: Our Year
Trinity College Students’ Union
2013 2014
What we do The Students’ Union is run by students, for students. With a membership of over 17, 000 students we aim to improve the student experience and serve the interests of our members. This is fundamental to how we operate and is at the core of the decisions we make as an organisation.
Impact report
This report has been done to show how Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) make a positive contribution in how college is run and in student life. It serves as a mid-term review of what we have done and acts as a benchmark for the issues we face in the future.
Our vision
Our mission
As the college continues to grow, we have adapted to provide the infrastructure needed to support students in every aspect of their college life. Our efforts in protecting student services and maintaining high quality of education are central to our purpose. Not only that, we are always the helping hand for any student that finds themselves in difficulty so they can achieve their full potential. Whether it’s through services, campaigns or the work we do on commi ees, we are always trying to enable a rich and varied university experience and provide students the opportunity to get involved in college outside of their academic studies.
We strive to improve how we represent students, support them in their endeavours and enrich the student experience in Trinity. In order to do this we will need to think ahead if we are to continue to be a dynamic and flexible organisation. This means we need to think strategically. To deal with the challenges that lie ahead we will be outlining where the Students’ Union wants to be in the future, how we are going to develop year-on-year and how our values will reflect the change we want to be in Trinity.
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We will be outlining wh the Students’ Union wa be in the future, how w going to develop yearyear and how our valu reflect the change we w to be in Trinity
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: Welcome
Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report
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Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report
WHO ARE WE?
_ We represent you _ We fight for your services _
We are member-led
We aim to make sure you get the education you expect
_ We’re here _ for you We work for you
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Our efforts in protecting student services and maintaining high quality of education are central to our purpose
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g where n wants to w we are ear-onvalues will we want
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Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report
: How are we doing? TOP THREE ISSUES
92%
Percentage of students that feel the Students’ Union contributes positively to their student experience
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r Reco No.
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_ 407 _
46.17% consider themselves to be unaware of campaign stances of the SU.
Students who use our commercial services
77% Felt supported by SU pastoral support
When asked in the “Big SUrvey”, 89.54% of students said they know who their class rep is. 62.52% of students surveyed also found their class rep to be either “effective” or “ very effective”. “You need more interaction with the students who a end most of their lectures out in the Trinity Health Sciences building at St James’s hospital as sometimes we can feel isolated from the activities etc taking place on the main campus.” “Would be nice if they could do something about being able to bring people home a er a night out on campus.”
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Accessibility
72.33% of students believe it would be difficult to change something in the SU.
Union Communication
Problems identified were the SU website and lack of awareness about the day-today running of the union.
“Having seen the way it functions over last 3 years, I feel this year’s sabbat team doing a great job. seem to know the reps and make council enjoyable”
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CLASS REPS
Campaign Awareness
76%
“Have a lot more direct information given out to people who are not class reps. Instead of relying on class reps to feed some of that information back just make it all available so anyone can get involved.”
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Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report
: Student Services
304
Meet & Greet
x2
MANDELA HOUSE
Last year’s figure
Refurbishments
Number of international students we collected from the airport this year.
301
Accommodation Advisory Service Number of people who came in that we helped find accommodation through the Accommodation Advisory Service
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1380 Number of emails sent back and forth helping students find accommodation
House 6 has been renamed Mandela House and has been refurbished to make it a more vibrant hub for students to interact with the services we provide.
Rebranding This year saw the creation of a new logo for the first time over 20 years which came from instituting changes arising from our external review.
Despite investing in capital projects the Students’ Union is maintaining a solid financial position to meet the challenges. It has been a hectic year. We were the only effective body in college that dealt with the accommodation crisis in Dublin and helped many families look for housing for Trinity students through our Accommodation Advisory Service. We were able to meet the demands of our growing international population through the Meet & Greet Service with double the people using the service from last year. We now also have the most class reps ever at over 400 so we can be er represent you and your needs. All of this translates into just some of the achievements this year but there are many more,. We are not complacent. We realise there is significant work to be done this term if we are going to call this a successful year. There are new projects on the horizon that we are commi ed to work on. It’s up to you to enjoy.
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ent’s Presid Note
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Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report
: Student Support FIGURES
HAVE RAISED
€12,000 FOR THE STUDENT HARDSHIP FUND The Student Hardship Fund offers financial support to undergraduate students experiencing financial hardship during their time in Trinity.
The fund is in high demand and o en there is not enough money available to help students in need
12 campaign weeks That’s 84 days of campaigning a year!
€0
The cost per euro for a student to come into us with any problem
4,000
The number of Fresher’s packs we manually packed and distributed
10,000 The amount of ents cards we have given out
€3,000 The worth of free lunches we provided during Fresher’s Week
400+
The amount of casework that came through the Education and Welfare offices in the past six months
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Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report
: Our Vision
Mission # 1 To give you the help and support you need We offer crèche subsidies which acted as bursaries to student parents in need Sucessfully negotiated with College security to obtain extra library space on the weekends. in Regent House from 10 am to 11.30 pm on Saturdays and Sundays This year for the first time we held a workshop on high-level workplace skills
New This Year Partnership with MyHome.ie. Partnership with AirCoach for the Meet & Greet Service. Hired students to take international students to the Garda National Immigration Bureau to process student visas. 60 visas in total. 212 pages in the SU diary to help you get through college. Know Your Union Week with stands in the Hamilton, Arts Block and off-campus. More welfare ambassadors than ever before
Off-campus Welfare Drop-Ins every week
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Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report
MISSION #2
NTS
To give you the chance to enjoy college
EVE
NIGHT MOVES Lovebirds and Bedlam DJS in support of focus Ireland
JACQUES RENAULT Night Moves proceeds go to Cancer Soc Movember fund
E @ TH EMY D ACA
FRESHERS BALL Ben Pearce Klingande Le Galaxie
MOVEMBER PARTY
JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW
Play Tuesdays proceeds go to Cancer Soc Movember fund
Held in the Trinity chapel in aid of Headstrong for Mental Health Week 2014
HALLOWEEN BALL
T SOLD OU
Surf Sail Salmon
Play Tuesdays
Night Moves
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Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report
#3 MISSION To represent you
Most of the work we do is unseen. It happens in commi ee meetings where we represent the interest of the students. We spend an inordinate amount of time a ending these meetings, but they are incredibly important in bringing forward the student voice. If it is an internet issue, registration issue or timetabling issues we make our voices heard.
WE SIT ON... • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
ent’s Presid Note
Board • Information Systems Services Users’ Commi ee University Council • Library and College Archives Users’ Commi ee Finance Commi ee • Web Management Commi ee Estates Commi ee • Arts, Humanities Human Resources Commi ee • 24 School Executive Commi ees Library and Information Policy Commi ee • GENesis Project Board Student Life Commi ee • VLE Project Board International Commi ee • Academic Year Restructuring Group Undergraduate Studies Commi ee • Parlour Management Group Coiste Na Gaeilge • Information Systems Service Users Group Equality Commi ee • Trinity Ball Commi ee Quality Commi ee • Dean of Students Roll of Honour Commi ee College Safety Commi ee • Provost Teaching Awards Group TAP Steering Commi ee • Student Conduct & Capacity Commi ee Capitations Commi ee • Trinity Global Graduate Forum Bioresources Commi ee • Launchbox Steering Group Financial Assistance Commi ee CLCS Language Learning Facilities and Resources Management Commi ee
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Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report
MISSION #4
€3,000
Free Sandwiches
To provide good value
ays... rvey s f u s r Ou 80% o Over happy nts l stude ommercia C U S with ervices S
During Freshers’ Week, the SU Café promoted the café with free sandwich vouchers for incoming students as the place to meet up and relax with friends
Saving You Deal of the Week Ents Cards Freshers’ Packs
New This Year
Click.ie
Recognising the absence of a facility to fix laptops in the college we brought this new venture in with the refurbishments of Mandela House. They also fix other electronic devices including smartphones as well.
Bike Scheme
In a joint initiative between College Security and the Green Campus ee, we repaired and 10,000 Commi redistributed 17 abandoned bikes to No. of Ents Cards worthy Trinity students at a fraction distributed this of the cost. year
Online Book Exchange
An online platform where students put up ads for books to sell in private transactions.
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Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report
: The Future
We can only monitor progress through regular feedback. The process for review is becoming embedded in the working of the Students’ Union and we are now successfully tackling the issue of the lack of institutional memory. Our union has a lot of history and will continue to play a part in improving college life to make sure students enjoy their time here from the first moment they walk in.
STRATEGIC PLANNING We have progressed to a level where we can no longer think short-term given the challenges we face. Through the student surveys we have conducted and through the External Review, we have identified the barriers to success. Students want the same things every year and in order to cater for them we need year-on-year plans as to how we are going to achieve our goals. By implementing a structure to allow that to happen we are confident we will meet our targets and achieve the things students want us to achieve.
MONITORING The Big SUrvey External Review
This is the first ever annual review!
Constitutional Review
With 6 months le ... WHAT PART WILL YOU PLAY?
WE WORK FOR YOU