 // July 2015
WELCOME
FROM PHIL PILKINGTON, GENERAL MANAGER
W
elcome to the first edition of the Student Council newsletter, I hope it will be useful to you in keeping up to date with what is going on in CUSU.
CUSU staff are currently going through the appraisal system assessing their last year’s performance and setting them objectives for the coming year.
We achieved the Responsible Futures accreditation for environmental sustainability as one of only 7 students unions in the UK. We have been nominated by UNESCO for the international award for sustainability in education. The CUSU team are busy preparing for Freshers 15 which will be even bigger and better than before.
All staff objectives are set against the CUSU business plan and the targets we have set for the year ahead. Key performance indicators (KPIs) for CUSU in 15/16 include increased membership of sports clubs and societies; academic based societies working with course reps, developing new ways to support postgraduates and looking at the internationalisation agenda.
The sabbatical team have just completed their handover and briefing programme and are now settling into post.
And on sports clubs: congratulations to all sports clubs for a terrific performance in the BUCS league; the highest place
and the most points we have ever achieved with 37th as our final position. The campaigns programme for 15/16 is nearly finalised and will be published before the start of the academic year. Hush: we are nearing completion of the agreement for the takeover of Hush by an external company which will provide some our entertainments. This company has strong links to bands and agencies and look forward to Hush being a live music venue again, with opportunities for student bands to find a platform too.
SPORTS & SOCIETIES
CUSU CATCH UP
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he summer is an important time of planning for sports and societies and all of the staff are busy working on new ideas and projects for the new year. Alongside this a lot of time is spent with the new sabbatical officer Alexa and Gabriela to understand their ideas for 15/16 and also to help them learn the finer details about sports clubs and societies. We have had more BUCS medals in Archery with medals from two sports scholars, Tom won Gold
and Erin Silver. The Saudi society were lucky to get a visit from the embassy Cultural Attaché to the University to congratulate them on their success at the CUSU awards. The Sports Active project has been busy working with students over from Malaysia and have offered a programme involving badminton, table tennis, basketball and futsal. As a team the focus is now on Fresher’s Week and how we can showcase everything we do in September.
VOLUNTEERING & EMPLOYABILITY STUDENT REPS Hi Councillors! Over the past couple of months, the Student Representation team has been wrapping up the last year’s work, and started the preparations for next year. Senior Course Reps and Service Reps have attended One to One’s, sharing their proudest achievements and what they’d improve about the system. Those who have attended their one to ones have received their bursary and
certificate, along with the Course Reps they nominated. Preparing for next year, we have been working on increasing the Reps’ employability skills and updating the workbooks that are issued to the Reps. We’ve also been preparing training sessions, and all the Student Forums for next year are being organised!
Casual posts running over the summer: Student Union Assistants, Campus Team
So there’s a lot more to be done but we are on our way to making sure everything is ready for the next academic year! We hope you are all having a great Summer! Grace and Lottie
We have a new staff member who has started with us called Lottie, who is the Rep Assistant, so she
RECRUITMENT Currently advertising for Communications & Sales Assistant (closes 26/07/2015) this post is fixed term for 1 year;
has been learning the ropes!
Members and Campus Team Leaders; a student placement advertised with Coventry University for a Campus Team Leader, this placement is fulltime from 1st Sept 2015 till 31st May 2016.
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projects which meet the needs and interests of our students
In June, fundraising student volunteers Nalei Lenchwe and Christie Zhou, and 2 of our staff team attended a celebration event to handover a cheque for £5157.81 that had be raised for children with cancer.
We are also in the process of carrying out evaluations of our school and community volunteers, and will be working on recommendations that come out of these over the next month or so, so we are ready for Fresher’s.
Our 20 schools and 100 community partners are currently being evaluated through visits and surveys to ensure we are building positive partnerships and
We’ve reviewed our area of the website and are now looking at our promotional materials and volunteer processes to see what we need to improve.
ere’s what V & E have been up to in the last month or so….
HR UPDATE THE FOLLOWING HR POLICIES TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN AUGUST: • FLEXI-TIME SCHEME • TIME OFF IN LIEU AND HOMEWORKING
Our new Student Volunteering Team were recruited in May and a training day took place last month to help them get to know each other, familiarise themselves with CUSU & V & E and to understand their roles and plan out the year ahead. Finally, the team have just had a planning day and have plotted out our events and activities for 15-16… Now we have to get it all ready for September!
CAMPAIGNS FOR 15/16
The executive have just confirmed the campaigns schedule for next year which sees CUSU campaigning on a lot of interesting and essential issues. They include celebrating Black history Month, LGBT+ Month and World Aids Day. We will be delivering informational campaigns on student safety around the city, telling students about the issues of plagiarism / exam conduct and also focussing on general health issues such as healthy eating, exercise etc. This year, with the new ‘zones’ format, we will be looking to you as Councillors to take a strong lead in participating in these campaigns! We look forward to working with you!
SUAC NEWS
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he Advice Centre is just as busy over the summer as at any time during the academic year. The three advisors, Justine, Lisa and Sue are still operating the daily drop in service which is well attended and seeing students by appointment. We have been busy giving advice to students who were unhappy with their results for one reason or another and also representing students at meetings regarding academic misconduct in exams or written assessments. There have also been a high number of disciplinary cases in the last few weeks which have required representation from the advisors. All three advisors have just returned from the annual National Association of Student Money Advisors (NASMA) conference which provides an essential training and networking opportunity for them. It also contributes to their accreditation
requirements for the year. Caron the Advice Centre Manager has been working on the Matrix and training the new officers. She is also responsible for coordinating the campaigns plan for next year and has been coming up with ways of involving as many students as possible. We are working on the Tenants Union and the Landlord Agreement which has now been sent out to landlords and estate agents in the city. Finally we are reviewing our web pages, fact sheets and information resources ready for 2015/16. We hope you are having a great summer and we are looking forward to working with you on campaigns, the Tenants Union and so much more next year, see you soon! Email c.mckenna@coventry.ac.uk if you want more information about anything above.
COVENTRY SU
@CUSU
WWW.CUSU.ORG