Template for Officer Reports for Officer Accountability Session
· Please note that you must fill out all sections of this report.
· If there has been no progress on an objective or policy please note this.
· Under the policy section of this report there is a box which asks you to state how you have worked with the relevant part time Officer. You need only fill this in if the policy has been allocated to you and a PTO.
Officer / Harry Copson, PresidentSession / End of Year 10th June 2015
This report aims to outline the work of the UoNSU President since the last Scrutiny Report, dated March 2015. Being the end of the academic year I also thought it was worthwhile to reflect on the year as a whole, including notable achievements and areas for improvement.
1. Objectives
Ensure where possible Union services extend beyond University Park to all sitesContext (summary) / This objective builds on the principle that the Union should as much as possible aim to bring its activity to the locations that are most convenient to students. This incorporates the ‘Lenton Hub’ idea that is on my manifesto for the year.
Progress to date (summary) / · Before the Easter break I had a really constructive meeting with the President of the UNAD committee, particularly discussing training for their incoming committee. I have also had a similar conversation with the MedSoc issue and we were able to resolve a timing issue in relation to training.
· Request that the University allow the Union access to a space on Jubilee from which to promote services granted.
· Got approval for funding from the University to improve SU space at QMC.
· Visited 3 sites in Lenton, with an offer from the University for a 4th.
Latest Progress / · Unfortunately as I said in my last report the possible Lenton site we were hoping for is inappropriate. The Landlord was unwilling to let the space to the Students’ Union.
· We are reconsidering our options in relation to a Lenton space, unfortunately however it appears that this will like go beyond my year in office.
· It is my belief that when the appropriate opportunity arises, the SU will have a space in Lenton. This is likely to coincide with the University’s expansion of Jubilee campus, but maybe on a longer timescale.
Time Scale until students see results / This is an incremental project that aims to put in place structures for the Union to broaden its service delivery as opposed to step change. Students will see immediate effect in terms of greater Officer/Union presence in their location. The Lenton project is likely to continue to wait for an appropriate opportunity, the timescale of which is likely not to be met by myself nor my successor.
Support Education Officer to enhance the use of Technology in Teaching and Learning
Context (summary) / The Union has a commitment to supporting students in their academic studies; what came out of my conversations with students during campaigning was primarily around Moodle and Lecture Capture.
Progress to date (summary) / · Recorded Lectures have been agreed in principle by the University, now is a matter of implementation. Approved by TLB, UEB and ITPB. University implementation agreed.
· Moodle has been updated to a new more functional version. Another update will come in the summer of 2015.
Latest Progress / · I had an update from the University’s IS team recently informing me of the Moodle update this summer. It is still going to happen, although is likely to be back function that improves moodle. This may mean that other than higher receptiveness the impact on students is minimal.
· A £1.5m upgrade to the University’s’ lecture capture system is going to a committee for approval tomorrow. Although much of this is necessary improvements rather than expansion necessarily
Time Scale until students see results / The Education Officer and I are still unsure of certain timescales for the lecture capture project; the University are undergoing a restructuring of their executive board which poses a risk to the accountability of the project but we are still confident the University are committed to the project. That said, Adam and I will be sure to give a strong handover to our successors on the project to ensure continuity.
Monitor and Improve Transport links in and around campus locations
Context (summary) / Currently the University runs free hopper bus services between all its campuses. There is feedback from students that this service does not necessarily meet the need. There have also been issues surrounding some of the NCT buses around University Park. Transport issues will also fall into the Community Officer remit.
Progress to date (summary) / · I have contacted NCT regarding their services, and Mike and I have begun to look into the possibility of suggesting a change to Hopper Bus services.
· The Hopper Bus issue is a complex one and will require more research.
· The Sutton Bonington Hopper bus is now more reliable, thanks to reduced roadworks and lobbying around the live updates by myself and the Community Officer.
· All NCT 34 Route buses are now Double Deckers.
· I have confirmation from the University’s Director of Sustainability that the double/single decker provision on the Jubilee route is targeted around peak times.
Latest Progress / · Alongside the Students’ Union, University staff at Derby are still conducting research into the Hopper Bus provision. This is aimed at looking into how much people use the current service.
Time Scale until students see results / Students will see improvements to NCT routes with immediate effect, and I have had really positive qualitative feedback from this change. With regard to the Hopper Bus, it is incredibly unlikely that this service will be increased due to the University being under intense financial pressure and making cuts. However, the Community Officer and I have continually looked to make more minor tweaks to ensure students expectations can be met.
Develop a Hall Committee System more for more effective delivery to Students
Context (summary) / The hall committee system had a few issues from speaking to them and knowledge from previous years; the structure of the committee needed more support in delivering its objectives to students.
Progress to date (summary) / We identified the issue that the hall committees required an elevated status in the Union in order to effect change. It was too easy for issues to get lost between hall committees and Officers/Union Staff. All positions have been elected and are in place.
Latest Progress / · This project has gone really well and has been well received. The JCR Exec this year have been a useful link between Officers and JCR’s, but I feel this has even more potential to be fulfilled.
· There have been minor tweaks, for example the elections have been moved to June so that the new ‘Exec’ are in place for Arrivals in September. Similarly, the sports structure is being edited to involve cluster reps as Kiri and I have realised this would be a more effective model in sport.
Time Scale until students see results / The structure is already in place, and will be moving into it’s 2nd year when elections happen on Friday 12th June. I’m really happy with how well it has gone and I look forward to seeing the system become embedded next year.
Review the current usage of the Portland building and campaign for its redevelopment
Context (summary) / This objective is one I inherited from my predecessor; work is currently being done around identifying how the Portland building could become more appropriate and inclusive in its offer to students.
Progress to date (summary) / Research has been done into the future vision of the building. The University have agreed to its redevelopment, although details are yet to be defined. 3 Architect firms have been briefed to come back with their ideas for the building and will be selected on how much they correlate to our vision of the building. The Project Management Group has been formed and has met once, with 4 more meetings scheduled over the next 4 months. We have an agreed architect group to work with, and an agreed project management team. Plans are being developed.
Latest Progress / · Plans for Phase 1 which sees the current Den space be turned into an activities zone have been completed and we have selected a building partner to commence the works.
· This should run all summer from 22nd June – early September.
· The only negative ramifications are that BandSoc will not have a practice space but they have been informed and are okay with finding an alternative for this year.
· Also deciding on a communications plan to inform students of the changes.
Time Scale until students see results / Phase two of the project is planned for Summer 2016, with the third and final phase being summer 2017. This first phase, due to the lateness of creating plans, will be the smallest. Watch this space; it will get very exciting very soon!
Investigate the possibility of paying money onto your Student Card
Context (summary) / This objective is in my manifesto; it revolves around the fact that only catered hall residents can use their student cards to carry money. I would like to develop a more inclusive system by which students can pay money onto their cards and use it.
Progress to date (summary) / Meetings with the estates team have indicated that this would be feasible, but till systems must be aligned first.
Part of the catered meal package revisions has also looked at this as an option.
Latest Progress / The Union will be looking to move onto the University’s till systems soon, allowing students to use meal cards in Mooch and the SU Shop. The next phase will then be allowing money to be paid onto the student card, although this part of the project may outlive my time in office I feel enough groundwork is in place to ensure it continues through staff leads.
Time Scale until students see results / I hope in the 15/16 Academic year mealcards will be useable in Mooch and the Shop, and then there is potential for the 16/17 academic year to allow top up services.
Improve communication to (and through) Student Union Leaders
Context (summary) / A personal aim of mine, and one I consider important to the continuing success of the Union is a close relationship between Officers and leading union representatives e.g. Hall committees/SRS’s/Course Reps etc.
Progress to date (summary) / This objective will require remit specific communication from other officers also. Personally I am aiming to connect with as many students and student leaders as possible, and this same desire is shared by the other officers.
Met and forged relationships with MedSoc, UNAD, SB Guild, All JCR Presidents, Welcome Committee and new Karnival committee.
Other officers have also created stronger links with their networks, e.g. Education Officer and Course/School Reps, Sports Officer and Sports clubs/IMS Sports Exec.
Latest Progress / · These relationships have been really important this year for a number of reasons; it allows student leaders to communicate with officers should the need arise (which has happened a number of times this year), as well as allowing officers to stay in touch with the issues affecting students across the university.
Time Scale until students see results / The next stage to ensure that the progress from this year continues is to ensure that the emphasis of relationships with student leaders is passed onto our successors.
2. Remit
Meetings
As President I have an elevated level of responsibility that requires me to represent Student Issues in a variety of fora. I also have a responsibility to the Union to ensure its direction and good-governance, which includes my role as Chair of Trustee board.
Meeting / What Happened / The ResultSLT / The Senior Leadership team (including myself) have been going through the current performance of the Union. / The Union is still performing well, and has just gone through a budgeting process. Unfortunately, as a result of University-wide cuts the Unions grant has been reduced but we managed to lobby for the cut to be reduced from 10% to around 3%. Thanks to risk strategies and good budgeting, the impact of this budget cut will be largely unfelt by students.
University Council / Last Council was 12th May; next one is 20th June. / The Education Officer and I presented at this meeting, on how the University can better involve students in its work. We also reported back to the University on the International Student Summit. In the long-run, we believe there has been an embedded understanding of the need for student involvement at University Council and now this needs to be cascaded (see below).
Senior Managers Meeting / Thanks to our last presentation at the SMM I am presenting again at the next one (date TBC) on some research the Union did into query resolution. / This is a great opportunity for the good student input at the top level to come down to school manager/administrative level.
Officer Meetings / Weekly meetings of the Officer team to sort business amongst our team / We continue to discuss student issues in the Officer meeting, including the Welfare in Sport initiative led by the Sports and Welfare Officers. We have also introduced accountability reviews where officers hold one another to account.
Weekly Portland Review Meetings / This is our gathering of Union stakeholders in the Portland Review / These meetings have seen the plans for the Portland building be reviewed and analysed, and we are really happy with the Phase 1 proposals that have been created.
Meeting with Impact Campaign / The Impact Campaign is the University’s Fundraising campaign. The reason it is important for me to attend is because we will need a lot of funding for the Portland redevelopment from philanthropy. / I have managed to get the Portland Redevelopment as one of the top fundraising priorities for the Alumni department – this is a huge success as it will allow the building to have a full renovation rather than the University’s capital budget.
International Student Summit / The summit has now taken place and was largely a success. I believe the University will look to run similar initiatives in the future and we have now opened up discussions around how the University can better support ‘global students’. / As a result of the ISS, the three Students’ Union Presidents from UoN will present to the University’s Executive Board on 22nd June. Although we haven’t prepared the presentation yet, it is a great opportunity to encourage the University to think more about supporting students particularly on placements abroad.
NUS National Conference / National Conference is a mandate for the Union President and it is important the UoNSU is represented there. There are however very clear inefficiencies and issues with the way Conference itself is run continue to be frustrating for NUS Delegates. / The 9 NUS Delegates went to conference and voted on all the policy that was discussed, as was our responsibility. One delegate even managed to get some stage time which doesn’t happen for Nottingham students very often.
Project Transform / I have been attending Project Transform workshops fairly regularly for the last few months. These are essential – as the University is looking to redesign its entire student facing processes the Officers and student input is central to its success. / I have been able to challenge and inform the discussions going on within project transform. Although there is a long way to go, we have made sure that the student voice is at the table and this will continue throughout the whole of the 3 year project. The Education, Community and PG Officer have all been involved as well as other students.
Portland Project Management Group / The last PMG happened on 3rd June / We signed off the plans for phase 1 and chose a building contractor to perform the works. This should start on 22nd June.
General Election Planning / This year’s General Election posed a huge opportunity to Nottingham students. / The General Election was all round a great success. We encouraged thousands of students to register vote, met with multiple political figures publically and in private and developed the student manifesto to consolidate student asks. We are hopeful over the coming months and years that the SU will get both data and wins as a result of the GE2015 work.
Other Issues or Events