Supres

After a busy morning of meetings I made my way across campus to begin assisting on the student experience development for the University. It was a highly exciting group to be a part of; with a remit of “student experience” you can imagine the wide range of discussion.

Our key role is to look at current positives, negatives, frustrations with the Singleton Campus and work towards making recommendations on developing both the Singleton estate and any potential second campus position. From discussions around the student learning experience to service provision across campuses, there is a wide opportunity for student opinion to be raised. That task falls primarily upon my head- an exciting yet rather daunting assignment!

On Tuesday the Community Carol Concert took place, it was a great evening to get people in the festive spirit with hot chocolate and mince pies to warm us! However the bitter wind did put a slight dampener on the event and I’m not convinced that my dinner guests Luke and Estelle were too chuffed with the invite! Hopefully the food went down a little better!

On Wednesday I met with Rhys Dart our regional development officer from NUS Wales to discuss our move towards having a limited trading company and election changes. One of the biggest advantages to NUS is the amazing support on offer from their development officers – many of whom are former sabbs who have gone on to excel in a variety of areas affecting Unions across the country.

In the afternoon we met with the Waterfront team to work towards ways of ensuring that the papers circulation increases. The waterfront has an amazing group of writers with a vast range of talent, and it would be a real shame to see that talent not being taken out to the students more. However having experience from Xtreme, which differs from the Waterfront in its society status, it is clear to see that the Waterfront is minorly damaged by this position. A society is built or lost upon its members, without their support, encouragement, input and crucially faith in their executive societies will fail. Xtreme has always been well promoted when its members buy into truly, from dj’s designing their own posters, setting up individual facebook groups and most importantly sharing their experiences through word of mouth they build a kind of rent a crowd for the station. On top of this a strong promotion team built up of students who are involved in the society ensures that other students become more interested and advertising truly comes from the heart.

Waterfront does not, as yet have this and until it does I still believe it will struggle to gain the interest it truly deserves. I also believe that increased links between the radio station and the paper can only go further to increase both entities reputations and student talent.

On Thursday Hash returned to the Union to prepare the way for our training programme in partnership with Afan FM. A number of students attended (not least for the mince pies) and were incredibly keen to get on board with the programme.

The last few days that the Union was open were very much taken up with finishing off a variety of projects. However the most interesting part was our Appointments committee meetings where we met with a number of University councillors who had put themselves forward to become co-opted trustees of the students Union. It was a fantastic opportunity to see the passion that a number of people had for the Union and a desire to assist and support it in its valuable work. An excellent end to the term!!!

The first of December was world Aids Day, it was a great opportunity to see our societies taking charge of a highly important issue. The LGBT and Afro-Carribean societies ran an excellent stall in Fulton House raising both money and awareness for the fantastic work that is going on in the UK and internationally to support those with AIDS.

I spent much of the day taking another tour of the Unions services for University Council members. It was another great opportunity to meet the amazing people who have devoted their energy and time to the University and furthering its objectives for students. Once again we had a real raft of experience and a real interest in the Union and what it is trying to do.

That evening Luke and I made our way to the Geography societies Christmas social. We were the only non-members there but we felt more than at home. Society events like the ball are great to attend as they highlight the amazing work going on to encourage students to make the most of their time at Swansea in meeting new people from your course and across campus. Well done again to the Geography guys – and we hope we didn’t bring too much shame to the Union with our quiz answers!!!

On Tuesday I met with a number of members of the Universities Campus Development working group. It was a great opportunity to begin to understand the developments within the University both regarding the Singleton estate and any also any potential new sites. I had concerns that student opinion might be left by the wayside as financial concerns and pressures became more important. I am more
than pleased to say – I was wrong! It is clear that student opinion is at the forefront of the managements mind and our suggestion of a Union student opinion group was highly encouraged.

In the evening we had our final Student General Meeting of the term. A number of motions came to the meeting from union retail pricing to officer titles, national motions to local mandates. It was an extremely well turned out SGM but I still feel that much more can and must be done if student opinion is to remain at the very centre of our democracy. I am committed to encouraging a stronger, more passionate Union general meeting – whether that means changing the time, adjusting the structure – or just simply increasing the food supply it must get done and it will get done!

One excellent change was the use of a question box, where students could place anonymous questions in to be asked to the officers. This is just one of the simple yet effective changes designed to put power back in the hands of the students at this Union.

On Wednesday I mad my way over to the Staff Development Unit to increase my disability awareness training. It was a highly interesting seminar which challenged me to look particularly at how accessible our electronic communication is as a Union. Over my three years both working at the Union, within societies and in youthwork I have had my eyes opened to the issues surrounding disability. I have always attempted to put accessibility first, however it is such a wide ranging issue that it is vital that officers, staff and students are constantly aware of their obligations.

Later we met with a number of lecturers from a Technology college in Japan, who were touring a number of student Unions around the UK. Their aim was to understand and engage with student radio stations such as our very own X-treme Radio, in order that they can take back their experience and elements of best practice in order to set up their very own station back in Japan.

It was a really exciting opportunity to show off something that we members can sometimes get a little frustrated with. When academics from another university travel thousands of miles to see our little station, because of what they had heard on the internet it really fills you with pride and faith. Xtreme is at a very exciting time as their talent continues to grow and thus as does their respect, this was another great opportunity to encourage Xtreme’s members.

On Thursday I met with a number of students throughout the day to talk through any questions, thoughts or worries regarding standing for a sabbatical position. It was a really positive opportunity to encourage students who more than anything wanted to give something back to their University.

That evening with the support of a crack team of students we made our way around Brynmill to advertise the annual carol concert in St Helens cricket ground. With the Christian Union becoming a society this year it gave us an excellent opportunity to work together and adjust the event to become more community orientated. A great opportunity to bring students and residents together in their community.
The response, particularly from students was highly positive, many of whom were keen to get into the festive spirit before they made their way home for the break.

On Friday we made our way up to Swansea Met for an excellent training event from NUS Wales Womens Officer Katie Dalton, regarding Domestic Violence. Sadly Leoni was unable to make the event due to illness, but I believe that Andy and myself got more out of the event than perhaps she would have. The event was focused around ensuring student officers took seriously the potential for Domestic Violence within their institutions. This is something clearly at the forefront of Womens’ officers remit, however Presidents, Treasurers, Education Officers etc can often be prone to isolationism and an event such as this one was an excellent one to challenge perceptions