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

ATRiuM 2A Q & A

This is how the construction for Atrium 2a is coming along so far.

In a recent survey I did, it became apparent to me that many students in Cardiff at USW have not been provided with enough information about the new building ATRiuM 2A. Also some of the communication the Students' Union distributed before Christmas seems to have been misconstrued. Therefore I'd thought I'd write this blog to try and outline the facts of the matter.

What is ATRiuM 2A?
Atrium 2A is the current building work at the side of the ATRiuM. It'll be a two-storey building and will contain a University operated catering facility (similar to Stilts in Treforest) on its ground floor and a new Students' Union on the first floor. The Students' Union is due to have a bar area, a dedicated Union Office, an Ideas Factory and a shop. It's the first part of extension plans to the ATRiuM. The second part (Atrium 2B) is in a state of limbo at the moment and is only likely to be constructed if student numbers based in Cardiff increase.

Why has it been built?
The Atrium Cafe has been extremely popular and there is a feeling among the University that the Atrium could do with more catering facilities due to demand. Also the new catering facilities will mean they can be hired privately for events and dinner evenings in a central city location. Previous functions have had to happen off campus.

The new Students' Union has been constructed as the current one was only designed to be a temporary building for five years. It opened in 2009 so is now its in its last year so the new building is seen as the long term solution. It also may have something to do with low NSS scores surrounding Satisfaction with the Students' Union in the Cardiff area.

When will it open?
The building is due to open in September 2014 in time for the new academic year though Estates projects have been known to overrun before!

Will there still be catering facilities?
Yes, but the majority if not all of these will be run by the University included the current cafe and the new cafeteria area. The current menu supplied at the ATRiuM SU at the moment is likely to change a lot.

Will there be any teaching facilities?
No. Atrium 2a just has the catering and Students' Union. Atrium 2b is due to have teaching facilities should it be constructed.

Will the ATRiuM Students' Union be closing?
There are no plans for the Students' Union to be closed only for it to move. But it is likely to change significantly in terms of what food and drink it can offer. The only way the ATRiuM Students' Union may close is if USWSU's Trustee Board felt there was no way the new SU could be commercially viable.

Plans for the layout of Atrium 2a once constructed.

What are the issues with 2a for the Students' Union?
From the past 8 months from which I've been dealing with the ATRiuM 2A situation, several problems have been raised from a Students' Union perspective. The first was that the idea was proposed to us that the SU should be a 'wine bar' and therefore not have on tap pints as the piping would be difficult to set up. This has been resolved and now there will be taps.

The major issue at the moment surrounds what food the Students' Union can serve. It's been suggested that the SU should run a Tapas Bar. At the moment, the SU will only be supplied with a microwave to prepare food. Microwaved food is likely to be expensive to buy in and may drive up the price of food at the SU. Therefore the SU is looking to try and get a Deep Fat Fryer installed to ensure the Union in Cardiff can be commercially viable. However the University have raised several issues in regards to this including the lack of proper extraction in the preparation area at the new site and the possibility of the SU directly competing with the catering outlet in the same building.

Can the Union still run even without the fryer?
That's not a straightforward question to answer. It's likely that if the SU doesn't get a fryer there's a relatively good chance that there may be no food offering. In recent years the SU has had to rely more on catering due to less alcohol sales. There is now a culture of pre-drinking as students find that the most economic way of getting booze is by buying it from a supermarket. Also a reliance on alcohol sales would rely on evening trade. Historically, through past experiences, the ATRiuM SU made a significant loss by opening in the evenings and weekends which is why the opening hours became much more restricted in 2011. If this trend was to continue, the new SU would likely lose the organisation money.

On the flip side of that argument there are some successful bars which can self-sustain themselves. A good example in a similar environment is the Royal Welsh College's Students' Union bar. The bar only opens in the evenings but manages to be a sustainable source of income for the SU despite the fact the college has significantly less students than USW's Cardiff Campus (around 800). Also Porters bar, minutes down the road from the Atrium has seen great popularity due to the weekly events they hold there. Over 50% of people I surveyed in a recent questionnaire said that they went to Porters so it is popular among the student population which means it also represents one of the new SU's key competitors.

Have any other alternatives been suggested?
We have mentioned to the University whether it would be possible to offer a completely non-commercial space which could be used by clubs and societies in the region and students wanting to host events and such. However the University rejected this idea despite the fact it would ensure the SU wouldn't be likely to lose money on it.

What are the overriding issues with the Students' Union in Cardiff?
As far as I'm concerned it's not so much about what the SU looks like but it's much more about how the space is used. Issues that came up in my survey included:

• The feeling that the Union wasn't run by students due to no student staff working behind the bar
• The SU should be open in the evenings
• The SU should do more events, social activities and live music.
• The marketing and promotion of the Union needs to be improved.

From a personal aspect, there's also the issue that students aren't aware of the full breath and depth of what the Students' Union does. It's a lot more than just a bar. It provides representation through its sabbatical officers (like myself), its Student Council officers along with the SVR and Course Rep system. There's also societies, clubs, volunteering and fundraising opportunities to get involved with and much more. I believe awareness of our core services would be the easiest way to improve the low NSS scores USWSU receives in the Cardiff region.

What can I do to help with the issues or provide input? 

Ultimately, what has happened at the ATRiuM and the other Cardiff buildings at USW is that there's been a lack of student feedback surrounding the issues of catering and the Students' Union. This in turn has caused both University management and Union management to make their own assumptions as to what students want. So if you want a Students' Union that's student-led and truly reflects the student opinion all you need to do is voice your opinions and/or get more involved in the SU in one of the following ways:

• Comment on this blog with your thoughts
• Get in touch with me - by email: vicepresident.cardiff@southwales.ac.uk, or on Twitter @sheepfm
• Attend our Annual General Meeting on Jan 30 at 6:30pm in the Atrium Zen Room(CB403) and have your say in person. Link to the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/256116464552793/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
• Get involved in our Elections next month where you can run for a Sabbatical or Student Council position. Nominations for elections open on February 6th and close on February 20th and nominations packs can be picked up from any Students' Union office from February 6th.

If you've got any more questions feel free to let me know and I can add them to this blog. Hopefully now you've got a bit better idea of what Atrium 2 is all about.