Undeb Strategy 2024

Introduction

In Bangor the strongest thing we have is community, as a result community should always be at the heart of what we do and our refresh hopes to push this even further into the spotlight and I hope that as you read this document this focus shines through, our priority is to ensure Bangor remains not just a University but a home.

The purpose of a Student’s Union is fundamentally to ensure that your experience at university is the best it possibly can be and ensuring that no matter what your background is or what your circumstances are there is something for everyone. Strategies can seem like very corporate and jargon filled documents but with this document we hope you can see a reflection of our student community and how we help to support them, to clearly identify what we care about as an organisation and how we go about achieving our goals which for a large part is achieving student’s goals as well

Our wins are your wins and this document, at a high level, shows how we make those wins happen

Nyah Lowe

Undeb Bangor President(22-24)

Undeb Bangor offers our students transformative experiences, which not only enrich their time at university, but shape their future paths too.

We take pride in creating authentic and sustainable student communities at Bangor University, and we believe our principles, seated in student leadership, democracy, and inclusivity position us to do this better than any other organisation out there.

We've refreshed our strategy, originally written in 2021, and set out our priorities for the upcoming academic year, with a renewed emphasis on strengthening inclusive student communities, offering diverse engagement opportunities, celebrating our Welsh heritage, and enhancing how we track our performance to communicate our impacts and stories more effectively with our students, the university, and our local community.

Maintaining a strong partnership with the university is paramount to us as we believe it enables both parties to thrive and adapt in our dynamic and everchanging world.

We are proud of our organisation and the positive impact it has on the lives of our students. Through this refreshed strategy, we ’ re outlining our continued commitment to providing life-changing experiences for our students.

Lauren Beckett

Undeb Bangor Interim Director (23-24)

Our 3 P's

Our Purpose

We advocate, support, and create opportunities for you, building your skills & confidence for the future.

Our Promise

We promise to build supportive and collaborative communities that champion inclusivity and belonging.

Our Principles

1. We Build Inclusive Communities

We will help you form strong, diverse, inclusive communities and friendships, where all backgrounds and cultures are celebrated

2. We Support You

We will have meaningful and honest conversations, so that together as a community we create a supportive environment for all students to thrive.

3. We Hear and Represent You

We will place your education and experience at the heart of everything, representing student voices to the university, the Bangor community and nationally

4. We Celebrate and Share our Welsh Culture

We are proud to share the importance of our history and culture, including our language, that makes us so unapologetically Welsh.

Strategic Themes

To deliver our purpose and promise we will adopt the following strategic themes, these will guide more detailed plans at an operational level.

We Build Inclusive Communities

Student life is positively impacted through opportunities at Undeb Bangor ; having access to strong, inclusive communities and varied extracurricular activities has a positive impact on your student experience, benefitting your personal development; employment prospects; health and wellbeing as well as boosting your social life.

To achieve this, we ensure that:

We will continue to offer a broad range of student-led opportunities ensuring cost is not a barrier to participation, working with the University to offer free membership to our clubs, societies, volunteering and UMCB activities. 1.

We will encourage and facilitate an inclusive, welcoming culture for all students, ensuring we provide a diverse and relevant range of opportunities to suit all of our students' backgrounds, hobbies and lifestyles. 2. We will strengthen our volunteering portfolio by offering opportunities aimed at enhancing community involvement and creating new pathways which provide students the chance to give back to their local community.

We will provide an effective introductory programme to help students settle in through our Welcome Week activities and continue a programme of engagement activities throughout the year.

Strategic Themes

To deliver our purpose and promise we will adopt the following strategic themes, these will guide more detailed plans at an operational level.

We Support You

We are here to make student life better; the university is a hugely enriching experience, but we all need extra support at times. We want you to feel connected, safe, and supported, ensuring you have access to open, available and inclusive services

To achieve this, we’ll ensure that:

We proactively support students by improving awareness and effective signposting to relevant support services.

1. We provide professional and confidential academic advice, ensuring all students can access the support they need. 2.

We continue to work with the University to ensure the delivery of the Student-led Mental Health Strategy and the Health and Well-Being Strategy, ensuring student mental health and well-being is a priority. 3. We empower our students to create positive habits by providing education and training related to mental health and well-being

Strategic Themes

To deliver our purpose and promise we will adopt the following strategic themes, these will guide more detailed plans at an operational level.

We Hear and Represent You

We are here to ensure you get the most from your education. We will ensure that students voices are listened to, acting as partners in shaping your experience at University We will ensure students continue to be at the heart of decision-making within the university, understanding what works well and what challenges and concerns you are facing, which is critical to your success.

To achieve this, we ensure that:

Our Course reps are well-trained, supported, and empowered to engage with students and academic staff, advancing positive change within their schools.

1. The student experience is enhanced through student representatives and learner feedback, maximising opportunities for student engagement 2.

Strategic Themes

To deliver our purpose and promise we will adopt the following strategic themes, these will guide more detailed plans at an operational level.

We Celebrate and Share our Welsh Culture

We are proud to share the importance of our history and culture, including our language, that makes us so unapologetically Welsh. Our commitment remains firm in safeguarding the rights of our Welsh students, ensuring their academic and cultural needs are met with care and consideration We acknowledge the vital importance of sharing and celebrating our rich Welsh history and culture with everyone, promoting an environment of inclusivity and appreciation for our heritage.

To achieve this, we ensure that:

We collaborate closely with our Welsh student community to explore innovative avenues for disseminating the rich history of Welsh language and culture in a manner that is inclusive and accessible to everyone.

1. We organise and promote cultural events and festivals that celebrate and share Welsh traditions, arts and music with all of our students. 2. We continue to implement initiatives to promote and preserve the Welsh language within the student community. 3 We collaborate with local Welsh communities and organisations to strengthen the ties between Undeb Bangor, the university and the broader Welsh community. 4.

Your Future

We are dedicated to ensuring that you have the best start to your future careers with the strongest possible foundations Everything we do is geared towards offering opportunities for you to acquire invaluable skills and experiences extending far beyond your time at Bangor. Getting involved in Undeb Bangor is a proven pathway to enhancing both your academic journey and your employability, and we will always strive to provide you with the tools necessary for success. We are committed to supporting your personal and professional growth, enabling you to reflect on your skill set and articulate your strengths with confidence, creating well-supported student leaders,

Our Organisational Strength and Governance

We will ensure our members are central to our decision-making and we are compliant with the Good Governance code for charities and students’ unions We will develop a strong and effective Trustee Board, a strong staff team and officer leadership, which act in the interests of our members.

Enablers

Our strategy sets our direction, but it is not possible to achieve this without resourcing and focus on the activities that we need to enable the delivery of the strategy.

Our Communications

Our student body is changing, as are the methods of communicating. We will continue to develop our ways of working towards a digital-first approach, enhancing our digital offering and responding to changing needs We will ensure our students are aware of the benefits of being a member of Undeb Bangor, they know who we are, what we do and how we can support them, to increase participation among harder-to-reach groups. We will champion the Welsh language ensuring our communications, as well as our services, are available in both Welsh and English.

Our People

We will recruit, develop, challenge, and support our staff, sabbatical officers, and student leaders to deliver this strategy We will provide training and development opportunities for staff to ensure they have up to date knowledge, skills, and support to carry out their roles. Setting clear objectives for staff to help deliver this strategy, we will ensure we are delivering maximum efficiency on behalf of the student body We will work to create a positive organisational culture which promotes respect, inclusion, and collaboration.

Our Relationship with the University

We will continue to maintain and strengthen our relationship with the university, ensuring that students are at the heart of university decision-making, being a critical friend and providing robust challenge when needed, whilst also recognising that we can achieve more together in supporting students to deliver an exceptional student experience.

Our Finances

We are committed to improving our financial sustainability, as well as ensuring that funding is invested in the right areas of the Union’s activities. This will be supported by effective financial management and an efficient, online and accessible approach to our financial systems.

Our Sustainability

We take great pride in our sustainability work and recognise that our impact goes beyond the Students’ Union. We have a responsibility to demonstrate our commitment to a sustainable future We will work towards the Wales’ wellbeing goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals and will continue to achieve national recognition.