CUSU CATCH UP Issue 03 // September 2015
ENO’S EDITORIAL Hi Guys, I trust you all had a lovely summer holiday. It’s the beginning of another academic year and we are all set and ready. Yahooo… The last weeks have been Freshers! Freshers!! Freshers!!! The new venue Empire (formally Hush) has been transformed and ready to go, we will be working closely with Empire to ensure they provide students with a
safe environment for entertainment. EMPIRE! #Join the EMPIRE. It kicked off with the CUC Welcome Party on 18th Sept. Guys, this year is going to be a great one.
CAMPUS TEAM
We look forward working with you all to make Coventry and our SU a great place for all students. #Your Union, Your Voice.
NUS QUALITY MARK You may know that one of our objectives for the year is to achieve to be audited for the quality of CUSU as a whole. We have just finished the visit by the auditor and firstly I want to thank all the staff, elected officers and students who were involved in this audit visit. Some of you may have met the auditor, Steven Symonds, and he was very impressed with all the students he met. There are three standards of quality for students unions: Good, Very Good and Excellent. I am pleased to say that we have achieved a standard overall of Very Good and we are only the second students union to achieve this (Kent is the other one). No students union has to date achieved excellent. We were, however, excellent in many areas but not able to sustain this highest standard across all areas. We were considered to be excellent in the following: our strategic planning, governance, representation
and campaigns, as an employer and our partnerships with community and university departments. In these areas we are a model for other students unions to follow. There were some areas which we nearly but not quite achieved excellent and that is something we will work on and have already started – that is having more students involved in CUSU. We’ve started this work with our faculty based centres, with more communications and also to have feedback from more students; finally to make it easier for students to be part of CUSU; we know that when students do get involved then they have an excellent experience. We want more of them to have that privilege and to feel part of the union. We all have a part to play in that. So thanks to all for making this happen. You should be very proud of your students’ union.
CUSU is starting up a set of students’ union sites around the campus. They will be open Monday to Friday from 10.30 to 2.30, every day. They will be a main part of our plan to reach out to our members who don’t come to the Hub, to give information and to refer students to our services in the Hub. We will be assessing their success of course over the term but we have made a serious commitment to have a presence across all faculties. This will be of interest to Faculty Chairpersons, Council members and those involved in campaigns. We will have staff at each of these stations which are known as The Campus Team. If you want to use these stations, want to promote for example course reps or a campaign or just want your members to know who you are then you can easily book time by emailing infooffice.su@coventry. ac.uk You can also get information on exact locations (Art & Design – now the Faculty of Arts & Humanties! – will alternate between the Graham Sutherland and the Ellen Terry buildings).
WHO’S WHO AT CUSU A CLOSE UP LOOK AT THE MEMBERS OF STAFF THAT HELP MAKE IT ALL HAPPEN AT CUSU
VOLUNTEERING & EMPLOYABILITY
Corrine Gordan Hi, I’m Corinne Gordon and I am the Volunteering & Employability Manager in CUSU and am responsible for the team of staff in the V & E Department and the overall development and operational delivery within it. The department is broadly split into 2 areas; schools and community and we also run 6 Add+vantage Modules in volunteering through our department. My role has a strong focus on external relationships and I oversee the development of community and school partnerships and initiatives to provide a wide range of volunteering opportunities for all students to engage with, In particular we strive to offer opportunities and activities which supports the development of key skills and employability for students whilst supporting the needs of the local community. I also work with partners across the university to collaborate on student engagement and employability, e.g. careers, Employability Placement Units etc. I am responsible for strategic partnerships and this includes the City Council and local volunteer bureaus as well as sitting on steering and working groups e.g. The University Employability working group and Warwick Volunteers Steering Group. Devina Whitwell I have been part of the department for just shy of 1 year. I teach on 6 Add+vantage Modules; Volunteering in the Community and Volunteering in School’s Levels 1-3. I also help support any student who is looking for an opportunity to volunteer in a school. These opportunities can range from Sports, Literacy, Numeracy and Language support, specific subject support or delivering a Student Led Project. We have had an after school Art clubs, Ancient History days and Japanese Language Clubs. We in V&E pride ourselves with offering opportunities that students want, that not only enable them to meet new people and have some fun experience but to gain valuable skills that are relevant to future career development. Fran Docherty Hi I’m Fran, my role is Community Volunteer Coordinator. I coordinate community volunteering at CUSU. I work with local community organisations to develop volunteering projects and promote placements. I also support student-led projects, one-off volunteering days and our Student Volunteer Team. Speak to me if you’re interested in volunteering with a charity or have an idea for a new volunteering project. Andrejs Blakunovs My name is Andrejs Blakunovs, I’m from Latvia. As a recent graduate from Coventry University with extensive volunteering portfolio I managed to continue working in higher education sub-sector: Volunteering & Employability. My primary role was to maintain a database with student volunteers and existing partners, and work as a broker between students and community organisations. The department was trying to involve me in a variety of different roles: research, surveys, project planning, web-development, promotions. One of my achievements at work is elaboration on the Community Warden Scheme, which aims to create a student force, which will act upon topical issues for students in local community and by tackling those issues students and the Scheme are perceived to have a positive impact on local neighbourhood. The Scheme is a great response to ‘studentification’ problems and will cover issues like recycling, housing, anti-social behaviour, security and other. At the V&E department I also learned to see community needs and how the Students’ Union can fulfil those needs, integrating their physical and human resources. As a non-UK student and fresh graduate, I got a fantastic experience, absorbed essentials of office work and met great people.
Tracy Reay Hiya, My name is Tracy Reay I have been working in CUSU for nearly 20 years!! I am the Volunteer Support Administrator for V&E. My job role is front facing which means I interact with students on a daily basis to ensure they receive our fortnightly newsletters, keeping them up to date with our events and latest opportunities available throughout the year. I also help to organise our events & activities throughout the year, process DBS forms for volunteers working with vulnerable adults or children, along with supporting my colleagues Fran & Devina too.
HUSH & EMPIRE
CUSU acquired a lease on the premises known to all as Hush. The lease runs out at the end of 2019. There were a lot of issues for us operating the venue – too many to list here – but overall it was a huge distraction from our core business of representing ALL students and a financial and reputational risk too. We closed the venue earlier in the year to stop that risk and looked at possible solutions - we still had to pay the rent - and how to provide entertainment events for our members.
The best approach for CUSU was a policy of partnership with third parties to provide our entertainments and possibly take a small fee for marketing and promotion. The first big step in this direction was the Summer Ball held in the familiar surroundings of the Cathedral ruins with the fun fair in the square. This was no financial risk to CUSU. (Do you know how much CUSU lost with the last summer ball it organised? £40,000 - money that could have been used on services for all students.)
So we have leased the venue to a company that will provide student nights and also open to the public when not exclusively open for students. It is a local company with links to the music business and will bring live music to the venue. We hope they will be successful and provide great nights for students too. They have made extensive changes to the venue with both new sound and light systems and staging; they have opened up the upstairs areas for a bar and VIP space. And so they have renamed the venue ‘Empire’.
THE STUDENTS’ UNION GRANT FUNDING FOR 2015/16 W
e receive grant funding from the University. Other financial resources to CUSU come from income from delivering Add+vantage Modules and our commercial operations (NUS Extra, clothing, sponsorships and clothing). This year our grant from the University increased by £120,000 (the only non-academic area to have an increase this year). We submitted a bid for increased funding based on our strategic plan that was agreed by Council
and the Board of Trustees. Although we did not get all we asked for, the University agreed to additional funding for specifically improving our support for postgraduate students and for our greater involvement in the local community. This brings the total grant finding to £1.1 million. There are additional funds on top from Sport England and from the University earmarked for Phoenix Sports. We continue to measure ourselves against other students unions –
benchmarking – and we perform well in some areas, but there are areas in which we need to catch up. Not least in the relatively low grant funding we receive in comparison with other students unions. We will continue to make a strong case to the University that our relative grant funding position should improve while at the same time improving our services to our membership to be a strong, effective and student led students union.
HALLS NETWORK TRAINING CAMP Hi Student Council,
• Dinner at Cosmo!
On the 10th and 11th of September we held our Halls Network Training Camp, this was a two day residential camp that aimed to get new students, living in Halls engaged with the SU before Freshers.
And that was just the first day!!
16 students attended the Training Camp and feedback from them was very good and they all bonded very well through the ice breakers and activities. It was a very busy but enjoyable 2 days, activities included: • A tour of the campus • Lots of Ice breakers • Introduction to the Students Union from Adebowale • Talks on Campaigns and the Tenants Union
The second day included talks on: • Healthy Eating • Sports Planning • Green at CU • Let’s Go • Creating promo materials for Freshers. Overall the event was a massive success and there was a lot of positive feedback from the students. We can’t wait to see what all the new Halls Network Reps get up to over the incoming year and we look forward to hosting the Training Camp again next year!! Lauren and Sue
RECRUITMENT
SABB UPDATES
Student Community Coordinator (fixed post till July 2016) – advert closes 08/10/2015
ADEBOWALE
Student Representation Assistant advert closes 08/10/2015 Casual Clerical Assistant advert closes 27/09/2015 Casual Communication & Sales Assistant advert closes 27/09/2015 We have successfully recruited over 60 casual positions: Student Union Assistants and Campus Team Members, and a paid student placement of a Campus Team Leader, Charlene Misago has started in the Central Services Department on 1st September 2015.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE TO CUSU CATCH UP? Do you have something you would like to see featured or would you like to contribute an article to the next edition of CUSU Catch Up? Or maybe you would like to feedback on the content? If so please contact us using the following email address:
studentleaders.su@coventry.ac.uk COVENTRY SU
Hi, I’m Adebowale Adebiyi, the Representation and Welfare Officer at CUSU. Over the summer, I have been actively engaged with the rep system; that is the academic reps and the hall reps. My participation and attendance at the training organised by NUS at Keele University, has also groomed me for the role and the year ahead. It’s going to be a great year ahead filled with expectations, excellent delivery of service and exemplary leadership to students as well as efficient representation of students across board. I look forward to having a pleasant and memorable year working with you.
EPHRAIM Hi everyone, I hope you are all getting set to start your new academic year. I am so looking forward to working with you all on zone committees. Yes zone committees are going to be a big deal for us all this year and onwards. Zones committee’s offer the opportunity for more scrutinizing of your sabbatical officers, more accountability of councillors and more engagement with students. I am looking to get source team members involved in letting students know what’s going on, and possibly live streaming of zones and council. Also, I have been working with other sabbaticals to set the stage for our articles review as promised in my manifesto. This is to ensure more inclusion for all especially college and postgrad as our demographic changes. Can’t wait to see you all… seriously!!!
@CUSU
WWW.CUSU.ORG