This year we launched our very first Change Week...
On Monday 4 February we hosted two events: the Course Rep Conference and the All Student Meeting. The Conference allowed Reps to attend a day event that aimed to teach them new transferable skills and broaden their Higher Education policy knowledge. Reps were able to attend development workshops, including:
- Understanding your strengths for future career success
- Who is University for? My role in transforming lives
- Effective Participation in the University's Quality and Enhancement Processes
- How to Represent
- Meeting Structures and Practicing Professionalism
- Self-care for the Course Rep
- Your Course and the United Nations: How can I change the world?
- Where did all the time go? Understanding Time Management
Staff members from across the University delivered sessions to the Reps as well as some Students' Union led sessions. Each School also had the opportunity to run a School Forum which could be themed around a topic of the School's choosing, providing the School with the opportunity to discuss future proposals, address matters raised, as well as reviewing any common themes emerging for students within the School.
Breaking up the day, Reps were invited to attend a high level panel debate, consisting of Ross Renton, Sarah Greer and Amatey Doku, the Vice President for Higher Education at NUS. The debate discussed a range of issues from potential changes to the Higher Education landscape, Brexit within the Higher Education context, value for money, and inclusion within Higher Education. You can read the minutes from this debate here.
The majority of the Change Week activities took place from Tuesday 5 February onwards. We based large wooden boards in the main receptions of both the Edward Elgar building and Charles Hastings. There were also mini boards in The Hangar, Riverside and Jenny Lind. Students were encouraged to fill out an idea tag and stick it on the board or, alternatively, students could submit their ideas on our brand new Ideas Forum. Students could submit ideas for the following categories:
- Academic Experiences
- Campus and Facilities
- Student life and support
- Your Students' Union
- Student Opportunities
- Local Communities
After just 2 days of idea collection, students submitted an incredible 1080+ ideas.
Thursday 7 and Friday 8 February provided the students with the opportunity to vote on these ideas in order to choose what they believed should be prioritised. Students were able to vote both at the boards and online. Votes are still being counted and results will be published in due course.
The next stage is for our Vice President Education to work with the School Reps to look at every idea submitted. They will identify positive actions that the SU and University can take to make the ideas happen (and, in cases where an idea cannot happen, the SU will explain to students why this is the case or what we are looking at as an alternative win if not the original idea). The Students' Union will update students in the coming months on the progress of these ideas.