Sabbatical Officer Progress Report for Scrutiny Panel

Officer Name / Aisling Davis
Officer Position / President
Date of Scrutiny Panel Meeting / 03/05/2017
Objective / Project / Area of Work
Provide a name and/or brief description / Progress Update
Explain what has been achieved, the main steps that you took to reach this point and any issues that have arisen and mitigated against success. Your explanation should justify your Progress Rating in the next column / Progress Rating
Select the most applicable rating from the drop-down list
LiverpoolSU will have a greater presence on campus. / In August, I approached the Vice Chancellor with a proposal to redesign the existing social spaces on campus that are co-located with our existing miniSU spaces (with the exception of the John Lennon Art & Design Academy).
Myself, Jon and Vicky took him on a brief tour of the spaces and talked about how we use them and our challenges with visibility.
Since then we were granted additional space in the Redmonds building, John Foster building, Byrom Street, Tithebarn Street, IM Marsh and the John Lennon Art & Design Academy. We started a period of extensive consultation with stakeholders and students to shape what that space should look and feel like and have relayed that feedback to LJMU’s Estates team and the appointed Architects.
The spaces are due to begin refurbishment in May 2017 and will be delivered in time for the next academic year.
Key points:
-Delivered in partnership with LJMU’s Estates Team
-£8.8m funding proposed initially (including new buildings and extensions). It is estimated that the spaces (excluding the new building proposals) will cost approximately £1.8m, which is being paid for by LJMU
-KKA Architects were appointed to carry out the project
-Bespoke pods have been created for LiverpoolSU, which include a desk and computer and storage and are going to be present on each site
-LiverpoolSU staff were consulted on these proposals
-Students have been consulted throughout; first in November to get feedback on initial plans and then in February to comment on 3D images.
-Student feedback led to changes in the first designs which have been implemented
-Estates have been consulting with LJMU staff and the Faculty Deans and relaying their feedback
-Final costing and designs are being drawn for final approval by the VC
-Work on these social spaces should begin at the end of May. / In Progress - On Schedule
Student Officers will be able to engage with students on a more personal level / Launched the Student Officer blog, which to date has had contributions from all 4 officers and approximately 1000 page views. The aim of this objective was to ‘humanise’ the Student Officer team, demonstrating that we are relatable to the student body and to build trust.
This objective has not progressed as fully as I would have liked due to my own conflicting demands. I am restricted by the website’s capabilities as it does not have a built-in blogging feature and was just posted as an article with little promotion.
However the Officers did express that they were interested in improving their social media presence, and as a result Ben Capper put together a training session on how to effectively utilise social media.
Aside from this, Officers have spent time on campus with students and have been a lot more engaging on Twitter and Facebook. Summer has also been using the SU’s official Snapchat account.
I would like to write a blog post before students finish to summarise the year and wish them well for the future and will be active on social media in the run up to finishing. / Partially Completed - Not Progressing Further
International Student Satisfaction will improve in the NSS / The aim of this objective was to ensure that the recommendations from the International Student Project were carried out.
Key points:
-LJMU set up a working group to deal with the recommendations from the report
-To date we have received responses from the relevant departments on all of the recommendations
-Implementation plan is updated regularly by Ellie Perrin
-Ellie and I have presented the findings at 3 conferences to promote good practice:
  1. NUS’s Membership Services Conference, Manchester
  2. The British Council’s Services for International Education Marketing Conference, Belfast
  3. ‘International Lunch’, Manchester Metropolitan University
-The working group is coming to a close. / Fully Completed
All Postgraduate students will be eligible for free printing credits / This idea came from our Do Something About It Process and I volunteered to take it forward.
Key points:
-Created a paper outlining our recommendation including previous recommendations we have made to date regarding PG students and printing credits
-Got feedback from students about why they need printing credits including mandatory course material and assessments
-Submitted the paper to Student Voice Committee for feedback and comment and it is going to the Education Committee in May.
If the paper is approved and endorsed by the Education Committee it will then go to members of LJMU’s Senior Management Team (SMT) for approval due to the resource implications. / In Progress - On Schedule
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Attendance at LJMU Committees / Excellent
Other Key Contributions to Leadership of LiverpoolSU / Select a Rating Here
Any other overall comments on work as Sabbatical Officer to represent LJMU students.