December 2016
This is the final edition of The Branch for 2016. Manchester Student Homes’ Good Neighbours Team have had a busy and eventful year with lots of projects and news to tell you about!
UKTGA Conference The United Kingdom Town and Gown Association (UKTGA) conference was a two day national event held in Nottingham with a view to sharing best practice in relation to off-campus activity within the context of the HEI sector. This conference brought together colleagues within universities, Students’ Unions, Police, Local Authority, Fire Service officers, Private Hall representatives and third sector organisations, as well as others working to this agenda in a professional capacity. The conference took place in order to examine the latest trends in University and community engagement, and provided an opportunity to share leading practice with those working in the field. The conference built on the discussions held in Manchester in 2014 to highlight the landscape of offcampus relations across the sector and exemplify best practice. Keynote presentations and workshop sessions focused on changes in recent years from a legislative perspective and considered new and emerging trends amongst the student population. The event was an outstanding success with delegates commending the high quality and diversity of speakers. The calibre of attendees over the two days was also exceptional. Manchester Student Homes were delighted to see so many speakers and delegates from a variety of backgrounds show true interest and enthusiasm towards the keynote speeches and breakout sessions.
Community Bulb Planting Manchester Student Homes attended a community bulb planting on 2nd November in partnership with Manchester City Council and University of Manchester Volunteering. We met with student volunteers and members of the local community in the Withington area and spent the morning planting dozens of flowers for the entire community to enjoy.
hectic schedules in order to give back to their local community.
It was a fantastic initiative that brought together students and long term residents, who enjoyed themselves very much. It Many residents walked was a pleasure to be a by and commented on the part of this and we all work we were doing, and look forward to attending how appreciative they similar events in the were that students had future! taken time out of their “We hope that every attendee enjoyed the conference as much as we did, and we are excited to hear about the projects that will be created as a direct result of what was learnt in Nottingham” - Cooper Healey, Manager of Manchester Student Homes
Manchester Student Homes is a free, university-run housing service for students. Based in Fallowfield, MSH runs a landlord accreditation scheme and can offer support to students in relation to property searches, providing housing advice and contract checking. MSH also works with students, the community and partner agencies to identify issues in off campus areas.