IMPACT REPORT 2013 / 2014
A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT
OUR CORE AIMS
OVER THE YEAR WE ...
STUDENT VOICE
STUDENT EXPERIENCE
STUDENT SUCCESS
OUR YEAR IN NUMBERS
THE FUTURE
OFFICERS & TRUSTEES
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CONTENTS
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It is fair to say that 2013-2014 was a year of significant change but we rose to the challenge. We have worked tirelessly to ensure that our services meet the evolving needs of students in light of those changes. In doing so we have been able to engage with more students and start to really understand the needs of the different demographics of the members we represent. We continue to enjoy a very effective partnership with the University, whilst ensuring we remain their critical friend. This has proved particularly beneficial this year with work beginning on our Student Written Submission for the upcoming QAA Higher Education Review and other work respectively. For me personally, it has been great to see us grow from strength to strength and I’m really excited for us to consolidate the work that we have been doing, as well as lots of exciting upcoming projects, with the newly elected Officers. On behalf of this year’s executive team, I would like to thank Kathryn Thomson, Simeon Chandra and Stephen Adegoke for their contributions last year during their tenures. I have no doubt we’ll have plenty of great work to reflect upon again this time next year.
Enjoy!
Zoe Harrison Students’ Union President 2014/15
“ It is fair to say that 2013-2014 was a year of significant change but we rose to the challenge.”
This report sees me celebrating my first year here as CEO of the Students’ Union – and the question is where did that year go? Don’t believe anyone if they say working at a Students’ Union is easy, restful and calm – it’s dynamic, innovative (crazy sometimes!) and challenging. My experience has been one of a Students’ Union that is focused on our students and seeking to enhance their experience and success whilst at this University. Officers and staff work together and truly care about individuals, from helping them find activities and interests that they may continue to be passionate about throughout their lives, to helping them remain at University by supporting their housing, finance and academic needs through representation, the student voice and expert advice.
Our strength is our independence and our ability to challenge and support improvements across the University; our strength is our genuine partnership with the University through collaborative projects providing students with access, success and progression. Our strength is the democratic voice that comes from our Officers and Reps in securing change, quality and an enhanced student journey. Over the last 12 months the Officers, staff, students and stakeholders have been involved in reviewing our core aims, identifying key priorities to enhance student participation, improving experiences at University and supporting greater collaboration and partnership at every level. The purpose of producing our strategic plan is to deliver a roadmap for the development of the Students’ Union as an organisation that delivers a student voice, a rich diversity of experiences together with success and opportunities for all students. Its purpose is not to prescribe for future Executive Officers but instead to support our vision in meeting the needs of students. We aim to renew our Union whilst retaining our focus on our core principle of being accessible, caring and most importantly, member led. As a precursor to embedding this way of working, this report will present the year according to the specific areas of the core aims; the student voice, student experience and student success. We hope it proves an enjoyable read and look forward to sharing the experiences of the road ahead.
A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT
On behalf of everyone at the University of Wolverhampton Students’ Union, hello and welcome to our Impact Report for 2013-2014. This report highlights the commendable work that elected Officers and our core staff team have completed over the year.
Ann Gough Students’ Union CEO
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Students will have strong representation and a voice about their University experience through us and we will act on that knowledge.
OUR CORE AIMS
TO ENHANCE THE STUDENT VOICE ACROSS THE UNIVERSITY
TO MAXIMISE THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE FOR ALL STUDENTS Students will develop new skills and discover new experiences through their active engagement with the SU.
TO PROMOTE AND SUPPORT STUDENTS’ SUCCESS We will provide opportunities to enhance students’ academic and University experience for future life chances.
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JODIE MY ER S.
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PAID OUT £2,300 TO STUDENTS FROM OUR EMPLOYMENT SUPPORT FUND TO HELP WITH JOB INTERVIEW COSTS.
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Saw 3,5 cast 13 44 voters ,527 our ele votes in ctions. HELPE D DESIG PUT THE FU TURE N OF CENTR LEARNING STUDE ES INTO NT HA NDS.
NOMINATIONS RECEIVED 651 ENTS’ UNION FOR OUR STUD RDS. TEACHING AWA
WERE VOTED THE MOST IMPROVED STUDENTS’ UNION IN THE TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENT EXPERIENCE SURVEY.
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LOBBIED TO HAVE FOOD ALLOWED INTO LEARNING CENTRES DURING 24/7 OPENING HOURS.
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REPRESENTE
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OVER THE YEAR WE ...
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RECEIVED FEEDBACK FROM OVER 1000 STUDENTS THROUGH OUR ‘SU ON TOUR’ INITIATIVE.
RETAINED OUR SILVER GREEN IMPACT STUDENTS’ UNION ACCREDITATION.
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STUDENT VOICE
ELECTIONS 2014
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
This year’s main elections in March saw a total of 2,529 individual votes, representing 11% of the student population.There were over 30 positions available with many contested by up to 6 candidates each. With voting available at ballot stations across three campuses and online to those based at Burton, we had an extremely successful and well run elections campaign.
The full-time Executive Officers continue to sit on all senior University Committee meetings, task and finish groups, reviews and senior management appointment panels. They have also gained another seat on the University’s Board of Governors. This year, our Academic Vice President joined the President on the Board, but from next year, the second place will be assumed by a member of Union Council such as a Faculty Rep.
STUDENT WRITTEN SUBMISSION
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STUDENTS’ UNION AWARDS We held our third Students’ Union Awards night in May 2014, which encompassed the SU Teaching Awards and Student Volunteering Awards. The response to this year’s event was incredible and saw us treble the amount of nominations for University academic and support staff to 651. We were delighted to receive ongoing support from the University and also from the NUS and Mid Counties Co-operative, which enabled us to promote and record our awards night better than ever. We have since collated the key findings from the student nominations and have met with some of the award winners to work in partnership with the University and the NUS on how we can best disseminate excellent practice.
A lot of energy this year has been put into collating the Student Written Submission ready for the audit of the University by the QAA in February 2015. Our President has worked closely with the University in sharing drafts of the Submission as well as of the University’s own Self Evaluation Document (which also goes to the QAA). In addition to using a raft of documentation and information since the last QAA review in 2008 including feedback from Course and School Reps, from our ‘SU on Tour’ programme and various focus groups - we also conducted a comprehensive ‘Are you Glad You’re Here?’ survey specifically to help inform the Submission. The survey was released after the National Student Survey period closed, which was close to the end of term. Nevertheless, we were pleased to get responses from 827 students.
With the ever growing provision of Higher Education that the University of Wolverhampton provides across the world, we thought it necessary to have a bespoke Charter for Transnational Education (TNE) Students. This will be ready for implementation October 2014.
COLLABORATIVE INSTITUTION VISITS Ensuring the student voice is captured across all of our campuses, including the University’s transnational institutions and collaborative partners, has been a priority for us this year. The Academic Vice President visited our Academy of Music and Sound partners in Gateshead, Southampton, Birmingham and Exeter. The visits proved highly beneficial in building relationships and gathering feedback from students at the institutions.
POSTGRADUATE STUDENT VOICE Over the last twelve months under the direction of the Academic Vice President, we have started to develop a framework and structure for representing the student voice of Postgraduate (PG) Taught and Research students. With clearer support and guidance for PG students and channels to capture the student voice, we have a wealth of feedback coming from Reps which is vital in improving the PG student experience.
REVISION OF STUDENT CHARTER/ TNE STUDENT CHARTER The 2012-13 academic year saw us collaborate with the University to produce a Student Charter that lays out the mutual expectations of students and the University. Every year, the Charter is subject to revision, and last year was no different. We worked hard to increase awareness amongst students by, for example, incorporating the Charter into Course and Faculty Rep training, with the intention being that it would then be dispersed more effectively to students with whom the Reps would come into contact with. We also ran a small marketing campaign to publicise five points of the charter we considered especially important to students (see image above).
“ I am honoured and very grateful that students have taken the trouble to nominate me” Karen Bartter (Shortlisted for Outstanding Personal Tutor Award)
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FUNDRAISING
FOOD IN THE LIBRARY
MENTAL HEALTH WORKER
During the 2013-14 academic year, the Advice and Support Centre (ASC) recorded 1306 new cases, broken down as follows:
We have supported a number of good causes this year, including a pyjama day for Children in Need, clothing collections and fundraising for the British Heart Foundation, and fundraising activities for our adopted charity ‘Hear Our Voice’, a mental health organisation local to Wolverhampton.
During the learning centres’ 24/7 opening hours period, we learnt that students felt they would benefit from being able to eat hot food in the library, especially when University outlets were closed. We negotiated with senior learning centre staff and came to the agreement that allowing this was in the best interest of students’ welfare.
Our Welfare Vice President continued the excellent work of her predecessor in chairing a cross-campus working group looking at support for students and staff experiencing or dealing with mental health problems. An action plan was drawn up by the group, as a result of which we worked with the University to recruit a new Mental Health Coordinator for 2014/15. The post will provide a crucial link between staff, students and external agencies to help ensure students in crisis get the most appropriate help.
•4 1% of enquiries were financial, mainly Student Finance England delays (where it was not the students’ fault) and tuition fee debt to the University. •3 9% were academic related (a 7% increase on last year), with advice on academic misconduct and complaints being the most common, and mostly around plagiarism and course related problems respectively. •1 5% were housing queries, in particular requests for release from halls licences. •2 % of all enquiries related to international student issues, where we supported the University International Centre with independent clarification of visa problems/decisions. • The remaining 3% of queries related to areas such as health and wellbeing and employment. The focus for ASC over the coming year will be on pre-emptive, pre-enrolment finance work, which we consider to be highly effective, as evidenced by an 8% decrease in finance queries this year. Advisers continue to work in partnership with University Admissions, The Gateway and the Finance department, ensuring that students are supported, informed and prepared for HE study.
“ I am ever grateful, especially to one of your members of staff, who worked tirelessly in resolving problems I encountered both personally and professionally. I sincerely appreciate the hard work that is put in for all students who encounter similar problems.”
BME SUMMIT In conjunction with the University, we wanted to tackle the national issue of disparity in attainment, which suggests that BME (Black Minority Ethnic) students on average achieve lower degree classifications than non-BME students. We were aware of clusters of good practice across the University and were keen to bring key stakeholders including academics and students together to not only share best practice but also discuss and debate factors which may affect attainment. The findings are being used to identify opportunities where the Union and University can work together to support the student experience.
LIBRARY REDESIGN During the year we were approached by the University to input into the redesign of Learning Centres for future years. Our Academic Vice President helped implement plans to form a task group of students to see the project through long-term. The project, which will give students full reign to reimagine and design learning centre facilities is a fantastic way for participants to leave their legacy on the institution and significantly shape the look and feel of learning centres for prospective students.
STUDENT EXPERIENCE
STUDENT EXPERIENCE
ADVICE AND SUPPORT
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Throughout the year we carried out a new outreach programme called ‘SU on Tour’. We literally packed a case and went out and about, visiting all buildings across University campuses to raise awareness about what we do for our members. We made fortnightly visits across City and Walsall campuses, monthly at Telford and a number of visits to Burton campus. The effect was more than we had ever expected and we received an enormous amount of feedback from over 1,000 students. This was collated and shared with the Executive Officers who actioned many issues with the University, either directly with individual managers or through the committee process. Some of the activities and outcomes were:
• In depth discussions with the senior management of a number of engineering courses regarding students’ academic experiences. This led to open meetings with students and individual resolutions. • SU attendance on a University working group relating to placements after feedback we received from students. • A commitment from the University and SU to work together to raise awareness around the academic skills and language support available to students. • Feedback to the University on problems faced by students accessing certain buildings and specialist IT software – the SU was again invited onto a specific University group tasked with looking at this issue. • A greater engagement with postgraduate students and more understanding of their needs. We will continue to develop and grow this programme in 2014/15 as we consider it to be invaluable in capturing the student voice.
“ My circumstances were more than difficult and had a big impact on my health. The guidance I received from ASC has enabled me to become more confident and less stressed. I am truly glad I came to the University of Wolverhampton. Thank you. ” (University of Wolverhampton student) P.14
STUDENT PARENTS
SAFER TAXI SCHEME
The University experience of student parents was a focus for our Welfare Vice President during the year. A specific survey targeting the group received 221 responses, from which our Welfare Vice President produced a report with recommendations that was taken to Student Experience Committees at both University and Faculty level.
Our Welfare Vice President managed to draw up an agreement this year with a local taxi company in Wolverhampton to establish an emergency scheme. The scheme allows students who might be in a bit of a fix and have run out of money, to still get home safely at night.
STUDENT EXPERIENCE
SU ON TOUR
The recommendations made were around timetabling (the earlier availability of timetables), staff development, and improved data capture around student parents to enable us to provide more targeted support and information.
EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES Over the year, both our Welfare and Academic Vice Presidents ran a campaign to raise awareness of the extensions and extenuating circumstances procedures. They had marketing material produced and spent two weeks talking to students and informing them of the correct use for both procedures. As a result, the Welfare Vice President lobbied the University to create Leave of Absence guidance for students ready for October 2014.
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LIVE TWEETING
We were very pleased to retain our Silver Green Impact Students’ Union accreditation this year after an audit in January. This was achieved through our policies and practices and proactive attempts to reduce our impact on the environment. This was also the 2nd year of running our very own allotment on Walsall Campus called ‘Dig In’ which, with the invaluable support of University staff as well as students, has produced lovely herbs, fruit and veg including, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, salad, strawberries, blueberries and more!
This year saw the beginning of ‘live tweeting’ from events such as Union Council and the Students’ Union Awards, giving those who were unable to be at the events in person the opportunity to keep up to date with proceedings. This proved extremely beneficial in terms of engagement and contributed to us increasing our following on social media throughout the year. The plan is to build on this success and increase the number of events covered in the 2014/15 academic year.
COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
#OURSUDAY
A key goal for our marketing and communications team has been to find new and more effective ways of reaching our membership. Our Spring Elections were used to trial two new communication methods in particular, elections specific artwork on Squeezebox takeaway coffee cups and pop-ups on University wide PC’s.
On Thursday 30th January we took part in a national initiative known as #oursuday. The idea being that SU’s and Guilds across the UK used the day to tweet a running commentary of their activities to help raise awareness of their services to students, universities and the wider community.
Both initiatives incorporated ways of directing students to the relevant webpages and proved successful, helping increase the number of elections webpage visits on the previous year. The 2014/15 academic year will see us continue to use more innovative communication channels and also utilise WOLF more routinely.
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STUDENT SUCCESS
STUDENT EXPERIENCE
BEING GREEN
The Officer team, Marketing and the Advice & Support Centre spent the day giving followers an insight into a day at our Union.The day saw us increase our social media following and also engage with new students and community members.
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STUDENT STAFF EMPLOYEE OF YEAR
During the year we began working in partnership with the Black Country Chamber of Commerce to develop training opportunities for students in local organisations. The aim of the Learning & Experience Programme is to increase student employability and help retain Black Country talent. Students are matched to organisations based on their experience and career aspirations, given work-ready training and mentored throughout to ensure they can reach their potential. We are working alongside local firms such as Thomas Dudley and Wedge Galvanising and as the initiative develops, aim to create opportunities with national organisations.
This year we continued to recognise the valuable contribution of our student staff in developing and improving our services. Emma Morgan was nominated by the permanent staff as our ‘Student Staff Member of the Year’ after her fantastic contribution to student engagement and her support in setting up a number of new dance societies at Walsall campus.
SPORTS REVIEW The 2013-14 season has seen us improve on the previous year’s success. We’ve had some amazing individual performances from several of our athletes competing at both indoor and outdoor tournaments, with several setting new personal bests. Particular highlights came from Jodie Myers who took Gold and Ebony Drysdale who took Silver at the National Judo Championships. Jodie then continued onto the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where she won a Silver medal (wow!). Our BUCS teams also did very well, rising 3 places in the national rankings this year.
STUDENT EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR AWARDS This year our Student Engagement Support Staff won several awards at the University’s Annual Volunteer and Employment Awards ceremony. The team comprising of students Sukhii Garcha, Daniel Orton and Emma Morgan won ‘On Campus Team of the Year’ and also ‘Student Employee of the Year (Team)’. The team provided a high level of support to the Student Engagement department throughout the year and proved to be a real asset to the organisation. Upon winning the institutional award, the team then progressed onto the regional awards. Whilst they didn’t top the awards there, it was still a huge achievement of which we were very proud.
Indeed, we felt it important to recognise student and permanent staff throughout the year for good work done whether that be implementing a new project or initiative, consistently delivering high quality work, or providing excellent service to students.
STUDENT SUCCESS
THE LEARNING & EXPERIENCE PROGRAMME
EMPLOYMENT SUPPORT FUND The Employment Support Fund is a grant of up to £50 for students to help with the costs of attending job interviews. Students can claim for items such as travel tickets or interview specific clothing. During the 2013/14 academic year, the fund gave over £2,300 to over 50 students.
Together with University Sport, Fitness and Health we held our annual Sports Awards ceremony on an even bigger scale than previous years. The event attracted over 200 students and guests and paid tribute to the fantastic achievements of our teams, talented athletes and scholars with awards and trophies being presented by Olympian Kristian Thomas.
STUDENT STAFF MEMBER OF THE YEAR Emma Morgan
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737
NUMBER OF FB POSTS
64% SATISFACTION NSS SCORE
1,872
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS TO SURVEYS
1,365
TWITTER FOLLOWERS
FACEBOOK LIKES
WEBSITE PAGE VIEWS
61,592 2,736 3,050
NUMBER OF TWITTER POSTS
Here’s what we’ve got planned for the year ahead STUDENT EXPERIENCE
STUDENT VOICE We want to ensure that students are active participants in the design and delivery of their own learning and teaching experiences through piloting a student voice system (entitled the Student Voice Academy) across the four Faculties. Our full-time Officers will be leading on supporting each Faculty. This trial will hopefully allow Officers to have stronger relationships with students, picking up issues at grass roots level on a regular basis and develop contacts with key academics to resolve student issues.
STUDENT SUCCESS
WALSALL & TELFORD
VOLUNTEER CENTRAL
We will be working to help increase the sense of community at Walsall and Telford campuses. We’ll do this through extending our programme of events at Walsall and planning a refurbishment to update our facilities. At Telford, we aim to lobby the University to develop better student space at this incredibly important campus.
We have partnered with the University to deliver Volunteer Central, a new, independent venture to house all volunteering activities and support for students. Opening in September 2014, the centre will move away from brokerage volunteering to project based volunteering, which gives students greater scope for development and allows them a higher level of ownership. Volunteer Central will be launching new projects around sports and performing arts, language support for schools and mentoring programmes. The centre is also aiming to deliver more course-related volunteering opportunities to allow students to consolidate their academic knowledge with practical experience.
HEALTH & WELLBEING We will aim to enhance the health and wellbeing of students at the University through the delivery of comprehensive recreational sports and health and wellbeing programmes. This will include provision for students with disabilities and mental health issues, as well as healthy eating and safety initiatives across all campuses.
THE FUTURE
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NUS EXTRA CARDS SOLD
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PART-TIME OFFICERS
PRESIDENT - Simeon Chandra
CITY CAMPUS OFFICER – Issic Romel
ACADEMIC VICE PRESIDENT - Zoe Harrison
WALSALL CAMPUS OFFICER – Gemma Carroll
STUDENT EXPERIENCE VICE PRESIDENT - Stephen Adegoke
TELFORD CAMPUS OFFICER – Safahad Shaikh INTERNATIONAL OFFICER – Abhijeet Atre
WELFARE VICE PRESIDENT - Kathryn Thomson VOLUNTEERING ENGAGEMENT OFFICER – Gurjit Rai ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICER – Laxman Swali MATURE/PART-TIME/STUDENT PARENTS OFFICER Rustam Nabizade
TRUSTEES
OFFICERS & TRUSTEES
OFFICER TRUSTEES
EXTERNAL TRUSTEE - Mike Ager EXTERNAL TRUSTEE - Lee Smith
“ We aim to renew our Union whilst retaining our focus on our core principle of being accessible, caring and most importantly, member-led.”
STUDENT TRUSTEE - Abhishek Dicholkar UNIVERSITY TRUSTEE – Jane Nelson
Ann Gough, (Students’ Union CEO)
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Walsall Campus WS Building Gorway Road Walsall WS1 3BD
Tel: 01902 322021 Fax: 01902 322020
Tel: 01902 322320 Fax: 01902 323036
E-mail: info@wolvesunion.org Website: www.wolvesunion.org
Twitter: www.wolvesunion.org/twitter Facebook: www.wolvesunion.org/facebook YouTube: www.wolvesunion.org/youtube
IMPACT REPORT 2013 / 2014
City Campus MD Building Wulfruna Street Wolverhampton WV1 1LY