A blog. From Me. Kenny Budd Vice President (Activities) at Kent Union. I am hoping this this blog will serve as another channel to communicate with students at the University of Kent and hopefully help to spread the word about some of the work I'm doing at the moment for students.
All my posts are in a personal capacity and from my own perspective unless otherwise stated. (Please note as of July 2013 I am 'retired' as Vice-President)
Greetings my lovelies! We are now coming to the end of what has been the season of awards ceremonies with the Kent Union awards; K.S.C.V. Medway and Canterbury, The first ever K.I.C. media awards as well as the Employability points awards night. Phew!
Its a time of year that I thoroughly enjoy, being able to congratulate volunteers on the dedication and time that they have given as well as give special thanks to some of the high achievers this year. My society being a previous winner, I know how much these accolades can mean. As well as the trophies, certificates and prizes that were given, there was food and drink laid on for all attendees.
Jess has recieved so many awards this year it's lost its appeal
The K.I.C. media awards were a massive success in this, their first year with many of the categories being judged by industry professionals adding real kudos to the prizes. I was so glad to have been involved in student media over the last two years which has gone from strength to strength. If you weren't already aware the space previously known as the Attic will sadly serve its last pint this exam term but joyfully burst from its summer break cocoon to emerge as a beautiful new media centre of which our volunteers are much deserving. I am so excited I nearly wee-d myself and I'm so glad this part of the project has come to fruition in my time.
Hand's Up if You Volunteer? KSCV Medway
Unfortunately, this was my last opportunity to give our volunteers a pat on the back as at the end of this month the current team will depart and you will have an nice new shiny team with less grey hair than me! Guaranteed! If you weren't able to make the Kent Union awards missed my self indulgent speech. Here it is in the frame below!
Due to a formatting error the societies handbook does not give clear depiction of the graph explaining how much grant funding societies can expect to receive for the academic year 2012-2013. Below is a table explaining the exact figure you have available.
Members
Cash
<10
£0
31
£77
53
£117
10
£25
32
£79
54
£118
11
£28
33
£81
55
£119
12
£30
34
£83
56
£120
13
£33
35
£85
57
£121
14
£35
36
£87
58
£122
15
£38
37
£89
59
£123
16
£40
38
£91
60
£124
17
£43
39
£93
61
£125
18
£45
40
£95
62
£126
19
£48
41
£97
63
£127
20
£50
42
£99
64
£128
21
£53
43
£101
65
£129
22
£55
44
£103
66
£130
23
£58
45
£105
67
£131
24
£60
46
£107
68
£132
25
£63
47
£109
69
£133
26
£65
48
£111
70
£134
27
£68
49
£113
71
£135
28
£70
50
£114
72
£136
29
£73
51
£115
73
£137
30
£75
52
£116
74
£138
75
£139
89
£153
76
£140
90
£154
77
£141
91
£155
78
£142
92
£156
79
£143
93
£157
80
£144
94
£158
81
£145
95
£159
82
£146
96
£160
83
£147
97
£161
84
£148
98
£162
85
£149
99
£163
86
£150
100+
£164
87
£151
88
£152
This works as an overdraft in your main account which means that this cash will only become available once you have spent all of your membership fee money. This does not apply to student led volunteer groups, sports clubs or Media groups.
By and Large the last 18 months have been successful as far as making-good on my manifesto pledges is concerned. However, one particular challenge which has irritated me over the last couple of years has been the limited access that student groups, especially non-sports groups have to affordable transport for their activities. Kent Union currently hires a 12-seater minibus and 9 seater car for use by our groups. Club use of these vehicles is high and it is necessary to complete a driving course supplied by the Union in order to drive the larger vehicle. For 9-seaters in the UK a full clean UK licence is needed and drivers need to be 21 and driving for two years in order to be insured with us. Only fuel costs are charged to groups. The demand for the training courses is very high and we are always over-subscribed.
An additional challenge is that if the competitive clubs cannot get to their fixtures then they cannot play which has lead to the minibuses being paid for out of the Kent Union Sports budget. This means that clubs get priority access combined with a first-come first served and fair usage allocation.
What this means is that a culture has developed where non-sports groups don't even consider the vehicles as accessible to them and don't factor them in as an option due to their low availability. This leads to thousands of pounds being paid out from the development fund, society grant budgets and members' pockets which are all a little cash-scant. I don't think this is a very efficient allocation of monies.
In February Kent Union will start its budget proposal round for next year's budget for approval by the board of trustees. We will be submitting a proposal for increase in the societies budget in order to get a 9-seater specifically for non-sports club with Wednesdays (fixtures day) being negotiable. The current vehicles will still be available to all groups as they are currently. Not only will this hopefully cut costs but will also lead to a culture change where groups that have perhaps never thought of attending an event outside of the immediate local area, will start to think further afield for national events! How exciting!
The Part time officer elections are coming up! Perhaps you are thinking; what's a part-time officer? Or, what's that to me? Or, why should I be interested? Then hopefully this short blog entry should be of some benefit.
Any union member who is a student studying a University of Kent course can stand in election to be a part-time officer. There are a very wide range of these posts from the liberation officers doing important campaigning work through the representation of women, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi, trans-people) ethnic minorities and students with disabilities, to the college presidents who organise social, fundraising, sporting and pastoral events in each of the colleges. The roles are voluntary and hours invested by officers can be logged through the employability and volunteering toolkit and also accrue employability points as part of the EP scheme. Together these schemes offer volunteers the opportunity to record and develop their experience and recognise the soft and transferable skills that have been developed during volunteering and awards internships, work-placements as well as prizes such as Amazon vouchers to students based on the number of points they have earned.
As well as developing skills which employers really value such as communicating with a wide range of different people, being organised, report writing and public speaking (for instance) volunteering to be a part-time officer is a great way to meet people and make new friends and connections. It is also an excellent way to learn more about the workings of the Union and University and is a great opportunity to give back to the student body and really make a change that will improve the University experience for the benefit of all students. It is also an opportunity that opens doorways to other options, through increased exposure to the full time sabbatical officers you may get an idea of whether this is a path that you might like to consider yourself.
Part of the role whether the Ethics officer or international students' officer, is to sit on Union council, one of the most senior decision making bodies in the Union where all part-time ad full-time officers discuss matters brought by members of the council or the membership of the wider student body. This is an excellent way to learn more about others' politics and ultimately come to understand the different perspectives of individuals. I have always found that through understanding the motivations of others I can better understand my own perspective. Its also always good to be challenged on views that you may have always taken for granted. Sometimes it can get pretty heated, but this is how you know that the topics mean something to people and are therefore worth debating.
The amount of time spent volunteering can vary incredibly and its always worth remembering that it is better to have someone in a post doing one hour a week than no-one in post. Even if you have not been involved in the past and this may be your first volunteering experience there is training provided all the way. In addition, this year has been the pilot year of a new scheme which has trained all full and part-time officers in Volunteer management, a qualification accredited with the Institute of Leaders and managers. More information can be found on this in my previous blogs.
As well as representation on a local level can lead to running for NUS (national union) delegate position, representing Kent students on a national level and making sure that our voices our heard. Gaining exposure to students from around the country has given me an incredible sense of wider community, that students are 'in it together' which on its own is a feeling worth having.
If you would like to discuss any of the opportunities available please contact me by email on or on twitter @kbuddinyourface and I can direct you to the best person if I don't know the answer myself.
Although full-time officers sometimes have the most time to dedicate, some of the greatest achievements in Student Union history have been from dedicated part-time officers and volunteers. Just ask them yourselves here!
Nominations close at 12:00 on Wednesday 6 February 2013
One of the most rewarding areas of my Manifesto to work on has been the Gulbenkian 'complex'. Every meeting with the (fairly) new Gulbenkian team is positive and it feels like we are moving forwards, improving the engagement and dialogue between students and our on-campus arts facilities.
As with everything there are frustrating barriers to be overcome or worked around but in the last 18 months I've started to see real change. Attendance in the cinema is up to 30% students, which might not sound like a lot but outranks many on-campus cinemas around the country, the next target is the theatre. Other projects that I am working with the Gulbenkian to implement include a volunteer scheme which will support interested University of Kent students to experience technical front of house and theatre marketing in a professional arts complex under the watchful eye of experienced theatre professionals. The value of this to students is unquestionable especially for those who which to enter into a career in the world of theatre. The Gulbenkian was my first experience of working in a professional theatre and I'm passionate to cement this scheme before it is time to 'shuffle off this representational coil.' Another fabulous opportunity available to students is the Gulbenkian feedback forum (which I informally call the G-spot) where everyone has the chance to offer their 'tuppence worth' as Grandpa would say and help to improve the Gulbenkian experience.
I thought I'd include some of the Topics discussed in a Q+A style here for those who couldn't attend.
Q: What are the obstacles to the Cinema showing blockbusters in release week? If we could see the films that the Odeon shows, the Gulbenkian prices are much more student-friendly.
A: Filmdistributors often put caveats on cinemas getting the films such as 'x' number of showings in the first week. The Gulbenkian only has one screen and is heavily restricted as to when it can show films.
Q: Why can't the cinema be more flexible in its showing times in the week?
A: The cinema is not released from timetabling until 6pm. Until this time it is used as a lecture theatre. Low availability of lectures theatres means there is little flexibility here.
Q: What about Wednesdays?
A: On these afternoons the cinema is used for UCAS Days for potential future students.
Q: What don't you serve proper popcorn?
A: Some people think it goes against the 'arthouse vibe' of the cinema.
Q: Yeah but doesn't everybody love popcorn? Especially students?
A: We'll take your feedback onboard and look into buying a machine.
Q: Can we take popcorn into the theatre?
A: It depends on the company, if its a quiet show possibly not. But for comedy, perhaps.
Q: The Cafe seems really expensive which is why some students are put off from eating there. Why is this?
A: This is down to having to charge V.A.T to everyone when they eat (making it 20% more expensive for students but no more expensive to staff.) We're looking at ways to keep the price down for students and keep the quality high.
Q: If we wanted to see a particular film or re-run would that be a possibility?
A: Absolutely! let us know about it. We already do this through the customer comments section but we're looking at whether we could have online polls where students could vote for films.
Q: What's the chance of using the theatre if available for open rehearsals if we're drama students?
A: Talk to us.
Q: How can we get involved?
A: Contact Kenny at the Union union-activities@kent.ac.uk or Jess at the Gulbenkian j.l.thomas@kent.ac.uk.
Hi everyone,
I am currently participating in Movember as are my all male team of colleagues where we all grow and sport moustaches to raise money for prostate cancer research.
I did this about two years ago as its something that has affected many people close to me
The link to our team page is here - http://uk.movember.com/team/534917 where you can either make donations to the team as a whole or to individuals.
As anticipated these past two weeks have been absolutely
insane. Welcome week and the orientation of new students is a massive operation
and is an integral part of the integration process into University for new and
returning students.
The sabbatical officers’ role during this period is multi-faceted
and diverse from aiding in the writing of the strategy and priorities for the
week and approving the entertainments to meeting new students and physically
carrying ‘that tiny Thai girl’s’ 36 kilo suitcase up 4 flights of stairs. Oh
and did I mention helping to support and orchestrate five-hundred student
volunteers moving in thousands of fresh-faced student recruits?
In practice this means spending up to 18 hours a day on
campus, not finding time for lunch, forfeiting a couple of weekends, running
around from one end of campus to the other, dealing with upset parents,
overworked staff and sometimes lost and confused or lonely or drunk students.
Sounds awful doesn’t it?
It isn’t.
There is a reason why so many students return to University two
weeks early in order to volunteer their time and energy. In part, it is students’
and young people’s desire to give something back and be part of a community,
share knowledge, hospitality and welcome weary travellers from far and near to
their new home. It is also one of the most rewarding experiences we and our
volunteers have enjoyed. Sadly, this year will be the last time I can
personally be involved as the end of my term is this summer.
Every year I am so impressed with the sheer physical and
mental effort that our student volunteers put in, supported by our dedicated
staff who also give up their own time to ensure that our welcome stands are
staffed by a friendly face to answer questions. Kent Union volunteers always do
it with a smile on their face. Sadly, the effort that these volunteers put in
is not universally recognised across campus and attitudes are not what one
might expect. I hope that in the future
we will be able to educate this minority to appreciate the collective effort of
these volunteers.
A cynic might say that welcome week (freshers’ week) is just
a disorganised piss-up, that if Kent Union didn’t train and recruit welcome
helpers, students would settle in just fine but I beg to differ. On Monday I received
an e-mail from a rather distressed student who was finding the experience a bit
daunting to say the least. Campus was noisy, housemates hadn’t introduced
themselves, there hadn’t been a friendly welcome volunteer to carry their bags
and reassure them and somehow their door had been missed during the door knocking
for the evening events. Somehow they had found my e-mail address to put a
message in a bottle. I introduced them to some of the bubbliest and outgoing volunteers
I could think of that evening. What struck me hardest was that with all the
effort that student had put in to get as far as the University, they may have
ended up calling it a day and going home had there not been some friendly faces
to welcome them. As well as welcome the 17
year old student from the Canary Islands who’s class back home had been 3
students now in a year-group of 4,000+, or the student returning to study after
10 years and feeling a bit odd being back on campus. Thanks guys.
Another major challenge during this period is the Welcome
fayre where we put up some big tents and invite all our student groups to
attack the new students with sign-up sheets, flyers, free sweets and amazing
opportunities. In addition this year the training of the society and
volunteering groups committees had undergone a massive redesign as well as
seeing the launch of a new 30 Page handbook for societies I had written. (Link to training blog)
To cut a long blog short, the fayre, the training and the
handbook were all a massive success. I continued my ongoing campaign of saying “yes”
wherever possible and in this case this meant over 250 groups, 5 stage
performances, a naked picnic and a tank on campus... in the interest of decency
I decided to upload footage of the tank which the Military history society were
kind enough to let me ride to Parkwood in! FUN!
To end on a serious note, apart from inspiring Military
history society and helping them to recruit new members and helping naturist
society to sign up new potential members and me losing some hair over the whole
thing, saying yes to things opens minds to possibilities. If a small group of
volunteers can get a tank on campus... what else can they achieve?
Say yes to something that makes you feel a bit edgy.
And a special hello and welcome to My Cousin Lauren, the second Budd at University, and at Kent.
Just a
quick one here to share the excitement I have about the new Societies and
Volunteering group (SLVG) Training which will be delivered on Monday the 17th
of September which is the Monday of welcome week.
Having
attended this training day for several years whilst a society committee members
and delivering it myself last year, I really felt it was in need of a
spruce-up. The old system meant that students sat through a lecture-type
session which would last the best part of an afternoon. The room was not always
fit for purpose and it was all pretty dry administrative stuff. Last year the
attendance was higher than anyone can remember... in forever.
However,
a few weeks later I was invited to help out at the course-rep conference as one
of the trainers and the format felt so much more engaging and inovative. There
were short plenary sessions which were a bit like lectures but there were
exciting guest speakers who came along to deliver these. The rest of the day
was broken into skill-based group training sessions where the volunteers shared
their own best practice and the differences in the different departments and
shared knowledge of how best to get results. Students were free to select which
sessions they attended and the sessions were much more interesting and
big-picture. This was something that I really wanted to replicate and develop.
So here
is what I have come up with... there will be a new societies handbook which is
currently being drafted. It is designed to be comprehensive and answer as many
questions as I could remember societies ever asking and from my own experience
of bieng involved with societies for the last 5 years. It will cover all of the
administrative stuff such as how to claim back cash, book transport, apply for
additional funding, run a complex event, complete a risk assessment, become an
admin on your page, access further training through the union and much more
besides.
This
means that the amount which needs to be covered in a 27 hour long lecture can
be cut down (I hope) to about 90 minutes of introduction, health and safety and
finance training. The afternoon is going to be made up from these break-out
sessions where groups will work together sharing best practice with an experienced
trainer and will be able to choose which sessions they attend. This also means
that you can spread the load across your committee and wont reply just on your
president to remember everything. I am hoping that this will enable societies
to become more effective and efficient. The sessions will be much more
strategic than operational thereby inspiring groups to think about the bigger
picture and how they can improve the quality of their own experience.
With the
new employability and volunteering toolkit getting ready to launch as well as a
new handbook for societies, this could be one of the best-informed years at
least! The morning plenary will be in RLT1 with afternoon 'break-out' sessions
being in Keynes seminar rooms.
Please
bear in mind that the training on the day may differ from the sessions below.
Please contact me at union-activities@kent.ac.uk if you have any questions or
suggestions.
Session
Trainer
Objectives
K.S.C.V and
Community Volunteering
Steph Hughes and Natalie Tiu
Introduction to the K.S.C.V scheme including
platinum and new Gold+ as well as introducing some of our other volunteering
opportunities in the community
Planning
Events Safely
Helen Close
A session
which helps volunteers to plan their events strategically, safely and for
ultimate success
Successful
Fundraising
Nick and the RAG Team
This session will help groups to think about
creative ways to fundraise for their activities and charity as well as
understanding their relationship with RAG
Getting to
Grips with Budgeting (SLVGS)
Steph Hughes
This session
is aimed at helping volunteers to plan their expenditure and use their
funding to best effect.
Getting to
Grips with Budgeting (Societies)
Amy Van-Poppel
This session is aimed at helping volunteers to
plan their expenditure and use their funding to best effect.
Effective
Teamwork
Suzanne Payne
A session
working on effective leadership as well as dealing with pressures when
working in a team with volunteers.
Using Media
Effectively
Mel Lewis
A session which helps volunteers to use social
media as well as student media to its greatest potential.
Developing
Your Group (SLVGS)
Steph Hughes and Natalie Tiu
A session
aimed at moving each group onto ‘the next stage’ from new group to
established group, then leading group. Helping groups define their own
success
Developing
Your Group (Societies)
Caroline Demetriou
A session aimed at moving each group onto ‘the
next stage’ from new group to established group, then leading group. Helping
groups define their own success
Hi All, I just wanted to make a couple of
short posts to update you about some of the latest issues that I have been
working on for societies and students led volunteer groups in particular.
As many of you know, last year a change was
made to the room booking system meaning that you can no longer book rooms
directly with the college masters. Instead this is done centrally through the
timetabling office. Room bookings are made by societies online using a link,
groups request their room requirements, this is sent to us at the Union who
then confirm that the booking is on behalf of a Kent Union student group. This
then gets forwarded onto timetabling who will do their best to accommodate the
groups' needs and then get back to them with a booking I.D which is confirmation
of the room having been legitimately booked.
Eliot Hall, The Most requested room on campus for our student societies.
Although it could be said that it is an
advantage having all of the room bookings going through a central location
there are still limitations to the system. If students want to book facilities
that are in a school building as opposed to a college building then this must
be done with the individual school, outdoor bookings are made with estates,
some bookings depending on location (particularly spaces with commercial
'value') are booked through hospitality. In addition, some spaces are
controlled by the union, but in fact the only space which students could really
use for activities are the bars.
In addition to this, the real clincher for
students has been that although in most cases the official line was for college
masters to require a week's notice to book rooms, in actuality exceptions were
made in some of the colleges allowing for a level of spontaneity and
flexibility. Another potential problem for students is that under the old
system 'average Joe student' could book a room for say... group study. To my
knowlege the only way this can still be done is either with the Library or
through an academic.
Our Circus skills society; have special requirements for the rooms they use
Recently I met with the Academic registrar
and timetabling to thrash out some ideas and see if there were any improvements
that could be made to the system namely whether we could cut down on
administrative delay and secondly, introduce
a limited number of rooms on campus which could be booked at short-notice (less
than a week). Through the efforts of the stretched timetabling department some success
was possible with the design and introduction of an improved online booking
link that will mean that requests will not have to wait to be forwarded from
Kent Union but go directly to timetabling with only 'questionable' bookings
being flagged up by Kent-Union which should help to speed up the process.
Unfortunately, due to "the complexity
of operating a two tier system it was felt that this is not a viable
proposal" which effectively means that a short-term room booking option is
still out of grasp for most groups. Any suggestions at this stage would be
welcome.
However, every cloud has a silver-lining!
Performing-arts groups may be in luck. Following a meeting with my friends at
the Gulbenkian, a space has been available for societies and volunteer groups
to use. Short-notice bookings will be possible for this room which is available
from 1 (I think) until 6pm on Wednesday afternoons. This space is large enough
for a small rehearsal I am told. If you are interested in this space then you
need to get in touch with Jess Thomas who is in charge of marketing at the
Gulbenkian. I am very grateful for their efforts so far.
The Attic Bar has a great open floor but will in future be a busier cafe in the day, prohibiting use for society activities
In addition to this I have recently met
with Venue General Manager Renaud and Hels who is in charge of facilities
management. The Attic is hoping to improve its daytime provision including the
installation of a new 'proper' coffee machine and improvements to lighting and
power provision which is hoped to make it a more inviting space for social and
group study. This does put pressure on
societies who had been using it occasionally for bookings for dance or musical
rehearsal. In reaction to this Hels and Renaud are looking into whether there
are any improvements that can be made to the cleaning rota which would allow groups
to use the balcony and venue floors for activities space from Monday to Wednesday
during daytime hours. Another small improvement. Please contact
R.Mayers@kent.ac.uk if you are interested in using this space.
An impression of the new Colyer Fergussion Music Building Main Hall Interior
I have also recently met with Sue Wanless
who is the director of music at the University of Kent. The new Colyer
Fergusson music building which is being constructed on the Canterbury campus
(due for completion in October 2012) will have soundproofed rehearsal rooms of
all sizes which I have been told student groups will have access to for the
price of an access card (£5). This will be available to groups who have music
as their main objective such as Music, live music, CPAS, Musical Theatre and
any other groups who wish to make music.
I am unaware of any such developments at
the Medway campus and would love to hear about any advances that have been
made. I am looking forward to attending the new democratic meetings that are
being set up at U.M.S.A which should allow for greater empowerment and
effectively turning complaining into campaigning.
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?
Chillin` in the 'student union' for a 'swift half' after a long day of lectures/ revising/ not a lot is not a new concept for students all over the country. Student Unions have often provided a bar as one of their services for students often offering a relaxing atmosphere which students can really have a sense of ownership over buy a reasonably priced beverage and enjoy some quality student focussed entertainment.
However, long gone may be the days where student unions can rely on healthy 'wet sales' of alcohol to prop up their finances and fund the kind of activities which cost money such as running our sports teams and societies or the Kent Union advice centre which sees over 4,600 students in need of advice.
Students just aren't big drinkers.... 78 cup beerpong?
Nowadays tax on alcohol is high and coupled with this, student unions individually and nationally through he NUS often have strict policies on responsible drinking even beyond the requirements of the law. Supermarkets can mitigate against the tax levied on products because of the wide range of products that the provide. This means that there is a real change of culture in the way that students (and indeed society more widely) consume alcohol. 'Predrinking' or 'preloading' which is the practice of downing a few before heading out to party has had a serious toll on the 'spend per head' especially in the Venue and attic. Customers have already had as much as they want to drink before they arrive at the club which apart from creating issues with people being less than sober in the queues also means that people are drinking less in Union outlets.
I have my reservations about a system which increases the tax on alcohol in order to discourage (especially young) people from over-indulging. I think that the principle of a minimum price for a drink is also wrong. The strategy should be to encourage society to bring its drinking habits back into bars an pubs and to empower landlords to be able to operate responsibly and keep an eye on consumers. I would also propose that alcopops and other products which are targetted at young people but are cheap to produce and of low quality should be taxed the hardest and certainly not real ales, artisan ciders and wine where the main customers generally have a more mature attitude to the consumption and appreciation of the drink rather than 'getting smashed cheaply.'
Apart from this, the attitudes of students are changing generally. Coming to university is expensive and a lot of people don't want to get 'wasted' every night. This is even more the case with increasing numbers of international, postgraduate and mature students, this means that we need to be responsive to the needs and wants of students.
Teetotal rave superstar "Crazy Hands" source of much feedback at the forum.
Three years ago at AGM a policy was passed to set-up an entertainments committee of students that would offer feedback to and be a liaison and working group with Kent Union licensed trade. Not much work was done on this over the two years that the policy was active but at the beginning of my term this year I really felt that there was a need for this group. Changing it from an elected 'committee' to an open 'forum' that any student could attend, students attending were offered free entry to the attic or venue every time they attended a meeting.... and they could bring a mate!
As will all new initiatives it got off to a bit of a bumpy start but by the end of the year there was a Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/309225215767462/ and regular meetings every other Thursday chaired by myself and often with a member of licenced trade present. Feedback ranged from the length of the queue times and service times to the quality of individual acts, the customer service, the price of drinks, the way the attic and venue operate as separate venues in a shared building to feedback on the Summer Ball, Keynestock and new nights such as Prism. There was also a lot of feedback about the implementation of our Zero Tolerance to sexual harassment and discrimination http://www.kentunion.co.uk/goingout/thevenue/zero/ as well as the difficulty of putting on student organised events in Kent Union outlets especially the Attic.
Based on feedback on the method of feedback, members of the group felt that the process was positive and felt it particularly useful to hear the actions that had been taken based on the feedback given. I am particularly excited about the hiring of Renaud our new Venue manger an the recruitment of a new Entertainments manager who will be working closely with students in order to improve the range of nights as well as work more closely with student gro.
Below are some of the plans Kent Union have to improve the service at the Venue and Attic in particular and outlets in general.
"We are reviewing how people can
get on a guest list and why. We want the process to be leaner,
with more controls. We are thinking about a pass
system for some people.
A Twitter wall as well as a text
wall are part of the plans for next year. You should have both of them up and
running by September. These were part of our requests sent to both sound and
light suppliers we deal with. We are negotiating a new contract that should see
the venue undergo a full make over on both sound and light and it should save
Kent Union around £10 000 a year.
We are running simulations at the
moment with next year’s budget and it is part of my plans to increase the amount
of glass collectors employed each night to 2 on each floor.
Furthermore, glass collectors
baskets have been ordered. This should enable glass collectors to collect more
glasses quicker, hence keeping the floors and shelves clear of any rubbish.
This in turn should ensure that
glasses are cleaned and returned to the bars quicker. Thus hopefully reducing
the waiting time at the bars for our customers.
Heavy petting : Once again, this
is subjective, subject to personal opinion and perception.
Couples are going to flirt and
kiss. That is all too natural.
We need to ensure everyone abides to common rules of decency and do not cross the line. There should be no groping going on.
The feeling that there are more
incidents at the Venue can be explained by the fact the Venue holds more people
than other outlets on the campus.
When you multiply the people in
one venue, you multiply the risks. This is simple mathematics.
Add to this the fact the
premises are much bigger and slightly darker and it makes it the more difficult
to detect misbehaviour.
Considering the average age of the people
involved and the total weekly footfall, we can consider the Venue to be a
pretty safe nightclub.
We will redraw the
door team deployment plan to make it more effective, pre-emptive and reactive.
This should hopefully reduce the
amount of bad behaviour in the venue accordingly.
Regards people drinking too much; this is part of our duty of care and part of responsible
licensing also.
We are drawing a training session
for supervisors and bar staff. People who seem too drunk should not be served
at the bar. This is against the law. End of story. Staff and supervisors will
be trained accordingly.
Bar supervisors will spend more
time behind the bar also, helping us all enforce the adequate policies and
procedures in place.
Queues : We are trying to change the admission system used on the tills
to speed up admission times.
Furthermore, having that many
people outside is a health and safety risk. And as people get frustrated,
tempers flare and that may lead to an increased risk of fighting and other
misbehaviour.
Yeah will not be continued next
year, a new Friday night session will be organised.
However, regardless of the
session attendance, we cannot vary door prices. Law dictates that we should
display door prices at the door/admission desk and we can’t change or deviate
from it.
Prism : Under review. A final
decision will be taken once the new entertainment manager is hired and settled
in
Summerball…
With such events, I am afraid we
will not be able to please everyone. Every single one of us has different music
taste and a favourite band/DJ. It is simply impossible to make every
people happy.
We have spent a substantial
amount of money on entertainment this year and regardless of how much more we
would spend, we would still upset some people.
A 1 hour DJ set can cost between
£5000 and £15000.
One big name asks for £9000 per 30
minutes worth of performing…
A full band is more expensive.
If the artist has had a number 1
chart hit in the 6 months previous to the performance booked, you can expect
prices to double.
What I can do is ask my staff
and supervisors and you guys to give me a wish list for the acts next year and
we will make our utmost to meet expectations… As long as expectations are
realistic."
If you are interested in getting involved with the forum and want to offer your feeback next year, drop me an e-mail at Union-activities@kent.ac.uk
