Where next with Holbeach?

‘Distance Learning’ and ‘Day Release’ students were a new breed to the SU last July when we took office because although they had been members for years, previous teams had not given them any attention because they’re a ‘tricky bunch to cater for’.

But in my opinion, it’s precisely that attitude that prevents any progress being made and whilst admittedly I sometimes fall into a similar mindset when it gets tough, Steven Greaves (VP Welfare & Liaison) and I have spent our time in office moving the SU away from that. I really want us to move towards thinking of students from Holbeach, Riseholme and Hull as just another student group that we (every officer and member of SU staff) deal with on a daily basis, rather than something special that requires a certain officer to facilitate all of the Union’s offering to these students.

This year so far, we have moved from no officers looking after Holbeach students to two officers leading and a few others supporting as necessary – but this is still not good enough and I think that everybody within the Student Centre would agree. That last sentance highlights that there is still a problem within our Union – everybody is ‘based’ in the Student Centre on the Brayford campus – nobody spends even 20% of their week at either Holbeach, Hull or Riseholme apart the occaisional week when Steven has a lot on at one of them.

So where do we go next with Holbeach?

Fortunately that’s not a question without an answer – we have some short term plans to try and establish ourselves as more of a key ‘service’ (?) in the experience of Holbeach Students – but the real change will come with the part-time officer role being introduced from July 2010.

The ‘Holbeach Officer’ role was created in the change of officer roles and remits that this year’s team proposed at the All Student Meeting, and will be a part-time voluntary role filled by a student studying at the campus, and elected just by those studying there.

We hope to see the Holbeach Officer become the person who can truely identify the needs of Holbeach students, from first hand experience and regular contact with peers, and the person who works with each of the other officers to deliver a world-class Students’ Union offering to those who currently miss out.

From Zero to Hero!

This time last year, students at Holbeach were practically unaware of the Students’ Union’s existance, nevermind the fact that they were members – but in the last seven months, those students have not just become aware of the Union but have started to engage as well. Within the next seven months, I’m hoping that the SU elections will find a hero to take on this new role and help deliver our world-class vision that I so desperately believe those students deserve.

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SU Elections take place in February and you can find more information about each of the roles at www.lincolnsu.com/elections, in The Agenda newspaper on campus or if you would like to talk with me about them; tweet here, email here, facebook here or call 01522 886006 to arrange to meet.

7 Months in Office, 7 Months of Win Win Win. Give it a go!

The role of Student Officer may remain a mystery to many as it’s often less visible than that of the President or VP Sports & Teams – which is crazy from my perspective as we are supposed to be collecting student opinion and representing that to the full-time officers in order for them to take it further with the University / local community etc

So what does a Student Officer do? Well that is pretty much dependant on the indivual and their interests, as we more-or-less get to write our own portfoilos, which can be a good or bad thing.

My interests are in academic representation (student reps), satelitte campuses (Holbeach, Riseholme, Hull) and SU governance & accountability (Student Council, The All Student Meeting, The Agenda) – and this is what I have managed to achieve or play a big part in, during my first seven months in office:

1. Spearheaded the development of the Student Reps system
With Kayleigh Turner, VP Education, we have been involved in the training, support, leadership, publicity and development of nearly 500 student reps. We have also introduced a successful network of School Reps and Faculty Reps that allow for the student voice to be heard at all levels within the University and Students’ Union.

2. Developed Student Council into an effective, representative body
Following on from my involvement last year, I have taken the lead with SU President Chris Charnley in turning Student Council into something more appealing and more effective than it has been in previous years, and whilst we still have a long way to go – students can now be confident that the membership of Student Council is diverse, well supported and rather effective.

3. Things are on the up for Riseholme and Holbeach students
With VP Welfare & Liaison Steven Greaves, we have helped lead the effor on two out of three satellite campuses – which between them cater for the most diverse range of students in the University, from 16 year olds living away from home to 50 year old industry professionals studying either online or just one day a week. We have managed to ensure that there is more of an SU presence in these students’ lives, through events, freshers’ activities and ongoing engagement.

4. Shouting from the rooftops in our new faculty
The Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Animal Sciences (AFAS) was formed towards the end of last year, and with Steven Greaves & Kayleigh Turner, we have managed to develop fantastic relationships with faculty management that have resulted in student rep and SU seats on a whole range of management committees – ensuring that students are represenated at every level!

5. Registering as a Charity and Recruiting Professionals as Trustees is the way forward
I have taken an active role in pushing forward the Union’s registration as a charity – which should open up avenues to additional funding – and also in the Union’s development of it’s Board of Trustees by championing the recruitment of industry experts from key sectors as ‘External Trustees’.

6. Keeping Courts’ Internet in tip-top condition
When the University’s ICT Services Department were looking to consult with students on proposals for new security measures in the Student Village internet access system, I took the role of making sure that their plans were student-friendly and free from any potential issues that might cause concern to students, on behalf of the SU.

7. Building National Networks and Get Value for your Money from NUS
Developing a successful Student Reps system took a lot of hard work and needed a lot of support from partner SUs, which is why we made sure we were attending national networking and development events for Unions working with Student Reps and getting as many great ideas for our own use as possible. It also gave me the chance to form working relationships with other Unions who could provide advice and share resources. Now we’re the ones giving advice and sharing our resources

8. Pushing Forward with the ‘Students’ Union Evaluation Initiative’
This national scheme that looks to self-assess and improve Students’ Unions is a fantastic tool that has / is / will do so much for our union – from looking at how well we keep students engaged, through to representation in the University, through to how well our finances are managed. I have been on the steering group this, advocating it’s purpose and benefits throughout the year – which has been fantastic

9. The most democratic, controversial AGM in our history
This year’s AGM, branded ‘The All Student Meeting’, was the first ever to discuss student-submitted motions and has the biggest turnout on record, and whilst we can surely increase the numbers by hundreds over the coming years, this was an amazing result and a massive lead forward for our democratic proceedures.

10. Change Change Change – SU Officers Pick & Mix
With Steven Greaves – We initiated the Executive Committee’s motion to the All Student Meeting which proposed the SU officer roles be amended or replaced with alternatives, giving more power to current students and freeing up resources to provide enhanced staff support in the Union. With elections fast approaching and talk of many people running for all the positions, it really does feel like a great move we made to develop and grow the Union in this way.

11. Founding ‘The Agenda’
With Chris Charnley – We created the SU’s newspaper, and love it or hate it, The Agenda effectively provides updates on what the SU Officers are doing for students, which ticks the box on my manifesto labelled Officer Accountability! With a few issues a year, we should now be able to communicate to students what is happening in their SU and it perfectly compliments other Student Media on campus which effectively hold us to account regularly.

This is a little more than the average Student Officer workload, and it make sound like far too much to do whilst still studying for a degree – but that’s the great thing about these voluntary roles, you can choose to work at one extreme like me, at the other extreme where you just show up to the meetings you have to, or you can find your perfect balance somewhere in the middle.

So if you think you might have something to offer in your second / third year of Undergradute or FE study, or during your PostGrad study – check out the SU website for info on how to run for one of the brand new part time roles this spring, which are:

Campaigns Officer
Community Fundraising Officer
Liberation Officer
Sports Officer
Societies Officer
Events Officer
Riseholme Officer
Holbeach Officer
Hull Officer

http://www.lincolnsu.com/elections

If you ever want to chat with me about what I do, or how else you could get involved; drop an email to dderricott@lincoln.ac.uk, or tweet me here

Manifesto Review – Five: Holbeach & Riseholme

Holbeach: Started well! Yep, it most definitiley looked promising to begin with, but seems to have fizzled out a little. We now sit on Holbeach-related committees, so have the platforms to get the student voice out there, but we need to work more on actually getting that student voice from the students. Steven has some ideas and so do I, but this is something we already have time booked in for to plan how we can sort things out!

Riseholme: Big improvement on previous years! We now have either a staff or officer presence on the campus at least 3 days a week! Support for Student Reps! Support for their Student Experience Committee! Significant input into the development of their social facilities! I sit on the key decision making boards! We have a central, decent-quality office up there! Working lunches happen there twice a week! We played a big part in helping the College get up to standards, ready for Ofsted! So between us, we have increased our operations and exposure at the campus, which I must admit; has been helped by a very cooperative Dean!