Me :)

Me :)

Monday 27 April 2015

Meeting My Manifesto

Meeting My Manifesto – President, Carys Rhiannon Thomas


With the Queree Conference having only took place during my second term in office, I think it’s important to provide feedback in relation to both my manifestos.

Although in both terms I have tried my hardest to hold up all manifesto points, some have been altered due to University major changes. As a Sabbatical Officer the role being so wide, focus and priority of different instances alter the focus of our work.

Never the less here’s a look back at my manifestos and what I've done to uphold them:


Meeting My Manifesto Term 1

Enhance Campus atmosphere by organizing varied activities

Having taken up office I came to learn that it wasn’t in the officers remit to organise and manage events. This being said I did take lead on volunteering and fundraising events that I would hope the students enjoyed. Here’s a list of some events that I both invested personally in and ran/assisted in running:

- On campus Bunjee Jump (there wasn’t enough uptake in Caerleon for the Newport Region one to go ahead.
- Oakwood Theme Park Trip.
- Bratislava or Bust Rally.
- Trek to Kilimanjaro (with Challenges Abroad).
- Onesie Day.
- Pancake Race.
- May Ball.
- Saloufest.
- Scavenger Hunt.
- Exam De-Stressors.
- May Ball.
- LGBT History Month Events.

In addition to this I pushed for more student lead events, which have grown over the last two years and are evident in those run today.

Represent and be a presence on all campuses

During my first term I attended over 300 meetings, which spanned across all five campuses. Although it is difficult at times to be a lasting presence in each campus, I did manage to attend each one at least once a week. On reflection I completed more work for the Cardiff and Newport regions whilst at Pontypridd than I did at the campuses themselves. I think we need to look at strengthening our links from regions and reps to officers as oppose to pushing for ongoing officer presence (with the exception of casework visits). See attached for work hours and locations.


To remain loyal to traditions by fighting to continue the legacy of events such as MayBall and opening such events to all regions.

This was by no means a small task. Having come into office and be told that this manifesto point was not going to be possible, I started work on proving otherwise. I brought the item to Trustee Board and although the event made over a £20,000 deficit in previous years managed to get board to agree on a cost-covering smaller scale May Ball. A May Ball society was formed as a result of this and the VP Newport took up arranging the ball. The ball was held and although smaller than previous years was deemed a success.

Increase Student Consultation in Union decisions

Students have been included in all Union decisions. We have student Trustees from all regions that assist in making decisions from the highest ends. We also have three quorate student councils that can pass proposals and mandate us sabbs. We have also increased our student involvement in the running of the union, having students run events, run the website, taking on volunteer positions etc. We also ensure that logo decision making are passed to the students and have been conducting multiple surveys to get student input on decisions/plans. We are also constantly working hard with SVR's and course reps to feed up student opinion on a variety of matters. We also launched a research platform for students to impact and organise the SLTA's (student lead teaching awards) and developed Change Agents which impact on the Universities approach to Learning and Teaching.

To defend and extend the rights of all students across all campuses.
As was mentioned earlier, I attended over 300 meetings on varied campuses. I fought for various things such as facilities at Atrium II, City campus space developments, development of a Glyntaff SU space, Treforest side gate accessibility issues and the cash machines and IT issues at Caerleon. I also fought for mandates fed through our student representative channels. Additionally I took on casework from multiple campuses and succeeded in most.

Keep an up to date profile on decisions and things I am doing as a sabbatical officer on a regular basis.
We increased our social media stream by 100%. I launched a new Presidential Twitter and Facebook, which had a record number of followers/friends. I posted updates on what I'd been doing throughout the term. I also began a blog collating things I’d done and meetings attended. I updated the website to include a 'Sabb Corner' tab, which gave students insight on who we are and what we were working on. Additionaly I ran a belonging campaign, which advertised all council members in each region as well as boosting the feeling of belonging in each region.

To increase integration between campuses.
We ran a night  in partnership with Oceana on a Monday, which was open to all campuses. We also set up integrated student rep groups on facebook and integrated all social media streams and groups. As mentioned earlier, I also ran a belonging campaign which was lead by our SVR's. All SVR's also met and worked together on multi-campus issues etc. The end of year May Ball event was also open to all students with priority given to the Newport region.


Meeting My Manifesto Term 2

My focus during my second term in office was very much centred around completing and implementing the SU review and increasing our partnership work with our partner colleges. In addition to this, I have been working on my manifesto aims as well as acting on student mandates.


Glyntaff – Develop the SU Space & increase campus presence.

We introduced a games machine to Glyntaff and had a donation of computers to go in the space. Although we added to the facility presence in the campus was very low. However, I worked with the faculty to host careers events in the area and worked with faculties to ensure the Glyntaff student voice was being heard.

City – Explore re-location possibilities and re-assess the officer structure.

Initially I fought for the City campus SU space to be re-located. This came into full affect when the campus re-alignment changes were announced. During the realignment I fought for increased SU presence with better facilities for students. It was concluded that the SU would take up the rear ground floor of the campus in 2015 with students having access to better facilities than they currently have. Facilities fought for where ones that students suggested and feedback via a campus re-alignment survey.

Treforest – Fight for equal financial support for Sports teams, clubs and societies & create a comparative bar prices list.

I took a proposal to student council which fought for and requested that clubs and societies get adequate/better funding. This proposal was turned down however, the financial support given to societies and clubs has been factored into the review, which is due to be completed in May 2015. Bar prices in the Union have been investigated and as a result the Union now have a range of different beverages and offer a much larger selection of deals.

Caerleon – To fight for more courses to remain on the Caerleon Campus, to push for student-led events, to increase interest in student led groups and to push for equal financial support for societies and clubs.

With the University deciding to close it’s Caerleon campus, fighting for courses to remain at Caerleon proved difficult. As a result of campus re-alignment my focus was shifted to instead fight for students to remain on Caerleon campus until there where equal or better facilities at the campus they where being re-located to. This resulted in my equal or better campaign, which pushed the University to allow students to remain on Caerleon for a further year whilst developments where made in other campuses. This fight is ongoing with faculty staff pushing to move sooner.
Student led groups has seen a dramatic increase in all regions and most events have been student-led. I have already discussed the push for equal funding for societies and clubs.

Cardiff – Adequate staffing at Atrium, Su presence at Atlantic and Cromwell House and food provision at Atlantic House.

Membership services staff where put on a rota to ensure that there was staff presence was at the Atrium in addition to the full time Officer. Catering staff were predominantly student staff and the shop was manned as well as the ideas factory. Although having said this, I do believe there is demand in future for an events manager and with the democratic structure changes there needs to be a review of staffing in all regions.
I explored the possibility of food provision in Atlantic house and Cromwell house which was welcomed and taken on board by the University. However when tasked with gathering evidence and student feedback on the matter  only one student completed the survey. With little evidence to support the request, the proposal was not implemented.
With an officer being based in Cardiff full-time presence in both atlantic house and Cromwell house should have increased. However with the breadth and large scale of events such as Campus-realignment this proved difficult. The proposal to have a student feedback wall was also not supported.

General – To fight for a better financial model and act on mandates forwarded by students.

The fight for a better funding model formed part of the SU review. The review document was welcomed by the University and further research is being done in the three areas. The democratic structure was reviewed, changed and passed; the sports review is ongoing and will be completed in May 2015 along with the Financial review which will see the Union receive funding via an annual agreement with the University as oppose to the current model based on student numbers alone.


Reports & Research Complied whilst in Office:

- Academic Manifesto
- Change Agents
- A review of Academic Board
- The Future of Higher Education in Buenos Aires
- A reflection on Auschwitz
- Elections review 2014, 2015
- Partner Colleges Links between HE and FE


USWSU Awards Nominated for/won during my term in office:

Shortlisted for Students’ Union of the Year in NUS Wales Awards 2014, Shortlisted for Student of the Year in NUS Wales Awards 2014,  Shortlisted for Staff member of the Year in NUS Wales Awards 2014; Shortlisted for Student Media of the Year in NUS Wales Awards 2014; Shortlisted for Student Journalist of the Year in NUS Wales Awards 2014, Shortlisted for Campaign of the Year in NUS Wales Awards 2014, WCVA Good Governance Award 2014.
NUS Wales Staff member of the year 2015, NUS Wales Officer of the year Runner-up 2015, Shortlisted for NUS Wales Students Union of the year 2015, Shortlisted for NUS Wales Campaign of the year 2015.


 Some Headline Wins and Achievements During my Terms in Office:

· Introduced a Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment policy across the University and Students’ Union
· Successfully lobbied the University for a students’ union review of core values and funding
· Introduced the Academic manifesto which is now the leading document informing the Universities Learning and Teaching Strategy
· Fought for Equal or Better and successfully won the fight to keep students on the Caerleon campus for a further year whilst investment was made into other campuses.
· Obtained an SU social learning space in our Glyntaff campus
· Fought for beer on tap and the right to sell food in Atrium II
· Introduced a be safe initiative that gave bottled water to students after a night out
· Increased overall membership of societies by 15% & Grew our number of societies to over 60
· Raised £39,582.95 for charity in 2014 and currently £21,349 in 2015 through RAG (Raise and Give)
· Gave over 2,000 students the chance to give feedback to the University during our Fair Funding Campaign
· Developed our Go Out And Talk feedback boxes in each of our campuses and passed the cards to the relevant individuals
· Recruited over 300 Student Representatives
· Secured a bid to renovate the library at our Treforest Campus
· Doubled our overall membership of sports clubs
· Inputted to the Universities’ Vision, Values and Strategic Plan
· Increased engagement with our students in particular our Nursing cohort by 200%
· Held our Don’t Drop Out Drop In campaign for its fourth successful year
· Erected new Gender Neutral Toilet signage
· Passed the Welsh  Language Charter as Union policy.
· Fought for and successfully gained 24/7 access through the side gate on our Treforest Campus
· Won the fight to take over the SVR scheme.
· Inputted into the development of all University documents, policies, rules and regulations and procedures
· Secured over £50,000 of Financial Contingency Fund Funding for our students in dire need/distress
· Developed an annual impact report for the yearly annual report.


Travel Hours Term 1 & 2

For travel hours in both my terms in office and for further information on what I’m currently
working on please go to:

http://carysrhiannonuswsupresident.blogspot.co.uk/



What I will be working on until I end my second term in office:

- Finalizing and completing this year’s annual impact report.
- Conducting and carrying out an elected officers/HR review.
- Developing and finalizing officer training for 2015-16.
- Seeing through the outcomes of the SU review.
- Carrying out hand over to incoming officers.
- Acting on mandates from student council.