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!
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 Kentawards 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 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.
Its that time of year that is supposed to be 'quiet' for students' unions considering that most undergraduates have gone back to their family homes and many postgraduates have their noses to the grindstones writing research papers and dissertations. In truth, its just a different sort of busy being the time of year when the National Union of Students (NUS) run the majority of their training sessions, not to mention our own internal induction process for the new elected officers and staff. It is a chance to prepare for the year ahead and complete any projects with the relative 'quiet' of an office, locked-in.
One of my projects this summer is to re-write the societies handbook, a document which I hope will empower societies to be able to find solutions to their challenges and answers to their frequently asked questions rather than having constantly having to come to the Union which is frustrating and time consuming for them.
I've recently been in contact with an associate member of one of our societies twittername @Sk1mble who has raised some issues some of which are frustrating societies at the moment, you can view his blog here. I thought that it might be useful to address some of those issues via a blog so other society members and committees can view my response.
Paying Society Membership
Not so long ago societies were taking cash payments from their members in payment for their society memberships. Unfortunately, there were occasions where this money was not paid into the correct account or was not paid into the society funds at all and was therefore unaccountable for. Therefore, society memberships can be bought on-line at the Kent Union website using the 'worldpay' service or alternatively can be paid in-person at the Mandela reception on campus by card or cash between 9-6 Monday to Friday in termtime. Kent Union tries to discourage societies from handling cash where possible although for some events this is unavoidable.
Online Society/ Volunteer Group Elections
In the recent past societies held elections at their own Annual general meeting with a 'returning officer' sent to societies in order to ensure that elections were fairly conducted. The Union holds its own main elections on-line through the MSL web-based system. Considering the growth of the number of groups, the reported inconsistencies between society elections and the time taken for the volunteer returning officers (members of societies federation committee) to attend all of these meetings it was decided that society voting would be cast on-line. Benefits of using the on-line system include the ability to track the number of people voting, consistent, fair and accurate elections across the board. Groups would still have their hustings debates and A.G.M.s but would cast their votes on-line.
However, based on feedback given throughout the year by societies anecdotally and at societies federation meetings (once a term) it was felt that where the on-line system was beneficial it was not yet able to effectively fulfil all the needs of societies such as being able to see who has been nominated for positions and stand last-minute if a position was not going to be filled, for instance or being able to find out the results immediately. MSL have been contacted to see if these changes to the system can be made ideally giving individual groups admin control over their own elections rather than it having to be done centrally.
In light of this, for 2012-2013 societies and student led volunteer groups will be encouraged to use the on-line system but will be able to request a volunteer returning-officer if they wish to hold a paper-based election.
Some societies have had to request the results to their elections or have been kept waiting for prolonged periods which is something I am looking into as I don't believe that this should be the case and that election results should be transmitted automatically.
Constitutions and Membership fees
Societies and volunteer groups write thier own constitutions based on a core document provided by Kent Union. Any changes to this must be approved by the individual society membership (usually at a general meeting) and Vice-President Activities/ societies federation committee or volunteer committee (elected representatives.) These changes are rarely refused unless they conflict with Union policy i.e inclusiveness, cause significant overlap with the activity of other societies or the law.
Societies may set their own membership fees, notifying Kent Union of any changes. They must be at least the minimum fee and must charge associate members (non-Kent Students) at least £1 more than full members (Kent Students). At the last societies federation meeting in the third term of 2011-2012 it was voted to increase the minimum fee to £5 from the previous £3. This was agreed as part of a new funding package to give increased funding to the smallest groups who most need the financial aid. The details of this new funding package will be published in the societies handbook which is currently being designed.
General Bureaucracy
Kent Union and myself personally acknowledge that the Union's systems are clunky and not member-friendly enough. So much of what is currently done is paper based and office centric and here are some of things we're working on at the moment.
*A new full time staff post has been created to help with the administration and development of sports and societies
* A new form is being put together in order to make organising events simpler, consolidating these into one easy to use form.
* Looking into on-line video training sessions
* A new comprehensive societies handbook
* Facilities where student groups can view their accounts on-line
* Transport tender looking into providing more accessible transport for student groups
* Increase to the sports, societies and volunteering development funds
* Building of two purpose built storage facilities for our student groups
* Student led stand-out (employability) sessions worth £150 each in society fundraising (see previous blog)
* Cross training of activities staff to provide answers to basic student queries
If you have any additional suggestions please feel free to contact union-activities@kent.ac.uk
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
I thought I might write a few words about the K.S.C.V awards nights. These are annual events at Medway and Canterbury Campus which celebrate all of the hard work and time that is given so freely by dedicated students at the University of Kent.
Last Night's Medway awards was well attended, volunteers collectively contributing 5,000 hours+ with the vast majority being within the local community. Certificates were awarded by the Deputy Major of Medway also giving a speech with Tom Ritchie (Union President). There was a dance performance from Medway's Asian Society as well as a buffet which was enjoyed by all.
This year over 80,000 voluntary hours were logged by Kent students across the Campuses which was nearly a doubling of last year's 45,000 hours. A very impressive figure. Apart from the 250 attendees recieving awards from across the spectrum from 25 hours 'Bronze award' to the highly demanding 'platinum award' which constitutes a 15 credit module which can be taken as part of the volunteer's degree or can be used for additional credits. The University Of Kent is one of only three universities I am aware of that offer a volunteering award like this.
The K.S.C.V Gold Certificate is awarded to volunteers contributing at leas 100 hours
In Canterbury, Special congratulations were given to Simon Smith of the Magic Society for contributing a total of 1,000 hours of volunteering during the course of his platinum award. Certificates were also awarded by Kent Raise and Give the charitable arm of Kent Union's volunteers who's 'escape and evade' event had seen volunteers raise over £500 for charitable causes. In the event, students must try to get as far away from the University as possibe and back for free.
As well as the awardees themselves there were also speeches from Tom Ritchie Union president who's speech stressed the 'transformative' nature of volunteering changing the individual and community for the better. Keith Mander spoke on behalf of the University thanking the volunteers for their continuing efforts over the years and expressing that time is a comodity more valuable the money which is being donated. Thirdly Derek Smith, graduate of the univeristy of Kent and external trustee on Kent Union's Board shared his memories experiences of the people met and experiences shared at University, his message was that 'people are more important than things' and giving an alternative meaning to the student certificate in Volunteering as 'Keep Serving, continue volunteering.'
'Platinum' Awardees 2011, Canterbury
My own message was of the responsibility that we have as a generation for the continuation of Voluntary work, that not only are we contributing to the community through the work we do but that in doing so we are passing on our personal values, giving something back and the idea that every individual can make a difference. Often Students dont think of themselves as volunteers because the projects that they are working on are of personal interest to them as if the fact that they are passionate about a good cause makes it less valuable. This is of course not the case. Finally, the work that we are doing in the community is combating ageism and the misconceptions that students have a negative net impact on the local community. If you were to ask any of the local causes that students have been working with I think they would confirm that the contrary is true.
If you are interested in getting involved in something new or want to further your volunteering experience you can contact s.l.j.hughes@kent.ac.uk for details of how to get started. It may be the most rewarding thing you ever do and you don't know what it could lead to... this was the case for me.
Employability, employability, employability. The
University of Kent is nuts about the word and rightly so. The Blair government
had a proclaimed target of 50% of school leavers attending higher education.
Where I agree with the principle of free and accessible education for all as a
principle, I do not necessarily believe that having a figures based target such
as 50% was necessarily the right way to go about achieving this aim. I
personally believe that University is great for many but for many it isnt the
only definition of success and for some its just simply not for them. All who
are willing and capable of studying at Degree level should be able to do so but
I wonder whether we can pluck this figure out of the air and make a policy
based upon it.
However, the point is that many more people have a degree
now than ever before. I recently heard someone say that nowadays having a
masters' degree is the equivolent to having a degree thirty years ago. The
University of Kent's strategy is certainly focussed towards the growth of
postgraduate numbers, particularly oversees students and as was to be expected,
following the rise in undergraduate tuition fees to £9,000 a rise in
postgraduate fees has fallen upon us. From my perspective this must partly be
due to the need to maintain the perception of the value and quality of a
postgraduate degree. However, support for postgraduates financially is not as
robust as it is for undergraduates and often postgraduates are forced to hold
down a part time job (particuarly challenging at postgraduate level especially
for a highly condensed one-year taught course) or take out a personal loan.
Impressive Woolf Lecture Theatre near Postgraduate
accommodation at the Canterbury Campus
Whether you are considering a postgraduate degree or not
its fair to say that if you are 21, freshly graduated with no work experience
you are going to find it harder to walk into a job then our parents' generation
did thirty years ago. So what are you going to do about it? My answer to this
question is to take your fate into your own hands... get out there and develop
your skills through volunteering. There are many ways you could do this
including going directly to charitable organsations or community groups in the
local area or you can pop up to the activities centre above essentials and
speak to Steph our volunteering co-ordinator or myself about the wide range of
opportunities available.
Another way that thousands of students at the University
of Kent are making themselves more employable is by being involved in a
society, CSR, Inquire or a student led volunteer group. Many people get involved
in these projects because they have a passion for them not necessarily thinking
about how they are passively developing the skills and knowledge that could be
the clincher in that first job interview.
In February during the sabbatical elections I was
fortunate enough to be able to meet with Karl Leydecker the Dean of Humanities
a few months esarlier I had been informed by Sam O'Hana (English School rep) of
a possible opportunity. Humanities had expressed an interest in organising
sessions for students during the third term which could develop employability
skills for students. As any society will tell you funds are hard to come by and
sponsors are not very forthcoming in these austere times. So Sam set up a
meeting for us all.
What Happened Next?
We proposed that the leaders of these sessions could be
students sharing their own skills and experience gained through
extra-curricular activities on campus and in-turn further developing thier own
skills through presentation and training. Each student led group whether
society or volunteering group would lead a 90 minute session open to all
students and be funded £150 by the faculty of Humanities towards their yearly
activities. There were nine sessions planned with a trial total of £3,000
funding from Humanities. The first sessions were held last week with Kent
Technical Services organising two techinical sessions; one in lighting and one
in sound for musical gigs. Feedback was excellent and their hands-on session
was very popular. Considering the specialist nature of the sessions the up-take
was also pleasing.
Sessions are ongoing to the end of term on Wednesdays ,
they are free and everyone is welcome. If you would like to reserve yourself a
place you can e-mail standout@kent.ac.uk.
Be sure to check out the programme below as there are some exciting options to
chose from and you can join as many sessions as you like. You'll also be
helping to put up between £1,500 to £3,000 back into the coffers of societies
to be spent on student activities.
Whatever stage of your degree you are at its worth checking out the wealth of knowledge available through the Careers advisory service provided by the University.
"Kent Student chilling in Templeman pre-final exams"
So this week has been a challenging one. In case it has managed to escape any of you at Kent this is exam term and the stress levels are running high. For final year students in particular there are very high pressures to perform well in the assessments at the end of the year. These stress points are further impacted by the cost of living in Canterbury particularly leading to students having to work at their part-time jobs rather than revise because they simply need to be able to eat! On top of this many students are questioning more that ever whether simply having a degree is going to make them stand-out in the employment market. This means that many students have taken the initiative in getting involved with the Union and volunteering. There are many ways to get stuck in including standing in one of the part-time officer positions and representing students in a range of ways to joining a sports team, society or volunteer group committee or simply using the Kent Union volunteer portal to get engaged in some community or one-off volunteering opportunities.
When I was studying for my degree I was committed to the 40 hours a week of study that was asked of me (honest!) and was fortunate in a sense that the nature of my course meant that a considerably high number of these hours were spent in workshops and seminars as well as rehearsals. I spent a lot of time on campus. On top of this I held down between one and three jobs during my four year course working about 20 hours a week. This is not uncommon now for students with many working between 10 and 20 hours in term-time, many of which are employed by the university and 300 are employed by Kent Union alone. On top of this I was an engaged volunteer doing between 10 and 20 hours a week making my week about 80 hours long and I don't think that I was the exception to the rule. Gone are the days where students received a grant to study that covered them over the holiday periods. Not everyone's parents can afford to pay their rent for them either!
This week I feel like I caught a 'stress flare' with many of the feedback and volunteer fora I chair expressing their frustration at how difficult it is to organise events on campus. This is a frustration I remember well, routinely coming up to the student activities office (now my office) to come and complain to the VP-activities (now my role) about not having the resources I needed to fulfil my role as president of a society. The difficulty of booking a room, struggling to hire equipment, not being able to find a member of Kent Union staff to help me or locate my VP Activities when I needed him as well as not having a whole lot of money to do all of these things!
"Students too busy to complain often forced to send pets to my office on their behalf"
On top of this I believe that Kent Union's systems are flawed, out-dated, being bureaucratic and not 'user-centric' with volunteers often having to find a member of staff who is ill or in a meeting, on lunch, at a conference, doesn't work out of termtime etc. Many of our systems are still offline where other unions are moving their operations online with societies being able to make orders and payments online and this being authorised at the Union end. This has been recognised but is a big thing to change, the student union provides an incredible range of facilities from the nursery to competing sports clubs, dance groups to the advice centre, a radio station, a paper, technical services, not to mention representation and democracy, training, volunteer programmes, community link-ups, retail, bars and a nightclub (across two campuses!) the course rep system, awards nights and contributes to a massive part of the student experience here at Kent. Yet it is expected to do it on a shoestring budget with a skeleton staff. Ultimately, we need more staff, specifically I feel we need focus on societies and volunteering but improvements are happening and we are moving forward.
So what am I/We doing about it?
Open diary- You can come into the student activities office to speak to me (above essentials) and if I'm not there you will be able to ask at reception for where I am, what I'm doing and when I'll be back.
Staff Support- Kent Union have taken on a new member of activities staff this year Amy, she's been supporting societies and sports here this year. We have an employability coordinator Suzanne who has been developing the Employability toolkit.We will also be bringing a new member of staff onto the team to support Steph Hughes in our work with Volunteers on and off campus.
Systems- Part of my ongoing activities campaign is to review the systems we use (such as the cash reclaim form) and see what of it we can move online for better access.
"Schedule for Third Term training sessions"
Societies Funding- I have focussed a lot of my energy on justifying an increase to the societies development fund a pot of cash societies can apply to for additional funding for an event. This year it was increased from £2,000 to £4,000 and next year the budget to be approved by the board of Trustees will be £5,000 the first increase in at least 5 years. I've also set up one off fundraising opportunities in the form of stand-out training sessions. Run by student groups and funded by the faculty of Humanities societies can 'earn' £150 for their society by showing how their activity can help members to develop employability skills.
Ents Forum- I run a forum where you can offer feedback on Kent Union's licenced trade (Rutherford Bar, Woody's the Venue and the Attic) attendees benefit from free entry to the Venue/ attic once a week by arrangement. We meet every other Thursday at 4pm in the student activities centre. All are welcome. Facebook group here
Grant Funding- Proposals will be going to Societies Federation this coming Tuesday at 6pm in RLT1 which will give a range of options for societies to vote upon. The suggested systems would increase grant funding for societies overall and give more to smaller groups that need it most.
"Venue in Full swing"
Online Elections: This year has been the first year where society elections have been able to be held online. Societies can still maintain their old traditions around elections but now their votes are cast online which means there is no need for a returning officer and more autonomy is given to societies. There will also be a Q and A sessions at the societies federation meeting about the system.
Kent Tech: Kent Union Technical Services are a group of volunteers working with Kent Union in order to provide technical support and equipment at low cost to student groups on campus wanting to hold events. This year a new member of staff has been hired Joff Taylor and a brand new group of volunteers who have been nominated for an award at The Kent Union Awards. This year they've gone from strength to strength and next year anticipate more of the same.
Training: Next Year 70 key volunteers will be trained and awarded with an award in volunteer management. I believe this will be instrumental in helping students to become more self-reliant as far as organising volunteers is concerned (read more here). I am committed to renovating the societies training introducing a new multi-strand training day where volunteers will be able to chose the training that they feel is most relevant to the volunteering that they will be doing as well as including the core material that everyone needs. I am planning future blogs with videos showing volunteers how to do key things like complete risk assessments and organise events. I am planning on re-writing the out-dated and slightly ugly societies handbook which has been out of circulation for a while and helping societies to help themselves.
Today wasn't such an exciting one unfortunately. Solid meetings from 9 until 6. The highlights of the day included discussing Kent Union's new strategy around 'hard to reach students.' Although I'm not sure I'm happy with the title I think this will be a significant step forward for Kent Union in terms of reaching out to students who might not be catered for by some of the more traditional activities that we organise. This can range from nights out in the 'Venue' and other bar nights, to the time and location groups hold their meetings. People who might fit into the groups of 'hard to reach students' might include mature students, students with dependants, international students, ethnic minorities and many more.
I'm particularly excited about the new Mature and Postgraduate society which is being set up. The first meeting of the group will be held at Dolche Vita at 10:00am on Wednesday 9th of May and anyone is free to attend whether you consider yourself a mature student or not. It will be a chance to meet your Mature students officer who represents you here at Kent as well as a chance to set the objectives of the society as an social group but also potentially a support network. I personally believe that higher education is becoming an increasingly attractive proposition for non-traditional (18-21) year-olds as many take a career break or seek a career change and return to education or perhaps to study for their second or postgraduate degree. This is why I believe this group is so important and needed at Kent. If you have any questions please drop me an e-mail. You can follow the society on twitter @KentMature or join the facebook group here.
Stage Spiders Do Great work with kids in the Canterbury community and beyond
www.stagespiderscanterbury.webs.com
The other thing of note today was a meeting with local Head of Canterbury City Council John Gilbey where we discussed a range of issues including the 70,000+Volunteering hours that have been logged by Kent Students so far this year (if you haven't logged your hours its still not too late go to www.kentunionvolunteering.co.uk before May 10th) and the Community Spirit Award won by CSR at the 'I love Student Radio' awards. As well as all the fantastic work that many of our societies and student led volunteer groups are doing in the local community with special reference to stage spiders.
That's all for now, here's hoping that the weather cheers up a bit and that I don't get stuck in meetings for the rest of the week!
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