Union Council Report January 2013

Vice-President (Activities)

The main focus of the last few months has been the development and management of the Building-up priority campaign; attending society meetings, canvassing for postcard signatures at lunchtimes with volunteers and presenting with the Union President to senior University management. We have successfully secured agreement for some investment in physical development and are now in a position of negotiation with the University for a facility which will be appropriate for students’ needs. The lack of facilities has finally become an issue being talked about at all levels of the University, recognising the negative impact on student activities. Next steps include a delegation of students meeting members of EG including the VC. Thank you to all volunteers and officers who worked on this project to date especially the college committees, societies federation committee and the Canterbury volunteering committee for your help canvassing signatures, of which we obtained circa 4K.

Working with president to ensure investment at Medway and Canterbury in block grant will go towards new full-time staff members in activities in Canterbury.

Delivered chairing training to Medway students including Medway volunteering committee chair.

Visited the University of Kent Brussels officers. It was fascinating and educational to hear about the experience of Kent students in Brussels especially with different challenges and a very different student demographic.

Attended Societies council at Medway; their principle issues are (unsurprisingly) facilities and funding.

Working with the University to develop a University of Kent awards scheme which will bring together ongoing campus awards and raise kudos considerably. Early discussions include £400 prize money per category plus internship possible opportunities.

Working with the University to develop a Worldfest Bitesize programme which supports international, religious and cultural events across campuses. This includes Chinese new year which I am also helping to support and organise.

I am undergoing Counselling Training as part of my ongoing personal development in order to help support students experiencing, stress, conflict and challenging workloads especially through their volunteering in Kent Union.

Attended the opening of Colyer Fergusson music building.

Continuing to raise issues faced by minority student groups at Student inclusivity and diversity working party. This has included lobbying the university to collect data on students with dependants and share this data (with students’ permission) with us to allow for more targeted approach to support and development.

Met with licensed trade and society members to develop the new international night as well as interviewing for new ents manager.

Meeting with potential candidates for part and full time officer elections

Met with module convenors to discuss possibility of integration of CSR with teaching modules, soon to be meeting with PVC External to bid for increased investment in the station perhaps for an additional full time member of staff

Approximately 20 new societies

Met with Head of Kent County council

Helping students to apply for a project fund from the university (RAG, Malaysian Society)

Planning for refreshers fayre

Planning for worldfest and international showcase looking for a stage manager

Allocated eliot hall and missing link for societies, clubs and SLVGs

Volunteer project at Gulbenkian is now in pilot mode, met with members of Gulbenkian staff to get this running. Cinema prices likely to rise slightly at Gulbenkian.

Met with Ethnic Minorities, RAG and MEdway volcom officers for mentoring, support and development.

Union council is January 24th on the Medway Campus, all are welcome to attend. The proceedings will start at 7pm

The Start of Something Beautiful?

Welcome to my new blog, here's hoping that I will get used to this site and posts will improve in standard over time. 

I have recently just returned from The University of Cardiff after going to support my younger sister who is planning on studying business and considering Cardiff. I also saw it as an excellent opportunity to visit a Students' Union with a bit of a reputation for good facilities. However, this visit was not out of the blue and is part of a benchmarking exercise I am conducting; comparing the facilities and systems of Student Unions around the country against the provisions at Kent Union. 

Nick Clegg delivering a speech to students at Solus Nightclub, 
Cardiff Students Union 19.4.10.  Photo Alex Folkes

This includes (but is not limited to):

• Number of Societies
• Most popular/ successful societies
• Funding per member
• Which Funding Systems were in place
• Physical facilities including room provision and booking
• Specialist facilities
• Volunteering provision
• Volunteering funding
• Student media including; T.V, Radio and Publications
• Raise and Give Charitable fundraising 

Whilst at Cardiff Union I was fortunate enough to be able to spend some time with their membership services manager and pick brains over how thing work there. It was a very informative conversation, I am hoping that Kent Union will be able to combine the best parts of both our funding systems in order to increase the low 'grant per head' that societies at Kent currently have.

But, the most striking observation is the Union's incredible physical facilities at its disposal; a fleet of 7 vehicles student groups can use, 4 meeting rooms accommodating 200 people, a lecture theatre with retractile seating and nightclub, each with capacity of 800+ accompanied by a further two cafes/pubs and fabulous media facilities. The student radio station plays gently in the background as you walk through the clean and spacious corridors of the four storey union building. All of this means societies have access to the spaces when not occupied for organised activities and are therefore less reliant on the facilities of the University for their activities. This ultimately empowers the students and is what I wish to achieve with a new Kent Union facility. 

Rutherford Hall University of Kent
(Not Currently Available for most society bookings) 

The Campaign for an activities building on the Canterbury Campus as well as the campaign for the C4 building at the Medway Campus to become a flexible activities space are priority campaigns for me this year and I met with Professor Keith Mander Deputy Vice-Chancellor at University of Kent today to discuss the importance of these facilities. We also discussed at length the positive impact that non-competitive activities have on students developing employability skills independently and informally through volunteering opportunities at Kent Union and how we can make existing University Facilities more accessible.     

Thanks for reading. I will Keep you updated on the progress of the Benchmarking exercise and also the developments to activities at Kent.

In the meanwhile you can contact me at...

Twitter: @kbuddinyourface 

            @ku_activities

E-mail:   union-activities@kent.ac.uk