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.   

That's Entertainment

Kent Union 'Ents' Forum  

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

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