STRATEGIC PLAN | 2014-2017
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Words from Our Presidents On behalf of the CUSU team, we are delighted to introduce our Strategic Plan for 2014-17. CUSU is the central students’ union for all 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Cambridge. Every student is automatically a member of this unique cross-collegiate organisation, making us a powerful body capable of affecting widespread change. We are confident that this plan responds to students’ needs and will enable CUSU to develop more and more to meet those changing needs. As the central hub for student democracy in Cambridge, CUSU links up student representatives and networks across the city, supporting students in positions of leadership and resourcing studentled campaigns. We do not take the place of student representation in colleges, but facilitate communication across college,
faculty and society groups. We provide the services that students want to see from their peers, offering quality and consistency in the way we support individuals, mobilise groups and resource many disparate student groups across Cambridge. It is CUSU which speaks up for student interests to the University and beyond; it is CUSU which has a unique insight into the running of our university and its impacts upon students. This document explains how CUSU will continue our development for and with students from our unique position, through offering effective representation, extensive support and excellent resourcing for student activities. Everything in this plan is rooted in our mission and values as a student-led, student-focused organisation. We will seek to act responsively to students’ leadership and always remain deeply committed to making students’
views heard at every level, from the CUSU team itself to the university to the government. The CUSU Trustee Board and sabbatical team are proud to be leading CUSU into this new phase of its development; we look forward to reporting back to CUSU Council with the many exciting changes which will be facilitated by this ground-breaking plan.
Felicity Osborn President 2013-14
Helen Hoogewerf-McComb President-Elect 2014-15
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CUSU’s Role at Cambridge CUSU is a unique organisation in Cambridge University’s collegiate structure. It sits at the centre of student representation, acting as a powerful link between many, often disparate, groups of students. CUSU is not the only representative body in the collegiate university, but supports and facilitates students taking on democratic roles across our institution. It is one of CUSU’s key strengths that we have large, broad and effective networks of students, both keen to see change and capable of making it happen. These networks include Faculty Representatives, JCRs and MCRs and the CUSU autonomous campaigns which support underrepresented student groups. We provide training, funding/resources and advice to these groups in performing their representative roles and they play a key part in CUSU Council, the sovereign democratic body of CUSU which directs all our policy decisions. In this way, we contribute extensively to the facilitation of student feedback and integration of students into university governance,
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and therefore have the ability to influence students’ educational experience positively and pro-actively. We run network forums, listen to students and take their messages to the senior university committees where we sit. We are committed to act as the central hub for students’ representation, campaigns and activities, supporting students in reaching further, responding to their priorities and passions, and making it easier for every individual to have the Cambridge experience which they want. We campaign to make students’ lives better, taking positive action to challenge and change the problems facing our members both in our institution and in wider society. We support and train society leaders, run the Societies Fair and lead the incredible Shadowing Scheme, reaching out to prospective disadvantaged students. We are also one aspect of Cambridge’s tripartite welfare structure, providing an invaluable peer-led advice service for students, alongside the colleges’ tutorial
system and the central University Counselling Service. Being a sabbatical officer means making all of this happen. We listen; we respond; we take action. The sabbatical team hear concerns and take them further, leading campaigns, consultations and negotiations to get change made at the highest possible level. In a decentralised and disparate university structure, with a huge range of provision available for students, it is essential that a student-led, central body supports students groups and CUSU is best placed to do so. CUSU wants to have a greater impact in the University, and feels it can be an exemplary students’ union of which its members can be proud: this strategic plan enables us to evolve and change in the way we need to.
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Our Vision Your voice, your change; a Cambridge built for every student.
Our Objectives 1 Develop our responsiveness to issues affecting our members: • Be demonstrably student-led • Be respected within the Collegiate University community • Communicate to students what we do
Our Mission Our representatives work to ensure students’ interests are at the heart of every decision made in the Collegiate University.
Our Values Collaborative Evidence-led Participative Fair Progressive Principled
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Building
Develop our members’ ability to initiate and promote change in the Collegiate University: • Collaborate with and empower student leaders • Build campaigning capacity of Common Rooms • Have accessible democratic systems in which students have confidence
JCRs
Website
MCRs
Processes & procedure
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We collaborate with and empower our student networks to campaign on the issues that matter to them and to achieve meaningful, positive change. We provide support and services to our members to ensure an enriching Cambridge experience for every student.
The Enablers of our Plan
People Income Data
Colleges Facilities & Capacity Builders
Relationships
Resources
Governance
Council Trustee Board Student Leadership
3 Improve the relevance of the organisation’s activities to its membership and promote efficiency and high quality as core strengths: • Have a positive reputation for how we provide services • Provide relevant services that offer value to the membership • Have a visible and meaningful identity
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Our vision is a Cambridge built for every student, and it is the future we want to see: where the Cambridge experience is open to anyone, and tailored for everyone who comes to study at the University. We want the students’ union to be central to the Collegiate University experience as it enables a credible representative voice to continually enhance student experience at Cambridge. Our mission outlines what we do and why we do it: • Our representatives work to ensure students’ interests are at the heart of every decision made in the Collegiate University. • We collaborate with and empower our student networks to campaign on the issues that matter to them and to achieve meaningful, positive change. • We provide support and services to our members to ensure an enriching Cambridge experience for every student. We have set ourselves an ambitious vision of the future, which will involve many others in its achievement and so it’s important that we are consistent and exemplary in how we set about achieving our goals.
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Collaborative
It would not be possible for us to achieve our vision alone; we must engage with others and cooperate with their motivations and ideals. We look to continue this existing strength with our diverse membership by always demonstrating that we value partnership, and respect differences and the involvement of others.
Evidence-led
Consultation, effective representation and research are central to our work. We’ll make sure this is always demonstrated, and that strong arguments are made on behalf of our members so that our position and our view-points are always relevant and offer a valuable contribution to decision-making within the University community.
Participative
CUSU is member-led and so we’ll make sure the organisation is accessible to every member: whether students wish to engage in our representative structures, access our services, or explore their own ideas, CUSU will provide a platform for involvement and a range of opportunities for interaction as individual students wish.
Fair
We believe every student at Cambridge should have access to the same student experience and, for this to become a reality, we will set an example: principles of fairness and equality will be associated with how we behave and the activities we undertake.
Progressive
We understand that we must be responsive to change and adaptable, both in how we undertake mandates from students, but also in our own organisation development, so that we keep improving and continue to be relevant to our members.
Principled
Our mission requires that whatever we do, we will act with integrity. Within this value, we recognise the importance of being constructive with those we work with and alongside; that we must be understood as trustworthy and honest in our approach; we must act responsibly as an organisation, for example, by being ethically aware, and a good employer.
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Develop Our Responsiveness to Issues Affecting Our Members:
Be Demonstrably Student-Led We want to ensure that members’ views drive everything the organisation does and consistently inform the work of representatives.
What we know CUSU needs to demonstrate how representative it is and improve the way it seeks and acts upon students’ views. The Faculty Rep system at Cambridge presents a huge opportunity for students to offer more input about their educational experience. However it is drastically undersupported by the central University and too few students are aware of the representative structures in place due to a lack of central management of course representatives by departments. Graduate level representation is particularly weak and more needs to be done to involve
graduate students’ views in the quality of their education. We know that students are increasingly valuing their university experience in the context of paying for it, and this requires effective feedback mechanisms in which students have confidence. We know that we can be perceived as insular, bureaucratic or as having a particular political bias (such as being overtly left-wing); whilst this isn’t the case, this perception undermines students’ confidence in their representative systems and tells us that CUSU needs to involve students more in representational activities.
494
159
11%
61
Mean number of course reps at Russell Group universities
Candidates in Faculty Rep elections ‘13-‘14
Turnout % 14.1
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
19.2 20.3 20 14.1
No. of candidates % 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
0.8 1.9 2 2.5 1.5
of students voted for Faculty Reps ’13-‘14
No of Faculty, School & Course reps University Depts told CUSU about
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The Plan
The Change
How We’ll Measure Progress
Gauge student opinion on their experience at Cambridge. • Ask students about their experience at Cambridge annually. • Utilise all student networks linked with CUSU to tell us what our priorities should be. • Establish a campaigning stakeholder group to gauge the views of active political, welfare or activist bodies.
•
At least 4,000 students will be completing our annual Big Cambridge Survey to inform changes the students’ union can lead on for students.
Strengthen representative links between local Departmental representatives, and those at School and institutional level. • Establish a more supportive, promotional community for Faculty Representatives. • Improve the visibility of academic representative systems so that more students take part and university staff team is aware. • Work with the Collegiate University to ensure student views are central to the development of Cambridge’s teaching and learning. Demonstrate the value of student feedback in improving the student experience. • Better understand the student experience at Cambridge, report our findings and show how feedback is acted upon by the SU. • Make it easier for students to find out how they are represented across the Collegiate University and give feedback.
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•
• •
•
•
Students have confidence that their views are being acted upon and know how to raise issues. Students will feel they have a strong collective voice and can influence agendas that are important to them. Students’ views will be more effectively represented. Students recognise CUSU as a source of support for problems, issues and concerns regarding their educational experience. Students recognise that representatives contribute positively and constructively to the quality of students’ experiences at Cambridge. CUSU will be aware of and understand the issues Cambridge students face during their study at Cambridge and will provide effective support to members to improve their educational experience
70% of students will be aware of Faculty Reps and what they do. CUSU will promote the changes Faculty Reps secure on behalf of students in their departments, schools and faculties. Candidates for Faculty Rep elections will number at least 350 with turnout over 25%. 75% of students will be confident that they would know how to get their views represented to the University if they needed to. In our sabbatical elections, we’ll be achieving average voter turnout for the Russell Group of Universities: 30% of our student body will vote.
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Be Respected Within the Collegiate University Community We want to be perceived as a credible, constructive and valuable partner to University decision-makers so that CUSU will more easily achieve change on behalf of the membership.
What we know Too many students and Colleges are indifferent to the central union and its role in the institution, and students have told us we’re not prominent enough in the Collegiate University as a whole.
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£233,410
Develop Our Responsiveness to Issues Affecting Our Members:
CUSU is the only students’ union in the Russell Group of researchintensive universities that does not receive block grant funding (flexible funding spent as members choose). Whilst Common Rooms do receive funding from their Colleges, we estimate the combined ‘students’ union’ funding at Cambridge to be a
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Amount University gives directly or indirectly to CUSU.
£118,915
fraction of the average £1.5m block grant given to students’ unions in the Russell Group. When restricted grant funding has been allocated, CUSU has consistently received less than it initially asked for and therefore cannot meet the cost of delivering required activities in full. This places difficult funding constraints on CUSU, resulting in the unpopular affiliation fee model, and prevents it from developing.
£3,000,000
Block Grant
Amount CUSU actually receives in its bank account.
£116,895 100
SU NSS Score
90
£2,500,000
80 70
£2,000,000
60 50
£1,500,000
40 30
£1,000,000
20 £500,000 £0
Proportion of £118,915 that CUSU spends under agreement with the University for defined activities or services
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0
Block grant funding provided to the Russell Group students’ Unions by their universities in 2012-13 against students’ union NSS satisfaction score 2013
£2,020
Amount of unrestricted funding CUSU receives from the University.
0.1%
Estimate of UK students’ annual tuition fee that ends up funding CUSU in some way.
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The Plan
The Change
How We’ll Measure Progress
Be open and honest with the University and communicate proactively. • Demonstrate the value of our activities. • Recognise and promote positive actions undertaken by the University. • Offer constructive solutions during instances of conflict. • Distribute our reports more effectively.
Senior Members of the Collegiate University will be aware of CUSU and understand what it does on behalf of students.
Increased, unrestricted resource from the University contributing to a more sustainable students’ union and accounting for at least 20% of CUSU’s turnover.
Align our work more closely to the University’s strategic agendas. • Evidence our resource needs and demonstrate our requests for University support. • Further contribute to the University’s strategic aim to enhance the student experience through student representation and centralised services. • Consult the Collegiate University on our own services, and provide constructive feedback on University student services.
The University readily acts upon feedback from the Students’ Union.
Maintain the University’s confidence by ensuring risk associated with students’ union activities remains low. • Develop a risk register and share this with the University. • Demonstrate CUSU’s ability to generate income and secure alternative means of funding. • Make small investments to grow commercial activities.
The University perceives of the Students’ Union as vital to its own strategic development and continued institutional success.
Attitudes towards the value of a central Students’ Union amongst the Collegiate University community are positive and facilitative towards CUSU’s organisational aims.
We’ll receive at least 200 responses from at least 24 Colleges in our cross-Collegiate stakeholder survey, helping us understand how we are perceived so we can learn, develop and better represent students. Agree a Memorandum of Understanding between CUSU and the University, detailing the principles of partnership between the Union and the University, and describing the role and responsibilities of the Students’ Union in University decision-making and consultation. A risk register will be developed and in operation, demonstrating CUSU’s secure and transparent approach to effective management.
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Develop Our Responsiveness to Issues Affecting Our Members:
Communicate to Students What We Do We’ll establish stronger ties between our members and the Union’s activities, telling the stories behind the change we make on behalf of Cambridge students.
What we know It is clear that CUSU’s biggest problem is that of communication and perceived relevance. Many of our members have told us that they don’t understand how we affect daily university life and don’t see the positive effects of the union’s work. On the whole, students feel we do good work, but they just don’t know enough about their students’ union.
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We know that students have higher expectations of CUSU‘s ability to communicate with them relevantly
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and effectively, and the union needs to respond by establishing more innovative means of starting conversations with its members, and demonstrating what it does on their behalf. Furthermore, as the debate on university funding continues toward the next General Election, it will become increasingly important for CUSU to be able to speak to and on behalf of students credibly regarding their educational experience, and respond to key issues that students are passionate about.
3,848
8,965
67
46
Twitter followers
I am aware of most of the things CUSU does I am aware Of everything CUSU does and how it represents me
7%
40%
6%
44%
I know little of what CUSU is or what it does
Average National Student Survey (NSS) score
I know CUSU exists but not sure of what it does for me I have no idea of what CUSU is or what it does for me
Facebook likes
Cambridge SU satisfaction score
2012 survey of members
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The Plan
•
Demonstrate the impact of our activities and report to our membership. • Communicate achievements and changes that will enhance students’ experiences. • Be an active presence in the online student community, extending our reach through a two-way conversation about our work.
•
Understand members’ perceptions of the students’ union and their educational experience. • Consult upon and understand our members’ attitudes toward and knowledge of their central students’ union by utilising our networks • Measure levels of participation in CUSU’s activities. • Engage inactive members more effectively by responding to feedback. • Communicate with members as they prefer. • Actively seek out opportunities to meet, discuss and/or debate with students who have negative views of the union.
Provide policy briefings to the membership on key issues. Engage influential alumni in support of national campaigns.
The Change CUSU’s members will be more engaged in their educational experience as a whole and will feel better supported by their Students’ Union. Members will have confidence in union representatives and in CUSU’s governance structures. We know what students think about us and how they engage with us. Cambridge students will be more politically aware of national issues affecting, or of interest to, Cambridge, Higher Education and students.
How We’ll Measure Progress We’ll launch the Big Cambridge Survey and report back to the membership on our findings. We’ll instigate regular student network consultations and focus groups (particularly Common Room and Society feedback). We’ll measure the number of students participating in CUSU’s activities, setting clear benchmarks by the end of the first year of our Plan and demonstrating significant improvement by year three. We’ll demonstrate high student participation in national issues (by way of consultations or campaigns), and there will be at least nine candidates for NUS Delegate positions. We’ll be able to show that national press organisations regularly seek the views of Cambridge students on national student issues.
Establish a national profile as the voice of Cambridge students. • Show how CUSU’s positions on national issues are decided. • Comment on national issues with relevance to students and mobilise and engage student opinion on these issues.
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Develop Our Members’ Ability to Initiate and Promote Change in the Collegiate University:
2
Collaborate With and Empower Student Leaders Students are resourced and supported by their Students’ Union to achieve on behalf of their peers and the wider community, to enact change, or develop and promote ideas.
What we know There is increasing pressure on students to demonstrate employability skills upon graduation, and at Cambridge, students are hugely active: a survey of members told us that 80% of students were part of at least one society and there are over 400 registered societies at the University and many more operate as unregistered groups. At CUSU, we support a diverse range of volunteer networks, both within our governance structure (such
as Autonomous Campaigns) and outside of it (such as student-led campaigns or role-specific common room networks). Importantly, we train and develop representatives although the support we currently provide is informal and not well attended. There is very little consistent support for students partaking in extra-curricular activities at Cambridge; whether students are elected to lead a campaign to change something locally, lead a society for the year, or start a volunteering project, there are few sources of support available are softskills training, advice, or simple guidance resources. We know that the University foresee Cambridge graduates as future leaders of social change; better-resourced volunteers will achieve more personally and on behalf of their peers.
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Âź
of university societies have over 200 members
84%
Society survey respondents who agreed that more needed to be done to support societies.
75%
Societies who agreed that CUSU was well placed to coordinate support for societies.
54%
28% 17% 2%
Poor
Ok
Good
Excellent
Society ratings of the quality of support they received from the University (%)
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Common Room Women’s Officers
Department Student Representatives Faculty Rep Forum
Women’s Campaign Executive Presidents and Externals of Common Rooms
Women’s Officer Education Officer
President
JCR/MCR Representatives
Access Officer Network Access Officer
CUSU’s Networks: How we’re Connected to Student Life
CUSU LGBT+
CUSU (International students campaign)
CUSU Council
Graduate Unions
Welfare Officer
Autonomous Campaigns
Black and Minority Ethnic Campaign
Coordinator
Faculty Representatives
Common Room Welfare Officers Welfare Campaign Networks (eg mental wealth, sexual health officers)
Ethical Affairs
Disabled Students’ Campaign College Green Officers
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Societies Syndicate and Network
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The Plan
The Change
How We’ll Measure Progress
Provide exemplary support to student volunteers. • Establish an accredited programme of volunteer support that incentivises, strengthens and recognises voluntary activity. • Run an induction and on-going support programme for all part-time executive Officers. • Increase the level of staff-support available to student networks.
CUSU will be perceived by students as a quality service-provider of support to student volunteers, and students will be able to improve and expand upon their abilities and ideas by engaging with the union.
We’ll receive the Investors in Volunteers quality mark for the way in which we support student volunteers.
Recognise and promote the value of student volunteering and activism. • Develop and promote CUSU’s annual awards that recognise the activities of student volunteers. • Measure and increase student society participation in CUSU’s services. • Begin to measure the social impact of Cambridge’s student volunteers in the wider community. • ‘Opportunity profiles’ produced outlining skills students can develop in roles available through CUSU. Respond to the varying needs of student volunteers and society leaders. • Establish a leadership development programme for any student group leaders. • Provide budget and accounting support to students. • Campaign for more freely available space for student activities. • Evaluate training programmes provided to student volunteers.
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Societies will be easier and more enjoyable for students to run. Societies will perceive CUSU a supportive body, representative of, and responsive to, their needs.
We’ll have launched our Leadership Development Programme and ensure that over 100 students are supported via the initiative. We’ll be able to show that twice as many students are directly involved in CUSU’s activities compared to 2013, and demonstrate a 50% increase in the number of societies using our services. Societies evaluating our society support initiatives will give positive feedback, with 90% recommending CUSU to other societies and members. We’ll have received funds from the University community dedicated to providing specific staff support to student societies. We will have secured more bookable space for societies from the University or Collegiate community.
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Develop Our Members’ Ability to Initiate and Promote Change in the Collegiate University:
2
Build Campaigning Capacity of Common Rooms Common Room Committees will be supported to enact more positive change locally at their College on behalf of their constituents.
What we know Common Rooms represent Undergraduate and Graduate students in respective Colleges and there are over 800 active Common Room volunteers. We know that students value their Common Room’s role in providing social opportunities and representation at each College. However, bringing together Common Rooms to collectively address common problems is rare – such as rising rents, tutorial support,
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governance support and budget submissions. There could be a lot more information-sharing between Common Rooms developing practice and skills amongst peers. Affiliation fees present a vulnerable income stream to CUSU and there is lack of clarity on what the affiliation fee actually refers to; the fee risks the perception that Common Rooms buy into a representative body, which CUSU fundamentally disagrees with. However it is a necessary funding mechanism in the absence of an institutional grant. Consistent affiliation debates reduce the capacity of CUSU’s elected officers in fulfilling their representative responsibilities, and so CUSU must better demonstrate its value to Common Room committees and improve the support it gives the body.
JCR 36%
MCR
33%
34%
32% 27% 23%
20% 15%
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
2013-14
Common Room election turnouts
22% 33% MCRs JCRs Mean Common Room Turnout
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The Plan
The Change
How We’ll Measure Progress
Establish a community of shared practice amongst Common Rooms. • Encourage College-representativefocused achievements via the CUSU Awards. • Establish a hub of resources and opportunities for ideas and best-practice sharing among Common Rooms.
Common Rooms are better resourced to make demonstrable gains on behalf of their students at their College.
We’ll have supported Common Rooms to achieve an average voter turn-out of at least 45%.
Common Room committees actively promote the central students’ union to their members.
We’ll work with Common Rooms to ensure that turnout at each College for CUSU’s annual elections reaches at least 15%.
Common Rooms take active leadership roles in the political leadership of the students’ union.
We’ll be able to show that the number of candidates ‘graduating’ from JCR or MCR positions to stand for CUSU sabbatical posts has increased, with at least one Common Room ‘graduate’ standing per available sabbatical position.
Promote the central Students’ Union’s role, and its institutional value to Collegiate members, within the Collegiate University. • Establish a larger CUSU presence in colleges. • Engage Common Rooms more actively in the democratic processes of the Union. • Review and consult students on the College affiliation model. Support Common Rooms to have greater impact in their Colleges. • Support Common Rooms to increase their election turnout and participation. • Create tools and resources for Common Rooms to aid more effective consultation and representation in their constituencies.
Common Room committees actively seek and challenge CUSU to develop support provided for them to achieve on behalf of their members.
We aim to see that every Common Room is affiliated to CUSU, and CUSU comfortably wins all affiliation debates, gaining at least 65% of votes in favour of affiliation. We’ll demonstrate that CUSU Policy is relevant, by witnessing a significant amount of Common Rooms debating CUSU, national, or cross-Collegiate initiatives that have been instigated by CUSU.
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Develop Our Members’ Ability to Initiate and Promote Change in the Collegiate University:
2
Have Accessible Democratic Systems in Which Students Have Confidence Students’ Union governance representative andisaccountable; it representative and and is is as efficient as possible, accountable; driven by action it is as efficient as possible, and is driven by action.
What we know Part of CUSU’s role as a collective body is to take forward issues that students consider important and this can sometimes be controversial, especially where students may consider policy to be consistently bureaucratic or have particular political bias.
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CUSU recognises that it must ensure its policy-making processes are democratic, accessible and legitimate so that students have confidence in how the union arrives at its collective decisions. Incumbent to this is strong participation from students at
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each stage, as well as assurance that policy that is set is actionorientated and communicated widely to students. Cambridge’s student body is changing in a variety of ways and CUSU’s democratic processes are currently under-representative of all student groups, such as graduate students and societies. However, as the University changes, its decision-making bodies must present exciting and engaging opportunities to debate and form collective aims relevant to the student population.
20,000
Approximate number of CUSU members
Postgraduate (writing up/ under examination) Postgraduate Research (Part-time) Postgraduate Research (Full-time) Postgraduate Taught (Part-time)
4%
10%
54%
22% 8%
Postgraduate Taught (Full-time) Undergraduate (Part-time)
Study type of CUSU’s Membership
Undergraduate (Full-time)
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The Plan
The Change
How We’ll Measure Progress
Make it easier for students to contribute to CUSU’s democratic systems. • Provide more opportunities for debate and discussion. • Make Council more enjoyable, interactive and directed by representatives. • Ensure all students can access policymaking and set the union’s agenda. • Better demonstrate how CUSU policy influences our day-to-day activities. • Ensure Council focuses on key issues for students with robust debate.
CUSU’s democratic procedures will be accessible to voting members and students will feel their union is well governed.
We’ll make sure that turnout in CUSU’s annual elections is more reflective of its membership by doubling the proportion of votes currently cast by Graduate students.
Champion our autonomous campaigns’ democratic activity. • Support and develop the leadership of under-represented groups. • Work together to take applicable campaigns to University decisionmaking bodies. • Develop longer-term campaign plans together. • Better promote and support these campaigns’ policy-making activities. Improve opportunities for and engagement with union decision-making. • Involve more consultation in CUSU Council enabling ordinary union members to contribute more to policy and to engage more deeply. • Include student societies in our governance and service-provision. • Expand the influence and impact of Council’s part-time elected roles.
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CUSU’s Council of representatives will be politically active on behalf of the membership and provide firm steer for the union’s activities and campaigns. Students will know what their representative Council discusses and resolves and understand the role of Council in leading the students’ union’s voice. CUSU’s democratic governing bodies will contribute effectively and positively to CUSU’s impact as a students’ union. Under-represented groups will be active bodies achieving institutional gains for their group members. The students’ union will provide exemplary support to student-led environmental issues, therefore enabling greater student-led change within the University community and beyond that bring positive impacts to environmental and ethical agendas.
CUSU Council will be well attended, with an average attendance of at least 70. We’ll measure participation in our Autonomous Campaigns and set targets at the end of year one so that we can show the impact of our increased support. We’ll look to support autonomous groups to double the number of students participating in their campaigns. We’ll also see the delivery of at least one priority campaign by autonomous campaigns each year. We’ll have filled all of our part-time executive positions.
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Improve The Relevance of the Organisation’s Activities to its Membership and Promote Efficiency and High Quality as Core Strengths
Have a Positive Reputation for How We Provide Services 3
CUSU’s services and the support available to students will be well-known and well thought-of by students and stakeholders.
What we know CUSU’s role as a students’ union is very strong in advancing its aims as an organisation. When students use our services, such as the Student Advice Service, feedback is overwhelmingly positive.
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One of CUSU’s strengths is also a weakness. Because CUSU does not have a bar its representational activities are not diluted by an overbearing focus on entertainments or drinking events. However we know that CUSU is not widely recognised as a service-provider and this prevents CUSU from connecting
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with many students who wouldn’t otherwise come into contact with CUSU’s representatives; this can contribute to a perception of irrelevance. Key to maintaining the confidence of our students and stakeholders across the University, is our ability to show that we do things well and always with our students’ best interests at heart. By improving on the established services we have, and being known as a benchmarked provider, we’ll hopefully help raise the standards of support students can expect across the institution.
CUSU has been awarded Gold in the national Green Impact initiative
31%
My students’ union acts in my interests
21%
A students’ union know what students want
19%
It's a student-friendly organisation
13%
I wouldn’t mind if they were run by someone else
8%
I’d prefer these services to be ran by my peers I hadn’t really thought about it
4%
Other
4%
I'm not sure why
1%
Reasons Members felt CUSU should provide services
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The Plan Demonstrate quality in every service offered by the Students’ Union. • Benchmark CUSU against other students’ unions and service-providers. • Demonstrate our services are relevant for students. • Define quality benchmarks for each member and commercial service. • Ensure sufficient staff and elected officer support is available to maintain service quality. • Improve the range of products sold to students. • Develop customer service principles applying to all services for students. • Develop a customer complaints policy and feedback system Contribute to Mission, Money and Merit. • Demonstrate how students’ money is re-invested into our services and representational activities. • Ensure all services contribute to the mission, sustainability and relevance of the Students’ Union. • Apply for grant funding for CUSU’s campaign- and community-led activities.
Be student-focused in all of our commercial operations. • Offer value to students by providing products at competitive prices. • Improve the accessibility of services and products. • Better align commercial operations with student interests.
The Change Students are aware of the member and commercial services provided by CUSU and value their availability. Students and stakeholders, inclusive of the Colleges, will trust CUSU as a serviceprovider and partner, and have confidence in CUSU’s ability to deliver high quality services for students. Students will automatically look to their Students’ Union to provide services of excellent quality and will identify and value CUSU as a reputable and reliable service-provider.
How We’ll Measure Progress We will have expanded and improved the diversity of our product range, with at least three new products or services available to students by the end of the period of the Plan. We’ll consistently achieve the Green Impact award and have been awarded the Green Impact Excellence Award. We’ll have received external award accreditation for our Student Advice Service (the Advice Quality standard), we’ll have implemented the Good Governance Code for the Voluntary Sector, and achieved the Investors in People award. Level of funds available for the direct support of student-led activity (made available as a result of surplus generation increase of up to 103%). We’ll have increased our media spendper-client by at least 20% by the end of the Plan.
CUSU will be better able to support student-led campaign and representation activity. Save students money (by offering products/ services at better value).
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Improve The Relevance of the Organisation’s Activities to its Membership and Promote Efficiency and High Quality as Core Strengths:
Provide Relevant Services that Offer Value to the Membership 3
Students use the services CUSU provides because they are incomparable in what they offer to students.
What we know CUSU generates income to fund its charitable and member activities – it is a non-profit organisation. The largest source of income is generated through media sales, such as for CUSU’s freshers publications, as well as income from NUS cards and shop sales from the Reception areas of its offices. All money CUSU raises goes straight back into the students’ union’s operations and activities.
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The range of products and commercial services CUSU has provided to students has not changed for 30 years and its print media sales have been in long-
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term decline. CUSU has committed to reducing Common Room affiliation fees, and funding from the University is difficult to obtain. Therefore a growth area for CUSU must be in the provision of new services for students, where it can balance value for students with valuable income for the union.
External Contracts
11%
Generated Income Common Room Affliation University unrestricted funding
15%
18%
Restricted University funding University operational provision
21% 15%
20%
0%
University Services (rent & rates)
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The Plan
The Change
How We’ll Measure Progress
Understand our market. • Research and identify the needs of students as consumers and service-users. • Identify gaps in services or product availability. • Identify segments within the Cambridge market and how to access different groups with commercial opportunities. • Identify the commercial/fundraising challenges and opportunities for Common Rooms in their Colleges. • Explore the possibility of alumni donations as a fundraising model.
Increase the level of participation from students in CUSU’s services.
We’ll show that we can respond to student feedback by achieving high levels of student satisfaction in CUSU’s services: 80% of students would recommend our services to a friend and 90% will be satisfied with our service.
Develop new services that meet students’ needs and expectations. • Respond to market analysis by satisfying needs in the student market. • Be more enterprising with the annual Societies Fair event, providing a better experience for students. • Scope out the benefits of establishing a trading subsidiary.
The way in which students are able to participate in their students’ union will expand and, as such, provide a greater level of access to the union’s activities from otherwise inactive members.
Evaluate current services as well as new ones. • Elicit feedback on products and services and ensure student satisfaction is central. • Demonstrate service improvements. • Obtain feedback from clients and stakeholders on their experience with CUSU’s commercial operations and respond.
Increase revenue obtained from commercial operations so that CUSU is more sustainable and can more pro-actively pursue its organisational aims. Students will appreciate the services their students’ union offers. Provide more opportunities for students to engage in the students’ union.
We’ll monitor our service-users and, by the end of the Plan, we’ll be able to show that at least 50% of students who visit our services return to use them again. By re-evaluating the way we generate income, we’ll be generating £80,000 more than we currently are so we can be providing more for our members. At least £20,000 of new income raised will be generated by newly developed services. We’ll be able to show that clients and stakeholders value the services we provide to them, and increased income from external sources will be matched by positive feedback.
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Improve The Relevance of the Organisation’s Activities to its Membership and Promote Efficiency and High Quality as Core Strengths:
Have a Visible and Meaningful Identity CUSU effectively promotes itself, its services and its charitable activities to its membership.
3
What we know Organisational identity is a challenge for CUSU, not least because it is a representative body of a heterogeneous student population, but also because it is the central students’ union at a Collegiate University. JCRs, MCRs, the Graduate Union and the Union Society all operate in a similar space where they will each be referred to as ‘the union’. Students have told us we lack central presence in the university community and many students think we have a public image problem.
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CUSU perceives that the two students’ unions, CUSU and the GU, duplicate their own representational and democratic
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functions and would better support students by coming together and centralising their resources (whilst retaining Graduate-specific representation as an autonomous body). Grads tell us they enjoy and appreciate their own space and services, and differentiate themselves from undergrads as a group of students with contrasting needs and wishes. Furthermore, Grad students have commented that, too often, CUSU can have too much of an undergraduate-focus in its activities. CUSU and the GU have identical constitutional charitable aims, and we go about supporting student representation in exactly the same ways (we already share the Welfare and Rights Officer). The University has set about increasing graduate numbers and expanding its facilities to incorporate high graduate numbers, as well as improving the Graduate experience at Cambridge, which is one of the poorest in the Russell Group of universities. Elected officers at the
GU have effectively represented students however as a student-led organisation it has consistently stumbled from crisis to crisis over the past decade.
12 CUSU 1 GU 63
No of student-focused charities or voluntary associations at Cambridge (excl. societies & sports).
No of support staff at each union
7,346
No of Graduates represented by both CUSU and the GU.
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The Plan Understand our market. • Merge the central students’ union with the Graduate Union to create one representative body for all students. • Research how Graduate students want to be represented, the level of engagement they want in their study, and the impact they want a union to have. • Establish action-plans with graduates to assist the University in improving PTES/ PRES scores. • Maintain a strong, autonomous Graduate representative body with elected Graduate students to lead on Graduate-specific issues and campaigns. • Maintain Graduate-specific services. • Share governance, campaign knowledge and resources (inclusive of CUSU’s large staff team) with the GU to create a combined support structure for student representation. • Communicate the benefits of a merged representative organisation whilst maintaining distinctive, strong graduate representation. • Share student-focused services so quality and reach increases; share commercial income streams. • Co-locate both unions in one central building. • Develop a closer relationship with the Post-Doc community via the PDOC Society and OPDA.
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Develop an identity that represents CUSU’s diverse membership and distinguishes CUSU as the central students’ union. • Create a new brand that students can identify CUSU’s activities with. • Be consistent in how we communicate as an organisation. • Unify campaigns and services so they are clearly part of CUSU.
capable of improving the Graduate experience at Cambridge.
Be visible and ensure students are aware of what we do. • Establish a greater visible presence by going out and talking to students. • Promote CUSU’s work more widely and effectively. • Produce communications products that inform students how CUSU differs from other groups. • Support Common Rooms in communicating what the central students’ union does. • Seek the University’s support in explaining the need for a central students’ union. • Promote the benefits of CUSU’s services and activities to the Collegiate University community. • Establish more positive relationships with student press.
The Collegiate University will consider ‘central student representation’ to be operating more efficiently.
The Changes Graduate representation at Cambridge will be stable, successful and impactful,
Graduate students will feel effectively represented and have confidence in their students’ union. CUSU/GU will meaningfully contribute to improvements in the University’s Graduate provision.
Students will recognise and identify with the central students’ union and its activities.
How We’ll Measure Progress The two students’ unions will have come together, and will have retained the autonomy of student representation and services successfully. Surveys will implicate the positive work of CUSU campaigns on improvements to the Graduate provision. CUSU will have worked with the University to implement a plan to improve results from the PTES/PRES surveys. 75% of new students will have heard of CUSU before they arrive at the University. 70% of students will know where CUSU’s building is located.
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Enablers
The below ‘enablers’ present four key areas that CUSU will need to invest in to ensure the Plan’s success. Relationships
Facilities & capacity builders
JCRs and MCRs
It is important that positive and two-way relationships exist across the Common Room community of over 800 student volunteers.
Building
Accompanying this Plan is CUSU’s vision for a central students’ union, which it sees central to achieving all strategic objectives.
University
Our goals rely on our relationship with the University, such as funding, and society support.
Website
CUSU requires an intuitive, user-friendly interface that encourages community amongst the membership.
Colleges
CUSU recognises that its aims will be hindered by long-held perceptions of the central union unless it works to address its relationship with Colleges more generally.
Processes & Procedure
CUSU requires clear and consistent processes to ensure the ‘basics’ of operation are efficient and well-managed.
Governance
Resources
CUSU Council
Council needs to be a dynamic and relevant forum for debate on student issues.
Trustee Board
The Board will be required to continue to improve the way it manages its governance responsibility and demonstrate its professionalism to its stakeholders.
Student Leadership
Student participation is an integral measure of the Plan’s progress and allows CUSU to learn more about how students engage in voluntary activities.
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People
The Plan’s success will require a positive and facilitative working environment for employees.
Income
CUSU needs to develop systems to enable it to be more strategic in its day-to-day sales activities.
Data
New systems will be required to ensure the correct information is collected and effectively monitored, and data provides strategic insights into the Plan’s performance.
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How will we measure our achievement? By 2018...
Strategic Target
Current Measure
Increase in SU election turn-out: TARGET = 30% turnout
14.1
NSS Question 23 score. TARGET = 58
46
Reduction of Common Room Affiliation Fee. TARGET = by 25% (£77k).
£103,000
All Common Rooms affiliated.
50 of 56
Income as a % of turnover. TARGET = Commercial services 45% /service agreements 12% /University unrestricted grant 20% /external publications 13% / membership income 10%
Commercial services 39.5% /service agreements 15% / University unrestricted grant 0% /external publications 22% / membership income 23.5%.
NET surplus from income generating activities increases. TARGET = 2017-18 target forecasted at £164,000.
2013-14 estimated at £80,963.
Commitments obtained from the University to develop the central resource allocated to academic representation.
2013-14, £24,670; 2014-15, £25,060; 2015-16, £25,772 (excl. Inflation increases). 2016-17 = £0. (Fixed-term arrangement).
Formal merger with Graduate Union that protects the autonomy of Grad students and Grad-specific services.
Two separate charitable bodies with identical aims and membership.
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So, what do you think? Let us know To hear more about any of CUSU’s campaigns, email your name and CRS ID to signmeup@CUSU.cam.ac.uk
Feedback form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CUSUStrategy
(01223) 333 313 Cambridge University Students’ Union Old Examination Hall Free School Lane Cambridge CB2 3RF www.cusu.cam.ac.uk
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