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AYOUSA0910 A REVIEW OF WHAT YOUR STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION HAS BEEN DOING FOR YOU IN THE 2009/10 ACADEMIC YEAR
Contents >> Introducing You
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AUSA Sabbatical Officers & Executive Committee 2008-09
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Mission, Vision & Core Values
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Representing You
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Involving You
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Entertaining You
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You Said, We Did
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Supporting You
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Connecting with You
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Providing For You
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Rewarding You
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Listening to You
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Looking Forward
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Financial Statements
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Aberdeen University Students’ Association (AUSA) is a registered Scottish Charity No. SC037971
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Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2008-09
IntroducingYOU>> What an eventful and exciting year AUSA has had! We celebrated our 10th Anniversary as the Students’ Association you currently know and love. Our birthday celebrations at the Annual Dinner allowed many of the Sabbaticals from years past to come together and exchange stories of how the Students’ Association has changed since ‘their time’. It also allowed us to reflect on just how influential the Students’ Association has been to students during that time, and it is our hope that this continues and becomes even more far reaching. After many years hard work by AUSA Sabbaticals and staff we finally moved into the Butchart Centre, creating a genuine home for the student body on this campus. We have been steadily settling in over the past few months and can’t wait to see how the space and facilities are used over the coming year. We’re also embarking on our small commercial venture, Alfie’s Cafe, to help put more money into AUSA, allowing us to support our members better. The potential that this gives AUSA is very exciting. This year also saw us complete the Students’ Union Evaluation Initiative (SUEI) award process, something that has also had a lot of effort invested in by Sabbaticals and staff over the past few years. We were incredibly pleased to achieve a very solid bronze award, making us the first Students’ Association in Scotland to receive a SUEI Award, and part of an elite group in the UK. SUEI acts not only as a quality assurance seal, reassuring our members and the University that we are fit for purpose, but it has also played a really important revitalisation role, challenging us to do better as an organisation for our members. We’ll now be starting on the SUEI 2 process, and hope to be clutching a Silver award very soon. Aberdeen Sports Village opened its doors this year, which was greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm from our Sport Clubs and all other students that enjoy taking time to look after their physical well-
being. The facilities that ASV offer have huge potential to support our Sports Clubs as they continue to participate in national and international competitions. A key success this year was securing £111,000 for our Climate Challenge Project, an initiative funded by the Scottish Government to encourage our students to become more active in living low-carbon lives. It will be exciting to see how this project develops over the coming year, as students become more engaged with green issues. On a more challenging aspect, we began looking closely at our governance structures with the hope of improving our transparency and communication to our members, as well as our internal decision making. The recommendations of this review will be presented to the student body at a future date, with the aspiration of creating a Students’ Association that is more in-tune to the needs of our students, and is able to accurately and more effectively represent them across the University, Scotland, and UK. This year has seen many ups and downs within the Students’ Association. It has been a year of unforgettable achievements and successes, and I am honoured to have been your Student President throughout it all.
Robin Parker AUSA Student President 2009-10
Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10
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AUSA Sabbatical Officers 2009-10
AUSA SABBATICALS 08/09: L-R: GORDON COX, JOHNNY KEATING, JOY ELLIOTT, NICK EDWARDS, DUNCAN MCKAY, SANDY MCKINNON >>
AUSA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2009-10 President President for Welfare & Equal Opportunities President for Societies & Student Activities President for Education & Employability President for Charities President for Sport Sports Union Treasurer VP Equal Opportunities VP Societies Foresterhill Convenor VP Charities VP Education Environment & Ethics Officer
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Robin Parker Kat Ross Johnny Keating James Simpson Sandy Mckinnon Christine Duncan Benjamin Jesson Miriam Mahood Sean McNally Amanda Friend Stuart Cowan Adam Wilson Helena Sramkova
Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10
OUR Vision
>> Enriching and supporting the student community by providing a wide range of high quality services and opportunities
OUR Mission Statement
>> AUSA provides representation and services for students, run by students, to enhance their experiences and enable students to enjoy and gain more from their University education
OUR Core Values
>> >> >> >> >> >> >>
A pleasant, safe and healthy environment An environment where students should have fun while learning Effective representation, advice and support for students Student focused service provision Opportunities for personal development Accountability, integrity and fairness Always striving for continuous improvement
AUSA Strategic Plan
Through our involvement in SUEI the AUSA Strategic Plan has been identified as a priority area and as such we have been working on this throughout the year with a view to agreeing and starting the implementation during the 2010/11 academic year. The new plan is proposed to be based on a 5 year timeline which will compliment some of the university’s own 5 year Strategic Plan coming into force next year.
STUDENTS’ UNION EVALUATION INITIATIVE (SUEI)
AUSA signed up for the Students’ Union Evaluation Initiative (SUEI) which began at the beginning of January 2008, and this has provided us with much of the focus of our activities over the past two years. We were very pleased to be awarded the Bronze level in June and attended the award ceremony at the Scottish Parliament, Holyrood in November. The award shows that Aberdeen University Students’ Association is comparable, and in many cases better than many other students’ unions/associations in the UK. It also provides us with legitimacy with both the university and more crucially, our members as we can prove we meet a very high standard when it comes to providing our services, activities and representing our members.
Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10
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Representing
YOU>>
ONE OF AUSA’S MAIN FUNCTIONS IS TO REPRESENT YOU – OUR MEMBERS – IN ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR STUDENT LIFE. WE AIM TO STICK UP FOR YOU, TO BE YOUR VOICE, AND TO HELP MAKE YOUR OPINIONS HEARD. THIS IS HOW WE’VE DONE THIS YEAR…
We have lobbied for you and your interests at local, regional and national levels making representations on your behalf to MPs, MSPs, Aberdeen City Council on issues such as lighting for Seaton Park, the 3rd Don Crossing and the introduction of parking charges on the roads around campus.
We have had a high level of involvement at both NUS UK and NUS Scotland conferences and events – sending our full entitlement of delegates to both NUS Scotland and NUS UK Conference as well as a participating in a range of the smaller conferences LGBT, Womens, Disabled students etc.
We continued to play an active role in Aberdeen Student Forum – a forum which RGU, Aberdeen College and AUSA combine to represent and campaign and issues which effect students from across all 3 city institutions, such as the significant bus fare increases proposed by First Aberdeen.
For the first time NUS conference delegates were elected by cross-campus ballot, ensuring a more open and transparent system of election and true cross-campus representation.
AUSA education committee organised a crosscampus day of action last Christmas to raise awareness of student debt. We continued to work with and to lobby the university on a range of issues to further improve the student experience as well as providing formal representation in Academic Appeals. An AUSA and Aberdeen Defend Education Campaign (ADEC) rally in March 2010 resulted in the submission of 1,500 signature petition to the University calling for guarantees on levels of tuition fees and against proposed budget cuts.
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Attendance at the Association’s AGM was in excess of 500 members for the third year running and debated a range of motions put forward by both the AUSA Executive Officers and members themselves on issuesas wide ranging from bottled water at meetings to the recent construction work at Hillhead. The AGM 2010 saw the passing of a number of motions which will allow for the implementation of the first stage of AUSA’s Governance Review process aimed at making AUSA more efficient, transparent, accountable and available to you – our members. Changes will include the formation of a separate, distinct AUSA Board of Trustees and the introduction of cross-campus referenda for constitutional changes.
Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10
ASF campaign against bus fare cuts
Malcolm Bruce MP signing Fees pledge
ADEC Rally on funding cuts
Aberdeen Students’ Forum logo
Stephen Robertson MBE completed his second year as Rector and continued to be an ardent supporter of students events and campaign for student issues
Students show debt at Christmas
at the University Court (the University’s Board of Governors) and nationally via the Scottish Rectors’ meetings.
Core Value: Effective representation, advice and support for students Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10
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Involving
YOU>>
SINCE AUSA IS YOUR STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION ITS MAIN FOCUS IS TO INVOLVE AS MANY OF YOU – OUR MEMBERS – IN THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE AND TO HELP SHAPE YOUR FUTURE AND ITS SUCCESSES. YOUR INVOLVEMENT IN NON-ACADEMIC AND COMMUNITY WORK ADDS VALUE TO YOUR CV.
The AGM was again held in the Arts Lecture Theatre to allow as many of you as possible to attend and was promoted as an opportunity for all students to have their say and cast a vote as to how you want your students’ association to operate. The “Give it a Go” initiative launched last year was extended and enhanced operating during both Freshers’ and Re-Freshers’ Week offering members a chance to “Give it a go” with tailored “taster” sessions before deciding whether or not to join a society. In all more than 30 societies held in excess of 40 “Give it a go” type events. The extended pilot of the STAR (Students Taking Active Roles) Award – a recognition scheme for students non-academic achievements such as acting as Class Representatives and Sports Captainswas further developed and enhanced to now include Bronze, Silver and Gold levels in recognition of the differing workload and time commitment of roles and allow students the opportunity to progress through the award. Additionally, the focus of assessment of the award was changed from written submissions towards competency based interviews. A STAR Award “Presentation Evening” was held at the start of the academic year to allow those
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interested students to find out more. The successful STAR Awards participants from last year were also presented with their Awards. Over 404 students registered with the volunteering service with 1,741 requests for volunteering vacancy details. As at 31 July there were over 153 organisations offering 323 volunteering opportunities. Around 73 members aged under 25 also participated in the MV Awards. During the year the Charities Campaign ran a host of fundraising events and other initiatives, both large and small, including Gala Saturday, Schools Collections and fancy-dressed charity pub crawls. Together our members involved in the campaign raised a whopping £113,800.00 of which £64,000 was disbursed to 54 predominantly local but also national charities. In response to feedback the charities campaign this year disbursed 3% of their total disbursable funds to charities which AUSA Societies and therefore you – our members – had a direct link to, including UNICEF and the Anthony Nolan Trust. In April, AUSA’s Environment and Ethics Committee were successful in obtaining £111,000 of funding from the Climate Challenge Fund to launch, staff
Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10
and resource a new initiative - the Climate Change Project - which seeks to educate all our members on the main issues of climate change; save 1,000 of tonnes of Co2 and at the same time have fun.
AUSA’s members continued to be active on a sporting front with 55 Sports Clubs almost all of whom participate in British University and College Sports (BUCS) leagues and competitions. Currently 55 teams are entered into the BUCS leagues with The Climate Change Project has introduced a more than 100 others participating in a variety of range of initiatives and projects including widely other local and national leagues and competitions. publicising the “Liftshare” programme encouraging both our members and staff to consider car-sharing In 2010, AUSA was 24th out of all the British for both long and short journeys. Universities who participate in the BUCS championships.
Core Value: Opportunities for personal development
Climate Change Project logo
Student Show 2010 - ‘Back to the Teuchter’
Torcher 2010
Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10
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Entertaining
YOU>>
PART OF THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE IS HAVING FUN, GOING OUT, SOCIALISING AND ENTERTAINMENT. AUSA STRIVES TO PROVIDE MANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR ITS MEMBERS AND STAFF TO ENJOY THEMSELVES AT A WIDE VARIETY OF EVENTS IN A WIDE VARIETY OF WAYS.
A range of events were held throughout the year, often under the auspices of the Charities Campaign including Gala Saturday, Student Show as well as ceildhs, fayres and alike allowing members to be entertained and raise money for good causes at the same time. Freshers’ Week was once again a great success with the now famous AUSA Marquee providing the focus point for much of the daytime activities, including the Societies and Sports Fayres. This year’s Torcher Parade was one of the largest in recent years stretching more than 1 ½ miles, involving 49 floats and more than 2000 students. A Re-Freshers’week held in February offered societies and sports clubs another major opportunity to gain members with an ever increasing range of “Give it a go” taster events. It also acts as a key introduction to AUSA’s services and its clubs and societies for second half-session exchange and some new postgraduate students. A special Ceilidh was held in Elphinstone Hall to mark the 75th Anniversary of the Student Newspaper “Gaudie.” A number of the editors and sub-editors, past and present came along, and together with current students and guests enjoyed a grand night
of dancing from the always impressive Gillie Dhu and even a piece of birthday cake. AUSA celebrated his 10th Anniversary with an enlarged Students’ Association Dinner, with many of AUSA’s past sabbatical officers and staff making a return. Guests enjoyed a champagne reception at AUSA’s brand new offices at Buchart before it was off to the Hilton Treetops where a sumptuous 3 course meal was served - and thanks to Superceilidhfragilistic - the ceilidh dancing continued into the wee small hours. 2009-10 was a challenging one for AUSA in relation to providing entertainment for you following the closure of the Union in November 2008. The relocation to the Butchart Recreation Centre in May of this year saw the Students’ Association return to its own building and for the first time in many years offer a dedicated student social space on the main Kings campus, which our members can make their own. AUSA Sport continued their usual run of successful cross-campus events with Superteams again attracting more than 500 participants from across the university to an action packed day of team sporting events; AUSA’s sports teams did battle once more with their rivals from across the city in
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the annual Granite City Challenge – believed to be the largest one day intra-university competition in Britain – which saw AUSA’s teams victorious and our partnership with Hilton continued for the always lively, always entertaining Sports Ball.
The 2nd Societies Ball and Annual Awards were held in March at the Copthorne Hotel with a record number of societies and guests of the Association in attendance. After a lovely meal came an enjoyable ceilidh (yes, AUSA likes its ceilidhs!) and for many an after party at Liquid Nightclub into the wee small hours.
Several of AUSA’s Creative Arts Societies performed fantastic pieces of theatre thanks to the facilities of the Aberdeen Arts Centre with Treading The Boards This year’s Student Show raised an amazing £86,000 (TTB) and Gilbert and Sullivan Societies performing by performing ‘Back to the Teuchter,’ playing to an ’Bad Girls: The Musical’ and ‘Patience’ respectively. audience of over 5,000 in His Majesty’s Theatre over 6 days.
Core Value >> An environment where students should have fun while learning Bad Girls: The Musical
Students’ Association Dinner
Freshers’ Week 2009
Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10 11
WE DON’T JUST LISTEN TO YOU WHEN YOU GIVE US FEEDBACK – WE ARE COMMITTED TO ACTING UPON THIS FEEDBACK AND BRINGING ABOUT ACTION AND CHANGE WHERE REQUIRED – FOR AND ON BEHALF OF YOU. HERE ARE EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S BEEN SAID BY YOU AND WHAT WE’VE DONE IN RESPONSE >>
Societies & Student Activities
YS – Develop an easier way of collecting membership details WD - Created a membership database which allowed societies to input all the details, rather than writing them out by hand, and adding to excel YS - Make VAT free on society purchases WD – AUSA is currently looking into the possibility of this YS - Bring back A-Z on website so its easier for new members to join WD - For 2009-10 the A-Z was re-introduced, and from now on will be updated yearly once affiliation forms have been handed in as well as when new societies affiliate YS - Improve the system of Room bookings for Societies WD - Having control of our own rooms in the Butchart Centre should solve a lot of issues societies experience with room bookings, although a guide to university room booking is now also on the AUSA website. YS – Help support societies with publicity WD -A lot of information such as: printers, how to book a stall at the hub, subtv specs, website specs, etc. has been put onto a tab on the AUSA website entitled ‘Events Planning and Publicity’. Societies Union Representatives have also been introduced, who are accessible to assist with these sorts of general issues problems and - given enough time - AUSA Marketing Coordinator can also assist with publicity.
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YS - Lobby the University for more versatile spaces like a concert hall on campus and generally more space for societies. WD - Various meetings were held with the Principal (Duncan Rice), Vice Principal, University Secretary others to lobby for this very issue and the President for Societies and Student Activities now sits on the Cultural Engagement Strategy Group at the University where this is being discussed. Equally, with the move to Butchart we ensured a squash court and the small gym were kept free and clear for groups to use. YS – Help Societies find more finding WD - Secured £10,000 from Alumni, Introduced sponsorship training and a Sponsorship guide was emailed to all treasurers YS – We have no Minibus Drivers WD – The Societies Administrator is creating a MIDAS drivers database who she can email whenever you’re struggling to get a driver. YS - Bigger and better societies ball WD - Changed the venue to a bigger space, included guest speakers and increased turn out from 70 to 105 YS - More comprehensive training sessions for societies WD - Updated and improved on the sponsorship training and secretary training. Included a health and safety training session. YS - A better email name WD - When receiving emails, an incredibly long and indistinguishable name would appear. We changed this to ‘AUSA – ‘[Name of Society]’ YS - More chances for feedback WD - We’ve held focus groups, questionnaires and emailed groups out asking for feedback. This was successfully achieved, making us more transparent, and giving us fresh ideas. YS - Feedback on the feedback WD - Once feedback was received, we would work on action points and let everyone know what we were doing to achieve the changes they required. YS - More events advertised through facebook WD - All society events were publicised through Facebook Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10 13
YS - More information on the societies pages of the website WD - We have made this section a tool for societies to use including handy information for all society members, as well as officials, and all the forms you’ll ever need are downloadable from there.
Charities
YS – International and ERASMUS students wanted to fully experience Scottish culture before heading home at the end of the term. WD - We repeated the extremely successful Freshers’ Fling during Freshers’ Week and also held our second Re-Freshers’ Week and Taste of Scotland Ceilidh where international and national students were able to sample Scottish cuisine learn how to Ceilidh dance YS - Raise money for the national charities which societies and student groups support. WD - We disbursed 3% of the total raised to help support charities linked to societies such as the Anthony Nolan Trust and UNICEF.
Education
YS – The Library should be open later during the exam periods, especially the summer. WD – Lobbied the University Librarian and others within the university successfully to extend the library opening hours by several hours during the May 2009 exams. YS – Provide more support and guidance for Class Reps and School Convenors to carry out their role. WD – Secured funding for a new staff member to join AUSA as Education Development Co-ordinator to develop and improve the Class Rep system, as well as having a responsibility to support and assist class reps and school convenors as much as possible.
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Welfare
YS - International students are under-represented. WD - We held AUSA’s first ever international students’ forum. YS - We are stressed! WD - AUSA Welfare held a month long mental health campaign as well as a WellFayre in Refreshers Week, both addressing a variety of issues relating to your mental health.
General
YS - Bus travel in Aberdeen was too expensive WD - Campaigned for the re-introduction of the student day-ticket on First Bus in the city YS - The condition of the path from Hillhead into Seaton Park was poor WD - raised the issue at the community council, leading to increased spending from the city council on the area to improve the quality of the surfaces and make the overhanging trees safe YS - That lighting on campus was poor in many areas WD - Fed into a university consultation on campus lighting YS - Car parking on campus was already not good enough WD - objected to the proposed controlled car parking zone, asking the University to take more account of students in their provision of parking. Asked for more public transport provision in order to let students get out of their cars.
Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10 15
Supporting
YOU>> AUSA RECOGNISES THAT STUDENTS OFTEN REQUIRE A HELPING HAND AT VARIOUS POINTS IN THEIR STUDENT EXPERIENCE. WE PROVIDE A RANGE OF SUPPORT SERVICES AND MAKE PROVISION WHERE POSSIBLE TO OFFER THOSE IN NEED RELEVANT ADVICE, SUPPORT AND INFORMATION TO ALLOW THEM TO PARTICIPATE SAFELY AND TO MAKE INFORMED CHOICES, NOT ONLY ABOUT THEIR STUDIES, BUT ALSO ABOUT THEIR LIFESTYLES >>
We recruited a team of around 100 volunteers to support all our events and newest student members throughout Freshers’ Week, continuing our hugely successful ‘Easy Tiger’ welfare campaign (complete with its own mascot!) with airport and train station welcomes throughout Move in Weekend that transported students to their new halls of residence and buses to take students home to halls at the end of the evening. Our strictly confidential information and listening service Niteline continued to provide support for students in need of a patient, non- judgmental ear between 8pm and 8am and at other times by e-mail. We continued our programme of compulsory annual heath and safety training for all our sports clubs and our highest risk societies, to ensure that the safety of our members is always the paramount consideration.
regular meetings to support society presidents and club captains. AUSA enjoys excellent relationships with a host of stakeholders. These include effective partnerships and many joint initiatives covering a wide range of our service provision. We have a very dedicated team of full time and part time staff who undertake an excellent job in supporting, advising and assisting Sabbatical Officers, volunteers and students in everything they do. During 2009-10 AUSA Joblink had 1504 registered students and 142 registered employers with more than 23,000 job enquiries. There were 457 new jobs added to the Joblink system and during the year 1,039 positions were filled as a direct result of AUSA Joblink.
A number of training sessions were arranged to support societies and sports clubs with the “administrative” side of their operation including support on fundraising as well as support for treasurers and safety officers in addition to the
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Funding was secured during the year which saw the appointment of a new AUSA Education Development Co-ordinator to directly support our members who serve as class reps and school convenors as well as further developing our system of course representation. AUSA Joblink operated a hugely successful pilot of the “Passport 2 Work” scheme offering students the chance to gain experience in catering.
The AUSA Info and Advice centre continued to provide a sterling service to students dealing with more than 5,000 requests and enquires on a wide range of support matters including issues relating to accommodation, landlords, physical and sexual health and funding not to mention almost a thousand requests for free condoms, including a new service providing condoms by post. The number of requests for information/enquires made at the AUSA Info and Advice Centre during the year 2009/10 was as follows: Info & Advice Centre Statistics 2009-10
Core Value: Opportunities for personal development
Accommodation search Landlord/housing issue Academic issue Physical/mental health issue Condoms “Postal” condoms (from Mar 2010) Funding/finance issue Directions Use of fax/phone Funder finder Other Phone calls to I&A E-mails to I&A Total
Easy Tiger Poster
SEOTY Award Winners, 2010
467 86 219 70 908 11 164 315 1,381 17 297 686 616 5237
Passport 2 Work Poster
Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10 17
Connecting With
YOU>>
AUSA SERVES OVER 14,000 STUDENTS AND ARE COMMITTED TO COMMUNICATING WHAT WE DO TO AS MANY OF YOU AS POSSIBLE. AUSA IS EMBRACING THE COMMUNICATION AGE USING THE INTERNET, EMAIL AND SOCIAL NETWORKING AS TOOLS TO STAY CONNECTED WITH YOU, WITH A VIEW TO CONTINUALLY IMPROVING THE METHODS WE USE TO ENGAGE OUR MEMBERSHIP >>
AUSA continued the success of last year sending fortnightly HTML e-newsletters direct to all its members informing them of upcoming or ongoing opportunities and events, driving click-through traffic to specific pages/sections of the website as well as informing them how they could became more involved with AUSA. Gaudie (our student newspaper) in its 75th year and ASR (Aberdeen Student Radio) continued to publish and broadcast a wide range of news, views, reviews and entertaining content and involved between 30 and 50 students in the running and operation of both media channels with ASR operating a full schedule of programmes on weekdays for the first time, with something to suit everyone’s taste.
radio show launched on ASR where members could raise issues and ask questions directly to the Student President, Robin Parker, and receive live on air responses. A range of focus groups were held with a range of students from Class Reps, to Council members, to those who were not currently active within the association in order to seek members’ views on a wide range of topics including the University’s policy on feedback and exams and as a result of the Student Union Evaluation Initiative (SUEI), AUSA itself.
In addition to a fortnightly Gaudie column highlighting key issues a weekly “Grill the President” AUSA E-Newsletter
Aberdeen Student Radio
Gaudie The University of Aberdeen
Gaudie 17th November 2009
Were the Premier League right to reject Rangers and Celtic? Opine - Page 17
gaudie.editor@abdn.ac.uk
FREE
Est. 1934
AUSA To Use Own Funds For Butchart Move Emily Hirst News
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As previously mentioned in the 19th of September edition of Gaudie, the Aberdeen University Students’ Association [AUSA] is planning its move to the Butchart Centre. Although the University will be using its own funds to repair and convert parts of the Butchart Centre, for example, the changing rooms, the AUSA will themselves be providing the money to make the move happen. AUSA will use the money from their own reserves to achieve their aims for the new centre and are hoping that the University will match whatever AUSA spends. They are also hoping to receive money from the Alumni fund, which is made up of former students who, it would seem, fully support the idea. With these funds AUSA plan to make the centre the students’ own and to establish the centre as the new social place to go. The money itself will go towards furnishings and general decor, display boards throughout the centre and marketing the centre to attract students. They are hoping to pay for some of this through the profits made by the social facilities available in the new centre, such as the bar which is in high demand, and also through many social events that will
INSIDE: Features A run down of the Sabbatical Officers and what they do - Page 6
take place throughout the University calendar. Aberdeen Universityhas been without a Student Union on campus for more than five years now. Throughout this time students used the Union Bar on Littlejohn Street which closed last year due to a lack of income. The idea of having a completely new home for AUSA is so that students have their own building, owned by them, that is completely democratic and not bound by University rules. At the moment AUSA are, as we know, based in the Hub. They are in control of various parts of the Hub such as Joblink, the Volunteering centre and BookEnds but this move will mean that the AUSA and the University-run parts of the Hub will be separated and that both will in control of their own centres. By doing this, both seem to benefit. Replacing the AUSA section of the Hub will be the onestop shop and will also be a place where students can get in touch much more easily with their academic advisors. The overall aim of the move, as spoken by the AUSA President Robin Parker is to “spend money to make money which will benefit students for many years to come. As we know more money means better services for all and this can only be a good thing.”
Andy Panda - Page 4
Arts A look back at some of the best moments of the Charities Fashion Show - Pages 8&9 Katarzyna Banaszek
Ministers Bury Their Heads In The Sand - At the G20 event in St Andrews, the world’s most powerful finance ministers gathered to pull the global economy out of recession and to find common ground on climate change ahead of the Copenhagen Summit. COP15 - Page 3
Music A look at the latest Weezer album Page 11
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Providing for
YOU>>
IN ORDER TO IMPROVE YOUR STUDENT EXPERIENCE WE FEEL IT IS IMPORTANT TO FUND AND PROVIDE CERTAIN SERVICES, RESOURCES AND FACILITIES FOR YOU TO USE AND ENJOY. HERE’S HOW WE’VE PROVIDED FOR YOU THIS YEAR >>
The newly renovated Buchart Recreation Centre became AUSA’s new home in May 2010 which will provide the first dedicated student space on Kings College Campus for many years’ and will offer a dedicated home for the vast majority of AUSA’s services. Buchart is expected to be fully operational by Freshers’ Week 2010 and will be the “one stop shop” for our members incorporating meeting space for AUSA’s many and varied Societies and Clubs as well as a café with opening times to suit 21st century student lives.
Main Hall - before
Societies Centre - before
AUSA secured additional funding from both the University and the Alumni fund to further enhance sports and society funding, including a £10,000 Alumni grant which was disbursed directly to societies. A wide range of employers attended the Joblink Recruitment Fayres which gave students the opportunity to find out more about both placements and graduate recruitment at a range of local and national employers.
Main Hall - after
Societies Centre - after
Core Value >> Student focused service provision
test
Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10 19
Rewarding
YOU>>
MANY OF YOU ACHIEVE SO MUCH THROUGHOUT THE YEAR THAT WE FEEL IT RIGHT THAT YOUR EFFORTS, TIME, TALENTS AND SKILLS ARE REWARDED. THROUGH NOMINATION AND PARTICIPATION IN SEVERAL SCHEMES AND COMPETITIONS THE FOLLOWING STUDENTS HAVE BEEN REWARDED >> SOCEITIES AWARD WINNERS 2009/10 Big Heart Award Revelation Rock Gospel Choir Best Event International Society Ceilidh Best Society Newcomer Kian Dastoori (Marrow) Most Dedicated Society Individual Rosie Utton (Marrow) Most Improved Society AB-FAB
New Society of the Year UNYSA Society of the Year Dance Society Alison Johnston Award Zoology Society Childreach International UNICEF Shared Planet Society Malt Whisky Society
SPORTS AWARD WINNERS 2009/10 Blues Bowl Kay Copland, Rifle Club The AJM Edwards Memorial Award David Eastwood, Canoe Club Centenary Cup Rifle Club The Sandy Morrison Memorial Trophy Rifle
The Allender Memorial Trophy Boat Club BLUES MEDALLISTS TWELVE sportsmen and women received Blues Medals during the year. TEN sportsmen and women received Half Blues during the year.
VOLUNTEERING (MV AWARD) MV Award is a national award scheme endorsed by the Scottish Government which recognises the voluntary work done by young people (16-25 years old) across Scotland. The awards recognise the contribution made to voluntary projects in a wide variety of areas and includes the work done by students involved in societies, sports clubs, committees and in other student activities during their studies. In academic year 2009-10: • 34 students were awarded the 50 hour Award • 19 students were awarded the 100 hour Award • 11 students were awarded the 200 hour Award – each receiving a certificate signed by the First Minister of Scotland. 20 Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10
Listening to
YOU>> WE DON’T JUST HEAR YOU WHEN YOU TALK TO US - WE LISTEN, WHICH MEANS WE DO OUR BEST TO ACT ON WHAT YOU’VE TOLD US >>
Carrying out Annual All-Student Surveys covering wide range of topics – garnering feedback on services we currently provide and finding out what your further needs/wants are, which in turn drives our strategic plans and policies for the future We conducted market research which included online & paper surveys and focus groups when planning our relocation to Butchart - including finding out what you wanted to see provided in Alfie’s Cafe and other facilities The Sabbatical Officers continue to devote time to Going Out And Talking to students around campus and feeding in issues that arise into action plans and focussing policy
Used the online poll feature on AUSA Online to take snap-shot views on a variety of issues - December/ January exams diets, Sexual Health and more! We carry out Freshers’ Week Surveys to track satisfaction and to see what we can do the following year to improve the provision of entertainments, support and information thorughout the week and beyond! AUSA works with the University to roll out and encourage participation in the National Student Survey SEE OUR ‘YOU SAID - WE DID’ SECTION on pages 12-15 for a full run-down of the issues raised in feedback and what we did to address these >>
Core Value >> Always striving for continuous improvement Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10 21
Looking
FORWARD>> Some thoughts from the incoming Sabbatical Team 2010/11
We start a new academic year with a new Sabbatical team, headed up by Robin Parker, re-elected to be the Student President for a second term. There is no doubt that it is going to be a challenging year ahead, with cuts threatening higher education and the possibility of a rise in tuition fees on the table we have a fight ahead of us. An exciting start to the year will be the opening of our new cafe, Alfies. This new venture will provide a social space for students, with a variety of entertainment, providing a real home for the students at the University of Aberdeen. We hope to hold an Official Opening party of the building, celebrating the hard work that has been put into the project for many years and looking forward to new ventures. Following on from our achievements in SUEI last year and the Governance review, we are committed to holding a referendum on our Governance structures this year. We continue to deal with the challenge of the changing student demographic and how best to meet the needs of our members. Within the institution we will be campaigning for quality feedback on exams and embarking on a new project to take old computers overseas to developing countries. Elsewhere we hope to disburse £100k to charity, campaign for improved student accommodation within the city and hope to hold the city’s first ever student-led Reclaim the Night march. We look forward to working closely with two new staff posts that have been created within the Students’ Association, to help us to have more of a presence in halls and to improve our Class Representative system. As well as this we’re excited to see how the Climate Challenge project will get on in changing students attitudes towards the environment. In a difficult economic climate we will continue to work on finding new sources of income for the Association and to develop our services and activities for our members, as well as hoping to increase the number of students that get involved. We are sure that the year will be both challenging and exciting and can’t wait to see what’s round the corner. Your Sabbatical Team AUSA 2010-11
22 Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10
Financial STATEMENTS>> Statement of Financial Activities (Including Income and Expenditure Account) For the year ended 31st July 2010
Incoming Resources Incoming Resources from generated funds Voluntary Income
vUnrestricted Funds Year Ended 31/07/10
Restricted Funds Year Ended 31/07/10
Total Year Ended 31/07/10
Total Year Ended 31/07/09
£
£
£
£
759,523
105,937
865,461
754,837
46,638
20,280
66,918
82,280
Activites for generating funds Investment income
954
-
954
4,116
194,905
136,009
330,914
235,077
1,002,020
262,226
1,264,246
1,076,310
27,401
20,280
47,681
61,251
933,339
215,505
1,148,844
1,001,030
16,361
-
16,361
13,132
977,101
235,785
1,212,886
1,075,413
24,919
26,441
51,360
897
Total Funds at 31 July 2009
165,991
17,092
183,083
182,186
Total Funds at 31 July 2010
190,910
43,533
234,443
183,083
Incoming Resources from charitable activities Total Incoming Resources Cost of generating funds Fundraising trading Charitable Activities Governance costs Total Resources Expended Net Movement in Funds
Balance Sheet As At 31 July 2010
31 July 2010 £
Fixed Assets Tangible Assets Investments
Current Assets Debtors
31 July 2009 £
32,635
23,054
5,520
5,520
66,422
79,100
338,024
224,705
404,446
303,805
Creditors - amounts falling due within one year
(208,159)
(149,296)
Net Current Assets
196,287
154,509
Total assets less current liabilities
234,443
183,083
190,910
165,991
43,533
17,092
234,443
183,083
Bank & Cash
Funds General Funds Restricted Funds
Aberdeen University Students’ Association - Annual Review 2009-10 23
Make a difference. Get involved.
Butchart Centre University Road Old Aberdeen AB24 3UT Tel: 01224 272965 Fax: 01224 272977 Web: www.ausa.org.uk Email: ausa@abdn.ac.uk Aberdeen University Students’ Association (AUSA) is a registered Scottish Charity, No. SC037971. © Aberdeen University Students’ Association, 2011