Week Ending May 7th: Elections, International Students & Looking Back
The last couple of weeks have been interesting to say the least, particularly with the general election – and I write this as the country remains in limbo, we do not know who will form a government and we do not who will be the next Prime Minister. Whilst I will refrain from commenting on individual candidates and parties on this blog, I do want to say one big thank you.
A big thank you to all those students who registered and got out to vote! I recognise that we could have done a bit more in this election to help, but hopefully we’re on the right track to showing that the student vote does matter in Lincoln.
Aside from national politics, this week has been quiet as it has also been deadline week for my course, but last week was a little more interesting.
I attended NUS’ International Students Conference in Nottingham, where I represented our community of international students and also started to learn in detail about the issues facing international students on a national level, ready for taking up my post of VP Academic Affairs on June 21st.
I have put together a report on the conference, with feedback on the event and a number of recommendations for the Union to consider implementing. This report will go to a meeting of the Executive Committee and will then be made public on lincolnSU.com along with the other papers from the meeting.
Improving the international student experience, and recognising EU students in that, is a big political priority for me next year and it’s one that will hopefully benefit a number of students directly.
Looking forward; my course will be practically finished by next Friday, and after that it also gets quiet in the Union for me, which is why I’ll be using the time to properly review what we have achieved and learnt this year from the projects that I have been involved in, so that we can build upon it next year and start to see ‘the fruits of our labour’.
Until then, bye!
Week Ending April 16th: New Staff, New Policy, Newcastle – A Great Week!
I’m not sure this week could have fitted any more in, with a strategy planning day, three days of NUS National Conference and a day of simply catching up – but it was definitely a darn good week!
Monday was all about next year in the Students’ Union, particularly with regards to the staffing structures within the organisation – a conversation which is a result of us reworking the officer team (2 less sabbaticals, 2 more student officers). It looks like we finally have some sort of model for people in the Union, which involves some moving around, some new faces and the opportunity to focus on our core activities of representation and campaigning.
Also, with the removal of the VP Communications & Media role we are hoping to really use this to look at how we do communications in the Union which, if effective, will be a huge step forward and will make life much easier for many.
Tuesday morning, up at 5am and on a train to NewcastleGateshead where along with Chris Charnley, Izzie O’Brien and Emily Gough I attended the National Union of Students’ National Conference 2010 – which was full of debate, voting, demonstrating and even some emotion, all in all it was quite a productive conference with a number of promising election results for the national officers 2010/11.
As well as being able to have Lincoln’s say in national policy, it was particularly beneficial for me as VP Academic Affairs Elect to get a grasp of the policy issues facing students over the next 12 months and identify where the national union can help us in our local battles, and where we can support the national movement, particularly in Further Education which is a big priority of mine next year.
Friday was all about getting back on top of my course and my inbox – it also saw Kayleigh Turner’s last day as Vice-President Education & Academic Affairs after she resigned her officer role. Kayleigh will now be working two days a week in more of a supportive, non-representational role – providing support to Steven, Beccy & I in the Welfare & Academic Representation Department – until the end of June.
I’m getting a bit more eager to start as VP Academic Affairs now, with a wish list of wins for students now as long as the M1, and having started meeting other Education Officer Elects, the weeks cannot count down quickly enough. Fortunately I only have a few weeks of my course left, so once that’s done I can start writing my plans for the year and putting together papers / campaigns for the things I want to get my teeth into straight away.
That’s all for now, until next week – see ya!
Calling on Lincoln to Vote for Students
As you will almost certainly know, the Prime Minister has called the General Election for May 6th 2010 – which is very exciting for geeks like me!
However it’s clear to see why politics puts people off, particularly young people – but that shouldn’t be the case – in my opinion.
If you don’t intend on voting because you don’t think it affects you, allow me to ask you some questions:
- Are you at University / wanting to go to University?
- Do you have a student loan to pay?
- Would you like a job / training upon graduation?
- Would you like to own a home at somepoint soon?
- Has your house been burgled, or do you know of this happening near to you?
- Do you live in a house with other students?
- Do you have a job?
If you answered yes to any of the above, then the government and your elected representative (MP) has a big say in your life – whether it’s politicians wanting to limit the number of Houses of Multiple Occupancies (HMOs) in each community or politicians wanting to lift the cap on tuition fees or politicians wanting to change the amount you earn before you pay income tax and national insurance.
Voting couldn’t be made much simpler (unless it were online) and it really is something that you should do to make sure that your voice is heard and your opinion counts! And it will make a difference, if a third of the student community at Lincoln cast their votes in a similar way – we could swing an election and make sure that our representative worked FOR students, because after ploughing millions into this economy for years and helping to transform the city – it’s about time we had somebody who stands up for us and fights for our well being.
If you are not registered to vote, you have until April 20th - and it’s a case of filling out a simple form and posting it off or dropping it into the local council office – more can be found at www.aboutmyvote.co.uk
If you are registered, check out www.voteforstudents.com and sign up to pledge your support in the battle to build a student friendly parliament.
Next week, we’ll be making it that bit easier to register to vote and pledge your support to Vote for Students – with a stand in the atrium (Tues – Fri lunchtimes) where we’ll have the forms and info you needs, a visit to as many apartments in Courts as possible and 9 -5 help registering in the SOAP Centre Tuesday – Friday.
Please do give it a go; make sure you’re registered and sign up to the site – you never know, you might even enjoy the trip to the ballot box and playing your part in democracy.
Week Ending March 26th: A quiet one…
This is one of those weeks where there isn’t too much to say -
Actually, there’s nothing to say apart from that we’ve moved forward in our mission to improve things for volunteers and we’re quite excited about wanting to offer personal development opportunities to those who are involved, such as qualifications from the Institute of Leadership & Management for people like Faculty Reps and Club Presidents.
Oh, and we did start to review Bullet Magazine – but I will wait till we’re a bit further into the process to update on that.
Please, if you have questions – ask away: dderricott [*at*] lincoln.ac.uk
Week Ending March 19th: It’s all about you…
This week has been about reviewing and taking a long, hard look at ourselves - both generally and specifically in the way we care for our volunteers.
We have been ploughing on with SUEI this week, looking at the second of five themes; ‘What is the Union trying to achieve?’ which concentrates on how we set objectives, vision and yearly plans as well other bits and pieces.
Also this week, we have progressed our efforts to acheive the ‘Investing in Volunteers’ (IIV) standard.
IIV is (to quote):
Investing in Volunteers is the UK quality standard for all organisations which involve volunteers in their work. The Standard enables organisations to comprehensively review their volunteer management, and also publicly demonstrates their commitment to volunteering.
We have been working to identify the areas where we are good, and where we need to improve – particularly in caring for volunteers and our day-to-day working. Lots of this work is policy based, but the eventual outcomes should be really good and visible from September onwards.
To finish of the week, I had an induction session with the new officer team, and a meeting with Chris C and the University about students working as exam invigilators – which is great news and more info will follow once we confirm the details!
Not the most exciting week to outside world, but to us it was productive and we moved forward with some big projects!
That’s all for now! See you next week 