S’ UNION STUDENT NEMOUTH AT BOURITY UNIVERS
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NEWS FR
RBIA PARTNER COLLEGE EDITION
NEWS AT A GLANCE
Issue 1
Feb/Mar ‘14
LINK REP Q&A
ELECTION NOMINATIONS OPEN! ENT SAVE STUDNITIES OPPORTU
BEWARE OF THE LOAN SHARK
NATIONAL STUDENT SURVEY FOR LOADS f /SUBUBOURNEMOUTH MORE, SEE: @ SUBUBOURNEMOUTH
+ MORE INSIDE! www.subu.org.uk
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YOUR PARTNER UPDATE
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elcome to the first edition of your bi-termly SUBU update. By creating this completely Partner-College-personalised newsletter we hope to keep you up to date with all the SUBU events that you may wish to be a part of, and shout about general goings on in your Partner Colleges. This issue will feature stories from unsung
heroes at University Centre Yeovil to a feature on the goverment threat to cut the Student Oportunity Fund. If there’s anything you want to feature in these updates, whether it be a charity event that you know is happening or an unsung hero in your College that you want to shout about, get in touch!
WHAT’S ON NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR ELECTIONS NOW UNTIL 28 FEB
If you’re on a Franchised course, could you lead SUBU into the new era? As the £10.5million Student Centre nears its completion, we’re looking for our next team of graduates or placement year students to represent the 17,000 students at BU. You’ll gain invaluable leadership and management experience and earn £19,500 while you do it. If you think you’ve got what it takes, find out more and nominate yourself at: subu.org/elections or contact Kerry Dean (see page 6). You never know #itcouldBU
RAG DOES LOST SAT 22 MAR
RAG’s (Raising and Giving) charity fundraiser where students are dumped in the middle of nowhere and have to make their way back to Bournemouth with no money, phone or map. Sign up closes on March 12th so head over to facebook.com/bournemouthrag to find out more.
SPEAK WEEK HOME HOME SWEET
NATIONAL STUDENT SURVEY MON 3 FEB - WED 30 APRIL
The National Student Survey is an opportunity for final year undergraduates to share opinions on their student experience and help inform future prospective students on life at your place of study. FIll it in at: www.thestudentsurvey.com
GIG: TEMPLES HOME SWEET HOME
MON 3 - FRI 11 7 MAR 10MAR FEB-TUE FEB
FRI 7 MAR MON 10 FEB-TUE 11 FEB
In selected Colleges, a chance for students to speak up about the quality of their courses and offer feedback on how to improve the academic experience.
Touring their debut album ‘Sun Structures’, Temples bring their psychedelic rock experience to The Old Fire Station. Tickets: oldfirestation.co.uk
UNSUNG HEROES Celebrating the hard work and success of the students that make your Partner Colleges the the hub of activity they are
UCY students running half marathon for charity
This EDITION KATIE PLISKIN LINK REP from WHILtSHIRE COLEGE SALISBURY
Rep Q&A Link Reps for Partner Colleges are a fairly new role to SUBU. We aim to have at least one Link Rep for every Partner College. The role is to liaise closely with our Partner Colleges Coordinator to represent the students studying BU courses at their college. Where do you study and what course do you do? I am based at Wiltshire College Salisbury and I’m currently in the third year of my BA (Hons) Photography degree. What made you want to be a Link Rep? I wanted to make a positive difference to Wiltshire College by improving the communication between the students and Bournemouth University, making sure the Salisbury students’ voices are heard and their issues are addressed.
BECOME A HERO If you’ve got something worth shouting about, we’d love to share it on this page. Simply email kdean@bournemouth. ac.uk
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wo students at University Centre Yeovil are running the 2014 Bath Half Marathon in aid of cancer charity CLIC Sargent. BSc Adult Nursing Students Emily Griffiths and Stroma Chalker-Hawker are working hard with a trainer to get their fitness up in time for the run on 2nd March 2014 and are hoping to raise money for a really worthy charity by doing something completely new to them. Stroma said "running a half marathon for CLIC was the perfect opportunity to not only physically challenge ourselves, we do NOT do long distance running, and also raise money for an amazing charity who help not only children and young adults with cancer, but also their families." You can keep up with the ladies progress and make a donation at their just giving page: http://www.justgiving. com/Stroma-Emily
What’s the best thing about studying at your Partner College? Personally, I feel that in having a smaller community of students, we receive more 1-on-1 support from lecturers, and the seminars can be more tailored to individual needs and requirements. I found this particularly helpful when it came to writing my dissertation! What are you looking forward to this year within the role? I’m looking forward to problem-solving with students and staff, liaising with Wiltshire College and BU to address issues that are important to the students to help them feel in control of their learning. What’s an interesting fact about yourself? ¬¬ I’m quite into comics and a few years ago, I managed to travel to San Diego to attend Comic-Con; I even shook hands with the actor who played The Hulk in the (highly ridiculous) 70’s TV series. That is pretty much my only claim to fame...
SAVE STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES
help social mobility – and further cuts would go against the governments commitment to support social mobility ahead of balancing the books on the shoulders of the poor. Instead, it suggests an active agenda to not prioritise social mobility in Higher Education at the this time. SUBU are strongly opposed to any cut in public funding that could harm the prospects of our current or future students. BU has a good track record of widening participation through summer schools, ambassador programmes, mentoring schemes and school outreach work and we believe cuts would negatively impact the outreach and retention work they do. As a result, we are joining a national campaign spearheaded by the NUS to lobby the govnermnent to reverse the cuts before they are implemented. We have met with our local MP Conor Burns, who we have a strong relationship with, to discuss representing our concerns to the Secretary of State for BIS Vince Cable and Universities Minister David Willetts. Together, if we make enough of a stand against this contentious issue, we can stop the funding cut from passing, and leave Higher Education where social mobility is embraced, not ignored.
As government threaten to scrap the £327m Student Opportunity Fund, join the campaign to fight back against further cuts to Higher Education
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he Student Opportunity Fund is under threat. Proposals from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) suggest proposals to cut to the entire fund, which is paid to higher education providers in England in proportion to the number of students they have enrolled from low-income or less advantaged backgrounds. Bournemouth University’s allocation for next year’s fund is just short of £3.5 million, which if cut, will significantly harm their ability to recruit these students into higher education, as well as retention, outreach and widening participation programmes. With the recent announcement that UCAS applications to full time undergraduate degrees at university have reached an all time high, young people from the most advantaged areas are still two and a half times more likely to apply for higher education than those from less advantaged backgrounds. Despite a higher number of less-advantaged students attending University than a decade ago, using the rise in University applications to justify cutting access funding would undermine the priority to address this gap. £100million has already been cut from the National Scholarship Programme – another HE fund designed to
Help us Save Student Opportunities To show your support, send a copy of our letter on the SUBU website to your local MP requesting them to lobby against proposals, and tweet your pictures of the ‘Don’t Cut Student Opportunities’ poster using the #SaveStudentOpportunities hashtag on Twitter.
‘You Said This Happened’ is our way to telling you how we’ve acted on your feedback More communication should be provided about SUBU at Partner Colleges
Posters from The Old Fire Station should be more regularly updated at Bournemouth & Poole College
Essential Rep Training should be made available online for those that can’t attend sessions
This regular newsletter has been produced to keep you in the loop with SUBU events
Posters will now be given to the college to put up every other week
A partner specific Rep training resource was MADE available online
The best way for us to improve our service is through your feedback. Please email kdean@bournemouth.ac.uk with your ideas,and examples.
want a chat, then I f you want someth ing feature d in the nex t edition , or just
GET IN TOUCH Kerry Dean , Partn er Colle ges Coo rdina tor
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he ‘You’re Brilliant!’ Awards were introduced to BU in 2010 and are a great way for students to nominate staff who they think are brilliant! It can be absolutely anybody, from a Lecturer, to a Programme Administrator, Librarian to Café Assistant: anyone that has made a positive impact on you! 2 members of staff at University Centre Yeovil were recently surprised and presented with their ‘You’re Brilliant!’ Awards by Helen Nourse, our HE Student Coordinator at UCY. The first ‘You’re Brilliant’ award went to Sharon Smith, who has been a Learning Resource Advisor at the University Centre for six years, while the second certificate went to Business lecturer Dave Howell. His nomination said "Dave has been a brilliant teacher over my three year stint at the University Centre Yeovil, but more than that he has become my inspiration, my mentor and my friend. Thank you!" You can nominate a staff member at your college for a ‘You’re Brilliant!’ Award, by filling in the nomination form at http://www.subu. org.uk/yourebrilliantawards So don’t delay, make your nomination today, and tell that person just how brilliant they are.
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UNSUNG HEROES
You’re Brilliant!