Autumn Officer Update 2022/23

Introduction

Each term we share a report, updating you on all we've been working on as a team welcome to our first official officer update!

We recently celebrated our first 100 days in office (also featured in RDG Today, here) and it has been exciting to meet so many of you as we've begun this academic year

Officer Priorities

This year we recognised that, while we have been individually elected with manifestos, it is vitally important to come together as a team and work collectively on a set of priorities. By working together, we can deliver more for you. You can read more about our Officer Priorities here which were published over the summer, prior to this report

Cost of Living Update

A key priority for us this year is supporting you with the cost of living crisis Here's what we've been working on so far:

Our advice service provides free, impartial and confidential money advice to students across the university. Students can go to a drop in with the Advice Service, either online or in person; We are continuing to recruit and support students via our part time employment opportunities; We’re continuing to organise a wide range of free or low cost events for students; This year we offered free wristbands for Welcome week, giving you free and discounted entry to our events; We have protected our free transport provisions with the 360 bus continuing to operate on Wednesday and Saturday nights. The free safety bus also operates during the week driven by a student member of staff, the bus drops students off along a designated route; We have held our food prices, despite rising costs, and you can get food in Knights Cafe, such as filled croissants and rolls, for under £3 an item with some items costing as little as £1 49 Free sanitary items, condoms, and information leaflets about wellbeing can be found on our ‘Help Yourself Shelf’ at the students' union reception The team also adds an array of free items which might otherwise go to waste

Across the University, we have helped ensure the essentials pages are updated with the latest information, have worked with university colleagues to launch a ‘getting the most out of your money’ resource, and filmed a video reassuring you that we're here to support you during this time

However, we recognise that we must go further. That is why the team and I have formed a joint Cost of Living Taskforce with the University. The Taskforce is co chaired by me, and Elizabeth McCrum, the University Pro Vice Chancellor for Education & Student Experience. Our Taskforce brings together key people from across the University community to tackle these issues and works towards unlocking further support for students We first met on 4th October and again on 18th October More meetings are scheduled for November and December

As part of our work to go further and support you during this time, RUSU has allocated funding from its unrestricted reserves to launch a £1 50 budget breakfast and create new funding opportunities to help you access clubs and societies. We have also purchased hundreds of TOTUM card codes for students to be able to get a free TOTUM card, and we have purchased some warm Oodies. We are continuing to explore the best way to get this support out across our campuses and we working with the Taskforce to build a cost of living support package worth over £300,000 I am due to co present this to the University Executive Board Our package aims to address hidden course fees, exam re sit fees, graduation fees, travel expenses and so much more

Keep an eye out on Essentials, our website, your email and social media channels for the latest updates, advice and support.

As well as the above, we are continuing to work on a range of campaigns and issues for students The team will explain more below about what they have been working on and you can also find out how we are progressing against our team priorities

RUSU President

UPDATE ON PRIORITY 1

Housing

We're delighted to be working with Molli Cleaver, University Community Relations Manager, on this work. We've set up regular hosuing catch ups to keep on track with our aim to improve the standard of private accommodation in Reading.

In September, we met with Reading Borough Council and discussed working with them to help raise the standard of private rented accommodation for students Poppy later discusses our response to the White Paper on a ‘fairer private rented sector’ which seeks to address lots of the issues that we can encounter when renting privately We also worked with Matthew White who leads the university’s Campus Commerce function - on the proposed rental increases for UPP Halls at the University. Due to a contract with an external provider, all Reading University Halls are outsourced to UPP who have a cap and collar agreement with the University to increase the rents each year. We have discussed this and have asked for this to be changed. Unfortunately, the team have told us it is not possible So, instead, we have worked together to ensure that any increases are more fairly shared across the different accommodation types If you have any questions about the University’s arrangement in regard to halls or want to find out more from us on how we navigate this area, please get in touch via the details below:

Andrew Mathias Head of ACMO: a.c.mathias@reading.ac.uk

Sheldon Allen President of RUSU: president@rusu.co.uk

We have also been continuing to work with our Housing Advisor, Jane, on a range of housing issues that are reported to us. You can access our free and confidential housing advice service here.

Community Festival

If you’d like to get involved with the festival, please email me at president@rusu.co.uk or the events team on events@reading.ac.uk.

Oscar and Harry are leading on this priority. We presented our ideas for the conference at the Environment & Sustainability Committee which is chaired by Mark Fellows, one of the University’s Pro Vice Chancellors Read on for Oscar's updates on this priority

PRESIDENT Sheldon

PROGRESS ON MANIFESTO POINTS

Sustainability App

I pledged to reward you for living sustainably and I’m delighted that, working in partnership with the Sustainability Services at the University and with funding from RUSU, we have launched the new Student #DoingUoRBit app

By logging your sustainable activities you can gain points and the opportunity to win prizes Each month, the top 25 student point earners can choose from a range of prizes, from a £30 ASDA voucher to 2 weeks' worth of free bus travel 50 students will also be randomly awarded free union tickets and a few days of free bus travel. The more sustainable you are, the more prizes you can win! Achieving a manifesto commitment within my first 100 days has been really exciting and I am thrilled to have been able to deliver this project for you.

RUSU Big Summer Blowout

I’m making good progress around bringing you a diverse and exciting range of events on campus. We have some feasibility sessions booked in to explore the potential of bringing a beach to campus and I’m working to provide some fun trips. It’s vitally important to me that your students' union supports you while at university and provides you with amazing experiences!

Making Housing a Priority

I’m going above and beyond in the housing space Housing is a priority for the whole team

We have written to the government about proposed changes to the private rented sector and we have advocated for you in supporting the proposal to abolish Section21, no fault evictions We also plan to publish a series of short clips and materials which you can use when you're looking for housing or struggling to navigate tenancies, contracts and deposits.

I have been working to ensure you the student body are central to decisions made across the University which impact your student experience. For example, Poppy and I have been working on developing the Estates Strategy to ensure projects, such as extra curricular space outside of the classroom, are re prioritised. I’ve written more about this in my 100 days blog which outlines all I've been up to.

Moreover, I've been working with Oscar to understand how the changes to exam timings are going to impact students

NEXT TERM

Next term, I plan to continue implementing my manifesto I want to publish housing clips to help you navigate renting and I want secure some dates for some amazing events that will enhance your student experience Yes, I am determined to bring you a beach!

ACTIVITIES & OPPORTUNITIES OFFICER

Harry PROGRESS ON MANIFESTO POINTS

Supporting Clubs

I have created the Sports Federation & Society Federation, two student committees that will oversee the creation of new societies Bringing a student voice to the club approval process and establishing a strict timeline for the process

New clubs may now apply for start up of up to £100 to support their founding. So that they may purchase necessary materials to begin their activities and market their club.

I am currently working on creating a year long hiatus period for clubs that have had to close due to not fulfilling their club obligations. These clubs will no longer be disaffiliated but will simply be inactive with their accounts frozen awaiting student to volunteer to run the club effectively and can be restarted easily

I have surveyed our students to gather data on what new clubs students desire or are interested in starting up and have put students in contact to with one another to facilitate the creation of these clubs.

Committee Development

This was a focus of mine at the beginning of the academic year, with the goal of improving student engagement in our clubs. I have arranged new locations and methods for clubs to connect with students, such as new poster locations and new bookable stalls.

I have taken on the Activities Instagram to increase engagement with our clubs and show them off and I am currently making my way through checking out most of our clubs!

I have created improved training and development of committee members through a committee society, and I have founded the Captain's Club, a social group for the committees of each club to facilitate better inter club communication, collaboration and support. Regular talks on different elements of running clubs are coming up next!

Supporting our EDI Reps Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training will be delivered to our EDI representatives and we will deliver additional training to welfare committee members I am excited to be preparing a brand new, and more interactive, training plan for the next year of committee members

I have worked on a number of small projects and supported university events, including hosting a RUSU fun run as part of the university's baton handover event for the Running Out of Time relay

I am additionally working on improving our confidential reporting systems to support the removal of abusive committee members, breaches of democracy in our clubs and sexual harassment.

NEXT TERM

Next term my focus will be heavily on events for our student clubs & wider student body

I am working the team to deliver:

Reading University student sustainability summit

Cultural show

Community festival

Additionally, I am organising the following events for our student clubs:

Sports day

Joint sports & societies awards

End of year student club ball

EDUCATION OFFICER

Oscar PROGRESS ON MANIFESTO POINTS

Learning From COVID

I have had conversations with relevant staff members but will be primarily driving this goal from the end of this term and the next. In the meantime, I plan to gather additional student feedback and pull this together once other projects have been completed.

Varying assessment types will be something I continue to feed into with regard to the Portfolio Review Project and how we envision assessment ‘post semesterisation’.

This year I have been involved in conversations about our current exam format Knowing that students have adapted to 23 hour exams and are keen for maintaining longer stretches of time to deal with exams, I have pushed to maintain this wider window Whilst this window has now been reduced to 8 hours, my feedback has helped to keep this window as wide as possible to ensure that the majority of exams are online to keep consistency of student assessment experience across years. I will continue to contribute to this conversation and advocate on behalf of students.

Detailed Assessment Feedback

I am currently working with members of CQSD (predominantly Dr Alexandra Hayward) to adapt a draft assessment feedback guide We hope to be able to hand students a summary of this guide to give them a better sense of what feedback really constitutes and how to follow up on it The guide is almost complete and we will be looking to distribute later this term, or at the start of the Spring Term

As well as working on the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and Course Rep surveys, I am also in process of surveying students on what they consider to be the most important aspect of assessment feedback and how they would prioritise these elements.

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StrengtheningAcademicCommunities

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Overthepastfewweeks,IhavepromotedCourseRepopportunitiesandtriedtoincrease RUSU’sengagementwithstudentsbyrunningCourseRepstalls,aswellasdoinglotsof lecturedrop-ins.

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OUTSIDE OF MY MANIFESTO

Leading on the Reading University Student Sustainability Summit, I have set the theme around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and have booked space within RUSU. I have also spoken to university staff about how they might participate and promote the event. We are currently reaching out for keynote speakers and advertising the opportunity to students. If you're interested, sign up here!

As part of helping students with the current cost of living crisis, I have liaised with newly elected reps around unknown academic costs. Following these conversations, I have adapted the free printing for students RUSU campaign to instead focus on free printing for specific students who will benefit the most from printed materials I am working with Dr Daniel Grant and Danie Woodbridge to find a way to make this possible!

I am currently leading the University’s student submission to the Teaching Excellence Framework. We are collating additional feedback from students through surveys, Course Rep consultation minutes and focus groups and are slowly building our draft for this submission. We have a writing and reading group set up where we pick the best statistics and student stories around the themes we think have the biggest impact at Reading.

rusu.co.uk

I sit on lots of committees which take up a significant chunk of my time! However, this has allowed me to contribute to discussions ranging from processes and policies behind the upcoming implementation of Lapsafe Lockers to the requirements of evidence we require upon submission of extenuating circumstance forms. Understanding the Portfolio Review Project and envisioning programme design is very much like playing 3 Dimensional Chess. Thankfully, I used to play for Basingstoke Chess Club’s B Team and I seem to slowly be getting my head around it!

A project I picked up from the previous Education Officer, Bethany, and that I am working on in collaboration with Jem, is the Awarding Gap event We know what we want to do and are now pulling together speakers to ensure that we can deliver an engaging in person event

I have also spent some time contributing to the OfS, both through its recent consultation on the NSS, but also as a newly appointed member of the Student Panel. Thus far, I have fed into a discussion around the new framework for Access and Participation plans as well as work around the cost of living. I hope to continue to represent students’ interests at a national level and contribute to the steering of regulation.

Exam Format Policy

Students have raised concerns about changes in the exam format going from 23 hours to 8 hours I'm working with our students and Sheldon to find a format that is accessible to everyone

I want to successfully deliver a strong Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) submission before the start of the Spring Term; Successfully deliver the Reading University Student Sustainability Summit, as well as other events such as the Partnership in Teaching and Learning Showcase/Excellence Awards; Implement new RUSU elections rules; Further progress on manifesto goals, particularly regarding lecture capture; Work with the University on the new proofreading policy that has come from the Office for Students; As a former law student, I am determined to get a coffee machine in Foxhill House!

rusu.co.uk

OFFICER

Poppy PROGRESS ON MANIFESTO

POINTS

My first few months in the role as Welfare Officer have been a whirlwind and I can’t quite believe how much has happened I started the role as a very introverted person, not very confident in my abilities, but always willing to give it my best shot I have discovered that I am able to stand my ground, effectively portray the student voice in spaces where voices aren’t always heard, and support students day to day to experience the best time as a student!!

Mental Health Support

I wanted to provide online mental health support to help students look after their mental health by tracking their mood and habits daily. I’m excited to now be working with the university to implement an app to do just this! It's early days but the app contains information about existing welfare resources, such as the University Counselling Service and RUSU Campaigns such as Relax With RUSU There is space to build community and self assessment quizzes which will monitor student health and trigger axutomated interventions. For example, if you have disclosed that you’ve felt very anxious for the past week, resources to signpost you for further help will be made available We realise that many problems with mental health cannot be solved simply by self care and require further intervention, so there will be an emergency contacts section, with a crisis helpline and suicide prevention helpline just one tap away. I am hopeful this app will ensure students feel more supported with their mental health and know that no matter how hard things might feel there is help out there Keep a look out for its launch!

Student Safety

As Welfare Officer, ensuring that the safety of students is a priority As a student, I worked on a huge anti-spiking campaign called Girls Night In, so I was keen to ensure I could work with the students' union to continue improving venue safety In line with my manifesto, I have been working hard on reducing taboo topics If students are unable to speak openly about certain topics, such as sex and consent, things can go wrong, and lines get blurred. I was keen, through workshops and open listening exercises, to reiterate to students, through education, how to speak openly about certain topics.

I am working with Reading Borough Council and their Safer Student’s Partnership to improve safety measures at the Union, as well as in the town centre. We are looking to promote the ‘Ask for Angela’ system, but with physical cards you can show a bartender or member of staff at the venue if you are needing assistance or don’t feel safe. I also sent out a survey to all popular student venues in town asking about their current anti spiking measures. Once all responses are gathered, I will work with the council to ensure anti spiking measures are up to standard

Back in August, I became aware of a National Spiking Group, set up to lead conversations around the issue of spiking on university campuses. The committee is currently made up of 13 members, including high level university board members from a variety of institutions, and one student spiking victim. RUSU, along with other student unions across the country, found the lack of student representation on this committee problematic. We feel that without the voice of students, who are directly affected by the act, the committee will not reach the best decisions. I wrote an open letter to the Department for Education and the Chair of the Committee with my concerns, gaining signatures from 27 Full Time Officers and CEOs at Student Unions across the country This was submitted on 23rd August Apart from receiving acknowledgement of the email, I have heard no response from the Department for Education, nor the Chair of the Committee This is incredibly disappointing as the committee remains lacking in student representation, meaning any decisions made may not benefit students as they should. You can find the letter attached here.

I have worked to bring in external groups from local sexual health clinics, such as Brook, to deliver workshops on sexual safety and consent. This will help debunk myths around sexual consent in the law, gender and stereotypes, pleasure, and digital relationships. By speaking about these, often taboo, topics openly, and providing education around them, we are making it easier for students to come forward about any sexual harassment, assault/violence they have experienced, as well as being able to speak transparently with their peers around these important subjects

I have also been working on a big project with the team in Student Services to launch a ‘Consent Week’, bringing lots of activities and advice to the University around consent and sexual harassment. This will also include RUSU’s White Ribbon Day.

Housing

I wanted to make the private housing sector in Reading better for students. As housing became a priority for the entire Officer Team, I am working to improve the quality and living standards of student homes, as well as planning to update and simplify the existing RUSU Housing Guides

This term, I worked with Sheldon to submit evidence to the UK Government Levelling Up Committee. In collaboration with the University of Portsmouth Students’ Union, we worked in partnership and sent a joint submission to the committee on the Making a Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper. The paper featured many new proposals that will impact private accommodation. We supported the proposed abolishment of Section 21 (no fault evictions) and advocated for students to be protected when it comes to tenant bans. Currently, landlords can legally exclude certain groups from ever renting their properties and we do not think this is right Students should be able to access high quality accommodation in the private sector like anyone else We hope to publish our full submission to you if MPs decide to publish it

rusu.co.uk

OUTSIDE OF MY MANIFESTO

Aside from my manifesto, I’ve been working hard on campaigns to benefit the student experience Some of these are existing from previous years, and some are addressing problems we have seen arising during my time in office.

Existing & Ongoing Projects

I have been working with a student on a campaign to make free sanitary products available around the University I also brought the Once a Month Society into the conversation around period poverty, to think about how we can join up on events and workshops around women’s health and better provisions for people who menstruate. Recently we met with the University Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, to whom we pitched our case for the funding of products, and we were successful! I am also working hard to ensure sanitary products are made available to people who menstruate and are accessing the Student Support Fund in particular Keep a look out for free sanitary product dispensers in the Union building and University buildings throughout the rest of the term!

As part of my focus on student safety, I am working to improve the training of staff at our night time venue I have secured funding for training from The Egalitarian a company who have created the ‘Safe Place Project’ to ensure bars and clubs are keeping their attendees safe. This tailored training will go out to venue and bar staff at RUSU, teaching them about being an active bystander, sexual harassment and assault, EDI values, spotting vulnerable people, and how to protect others from instances of spiking The company will also help us update our policies and procedures on how we manage the venue in the safest way, and as a result, our venues will become ‘Safe Place Accredited’ This is a hugely important topic which affects all students, so I am keen to provide this excellent training to a high standard in order to keep all students entering our venue safe.

I have been working with Citizens UK to engage in talks with members of Thames Valley Police to ensure instances of misogyny are taken seriously and working to make it a hate crime I took inspiration from the work of the Milton Keynes branch of Citizens UK and the Open University’s responses to violence against women in their communities. I wanted to make a stand at Reading, firstly by honouring White Ribbon Day International Day of Violence Against Women and Girls on 25th November Regardless of your gender or background, you will be welcomed into 3Sixty on the 25th to make your own White Ribbon to raise awareness of violence against women, and to meet others who are passionate about the subject.

From this event, we will be inviting people to attend our Listening Space the week after, where we will hear from you the issues affecting your safety as a woman and feed this back to the staff at Thames Valley Police. It is crucial your voice is heard on issues such as these the White Ribbon Day Listening Space will be the best opportunity for this.

The Relaxation Room

Myself and Jem (Inclusion and Communities Officer) have also been working in collaboration to refurbish and remarket the ‘Relaxation Room’ in RUSU now known as the ‘Wellbeing Hub’ We recognised that the room was underused and we wanted to change this We saw a real need for a safe and calm environment for students to unwind momentarily amongst the busyness of University life. We have made this a walk in space, so there is now no longer any need to book. There are leaflets on advice and support you can get from the University in there, as well as an array of self help books. In the Spring Term, we are looking to involve some external services, to run some wellbeing workshops on different topics students may struggle with or have experienced and we are talking with a variety of different services that are keen to use our Wellbeing Hub to provide much needed advice

It is not always the big projects and campaigns which make the most difference to students RUSU put up a social media post asking you which apps you love to use to aid your mental wellbeing, and we were inundated with some really helpful responses. I have collated the apps you find helpful with my own suggestions and added these to the RUSU Welfare Directory These will also be published onto the website and social media in due course It is my aim to make mental health resources as accessible as possible for all students

NEXT TERM

Following on from my ambition to make mental health support available to you as students, I think it is important to openly showcase all the valuable services available at the University of Reading and in the Reading Community overall. To achieve this, I am in the planning stages of ‘WellFest’ a fayre to promote wellbeing support for students, including our University Welfare Services and external charities that exist to improve student mental health This will happen as part of the returning ‘Relax with RUSU’ scheme in the Spring term

PROGRESS ON MANIFESTO POINTS

Over the past few months, I have loved having the opportunity to put all my experience as a student into action working for the greater good of future students!

Mental Health Inclusion

I have been lobbying the university for an Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Counsellor The progress on this has been good, I’ve made a survey for students to leave feedback on the need for this position One of our RUSU Student Voice champions (student staff) has been working on the project to help research what evidence is needed to back this role, for example around the experience of low mental health for particular student groups and identities including Black and Asian students, international students, LGBTQ students and estranged students. I am writing a proposal for the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board to ask them to input as I take this forward for approval. This is something new and interesting that has not yet been done that I can find in other universities, and we would be the first university to employ a position like this It would also contribute to, and positively affect, both the Race Equality Charter and the Mental Health Charter for the University

Increased Accessibility

Currently Sheldon and Poppy are working with Estates on their strategy. This strategy impacts what we can physically do in the RUSU building and in order for changes to be made to make RUSU more accessible, they would need to be prioritised in the Estates strategy. With the many areas of concern identified including the prioritisation of study space for students, student experience such as accessibility, spaces to chill, and more, it will take time to be put into place I have asked to be part of the accessibility working group In the meantime, I will be collecting feedback from students and the community to gather evidence on accessibility in the university and students' union

Disability History Month

We are planning a conference in 3Sixty for Disability History month giving speakers a chance to share and educate each other on issues students are facing today We have speakers coming to share on neurodiversity and have invited student speakers to share their experiences We are inviting university staff too to ensure that, as an institution, we start to take disability more seriously as we listen to how it affects students. Myself and Sophie (Disability part time officer) want this conference to open conversation around difficult topics and create space for honest conversations about the real issues students are facing. We are in the final stages of organising this event and look forward to seeing it happen

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Conclusion

We hope you have found this report helpful and that it has given you a wider understanding of all that we have been working on as your full time student officers. Working together as a team we have achieved so much already and are excited to continue working to support you and identify new ways to enhance your student experience.

If you have any feedback or want to get in touch with the team you can call us at 0118 378 4100 or email us at enquiries@rusu co uk

OSCAR

JEM Inclusion & Communities Officer

POPPY Welfare Officer SHELDON President rusu.co.uk

Education Officer

HARRY Activities & Opportunities Officer