January: Not a slow start to the year

It's now 2014 and I'm in to the second half of my sabbatical year in office at the University of South Wales Students' Union. The New Year was never going to start slowly as we were already booked in for important meetings with the Vice Chancellor and the University Executive before the Christmas break. So lets have a look at the important things that have happened so far...

We met with the Vice Chancellor along with the University's Executive twice in one week (once with the sabbatical team, once with Trustee Board) to discuss a number of issues including funding. The following outcomes came out of the meetings:

• The back doors of the ATRiuM will continue to have doors which are card accessible only. This is a security measure due to thefts at the ATRiuM and to prevent 'strangers' wondering in.
• Further discussions are needed to decide what catering provision (if any) the Students' Union in ATRiuM 2A can provide. There's an potential issue of directly competing on menus which needs to be addressed.
• In regards to the Union's funding situation, the University's Executive have suggested we conduct a joint review of Union services. The Union's Trustee Board is currently working on a response to that proposal.

I also met with the Dean of Faculty of Creative Industries Gill Sandford to discuss some issues raised by Course Reps last term, the following results came out of that meeting:

• The Opening Times of the ATRiuM have been extended to 10pm. If people are getting chucked out a bit early they need to report this to either their Course Rep, an SVR or myself.
• Extended Opening Times over Easter are still being considered.
• In regards to certain students not being able to access all equipment from the library, the issue seems to be that students will use the equipment more for non-academic work if there are no booking restricitions. There's also the issue that equipment may need to be prioritised to those who need it most such as third years doing a major project.
• Rooms can't be booked from reception ad hoc due to security issues. 
• Fining people for not turning up to use rooms may take too much time of reception staff but has been suggested as a solution to students not turning up for rooms they've booked.
• Security issues in the case of cards not working need to be reported and recorded. If you've had an issue I'd suggest you visit reception to see if they can solve the problem. If it persists, email me and I'll record and report the issue.

Here's some of the other things I got up to...

• Had a Trustee Away Day to begin the process of creating a strategic plan for next couple of years at the Students' Union. We're waiting on seeing the University's Strategic Plan before moving forward with this as this needs to be considered when putting together this document.
• Had the second lot of Course Rep Training. Unfortunately only 3 people turned up for it but still seemed to work as a session.
• Went to the final Steering Group session for the Learning Environment Review. A proposal has been put together for a new system to be used which is just being finalised now.
• Went to a Student Opportunities Bootcamp run by NUS. This gave me an insight into how to better engage and support societies and clubs as well as more general advice to take for other parts of my job.
• Had our 4th Trustee Board Meeting at City Campus. An end of year event was decided on at the meeting. You can find out the details of this here. 
• We were scheduled to have our Annual General Meeting on the 30th Jan. Unfortunately not enough people turned up to be quorate so it didn't go ahead. The business of the meeting will be rolled over to next week's Student Council Meetings.
• After the AGM, I answered quite a few questions from students about some of the agenda items as well as other issues. Since then I have updated the Cardiff Student Council and Society pages on the USWSU website to make sure all the up-to-date information is there.

Before I go, I think it's worth flagging up a few things that are happening at the Students' Union in the coming weeks...

• In February, nominations will open for elections for the 14/15 academic year. So if you fancy doing my job and being a sabbatical officer or want to get involved in our Student Council then do get involved. We'll be out and about promoting it on Friday 7th February in the ATRiuM and the other Cardiff buildings as well (if they let us in!)
• February also sees Cardiff get its first Student Council Meeting on Wednesday 5th February where we'll be discussing the AGM agenda.

So that's January. Remember to follow me on Facebook and Twitter for more immediate updates and the occasional bit of irrelevance. February looks like it's going to be an extremely interesting month indeed. I shall speak to you then.

Ciao,

Rich