Societies Council

date: / 27.01.2015
time: / 5.00pm
location: / N3.06

Minutes

1 / 1.1 / Present:Mark Sweeney, Jean-Luke Laister (Chair), Lauren Troiano, Erin Parfitt (Red Shed 2016), Ethan Sapler (Gaming), Eddie Pocock (Musicians), Pooja Vatsa (Musicians), Steven Brogan (Performing Arts), Harvey Brooks (Handball), Rosemarie Kelly (Boxing), Kezia Omari (Cultural), Terence Noble (Rock), Sarah Baker (Circus), Sean Campbell (Circus), Tim Webb (Film), Fabio D’Errico (Event), Jamie Pettingill (Aviation), Jodie Weavers (CAM), Tasha Ashcroft (Pole), Ellie Brogan (Musician), Suneetra Singh (Rotaract), Matt Davy (Conservative), Ana Kral (Fashion), Sandhya Hurry (Fashion), Carl Rushton (OD), Jeavon Opong-Onyina (Christian Union), Anand Joshi (Hindu).
1.2 / In attendance:Saope Soko, Janet Gladstone
1.3 / Apologies for Absence:Law, Mooting, Salsa, Blades, EDU, Pakistan, Climbing, Softball, Asian, MMA, Furniture History.
1.4 / Absent without apologies:
2 / Minutes of the Last Meeting (16.12.2014)
Approved with no amendments.
3 / Matters Arising / Action Sheet
All resolved.
4 / Big Deal on Course – Research – Saope Soko
Saope Soko (SS) explained that he was attending the meeting to get feedback and also raise awareness of the Big Deal on Course. He made a short presentation detailing the benefits and asked anyone with queries on the vouchers to contact .
He asked if anyone present had used the vouchers – one person had and had ordered £60.00 worth from John Smith Books. SS said that anyone who had not received the vouchers should email him and he would send details.
He asked what the general impression of the Big Deal on Course was:
  • Some people thought it was good.
  • One student studying Music Management had not received any book vouchers because they were not part of the package for his particular course. However, he did still use books and would like some of the money in vouchers. SS advised that each course was given a budget and the lecturers decided how it should be allocated. Requests for changes should be routed through lecturers.
  • Another student had seen publicity for the vouchers in the library but it had taken a long time for him to find out that they did not apply to his course. SS said that in future there should be more information available.
SS asked how students had heard about the Big Deal on Course:
  • Posters in the library / leaflets
  • Lecturers at the start of the year (Accounting course)

How the information was communicated was very important, and it should have been available through a number of avenues including lecturers, banners, leaflets and on the campus TVs.
SS then asked when students ordered books. Most did in the summer or just at the start of term. These would therefore be the best times to make the book vouchers available. It was asked if the University could buy books in bulk and then hand them out at the first lecture of term. SS replied that there were issues regarding manpower to move the books around and also storage. Ordering online was very simple.
The students were then asked how they felt the Big Deal on Course message had been communicated. Most felt that it was not clear enough. The lecturers did not know what was going on and there was lots of miscommunication with information lost in the pipeline. MS said that this issue had been brought up at Senior Management Team meetings many times. It was best that people pushed their lecturers for information as much as possible and if they were resistant, they should be challenged. SS reported that the disconnect had occurred with the lecturers and other faculty staff. Those on courses that were closing (3D Contemporary Craft) said that their lecturers were totally disinterested and no information had been available.
It was generally thought that it would be helpful if students were able to log on somewhere and find out exactly what benefits their particular course was offering under The Big Deal on Course. SS advised that this was in development at the moment, and would hopefully be available within a few weeks.
SS thanked everybody for their input.
5 / Election Dates and Information
Nominations were now open and closed on Friday 13th February 2015 at midday. Manifestos needed to be in by Friday 20th February. Elections were in the week commencing 2nd March 2015.
MS asked if anyone was considering standing as a Sabbatical Officer. If so, they were welcome to drop in to the Students’ Union and chat to any of the current Sabbs about the role.
6 / Committee Handover
Societies needed to start planning to hand over their committees to the new team that would be elected in March. This would need to happen before the end of July 2015.
7 / Society Committee and Society Feedback Surveys
This was very important and all feedback, good or bad, was needed so that changes and improvements could be made for next year. All responses would be read and considered. Everyone was asked to send their feedback in to LT in the SU as soon as possible.
8 / Re-Freshers
3rd February 10.00am – 3.00pm in High Wycombe
11th February 12.00pm – 3.00pm in Uxbridge
This was a great opportunity to raise the profile of societies and sign up new members. JLL suggested that groups should take two laptops with them, one to show video / pictures and one to use to log the details of new members.
9 / Accreditation
This was progressing. The deadline for Bronze accreditation was 30th January 2015. LT said that she would send details of the current position to all society chairs. / LT
10 / Society Calendar
The Rowing Club had created one to give out at Freshers. It was an A5 sheet with details of meetings, events etc. that people could take away and refer to. It was suggested that other societies might like to create something similar.
11 / Society Accounts
JLL advised that any money not spent by societies would be claimed back at the end of August 2015.
12 / Student Volunteer Week
This was the week commencing 23rd February 2015. LT said that she would like as many clubs and societies to be involved as possible. The timetable for the week was:
Monday – Smile Campaign and Post Pals
Tuesday – RAG Collection, Volley for RAG (single sex teams, fancy dress), elderly home visits
Wednesday – Chiltern Rangers Project
Thursday – Helping paint sheds at a local school
Friday – Community event
13 / More Than A Bar
The total for this currently stood at £80.60.Everyone was asked to get involved and tweet – this also counted towards society accreditation. A spot prize of a £50.00 food voucher was on offer to the person who tweeted the most between 3.00pm on 27th February and 3.00pm on 28th February.
14 / Open Discussion
  • Varsity tickets were now on sale via the website.
  • The Debating Society were having their inaugural debate today at 7.00pm in OH2. Everyone was asked to go along if they could.
  • Union Council was on the 19th February at 5.00pm in S3.04. Everyone was asked to come along because it was an important forum in which people could ask questions of the SU and let the SU know what to challenge the University on. Everybody was asked to publicise it to their societies closer to the event on social media. If anybody needed more information it could be obtained through the Union Council Facebook page.

15 / Any Other Business
  • Society Council Chairs Facebook Page – MS was going to take this on and it was hoped that it would be up and running by the next meeting on 24th February.

16 / Date and time of subsequent meetings:
Tuesday 24th February – 5.00pm. Venue TBA