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

Not just representing, but supporting and empowering as well!

Today saw yet another example of how far academic representation at the University of Lincoln and within the Students’ Union has come in the last year, with the best ‘Faculty Board’ meeting our Business & Law Faculty has seen.

One of our key aims, and something that I have worked on a lot, is getting the mid-level representation right – by ‘mid-level’ I mean the middle ground between local course representation and university-wide represenation, which is ultimately at School & Faculty level.

To help this process I am working with Faculty Reps and School Liaison Reps to get them up-to-speed on preparing for and participating in meetings that require a ‘big picture’ perspective and a fairly strategic mind, by meeting with them beforehand, providing guidance, facilitating discussion and even attending one of their meetings with them.

Today’s performance reassures me that the support I’ve given this time will allow those reps to do the same next time, but independantly and more confidently. And I’m pretty sure that the Dean and Academics will be chuffed that rather than struggling for one uninformed, untrained rep – they get three well trained, well supported, competant reps!

So well done guys and girls!

This officer provides more than representation, this officer supports and empowers students!

Manifesto Review – One: Reps

The development of a reformed Course Rep system that WORKS FOR THE STUDENTS

Done:

1. Nearly 500 Course Reps registered
2. Around 200 Course Reps trained
3. 15/16 School Liaison Reps elected
4. 5/5 Faculty Reps elected
5. More resource invested by ULSU into Students Reps
6. Extra income from the University just for Reps
7. Training guides produced for reps
8. Regular e-Communication will all reps
9. Information guides for academics
10. Good working relationships with all Faculty Offices
11. Postgraduate Reps in place
12. In touch with FE Student Reps at Riseholme
13. Course Rep Exec has met
14. 150 Hoodies on Reps’ backs out on campus!

To Do:

1. Promote Student Reps to the Student Body
2. Educate academics more on the role and benefits of Student Reps
3. Support Faculty & School Reps in engaging Course Reps
4. Make Course Rep Exec effective and regular
5. Provide refresher training for all Reps
6. Award and reward good Student Reps

Ambitions:

1. Better Post Graduate Representation
2. More staff support for Student Reps in ULSU
3. Collect feedback from Subject Committees across the University

Generally; pretty super so far, but still miles to go before I’m satisfied!

Am I “Putting the student back into Students’ Union” as promised? I sure am!

My manifesto ended with the slogan “Put the STUDENT back into Students’ Union… vote Dan Derricott for SU Student Officer” and I guaranteed that I would prioritise the following;

• The development of a reformed Course Rep system that WORKS FOR THE STUDENTS;
• An effective student voice with true representation for all;
• The development of Student Council;
• Continuous support of all students;
• Ensuring all Students’ Union Officers are accountable to the Students!!

I’m pleased to say that I’ve already made massive progress with the first of my priorities; Course Reps.

Before the elections, I’d been working as part of a team that was reviewing the Reps system at Lincoln but it wasn’t until my election that our work stepped up a gear.  In the months since election results on March 6th, I have led the Union’s work on Course Reps along with Kayleigh Turner and Beccy Rock (SU Staff) and we have made substantial progress;

We now have a final proposal document for ‘Lincoln Student Reps’; a system that works for students and encompasses all reps from the ‘ground troop’ course reps through to the School Liaison Reps who will sit on Student Council, through to Faculty Reps who will have responsibility for helping to manage and develop the system as a whole.

We’re addressing the fundamental need for sound training and support throughout the year and we’re working on getting a sponsor which should see every trained rep receive a t-shirt or hoody to help promote themselves. As well as allowing Reps to promote themselves, we’re putting together a plan to market the whole system and the concept of representation to Students.

Alongside our work on looking after the Reps, we have lots planned to make sure Academic & Non-Academic staff are fully aware of what reps are, how they work and how to respond to what they ask for, this should ensure that Reps are treated with the respect that they deserve. This is supported by University Senior Managers who describe the views and actions of reps as important as the National Student Survey and any Institutional Survery!

From September, ‘we start a new journey’ and a what a journey it will be, with a base of well trained, well support, engaged and effective Student Reps who can make a real difference and with another QAA Audit in a few years time, this is something that the University cannot and are not ignoring.

Even though I haven’t started my term of office, I’m working for students and making a real difference! To be able to write this feels great and I have to finish by expressing my thanks to Kayleigh & Beccy, and to a special young lady; Laura Driscoll – without her enthusiasm and determination we wouldn’t have been in the fantastic position that we are now.

Proposals, University Committees and Progress

I’ve not posted anything in a while, but I do want to change that now that my course has finished and I have a little more time on my hands.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve finished of all my assignments and then focused on Course Reps, which seem to be dominating my life…

We have a final proposal document which details all that we want from a new Student Reps system as well as plans of how we see it being structured, this document now has to be approved by the University and it’s multitude of committees (most of which seem to have rather similar memberships) – it’s gone through the Deans, last week me and Laura took it to Student Experience – they loved it and just wanted a few minor changes to terminology and more University involvement in the management of the system (gutted that they don’t realise it’s the University’s poor management that got us into this awful situation), ah well – if I succeed in getting the right Uni managers involved, we might be able to make it a positive thing.

Lincoln Student Reps - The Final Proposal

Tomorrow, I’m going solo and taking it the ‘Academic Affairs’ committee as Kayleigh is having a break from work, in Egypt (very lucky young lady!)… So this evening will involve lots of note making and prep, but I seem to know this thing inside out (as I did write it) so it shouldn’t be challenging… The only challenge is the Q&A session, but I kicked ass in Student Experience, so hopefully I’ll just get similar questions.

Ideally, the University will just let us get on with the actual work at some point soon, because we have a bloody huge amount to plough through. Last week, I made a list of all the different things we’ve got to plan / write / design / fund / distribute etc and it was quite daunting, but it’ll be worth it.

Finally, I feel like we are making progress; we’ve finished our proposal and the Uni are taking notice of us and although the processes may be frustrating and drawn out; they are happening which is all good.