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)
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.
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
Ever heard of the November blues? Over the half way point of
the first term, the excitement of welcome week seems like a distant memory, the
Christmas still seems an age away and all too real is the essay deadline you've been putting off for the last three weeks.
This is about the time that you start getting a bit ratty about
the fact that your housemate listens to ‘that dubstep remix’ on repeat when you
are trying to sleep, that the guy who sits next to you in lectures never seems
to make as many notes as you or do the reading but never fails to get a first
and to top it all the president of the society you are a member for is really
getting on your nerves. The kicker is that they’re all the same person and you
spend most of your time around them.
This is when societies go into meltdown!
So here are some tips you might like to consider before you casually
lace their morning brew with a dusting of constipation medicine sufficient in strength
to drain the colour out of the boldest ox and sweat the bristles off a badger’s
bum.
Have you read The Societies Handbook? It is available here kentunion.co.uk/societies/runsociety/societyforms/
to all societies and is packed full of useful information. It is a one-stop
shop for basic queries and a great starting place for you to start if you need information.
Have your committee attended societies training? A big
training day is held at the beginning of the first term and at the end of the summer
term. However, there will be some mini top-up training sessions organised
throughout the year. If you are interested in attending one of these either
because you missed the training at the beginning of the year or because you’re
a new society then e-mail standout@kent.ac.uk
to book your place on the course. If there is any additional training you feel would
be useful then you can also send requests to the same address.
Are you struggling to organise an event? Remember that
external organisations will want one point of contact between you and them.
This helps the Union also. It’ll make things easier for you as everyone will be
on the same page and have the same information.
Plans scuppered by others? Although it can be difficult to
do this try and plan as far in advance as possible. It takes 3 weeks to get
permission for an external speaker, a week to book a room, three weeks to apply
for a performance licence etc. The bigger the event and the more people
involved the greater the chance that somewhere along the chain something will
get delayed. Or lots of something’s.
Have you got written role descriptions for your committee
members? This is something that can be very useful as the society can outline
the voluntary role responsibilities in advance giving the committee something
to refer to if allocated tasks are not being completed. You can even have
individuals sign this when they ‘take office.’ If you would like to see a copy
of a template try contacting Steph s.l.j.hughes@kent.ac.uk.
Delegation of tasks: This is an important tip for
presidents. Trust your team! Sometimes entrusting a member of the team with a
task can be very empowering, it also means that you don’t have all of the
weight on your shoulders. Conversely, giving someone a task and then
micro-managing them or not entrusting them with anything at all can be very dis empowering This is a difficult technique to learn if you have had no
previous managerial experience but it is key to maintaining a cohesive team and
achieving great things. Don’t underestimate your volunteers; they can achieve
incredible things with a little freedom and your presidential support.
Document your committee meetings. If something is agreed,
get it in writing. This is the responsibility of the secretary to do.
Have you got an up-to date constitution? This isn’t something
you should be having on every society committee meeting agenda, if you do then
you’ve probably got other issues in the committee that need addressing. This is
the document the committee, members, staff, myself and Union chair refer to
when needing clarification or when things go wrong with elections or democracy
within your society. Not having an up to date constitution means it’s difficult
to get union support. I have about 40-50 digital constitutions. If you’re not
sure if you’re one of the groups these belong to, contact us in the office.
Money worries? Read the handbook and find out what kind of
support is available. Do you really know how much is in your account? Do you
know how the grant system works and that you are entitled to more than meets
the eye on your accounts? If you’re not sure... ask! One of the reasons the
trustees struggle to justify more money for societies is that they never spend
what they have.
Societies federation, Your Union zone and Union council and A.G.M.
are your voice on campus not only as individuals but as societies. If you want
to be represented and informed then you need to show up. The most successful groups are the ones that
keep abreast of the latest information and the ones leading the pack are the
ones setting the trend. If you don’t know when, what or where the meetings are
then ask!
Make friends with other societies. Many hands make light
work, two heads are better than one etc. This is a great way to boost the
membership of your society as well as pool resources, contacts and cash. This
applies to KTV, CSR and Inquire as well. Nothing wrong with a bit of mutual
back-scratching.
Are you on the KSCV scheme? If not, why not? As a society
committee member you are a volunteer and this means that you are eligible for
the KSCV. Contact Natalie n.tiu@kent.ac.uk
if you want to know more or visit the website www.kentunion.co.uk/eandv As part
of the scheme you are entitled to reviews with a member of staff where you can
flag any concerns you have with your volunteering or society.
Has it all just gone a bit Pete Tong? Want to come in and
talk about it? If things have really gone ‘a tad bad’ then we can do mediation
meetings with a staff member and officer and work out a way forward for your
society.
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
Today was an interesting day. Kent Union had organised a development day which was to be attended by the majority of staff with a range of sessions being run by members of the team as well as externals brought in for their expertise. As well as it being an opportunity for members of staff and our two exiting sabbaticals to learn new skills or recap on previous knowledge such as Equality and diversity training and recruitment, it also gave individuals the chance to mix with staff from departments they don't have regular interaction relaxing through Tai Chi, playing a round of tennis or learning a new skill such as sign language.
However, these were not the only team building sessions organised today with the three returning sabbatical officers (President, VP Welfare and myself) joining the two future members of our team (Alex Murray for VP Education and Matthew Harris VP Sports) at Kent's Medway Campus at Chatham docks. Not only was this a chance to see some interesting presentations about the history of Kent Union from its formation in the 1960s to the present day as well as a range of presentations on governance and representation and democracy but importantly to learn about the history of the Universities at Medway student association (UMSA) and take a tour around the historic campus which was originally a naval base.
Medway isn't a small campus but there is painfully little space set aside for student activities. Lobbying for the 'c4' building to be refurbished as a flexible space is a manifesto pledge of mine.
As well as discussing future training plans for the summer after our two newest members will have (almost) completed their studies, we did some basic team-building discussing our past hopes and fears as well as current and future ones. It was insightful as well as supportive to know that we shared many of the same concerns and aspirations and I look forward to working with the new team with members who will be stamping their own brand on the sabbatical roles.
Kent's Sabbatical team 2011-12... not quite mes amis!
Following the election results in February there was much discussion on campus, among volunteers and staff as well as on CSR and in inquire surrounding the fact that we will be an all white, male sabbatical team. When asked if I thought this was an issue (on the grounds of representing our diverse membership) my answer was "that it is always going to be an issue but it will only become a problem if we let it." Whilst our make-up is perhaps not ideal I was confident that through working closely with the part-time volunteer officers we could represent all of our students fairly and effectively. With our first Medway student elected to the board of trustees I hope we will also be able to better represent the Medway student voice. The more time I spend with the new team the more confident I grow that this will be another strong year for Kent students. Whilst we will always have big shoes to fill, that we have a chance to wiggle our toes for a year with the hope of stretching our metaphorical union footwear before passing them on to the next generation of Kent Students.
Interesting Facts:
Medway has some facilities to be envied but the student experience needs real development to justify £9,000 fees
* Medway's drillhall library is Rumoured to be the longest library in Europe!
* There are approximately 20,000 students across Kent's campuses
* Just over 10 years ago Kent Union had 6 sabbatical roles which included (President, treasurer, women's officer, sports, Education and Welfare and union communications
*Inquire (previously KRED, previously INCANT) is as old as the University of Kent itself
*3 of the first 500 graduates of the University of Kent are still involved in Kent Union through volunteering on Kent Union's board of trustees or CYSM's board of directors (who support CSRFM)
