June: That's all folks

I'm into my final few days and hours of my time at USWSU. It's been a bit of a transitional year what with two Universities merging last year and all the process still being ironed out. That's meant things haven't always gone to plan, but that's life I suppose. Here's what I got up to in my last month in the job...

• Went to the Partnership for Wales Conference at the Wales Millennium Centre where lots was discussed about how students can be partners with institutions in their education.
• Had our final Trustee Board meeting of the 13/14 year. Here I presented an Elections Report I wrote which is designed to hopefully improve the process of Elections next year and get more candidates involved and more voters to turnout.
• Sent out Course Rep certificates to our course representives in Cardiff who asked for one.
• Worked on some ideas for the structure of how to deliver key Union services within the Cardiff region which is feeding into the University's Review of the Union.
• Helped out with an Academic case in Newport
• Was on the panel of a student-led staff seminar which revolved around the topic of Inductions.
• Was featured in this month's Unity News, a community newsletter. You can read my little piece here: http://issuu.com/cardiffdigs/docs/unity_news_12
• Edited together some outtakes from our sabb videos from across the year. You can see them in the video above.

So since this is the final blog, it'd probably be a good idea to have a recap of how the year's gone. So here's part two of "how did I get on with those manifesto points?"

1. A Union of people, not place

I've done more to focus on building a strong group of people to be involved in the Union. I've had contact with 43% of our Course Reps, trained 26 and had 30 turn up to Course Rep Assembly meetings. Whilst this figure still needs to be improved it has strengthed the relationship between Cardiff students and the Union. For the 14/15 year, Cardiff currently has the most Student Council Officers elected at the first election, more than the Pontypridd or Newport regions. And considering Cardiff is the smallest region of the three, that's an impressive statistic.

 

"People, not place" would be a good mantra from the Union going forward seeing as there's so many different campuses that there's no way we can provide the same "place" everywhere in the University. It's about becoming more flexible, more innovative. A lot of that is tying in with the Students' Union review that's been going on.

 

However the place changes next year as Atrium 2A will be open and we will have a new Students' Union space. However, it's absolutely imperative that if USW students in Cardiff want this space that they use it and its services. We've pretty much been flat out told that we can't run any commercial outlet that is not financially sustainable. Cardiff has struggled to make ends meet with the portacabin since it opened in 2009. Here's hoping things change next year. If they do not, "people, not place" will be more important than ever.

 

2. On the ground support

Retrospectively, it was probably unwise of me to put this in my original manifesto. Providing "on the ground support" is very difficult for a sabbatical officer due to meeting and other commitments. Instead using our reps, both academic and non-academic as more "on the ground support" makes more sense.

 

The reason I originally put this down was for issues at the Atrium on deadline days. Perhaps we need to look at these more with course reps and see how we can campaign to tackle the underlying issues rather than try to be a body on the ground.

 

3. Campaign for what you want

Using forums such as Course Rep Assemblies along with feedback from our Student Council Officers, I have been able to formalute and assist campaigns to make a positive change in the Cardiff region. The major success of this has been extending the opening hours at the Atrium, Cromwell House and Atlantic House during busy periods of the year. This has helped more students have access to equipment for longer periods of time which is especially important for those students who simply can't complete their courses without the facilities available in Cardiff.

 

There's still a lot to campaign about though, from cash machines to the large housing problems. I'm hoping that next year we'll have an improved Student Council so there can be regular quorate meetings where decisions can be made and more campaigns can be created and carried out.

 

4. Society Encouragement

Societies have remained relatively stagnant in number in Cardiff since last year. I would say this is to do with a number of issues such as the Union building not being open later so students can't pop in and bring back forms, to the way admin is processed for societies within the Union.

 

If I were to rewrite this manifesto now, I'd say that whilst societies are good, there are lots of other ways we as a Union can help students get involved extracirricularly like volunteering and fundraising and it might be easier to implement these things over societies.

 

5. Communication

I've been doing my best to increase communications with Cardiff students. I've been writing this blog, which has been quite successful and been active on Facebook and Twitter. I've met with students, used surveys and emailed people as well. What's been good about that is I've been able to clear up some misconceptions about the Union and give students a better idea of what we do and how it affects them.

 

I think a lot more does need to be done in this area though. One mistake I feel I've made is that I didn't go out enough to talk to students which perhaps could have helped promote the non-academic side of the Union more - such as Student Council, societies, welfare etc. Also I made the decision at the start of the year not to separate my Facebook and Twitter accounts from my personal account. This was because I was told by one of my former lecturers that having multiple social media accounts can sometimes be like having a split personality. But in retrospect, I think if I had two different accounts, I would help create more consistency in my tweets and posts.

So there you have it. I probably say overall it's been a mixed bag. I've learnt quite a lot of things this year both about myself and new skills I've picked up like negotiating. I hope these things will help me in my future career prospects.

I hope I've helped in some way this year (even if it's just a tiny bit) to making life at USW in Cardiff a little bit better. I looked forward to seeing what Roz (our new VP Cardiff) does next year and the new opportunities that await with Atrium 2A. To those leaving USW this year, I hope your graduation is grand and you are successful in your future endevours. To those coming back next year, I hope you get involved with your Union because you are the people who really run this thing (hence the word "students") and you never know you might find it a lot of fun.

If you need to get in touch with my successor Roz, she'll be available to email from July 1st on vicepresident.cardiff@southwales.ac.uk

I won't be able to answer work queries after July, but if you ever want to get in touch, you can follow me on Twitter @sheepfm or email rqueree1@hotmail.com

That's all from me. Arrivederci!

Rich

May: Goodbye Portacabin

The end of the portacabin: This month it closed its doors for the last time

May has been a strange old month for me. In-between the Bank Holidays and my endless stream of job applications, I have been getting quite a bit of work done too. Though as you'll see above, my office in Cardiff is no longer open and I will be based pretty much full time out of Treforest in June until my sabbatical year is up. You can still get hold of me though by email. vicepresident.cardiff@southwales.ac.uk. I'm very happy to do callouts to Cardiff if you've got any issues with your final submissions or anything else you might want to discuss.

Here's what I've been up to...

• Gathered a list of names of people who are interested in hosting events during Freshers week at the new SU. Will be passing on this info to our commercial team and new VP Cardiff for them to take forward.
• Had our last Course Rep Council meeting of the year in Cardiff. Issues raised included timetabling and technology. SVRs had a chance to explain what they'd been up to and how they were helping with these issues.
• Met with the Dean Gill Sandford along with the new VP Cardiff Roz to discuss issues brought up in Course Rep Council. We also discussed opening hours in which the Dean said next year they will continue to open the ATRiuM on weekdays between 8am and 10pm and weekends between 9am and 5pm. Additional hours throughout the year will be discussed with the new VP. Also some Health and Safety issues were raised concerning the extended opening hours in Cromwell and Atlantic House.
• Met with Mary Hulford and Chris Laity to discuss the student submission to the QAA that the SU will be submitting next year. This will also have direct input in from Royal Welsh College SU.
• Represented students on Academic Misconduct cases. Students in Atlantic House had their initial meeting in Treforest. Raised this with the panel as this is against University regulations as students are supposed to be invited to a meeting at their campus. Panel assured me it was an admin error and would not happen in future.
• Gave advice on complaints procedures to students.
• Had another Trustee Board meeting where we discussed the Students' Union review with the University. Hopefully more concrete information will be released on that in the coming months when a decision has been made.
• It was the last day in the current ATRiuM SU on May 23rd. Moved out all my stuff, sorted it out and sent some things back to Treforest to make sure resources would be available for the new VP.
• Helped promote the STAR awards that look to praise the achievements of students and staff at the University over the last year.

A bit of news before I go. The new bridge by Liberty Bridge (Ty Pont) is coming along nicely and is due to open next month. It'll make it a lot easier and quicker for students to access Atlantic House from the Atrium. Also building work on Atrium 2A is going very well so it's very much on schedule to open in September.

That's all from me for May. Just one month to go now.

Rich

April: Easter, a new Chancellor

April's been a funny month really. We had one week off for Easter and I took one week off to pursue other interests (Concept and the Student Radio Conference in case you're wondering!) And due to the nature of Easter, things haven't been as fast paced as other months. Anyway here's a quick overview of what I've been up to...

• Had a meeting with SU staff to clarify the situation on Atrium 2a. My findings can be found in this blog.
• Began to get a list of names together of people who were interested in holding events at the new SU when it opens in September. If you're interested send me a email: vicepresident.cardiff@southwales.ac.uk
• Attended a briefing from QAA about the Higher Education Review for the University of South Wales which is coming up next year. The Union will be involved in submitting a student statement and collating research to support arguments. 
• I was involved in the Installation of the new Chancellor Rowan Williams. Went on stage for a bit and shaked Rowan's hand. I had to dress up in the full graduation regalia. Naturally my hat fell off because it didn't quite fit me properly!
• On the same day, I attended a focus group with the Universities Alliance and some of USW's SVRs to discuss the issues around tuition fees.
• Did an interview for a documentary some students are making about student housing in Cardiff. The Welsh Government have actually asked to see it so it should be interesting to see the final edit when it comes out.
• Organised some meetings for next month and planned out some tasks to do for the next term.
• Attended a meeting with SVRs which featured a presentation on the new Academic Plan and information on how student advice has changed since the merger.

I've only got two months left in the role now and May is the last month when it's actually during term time. Should be an interesting month ahead. We've got our last Course Rep Council and Student Council meetings of the year. We've also got Flourish, the final year's creative showcase at the end of the month which should be very interesting indeed. 

More Info about the New Students' Union at ATRiuM

Progress: Atrium 2a starting to take shape

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you might remember a couple of months ago I posted a bit of a Q and A about ATRiuM 2A. Now we're further down the line I've decided to answer some more questions that specifically are to do with the Union so you can get a better idea of what it might be like when it opens. So lets get answering!

When will it open?
The building work at ATRiuM 2A is currently running to time. Should this continue, the SU will open in Freshers week of the next academic year on Monday 22nd September 2014.

What will be the Opening Hours?
The SU will open between 10am and 10pm on weekdays. This is subject to the ATRiuM remaining open until 10pm as it has for the second half of this year.

Non-commercial areas of the SU may also be open during other hours when the ATRiuM is open. Commercial areas will initially open between 10am and 10pm but this is subject to change and depends on the level of trade in the area.

The issue opening beyond 10pm is to do with the cost of hiring external security staff which have to be paid for a minimum of 4 hours.

What is in the Students' Union space?
In the space there will be a bar where students can order food and drink, a wide open dining and seating area, an Office where students can access our membership services (advice, representation, democracy, societies etc.) and an Ideas Factory where our Enterprise Ambassadors will be based at certain times. The Ideas Factory can give you advice if you're thinking about starting up a business. There will also be toilets and outdoor access.

What will be on the menu?
The plan is to offer a range of burgers served with chips. This will include Fish and Vegetarian options. There will also be a fully stocked bar with draught pints (beer on tap) along with bottles and other options.

What will be on sale in the SU shop?
This is still being decided at the moment. However I've been told that the range that the shop sells will be expanded as the new shop is noticeably bigger than the current one. The current plan is to open the shop between 8.45am and 4.45pm

Will there be any events on?
The plan is to mirror what is currently being done at Caerleon's SU Bar and have events which are organised by students to be at the forefront of activities. If you have an idea for an event or evening you'd like to put on at the SU, please email your suggestions to vicepresident.cardiff@southwales.ac.uk

Will Cardiff have its own Freshers Fair?
This is still up in the air at the moment as it depends on how we can deploy staff. Also this year all three regions of the University - Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd have their Freshers week in the same week which could make this more difficult.

What will happen to the portacabin?
There are plans for the portacabin to be moved to either the Glyntaff or Newport City Campuses to be used as Students' Union space.

Hopefully that gives you a better idea but if you've got any more questions feel free to tweet them to @sheepfm or email them to vicepresident.cardiff@southwales.ac.uk

March: The Atlantic Cromwell Election Induction Edition

We started an #electionsselfie hashtag. Here's the one from Cardiff.

March has certainly been a memorable month. It was one that had controversy, anger and jubilation and that was before even the first week was over! Let's have a look back at the way it's gone...

Elections
The month kicked off with a bang with the Students Union Executive Elections. Here were the results:

SU President: Carys Rhiannon (re-elected)
Vice President Pontypridd: Ellen Rose Jones
Vice President Cardiff: Rozalind Green-Innes
Vice President Newport: Re-Open Nominations
Student Council Chair (Cardiff): Angharad Megan Paget-Jones

I was in Cardiff to announce the Student Council Chair Cardiff and Vice President Cardiff results. I caught up with Roz after the election to see what her reaction was to her win:


Vice President Newport ended with an indecisive result thanks to a R.O.N. campaign that picked up steam. This meant the nominations for the position were reopened. We've now been through another round of nominations and have one candidate Drew Burman in the by-election. Voting for Vice President Newport will happen between March 31st and April 3rd with the results on April 3rd.

There was also the Elections for Student Council Officers. In Cardiff we had the following results:

Atrium Campus Officer: Chris Legg
Women's Officer: Emily Lee (re-elected)
Sports Officer: Ruth Miller

We actually announced the results live on Tequila Radio which was very exciting. You can have a listen back to that below:

USWSU Student Council Cardiff Elections Show by Richard Queree on Mixcloud

Cardiff Issues
This month saw some wins in regards to Cromwell House and Atlantic House. Cromwell has had its opening hours extended to Saturdays until April 5th (when a lot of deadlines for them are over). Atlantic House was originally scheduled to open between April 5th and May 30th on Saturdays. However I managed to bring this forward by two weeks so Atlantic will be open almost every Saturday between now and the end of term. However there have been a few technical and access issues with this which I'm looking in to addressing.

Since our Course Rep Meeting back in February, I've been working hard on the issues raised along with some additional things I've picked up along the way. I met Jane Davison, the Head of School of Media at the beginning of the month. I spoke to her about the Glammies (which a number of students had raised to me) and she assured me it would happen this year which has now been confirmed to be going ahead on Friday 30th May at Cineworld Cardiff.

I also discussed issues with open-planned rooms. Jane told me that when working in Industry, this type of room format might be common as there's a lot of collaborative work which is why it's been designed like that. They are working on synchronizing timetables in the next academic year so there is less pedestrian traffic going through the hallways during the middle of lectures and seminars.

Also this month, I've met with one of the Associate Heads of School of Media, Jaya about issues surrounding the Film and Video course which were brought to me by first year students on the course. They're looking to address these problems to provide a better course for the next two years for which it runs.

Other stuff
I've also been working with the sabbatical team to build an induction pack for incoming sabbs. I've already met with the Vice President elect Roz to give her an overview of the job and what it entails. We've also been looking at how we can improve the regulations surrounding Elections so we can ensure the maximum number of students can participate in both the nominations and voting process.

That's all for March. I'll be back with more updates next month.

February: The Beginning is the End is the Beginning

Gearing up for Elections: Created this sign outside my office

I might look back at my year and see February as the month that really defined my time as a sabb. Whilst only being 28 days long, we've had big wins, some more sombering losses and we went through an entire nominations period for Elections.

This is also the month where I decided not to re-run for Election for 2014/15. Whilst there are several reasons for me deciding against re-election, ultimately I felt that whilst being Vice President Cardiff has made me learn a lot, I have other bigger passions in life which I don't want to wait longer to get in to. Whilst I flirted with the idea of running for President and was being persuaded by a number of students to run for it, I felt it best to leave that to other candidates.

So what happened in the month of February?

Big wins
This month we achieved two really significant results. First off it was announced on UniLife that from March 10th to June 6th, the ATRiuM will now be open from 9am - 10pm on weekends. This is great news and means those who have final projects or deadlines in and around Easter will be able to access the ATRiuM's facilities for as long as they need to and hopefully this will help them achieve to their full potential.

The other big win surrounds ATRiuM 2A. After months of negotiations with the University we're finally in a position to be able to offer a food provision at the new Students' Union due to open in September. This means will be able to go ahead with the move and have a much better chance of making the SU a self-sustainable service. It's a big step in the right direction to provide a better SU for students in Cardiff. But it is only one step in that process and it's important now that we find more ways to involve students in how the SU operates in Cardiff.

Also in the Elections, Cardiff has had nominations for more positions than in any other region. Students are running for the roles of Vice President Cardiff, Atrium Campus Officer, Mature Students Officer, Sports Officer and Student Council Chair. Also Emily Lee is rerunning for Women's Officer. This is extremely positive as this year we have struggled to fill the positions on Council which has affected the democratic influence of the Cardiff region. Now we are well on our way to rectifying that and making sure Cardiff can be involved in the decision making process of the Union at every level.

You can have a look at the Candidates manifestos here and see what you think of them. Also I filmed the candidates answering questions about their roles which you can find here. Elections for President, Vice Presidents and Student Council Chair run between March 3rd and March 6th. The Student Council Officer Elections will happen the week after between March 10th and March 13th.

Some less good news...
I think it's important to address that not everything went swimmingly this month. The biggest issue is that the opening hours of the current ATRiuM Students' Union have been decreased further due to a decline in trade. This has been a commercial decision I have had very little involvement with. The new opening hours are between 9am and 3pm. Considering the new SU is going to open in September, I want to make sure that we can use this opportunity to address what is going wrong with the current SU and look at what we can do to bolster trade and activity so the new Students' Union doesn't fall to the same fate as the current one.

Another issue that's really brought to my attention is the feeling at Cromwell House and Atlantic House and that we as a Students' Union haven't been doing enough to represent these students points of view and tackle the issues they are facing. With the opening hours being increased at the ATRiuM, it seems unfair that Cromwell and Atlantic can't receive similar treatment. Also there's big access issues to Atlantic House due to the bridge by Liberty Bridge being demolished with a new one unlikely to be open until September. After hearing more about these issues and more, they have been raised to the University at a number of different levels of seniority to try and solve them relatively quickly. I believe we need to have more of an SU presence at Cromwell and Atlantic by doing regular sabb visits (would help if my card could actually get me into the buildings!) and looking into creating Students' Union social spaces similar to what's just been set up at Glyntaff.

What I'm working on at the moment.
Elections are at the forefront of all the staff and sabbs minds at the moment and probably will be for the next week or so. Despite that we'll still be working at making a difference and tackling issues in Cardiff. As mentioned we're looking to address the things that were brought up to us from Cromwell House and Atlantic House at our recent Course Rep Council meeting. I'm looking at the Opening Hours there, the technical support and issues at Atlantic House and whether we can help students with the travel issues around the different buildings in Cardiff by providing some kind of minibus service.

I'll also be working with the Union's senior management and the University to ensure the new ATRiuM Students' Union is the Union that students want. I'll be looking to set up a student forum where we can address issues with the current building and discuss areas such as menus, what is sold in the shop, what activities and events should happen and how we can use the space effectively.

After the Elections, the sabb team will be working on trying to provide a handover period for the new sabbaticals starting in June so they feel fully equipped to hit the ground running in July. We're also looking at what we can do on the Go Out and Talk side of things in the next couple of months which ties in with recent work surrounding the review of SU services and strategic planning.

That's all for now. I shall talk to you in March when we'll have a new Sabb team elected and we'll be fast approaching the Easter break. Speak to you then!

Rich

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