So...how are those manifesto points coming along?

My manifesto I wrote back in May.

Now I'm at the half way point of my term in office (time really flies!) I thought it'd be a good time to take a look back at those manifesto points I made back in May to see how many I'd actually been able to fulfil or at least make some progress on. So here's how I've done as of yet:

1. A Union of people, not place

This point has become somewhat derailed by the current plans to move the Students' Union to ATRiuM 2A. As there's the possibility of opening the Union later next year we have to be careful what external partners we forge now. However, engagement is one of my key priorities this year so I've been working hard to build up the 'people' side by supporting Course Reps and helping promote Student Council Elections.

2. On the ground support

Soon into my job, I realised that providing on-the-ground support was unrealistic. Since I have to attend many meetings and cannot commit myself to staying in Cardiff permanently in role. I have been looking to support Course Reps with issues they raise at our Course Rep Council meetings.

3. Campaign for what you want

I've actually managed to achieve something here (Whey!) albeit with the help of Jess Urch and her petition to increase opening hours. Opening hours at the ATRiuM have been restored to 8am to 10pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm on weekends. For the other issues surrounding cash machines, there are major issues with this that we've come across. The main issue is that it costs the Union money to install a cash machine rather than make money out of the service. This is the reason there is currently no cash machine in Cardiff and also why they're being removed from Caerleon campus in Newport.

4. Society Encouragement 

Just by having me in a more permanent position in Cardiff has certainly improved the amount of people we've had come forward with interest in starting a society. However we've found that there still seem to be a lot of barriers which mean some of our societies still haven't completed registration yet. I will to see how we can address this issue in the coming months.

5. Communication

I've been active on my Facebook and Twitter profile with disseminating information. I've also used various Facebook groups and email to tell people important info. This blog also helps anyone keep track every month of what I've been doing. Communication was a priority for all sabbs this year and is something we still have to work on. With the sites and campuses so spread out through South Wales, our internal communication suffers at times and coming up with a solution to this will be an interesting challenge in the coming months.

Hopefully that shows I've been making steps to achieving some of my manifesto points. However it's key to point out that my priorities have had to change somewhat especially over the last couple of months with the Union's current financial issues. What I'd really like to achieve by the end of June is to have a Strategic Plan for USWSU for 2014 to 2017 which helps build a Union that supports all regions and campuses of the University of South Wales. I'll be checking back on all this in June so stay tuned for that!

December: Short Time, Significant Success

Christmas Jumpers on show after our Trustee Board meeting (via Carys Rhiannon)

I've only had 2 short weeks of December to comment upon since I'm off home on my Christmas hollies after today. However we've had a few major developments. Here's what's been going on:

• Had a meeting with the Dean about Jess Urch's petition to increase the opening hours at the ATRiuM. We've been promised that from January, the ATRiuM will open from 8am until 10pm weekdays and 9am to 5pm on weekends as it was two years ago. It's also being considered that weekend opening hours could be extended further during busy times such as around Easter.
• Went to a partner approval and re-approval meeting which looks at which external parties can link up with the University as part of their courses.
• Recorded audio for our latest video project due to be released in January.
• Had our third Trustee Board Meeting. Was mandated to continue circulating the ATRiuM SU Questionnaire (which you can fill out here: http://bit.ly/18be4bU) and to lobby to get the back doors of the ATRiuM accessible without a swipe card to try and help access to Students' Union building.
• Had our first Course Rep Council Meeting in Cardiff. A number of issues were raised including certain courses not having course leaders and issues with the communication lines with university staff when issues are not resolved. Will look to work with staff and SVRs to address these areas in the new year.
• Attended a Students as Partners meeting and will be creating some Student Stories videos on how the Student Voice has had an impact on University study.
• Attended a Keep Cardiff Tidy meeting. Will look to improve lines of communication on issues surrounding litter. If you want to keep up to date with it all I thoroughly recommend you like Cardiff Digs on Facebook or follow them on Twitter
• Attended a meeting about the Learner Journey. Will be helping with a blog there are setting up for it in the coming months.
• Met with Alex Butterworth from NUS to discuss the upcoming Course Rep Conference she is organising.

January's shaping up to be a busy month - I'll be making sure the extended opening times at the ATRiuM come to fruition in practice, organising more Course Rep Training, making some Student Stories videos and in the middle of all that our funding campaign will be significantly ramped up as we enter negotiations with the University.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2014 which will definitely be an interesting year for USWSU.

Rich

November: Moustaches and Student Movement

My Movember efforts. This is the 3rd year in a row I've done Movember.

Without a doubt, things have really picked up in the last month in Cardiff at the Students' Union. But overall it's been a really positive month. From bringing Course Reps together to our 2nd batch of elections this term to fighting for the future of the SU. Things have been kicking off but students in Cardiff are definitely letting their voice be heard which can only mean the change is on the horizon. This was how this month went:

• 4 more students are running for Student Council for four positions - Postgraduate and Part Time Officer, Students with Disabilities Officer, International Officer and Welsh Language Officer. Should they all get elected this will bring our total student council members up to 8 which is enough to have decision making power!
• Met with Mary Traynor and Leann Thomas to discuss the National Student Survey and different ways we can communicate avenues for feedback to students.
• Went on BBC Radio Wales to promote what USWSU was doing for Children in Need.
• Had our Course Rep Training and had productive conversations with course reps about the issues surrounding their own individual courses. 
• Attended a Student Casework session held by the Quality Unit.
• Attended NUS Wales Zone Conference at Aberystwyth University.
• Met with our CEO to discuss the financial situation of the Union.
• Started our #FairFunding campaign to try and insure the short and long-term stability of the Students' Union. We filmed a campaign video for it which is due to be released in the New Year.
• Started a campaign to protect the food provision at the ATRiuM Students' Union which is due to be taken away from us in the next academic year with the construction of ATRiuM 2A. We're using the hashtag #SOS on Twitter if you want to voice your opinion. Here's a couple of opinions already:

Why would you shut the only place students can afford to eat in Cardiff!?! #SOS @USWSU #SaveOurService
— Owain Talfryn (@owstalfryn) November 28, 2013

Don't shut the one place they pity students! #SOS @USWSU
— Jade Kim Mathieson (@JesuisJadeKim) November 28, 2013

• Represented a student involving a suspension case.
• Met Jess Urch who has started to petition for longer opening hours of the ATRiuM so students are able to complete their work that sometimes requires specialist equipment. I'm helping her to escalate the issue to the Faculty, to the Estates Department and to the University Executive. If you want to sign the petition go to: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/student-petition-atrium
• Attended NUS Wales' 40th Birthday drinks.
• Started a questionnaire I'm circulating around the ATRiuM about the Students' Union. If you'd like to answer it please follow the link here: http://bit.ly/18be4bU 
• Got sent this lovely thank you card for showing some MBA students around the ATRiuM and Cromwell House. The tour was really useful as I realised there were quite a few changes in the two buildings this year that I hadn't noticed before!

The thank you card I got sent.

On top of that I've been growing a moustache for Movember. You can see my progress up to now in the pic at the top of the page. It'll probably be gone by Monday so I can get back to growing a good winter beard as Christmas approaches. I'm looking forward to the Christmas break but there's still a lot to do before that. I shall let you know how I get on in a couple of weeks.

Speak soon,

Rich

October - Train, Recruit, Elect and Interview

USW Snowsports at our Societies Fair. Photos courtesy of Rachael Roberts.

I was forewarned that October would be a busy month for me. It's when we try and sort out a lot of things at once here at USWSU. From getting SVRs and Course Reps in position to promoting Student Council positions to getting societies on the go. All whilst trying to attend meetings at all the different campuses of the University of South Wales. In all, it's been a month of ups and downs for me as I look back at the last thirty odd days:

• Presented the Academic Manifesto, along with the sabb team to Vice Chancellor Julie Lydon.
• Organised the Societies Day held at the ATRiuM on October 2nd along with the Cardiff Societies Officer Rachael Roberts. In attendance were Tequila Radio, USW Snowsports, Yoga Society, ATRiuM Christian Union and the new ATRiuM film society.
• Got trained up with Panopto, the lecture capture system USW uses. We're looking to use it for Course Rep Training so refresher training is available online.
• As part of the Learning Environment Review steering group, I've been spreading the word about the survey that was recently released on UniLife to students and I gave my input into the wording and structure of the survey.
• Met with students wanting to set up a Drama Society and a Musical Theatre Society and helped them with administration and getting their society off the ground (a point actually in my manifesto! Way!)
• Attended Associate Trainer Training which will feed into the Course Rep Training will be undertaking in the next couple of weeks.
• Sat on the panel for interviews for Student Voice Reps in Cardiff and Treforest and helped decide some of this year's SVRs.
• We had our by-elections. I helped give out nominations pack to those who ran in the election in the Cardiff Region and answered any questions they had. We now have 4 elected Student Council Officers which unfortunately isn't enough to be quorate and effect decision making. Therefore I'm now in the process of trying to find more officers. If you're interested please email vicepresident.cardiff@southwales.ac.uk ASAP.
• We had our GOAT (Go Out and Talk) day at Newport City Campus where we received significant feedback from students about the SU provision there and how much money they thought we received from the University.
• Said goodbye to Sara Correia, our Integration Co-ordinator who left to join Swansea Students' Union.
• Met with Emma Robson from Cardiff Digs and sabb officers from Cardiff SU and Cardiff Met SU about how we could work together on projects such as Keep Cardiff Tidy and Accomodation.
• Helped deliver the Student Voice Representative Training and participated in some of the games in the evening (there was free food which assured my attendance!)
• We had an emergency Trustee Board meeting to discuss the financial state of the Students' Union. We're currently in some difficulties and looking to restructure to make the Union sustainable and fit for purpose in the future. We'll be releasing more info on this in the coming weeks.
• Met with Mark Cadwallader along with the sabbs and our CEO to get a better insight into the University's strategic plan to see where the Union could tie in to this going forward.

The Tequila Radio crew at the societies fair. The station is now 5 years old.

So that was October. In truth I think I should have spent more time this month going out and talking to students in the three Cardiff buildings - ATRiuM, Cromwell House and Atlantic House and this is definitely something I'll look to work on in November. This is especially important based on the situation with ATRiuM 2A and how any Students' Union facility there might look. Hopefully I'll see you then.

Laters,

RQ

September: 1 Freshers Week, 2 Freshers Weeks, 3 Freshers Weeks, 4

September has been an absolute mammoth ride for us sabbs. I worked every single day from September 9th to September 27th which I have to say was really tiring. This year we had the delight of having two different Freshers weeks - one for Newport, one for Ponty and Cardiff along with two International Welcome Weeks. At times it felt like a blur but this is the best from what I can remember from this month:

• Supported a few students at Academic Infringement meetings - at times that day resembled an episode of "The X Factor" there was such a range of emotions. 
• Met with Dean of Creative Industries Gill Sanford. Discussed why the back doors of the ATRiuM have to be locked. She explained strangers can wonder into the building and there have been reports of equipment thefts. I suggested perhaps we trial opening the doors during daytime hours and she is going to look into this for me.
• Appeared at Newport International Welcome Week for their Quiz night where we had Dominos. Team Sabb (and Magda, our Bar Manager in Newport) were tied for the lead with another team but we lost the tie-break question. The answer definitely wasn't "pillow case" (you had to be there).
• Brought the University Students Want Academic Manifesto to LTEC (Learning and Teaching Enhancement Committee). It was very well received by all. The only issue seemed to be around how we were going to tackle the problem of Timetabling.
• I also offered to help with trying to help with courses which received low National Student Survey scores.
• Was in Newport for move-in weekend for two "Meet the Officers" sessions. Helped a few people move in (whilst banging my head on a car boot!) Also helped with the SU talk at the accommodation induction (even if our video did screw up the first time!)
• Sat on the panel for a Student Complaint at Newport's Caerleon campus.
• Attended some Post Grad and Mature, Local and Community Meet and Greets at the Treforest Campus.
• Attended the Welsh Twmpath at the Union and did some Welsh dancing (it's a lot like line dancing!)
• Manned the SU stall at Newport Freshers Fair to get some interest in Course Reps, Student Council and SVRs.
• Had our first Trustee Board Meeting. We discussed having an 'away day' at some point in the near future to come up with a Strategic Plan for the next couple of years.
• Did Induction talks for new students staying at Liberty Bridge and Liberty Park. We had to keep it short so I used this poem.
• Did some more meet and greets in Cardiff.
• Did Induction talks with Performance and Media, Film and Video, Media Technology, Theatre and Drama and Journalism students.
• Help co-ordinate the Film and Curry Night at the ATRiuM.
• Co-ordinated the bus tour to Treforest Freshers Fair from Cardiff. Unfortunately I forgot to check my watch and accidentally let the bus go early! Luckily not too many people were affected by this.
• Popped in to the Tequila Radio talk in the ATRiuM cinema to talk to some Radio, Music Tech and Sound Tech students.
• Helped with the Cardiff Scavenger Hunt and actually ended up going on it because we were lower on number than we expected!
• Went to the Music Tech showcase at Clwb Ifor Bach and the Pulp! Fashion show at ATRiuM. The Fashion show was really well attended (probably because it was in everyone's induction timetable!)
• Went to the first meeting of the Learning Environment Review Steering Group which is looking into how to improve Moodle/Blackboard at USW for the 2014/15 year.

So pretty busy. At one point in the middle of Freshers week I was so shattered I actually went home at 7pm and went straight to bed! But it'll still be pretty full on from here on in.

Feel free to get in touch with your views about what I've been up to and get involved yourself at our Student Council elections!

A poem about USWSU

Today I was at the ATRiuM to deliver some induction talks to students living at Liberty Bridge and Liberty Park. We didn't have a lot of time to give a presentation so it was very useful that I wrote this poem which condenses down what we do at the Students' Union into a few short lines. Here is the poem in full:

What, oh what does USWSU do?

If you haven't heard of us before, you might not have a clue.

We help you with your education

And welfare issues too.

The bottom line is

We're here to represent you.

From sports and societies

Club and activities

Pop into the office to find out more

And you can grab a McVities

You can also get involved

In our student council elections

Or visit our ideas factory

And make business out of your inventions.

We represent all students

Female, male, LGBT

We'll make your student life great

At this South Wales University

The poem seemed pretty popular for those in attendance. If you want to find out the real meaning behind those words or get advice or involved with your SU, just pop into the office around the back of the ATRiuM building Monday to Friday.

10 Things You Should Know About the ATRiuM

Ah, the ATRiuM. A place where many people study here at the University of South Wales. But it can be a confusing building at times. So I thought I'd let you in on 10 useful facts that'll come in handy if you're going to start your course here in just two weeks time.

1. "The Street" is Inside not Outside

The foyer area by the ATRiuM's reception desk is known as "The Street". The street holds a lot of events and is where a lot of the enrolement over induction week is. So you should be glad it's indoors as knowing Wales you'd probably get wet otherwise.

2. It has Funny Named Rooms

Some of the room names aren't the most everyday room names you'll come across. Many of you might hear the name "Gus Dungeon Suite" and get the impression of some underground torturous prison when in fact it's a recording studio. There's also the "Zen Room" on the top floor which has nothing to do with Buddhism. It's instead a room for ATRiuM events and for large lectures. You can actually see the Zen Room from the outside of the building. It's the glass room that sticks out to the side (see image for details).

3. It has an Ideas Factory

In the SU along with the bar/cafe that serves food, the shop and my office, there's the Ideas Factory. It's there to promote enterprise and related activities that go with it. You can pop in there and see an Enterprise Ambassador to talk about any ideas for projects or a business you might have in mind.

4. Make sure you have some storage handy

If you save your work in the Documents area on the computers in the ATRiuM, they'll only appear on that local computer. So when you log on to a different one it won't be there anymore. There is some dedicated space to save your work on the server but it's not always compatible with all the PCs and Macs in the ATRiuM. It's usually best if you bring some storage whether that be a portable hard drive (good for video editing), a USB stick or just use your Google Drive space in your uni Gmail account (you should get 15GBs worth). Then you'll never have to worry about losing your work again.

5. CB rooms are by the spiral staircase, CA rooms are by the other staircase

When I started University, I got extremely confused about how to navigate the building. It's really not that easy at times especially when things are so spread out. Most of the teaching rooms are on the CA side so usually you can get away with just knowing your way around this half of the building. The CB side is mostly for music, sound, radio and TV studios so that's where all the fun happens!

6. The Advice Shop

The Advice Shop is an absolute gem in times of crisis. You can also use it to book out rooms, sign up to the ATRiuM Health Service and get access to the Counselling service. It's just across the way from reception so it's not hard to find.

7. When in doubt, use the phone

On the odd occasions some things just can't be resolved without some contact with those at the University's Treforest campus where a lot of the central resources of the University are based. Luckily instead of having to get the train there every time you have a problem, there's a phone set up in one of the hallways that does the job just as well. You can use this to phone the Student Money Service which always comes in handy at the start of term.

8. Get in the Library early to avoid disappointment

The ATRiuM can be a busy place especially around deadline days (near Christmas, near Easter or in May). So if you need space in the library to study it's best to get in there early. At 9am it's practically dead in there but by midday it will be rammed. 

9. Remember your swipe card

Most of the doors at the ATRiuM are protected by swipe card access. This leads to some very unusual methods used to open doors or an abundance of lanyards used by the Staff. It's especially important to have your swipe card if you're looking to get out of the back of the building. It's amazing how long it takes someone who hasn't got a card to realise the door won't open without one.

10. One of the lifts speaks Welsh

There are two lifts in the ATRiuM building and one of them is bilingual. It speaks Welsh and English though apparently there's a mistake on one of the pronunciations (don't ask me what it is though. My welsh is terrible!)

So I hope those 10 things help you when you're starting out here. You'll soon get used to all the little quirks of the place and maybe even find them charming (maybe). If you've got any more questions about the ATRiuM, feel free to ask away and I shall do my best to help.

We'll be there for you!

A couple of weeks ago us sabbs got together to make a bit of a video so you'd find out who we are. With my media background I took the lead in directing and editing our version of the opening credits from "Friends". I'm particularly proud of the revolving door bit and the "getting stuck in second gear" part as they add a bit of comedic flavour to the whole thing. Have a watch above.

August: Meetings, Media and Many Freshers

The Fountain outside City Campus is one of our key locations in the sabb video.

Today is the Bank Holiday, the last day of summer apparently. We're now on the cusp of September where here at USW everything gets scary/exciting. A wave of students will arrive next month and a bunch more will flock back to start the new term. So summer planning time is definitely running thin at this point. This month at USWSU, we've been doing our best to prepare ourselves fully for September.

What I've been up to...

• Had a meeting with Cardiff's Welfare Officer to see how we could work together mainly on housing issues over the year. I'm also working with Cardiff Digs to try to inform students about what their responsibilities are in regards to housing. They'll be relaunching their website: cardiffdigs.co.uk before Fresher's Week.
• Met with the Royal Welsh SU President to try and work together on events throughout the year. They'll be getting involved in our Cardiff scavenger hunt which is part of Welcome Week.
• We're almost there with the SVR/Course Rep structure for next year which should see Sabbs have a bigger involvement in it to improve communications between all three parties.
• Helped review the Student Charter between the SU and the University. If you don't know what that is, click the link above to find out! (this is still old one until the new one is passed.)
• A Level Results were out! So set up some Freshers groups on Facebook by region so people could meet others on their courses and in their halls. For those interested the Cardiff group is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/505046822901990/ 
• Finished the "University Students Want" Academic Manifesto and we'll be looking to push the contents of that throughout the year.
• Had a big involvement in reshaping Student Media for the next year. I've put a proposal forward to have an online magazine, audio and video across all regions of the University. It would also see Tequila Radio remain intact for the next year.
• In other media news, we've made ourselves a sabb video which should be debuting later in the week. We'll be also making an Induction video for more info on how to get involved in things like societies, Student Council and the Course Rep system.
• Organised a societies fair on the 2nd of October at the ATRiuM so you can find out more about what societies we have in Cardiff if you can't make it to Freshers Fair. Also if you fancy setting up a society or want a table for it, feel free to get in touch.

Lots of planning still to do before Freshers get here. Newport's Welcome week starts a week before Treforest, Glyntaff and Cardiff's (on the 16th). So it's scary how little time we really have left.

Looking forward to meeting lots of new faces next month. Many of which have all week wristbands which almost guarantee them to get the dreaded "Freshers Flu" following a wild week. Remember if Freshers' week doesn't quite go your way, I'm here to help. I shall be back in touch with more updates soon.

Cheers,

Rich

July Review: And so it begins!

Graduation Pt. 2: At the Treforest Graduation Ceremonies

Hello. It's Richard here. I'm one of the four sabbatical officers at the University of South Wales Students' Union as the Vice President of Cardiff. I'll be using this blog to keep you posted on my trials and tribulations throughout the year at USWSU.

What I've been up to...
The first month has been a busy one. I feel a bit like I've been chucked in straight at the deep end and I've had to learn fast to keep up with the pace. Here's what I've been working on...

• Got some feedback on the ATRiuM Students' Union building and discussed future plans to improve it.
• Worked on an Academic Manifesto with the Sabb Team to try and shape the future of education at USW.
• Graduated from my degree in Radio then sat on the stage at two graduation ceremonies the week after in Treforest.
• Had meetings to discuss the Student Charter and the reshaping of the rep system (course reps, SVRs etc.) following the merger.
• Attended NUS training in Carmarthen and Milton Keynes and also in-house training.
• Discussed the housing situation in Cardiff with the council and Cardiff Union's Welfare Officer with a potential awareness campaign in the works.
• Had a 'visioning day' with the sabbs and Union staff to discuss the direction of the Union for the next couple of years and how we can provide a more evenly spread Union experience across all five campuses of the University.

Scribbles: Some serious notes at the Academic Manifesto meeting

Freshers Update

So been pretty busy then you could say! But there's plenty more to do and Freshers is now only about six weeks away. Speaking of which, you can find out more about all the events going on in Cardiff at the excellent Getting Started website that's just been launched. There you'll find a complete list of events happening over Freshers at the ATRiuM and beyond. It's definitely worth a look. On the menu are meet and greets for Postgrad, local, community and mature students, a film and curry night, two Student Media drop in sessions and a cupcake making challenge (where, presumably, you can have your cake and eat it!)

Get Involved

Finally I just wanted to give a shameless plug to the by-elections that are coming up in October for the remaining Student Council positions still vacant in Cardiff. It's an exciting time to get involved and be part of making the Students' Union experience in Cardiff better than ever before. There's also the chance to earn a bursary while you're at it. You could be a campus officer and work on improving facilities at ATRiuM or Cromwell House. You could be a LGBT, Black Students, Students with Disabilities or Women's Officer.You could put yourself at the heart of our activities by being a Sports or Supported Activities Officer. Or you could represent International, Post Grad and Part Time, Mature or Welsh students. If you are interested in any of these, please feel free to drop me a line and I'll keep you in the loop so you'll have no problems running for a position in October.

That's all for now. Talk to you again shortly.

Cheers,

Rich