Gearing Up for 2012 and Student Participation

Well it's mid-August and we are only about a month away from the new intake of wide-eyed and fresh-faced student intake of 2012. For me and many other students at Kent, arrivals week is the most exciting time of year with online fora already starting to buzz with an expectant hive of students-to-be firing questions at current students and staff.

Volunteer 'Welcome Helpers 2011' 

In my opinion, welcome week is something that Kent Union do really well, with an incredible amount of forethought going into the planning of the events and entertainment which is organised for new and returning students. One overwhelming piece of evidence that leads me to believe that other returning students enjoy the week as much as I do is the number of students who choose to volunteer every year as welcome week helpers moving students into their new homes and helping them to become socially and emotionally as well as geographically adjusted. For any of you who may be arriving in September or may have missed the welcome week in the past, each college (Rutherford, Eliot, Keynes, Darwin, Woolf and Parkwood) have a team of helpers in brightly coloured t-shirts who not only physically help new students to move in but also arrange much of the college-based entertainment in the first week. Helpers are trained the week before arrivals weekend admirably arriving back in Canterbury a week early in order to do this. This year the training is undergoing a few improvements which should make it more streamlined this year. In addition this year's event will be extra-special as the sabbaticals (Kent students' elected representatives) will be announcing the Priority campaign which will be the primary focus of campaigning efforts this year.... and its a goodun trust me! These volunteers will be the first to know.

Kent Unions' International  event

Some events that should not be missed under any circumstances are the welcome fayres on September 20th and 21st. Here all of our societies and sports teams will be advertising themselves to new members, airing their wares and explaining what it is that they contribute to the diverse range of student-led activities at Kent.

If you are an international student then the international dinner on Tuesday 18th is a lovely event (with free food, drink and entertainment... can you ask for more?) its also a great way to meet other international students. I personally find meeting international students really rewarding which is one of the reasons I will be working closely with the international students' officer as last year. After the dinner the Big International night out is an event revitalized and revamped at the Venue and Attic. I don't want to give too much away at this stage but the event is going to be more regular, more fun and more lavish than ever before, don't miss out all are welcome! You can Find the Venue Facebook page here.

Another annual event that occurs at this time of year is training for our student groups. Having attended this training a fair few times myself as a student and delivered it once it feels pretty dry as it is based around a rather traditional lecture type delivery with the trainer just 'telling you stuff you need to know.' I felt that this was really tired and dated and almost cruel to expect volunteers to sit through 4+ hours of. Therefore, what we're planning this year will be based on a different model. I am writing a societies handbook which will include pages of useful information and answers to frequently asked questions. Hopefully this should empower the leaders of societies to be able to find solutions to their own challenges without having to wait to speak to a member of Union staff or one of the officers. This will also mean that we will not have to go into the basics in details on the training day. Instead, volunteers will only need to attend a shorter 90 minute plenary session, the afternoon session will focus on group sessions where societies can share their best-practice, experience and knowledge lead by an officer or member of staff on sessions such as; developing your group, effective fundraising, community projects and using multimedia effectively.  Both of these projects as well as the priority campaign are the projects I am managing ready for release in a month's time. And it doesn't feel like much time at all.

Kent Union Society Storage facility arrives August 2012

The society storage campaign  that I have been working on over the last year has now taken solid form! One of the main problems caused by not having any storage to speak of is that many volunteers are forced to store equipment in their own homes which is not only inconvenient but risky for a range of reasons. Pictured is a new storage facility under Eliot College walkway, a second facility is to be built in the next couple of months behind the Venue in order to accommodate further groups. Due to ongoing developments to the sports facilities on the Canterbury campus, some sports clubs will also be using this space which is a project that Matt (VP sports) and myself will be managing over the next year.

In addition to these projects there has been good progress with Kent Union's online volunteering and employability systems. The new "E and V toolkit" will be integrated meaning that students will be able to log their hours and see how their employability skills are developing on the same system that will be used by external volunteering providers to log their opportunity for volunteers. Future plans may see further integration with the University's 'my folio' and 'employability points scheme' with the ultimate goal being smooth operation between all of the toolkits provided at Kent for students to register and manage their own skills in preparation for future employment.

At Kent's Canterbury campus we have some incredible opportunities in activities with encouraging growth at Medway. Sadly, I feel that the 'traditional' student experience which is sought by many of Kent's Medway students is still not provided and students wait with bated breath to see whether their will be investment in a flexible social space that students will be able to use for their activities at Medway. The C4 site is a possibility for development, Medway students may have to hold their breath a little longer to see if the institution/s decide to invest in such a project. Greenwich and Christchurch students with their less traditional demographics and lack of on-campus dwellers may be less affected by the absence of a social hub. With Kent students at Medway paying £9k fees next year I wonder how this lack of social space provision will affect application numbers from Kent's 18-21 pool. Envy of the Canterbury facilities is at least steady.

Kent Union put £714,000 back in students' pockets 

Another thing that concerns me is how student participation in extra-curricular activities will be affected. With the exception of sports scholarships  or perhaps music scholarships there is no prior commitment to engage in activities outside of your academic studies and not all students will have access to these programmes. With rising tuition fees and high cost of living generally and in Canterbury especially, more and more students are looking for part-time work which is not necessarily easy to find in itself [Guardian 2010] .Research supports that there will be an increasing number of stay-at-home students studying at their local institution in order to keep costs down [Guardian 2011] This may have fiscal advantages but how does this affect the students' experience by not living in halls on campus or shared accommodation in their second and third years often seen as being large parts of the University experience.

Kent Union and The University believe that being involved in volunteering and activities whether sports, societies, volunteer groups or media is highly beneficial to students helping them to build up skills that employers find valuable and look for in job applications. It is also important not to overlook the de-stressing benefits of sport and hobbies. Never-the-less, with 40 hours spent on students' academic commitments per week as well as part time work, will students be able to make time for this valuable experience? Can students afford to be as involved as they have been in the past with less free time?

I hope so.

Your comments are graciously received.