Big plans for this year...

After being in office as Campaigns Officer for a week or so now, the coming year is starting to take shape…
Our outlined priorities have been decided as HE Funding, Accommodation and Employability.

As stated before, and in my manifesto on which I was elected, my main aim is to get out and talk to students, encourage them to run their own campaigns or get involved with the campaigns we have planned, as well as ensuring that the campaigns we do have planned only run if students are actually interested in them.

I’m currently working on a project proposal ready for fresher’s week, which will give us a strong start to opening up communications with new students, and I’m now starting to think of what I’ll be doing myself this year…

I believe that if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right; so although my role is to provide support for all campaigns, I will be concentrating on a small number of high profile campaigns myself; the most interesting of which is based on Accommodation Rights.

I hope to involve as many students as possible, as it’s something that involves all students to some degree.
I’ve known a large number of students who have been living in sub-par accommodation, with, for example, maintenance issues in clear violation of the landlord’s contractual obligation to correct; the main aim of this campaign will be to give students the understanding of their rights and obligations, and those of their landlord, ultimately resulting in students themselves cracking down on appalling student accommodation.

Just because we’re still in education doesn’t mean we are any less of a person; any other tenant would have sued in some instances I’ve witnessed – what I don’t understand is why aren’t we doing the same?

The end of an era...

Although I was only an officer for the Students’ Union for the latter half of 2009/10, it’s still an emotional time looking back on those who I’ve worked with and got to know very well, most of whom became good friends who I'm sad to see moving on to other things; even so, I wish them well!

Most of the 09/10 SU team at the S&S Awards 2010.

I’m proud of my achievements so far; particularly spurring on the Communications Strategy Review, and my work on Accommodation, both of which I will have continued involvement with this coming year.

I feel I’ve upheld my instinctive moral obligation to be overly outspoken and tenacious – however as a student officer, i.e. – still being a student, I know this has resulted in the true, honest and somewhat gritty views of students being presented; I feel there’s no place for niceties and dodging around the point – hopefully that’s something of a quality I’ve passed on to the other officers, in return for the encouragement and support they’ve given me.

It’s something I will continue to do for 2010/2011 – I’ve been accused of being overly ‘radical’ and dismissive of some projects; I just want to make my time here have a lasting impression on students – I’m not an officer to become popular or add to my CV, I’m here because I know I’m more outspoken than most, I accept I’m a little arrogant, and certainly embrace the fact I’m bolshy!

...I’m sure that’s why students’ elected me as campaigns officer this year; I make people listen to what the Students’ Union SHOULD be, and not what we can easily make from what it currently is.

Anyways, this is quickly turning into a bit of an essay!

...if you’re still with me so far, let me just give a big thanks to those I’ll be missing a hell of a lot over the rest of my time here; namely, Steven Greaves – a brilliant welfare office, always up for a laugh and gave me all the support I could ask for in what I wanted to do... Kayleigh Turner – a very intelligent (as proven by our resounding victory against Bishop Grot in University Challanged!) and tactful VP Ed. who again was always there to offer support and advice not only to me in my Officer role, but also when I needed help as a Rep and School Rep. Emma Devine – guaranteed to make me smile whenever I saw her, supportive of my interest in communications and took an active part as Comms Officer in some of the projects I wanted to be involved in. Chris Farrell and Kayleigh Valentine – the perfect pair of S&S officers, knowledgeable, supportive and great to work with – both have also been particularly helpful to me in my role as President of the Parkour Society! Emily Gough and Kat Walker – we’ve had some great times together; really going to miss these two! ...as student officers themselves, they were always encouraging of what I wanted to do, and were always there with a coffee for me when I was feeling a bit de-motivated!

As for those who I’ll be working with next year – Chris and Dan – both have been very encouraging and supportive, sharing similar views on many topics to me; very good at keeping professional and personal relationships separate – we can have a heated disagreement one minute and be sitting having a cuppa the next, something I really admire and appreciate.

I’m also really looking forward to working with the new incoming officers as well, who so far have shown themselves to be determined and enthusiastic; Jonathan and Andreas both have very strong views on what they want to achieve in their role; again something very admirable...

Phil has infectious enthusiasm; with some of my plans for next year potentially concerning the greater community, I can see some big things coming our way.

Namely, my interest in pursuing various aspects of accommodation improvement for students, which I’ll be working on with Kayleigh (now officially ‘Taylor’ – too many Kayleighs in recent history to keep track! :P) – another highly motivated individual with a genuine concern for student welfare; I know her abilities have been tested already when, on her first day in office, my girlfriend actually rang up in a total mess with her accommodation which was quickly resolved.

The 10/11 Officer team - back, left to right; Chris Charnley (President), Dan Derricott (VP Academic Affairs), Jonathan Holmes (Liberation Officer), Andreas Zacharia (VP Activities) - front, left to right; Phil Krstic (RAG Officer), Kayleigh Taylor (VP Welfare) and ME! (Campaigns Officer)

As to what I want to do for next year, you’ll have to wait; my manifesto basically consisted of finding out what students wanted and helping them to try and get it – and indeed I will be even more present on campus than last year, but as I keep saying to the other officers – our title role makes up only 50% of our responsibility at max, the rest is acting as an executive officer, taking on any challenge that comes our way and overcoming it in a manner that ensures the best for students; particularly relevant with the drastic changes in government and unavoidable cuts in funding.

We cannot stop this, but we can minimise the damage...

I don’t know if anyone actually reads these blogs any more, but if you do, let me know!

...and check back in a week or so; I’ll have a proper layout for the year ahead of what I ultimately want to achieve.

Week of the 7th

...got back of holiday this week, hence no post for last week as I was away...

I attended the board of trustees meeting; always good to have oversight of the Union, and some important items, such as investment opportunities and info on new trustees, made it quite an interesting meeting.

I also went off to Riseholme again to do some more work on the R-Bar project; so far its been a great success - we've already had a response from the VC (see the SU Website - linked on the right - to have a read of her reply.)
Thanks to Izzy, who's also been working on this project, for all her hard work!

Handover for next year starts in a week, and we're moving office this week so I'm unsure of whether there'll be anything interesting to report next time around... But look forward to a some kindof close to this blog, and a bit of a visual update ready for next year :)

Week of the 24th

Had my exam on Tuesday; not too bad to say I'm rubbish at Economics!

Exec on Wednesday was interesting, with some important papers being passed through, including a reformation of RAG to give the group a bit more structure, and stop the confusion between the society and committee, and the laying out of new processes to receive feedback from key University meetings.

Also, a project proposal from Chris Charnley with an aim to improving the social facilities, namely the R-Bar, at Riseholme; this is a project me and Dan Derricott will also be supporting...

On Friday, I went to Riseholme with 200 Letters addressed to the Vice Chancellor naming the aspects of the R-bar which need to be improved; with a lot of Riseholme students living on campus, it's essential that their social well-being is taken into consideration as well...

With many students having already left for summer, and the remainder being in exams, it was quite hard to track students down, however I got around 50 students to sign a letter - 100% of those I could find to ask - and then posted them off to the VC; a successful start to the project in my opinion...
Riseholme was something mentioned in most of 10/11 Exec Team's manifestos; hopefully projects like this will continue being ran...

I'll be at home most of this week, taking a well deserved break I think! ...I'll be back on Thursday, though may be working... the week after should be good though :)

Week of the 17th

...nothing much to report this week; I spent a lot of time talking to students and chatting to some on FaceBook with regard to faculty issues, and have arranged the first Student-Academic Forum for the Business and Law Faculty (8th June, 1PM in the Hub) - hopefully this is something we can roll out to all faculties next year as I'm positive it'll give students and reps a direct way to raise issues with academics between formal meetings.

Exam coming up on Tuesday, revision timeee :/

This week...

On Tuesday we essentially finalised plans for the future of Bullet - exciting stuff - hopefully it'll lead to a strong future for the magazine, as well as other aspects of Bullet Media, and some great opportunities for students...

Today I was going around courts again, photographing problems, despite many people being away for the weekend/gone home having finished their course, it was quite successful with some serious issues being highlighted. I always enjoy getting out and talking to people anyways...

Some major issues and events arising within my Faculty as Business School Liaison Rep, so next week I'll most probably be concentrating on that as apposed to anything Office-based, though might be venturing a bit more into the Accommodation Accreditation Scheme...

-Joe

The internet's down again..?

Sorry for a late post; as many of you will know the Internet was down again in courts this weekend...

Last week I finally handed in the last two of my assignments, which although left me not much time to do anything before I went home for the weekend, though with only one exam to go until I'm done, I've been looking into what I can be doing before the end of the year...

Today I've been arranging another accommodation initiative to target specifically the University Courts'; I'll be coming round this week taking photos of any problems and breakages, and offering advice on any immediate problems... (not that Students paying so much should have any problems - but hopefully that's something we can continue to work on...)

Tomorrow, I have meetings with the General Elections and Bullet Review Project Groups, both of which are quite important projects, which although may not be in the students' eye, are beginning to produce some good outcomes...

Expect another post this week with an update of how things have been going...

Give me strength...

As I'm sure many of you can appreciate, I'm pulling my hair out at the moment with having two assignments due in on Tuesday...
Not really had time for much else, but expect some more interesting reports soon.

Week of the 19th...

A bit belated due to having a massive amount of work to do for the end of the week...

Other than being out and about in Courts talking to students about issues with accommodation, photographing some seriously bad incidents and giving out paper copies of the Accommodation Survey I've not had chance to do much else...

Give it a fortnight and I'll be back on track as my usual, pushy self :P

Back from the Easter Break...

Again, this week has been mainly focusing on my own studies as much as I can fit in around work.

However, I've spent a bit of time out and about encouraging students to vote in the upcoming general elections as part of the Vote for Students Campaign; personally, I can see why many students may not be interested in the general elections, but after having a close read of the main parties' manifestos, there are some significant differences which could be of great effect to students...

I'd really advise having a read, and then voting for the party which you feel would give the best deal for students...

Week Beginning 22nd March

This week has been quite hectic for me with regards to my personal studies; I have 4 assignments due in shortly after easter so have been spending a lot of time in the library!

On Tuesday some of you may have seen me having my legs waxed for charity; a painful event which raised over £120 for Haiti, organised by RAG.

Today I'm just off to take some of the SU Volounteer Awards posters out, and on Friday I'll be sitting on the Bullet Review Group.

Looking forward to the easter break!

This week...

The last two weeks have been relatively busy for me, both in terms of my Officer activities and personal studies....

Last Tuesday I attended an NUS Course Rep training event with two of our School Reps and VP Education; it was a really useful event, and something that in the future I'd hope more Reps would be attending - hopefully we can take experiences from that to help our own in-house Rep Training as well...

Wednesday's Exec Committee saw a great proposal from Emily Gough for a week of being out and about gathering student opinion on what we've been up to recently, and finding out essentially what students want now; similar to what I wanted to do at the beginning of the year but due to other initiatives looking at communications with students was scaled down a little...
On the Friday we had a meeting to discuss how this would work and the frameworks look really fun...

Also, I met Lord Young with regard to general student experience; the meeting was productive, and a report will be submitted from him to the Vice Chancellor about what we talked about; namely issues such as accommodation, contact time with academics and student involvement with many aspects of the Uni.

This Monday I attended Board of Trustees, which again had some interesting proposals, including amended sports and societies constitutions... I'll be giving a report back to Student Council on Thursday.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I attended a Communication Strategy Working Group meeting; we discussed how best to find out what our stakeholders need to know about the SU and how they could best find out that information, amongst other things.
The Comms Strat group is progressing at a slow, yet steadily productive pace; communications - particularly with regard to students - is something that we can't deal with quickly; we need to ensure that every detail and possibility is considered into the strategy, which hopefully will provide a good set of guidelines to improve communication in the future.

The last two weeks...

Over the last two weeks as many of you will know I've been out Campaigning for the position of Campaigns Officer in the 2010/2011 SU Elections; a brilliant experience...

I've met loads of new people and made good friends with many of the other candidates running alongside me, and am pleased to say I was elected by 590 votes to my opposing candidates 221.

I'm really looking forward to acting in this role next year, and can't wait to be out talking to students specifically on what they want to campaign for...

In the meantime though, I'll be back out there talking to students with regard to my position this year, taking part in a number of internal working groups pressing for particular improvements in the way we communicate with students, starting off with how we find out how they wish to interact with the SU.

Over the next few weeks, as a School Liaison Rep, me and the Law and Faculty Reps for Business and Law will be organising a kindof student/academic forum - a casual coffee-and-a-chat style meeting to bridge the massive time difference between Subject Committees and Faculty Board Meetings, which I can see being a great success which we can roll out across all faculties next year...

Hopefully this will enable students and Course Reps to have a more direct route of access to academics with issues or queries, and has been accepted as a positive move forward by members of Student Council.

Have a good week everyone! :)

The last few weeks of January

Over the last few of weeks I've been so busy I've hardly had time to do anything else!
Thursday 21st saw me and VP Comms going round Chad Varah and Greestone; putting up a few new posters, but more importantly talking to a large number of students about the Union following my view to improving communication within the Union...
I also had a group of students come to me asking how to raise a particular issue, which I was more than happy to advise and assist with and believe that they plan to submit a motion to council.

Monday and Tuesday of the week of the 25th were particularly hectic for me, with now having a 7 hour day on the Monday - all my lectures for the week bar one! - and Tuesday with me being out filming for a documentary, followed by an informal yet productive meeting with my fellow Faculty Reps to discuss papers for Wednesday's meeting...

Wednesday was undoubtedly the most eventful day that week; with an intensly productive Exec Committee Meeting followed by an even more productive Faculty Board meeting...
Although not directly related to my Student Officer role and particularly of interest to B&L Faculty Students, the main points which we submitted in our report are shown below:

Action point A5 (2009-11-11)

-Business School course reps were contacted by Joe Hicks, however many failed to respond.

-This issue has been presented to Student Rep Exec. Committee and is being tackled.

This was an initiative I proposed to improve communication with students within my faculty before I was elected as a Student Officer; It is now being taken further and applied across every academic school in conjunction with an internet directory.

Staff/Student Communications

-A significant number of students have reported contacting academics, particularly through email, to be unreliable

-Proposition of a ‘good practice’ guide regarding timescale of email communications for academics.

This was received well by the board; explanations were given that sometimes when academics are away or ill, they do not have auto-messaging enabled to let students know, which is something being looked into...

Leniency during bad weather

-During the recent period of bad weather, many students had problems coming into University – particularly those spending time at home for Christmas – to hand in assignments.

-Proposition of a degree of leniency towards hand-in dates during extreme situations.

Again, the board agreed as many of the academics had been in similar situations; we were informed that deadlines can be met via post; I suggested that students needed to be more informed of this facility. 

Electronic submissions are also being considered.

Time-tabling issues

­-A number of students, particularly level 1 and 2, were unhappy about the scheduling of tests/exams at the start of the calendar year when they were otherwise not required to be in University for a significant amount of time.

-Proposition of more student-centred timetabling of such tests.

Academics were aware of this, and apparently timetabling is being looked at as a much bigger project, which hopefully will sort this out in the long term, however we were reminded that those weeks were still academic weeks and the timetables have to fit around other students, academics and room bookings.

Subject Committee Scheduling

-As senior reps, we feel that our Subject Committees should be held prior to Faculty Board meetings.

-This way, any issues not resolved in these meetings can be brought to Faculty Board.

-Proposition for Subject Committee meetings to be scheduled before Faculty Board Meetings, with enough time for Actions to be carried out.

This is being taken under consideration for next year, however we are taking steps to try and arrange more regular meetings (covered later in this post)

Venue Times

-It has been raised by the student body that increasingly frequently academics are allowing their tuition periods to continue past the ’ten-to’ deadline.

-This makes it difficult when students have one lecture/seminar following another which runs over.

-Proposition to remind Academics of these timing guidelines

Academics will be reminded of this policy; hopefully this will prevent future problems.

Academic Freedom Policy Statement - Regarding Reps

-Some academics appear offended, abrasive and are unhelpful when approached by both students and reps.

-The guidelines of this policy do not only apply to academics, but to students and reps as well.

-Proposition to remind academics of this policy’s relevance to students and reps, and of their duties as academic tutors in support of students.

This was accepted, and we were encouraged to (and inform students to) essentially stand up for ourselves; academics are there to give knowledge and sometimes take any queries as a personal attack, it should be stressed that students have full rights to talk to academics without receiving hostility. 

NSS

-08/09 - These results show particular weaknesses in certain courses and specific areas across the board (i.e. – Assessment Feedback)

-How are these issues to be tackled?

-09/10 - Action Plan not included in papers with NSS starting soon

-What is the Action Plan for the Business and Law Faculty?

These plans were delayed due to unforeseen circumstances... We were told those particular weaknesses are general across the whole University, and are something many faculties are striving to improve for the future.

Other Progressions:

Following on from the faculty board meeting, myself, James Spittlehouse and Kimberly Smith (Business/Law/Faculty, respectively) met with Heather Hughes, to discuss mainly NSS and communication...

It has been decided that a 'Rep Forum' for the Faculty will be held (more frequently than faculty and subject committees) for reps to discuss issues arising; eventually, we hope that academics will also come along, in a very informal 'coffee and a chat' scenario, to try and get issues sorted out as quickly as possible...

This was mentioned at the end of student council last week, and it has been suggested that our faculty run the initiative to see how it works, with a view to all faculties doing the same next year...

Hopefully, this will make communication within specific faculties much more comprehensive and resolutions much quicker...

Apologies for this blog post being a little belated, I have much more to say, but I'm conscious of this getting a little too long for comfort; expect an update of my activities soon!

-Joe

So far this week...

Yesterday we were out on a Strategy Planning Out-Day, which proved to be very successful with many ideas, suggestions and potential projects coming to light...

Today...
I've been planning what I'm currently calling the 'Student Out-Reach Week', in which I'll be spending a lot of time out and about round the Brayford Campus, going directly to students and finding out a little about how they feel about the Union, what they like about how we communicate and what they think can be improved.

Students are essentially our reason for existence, so I feel keeping up to date with what specifically they want from the Union is important, however so nothing is lost in translation keeping a finger on the evolving preferences of communication is essential to fully representing the student body.

Tomorrow...
A busy day for me tomorrow, with an Exec meeting, then an economics test, and then I'll be around photographing at the Housing Event at the Engine Shed organised by the Union.

It'll be a really great help to anyone looking for accommodation for the future, particularly for first years (like me!)  - there are many local accommodation agencies coming, so come for a chat and see what's on offer!

The rest of the week...
The rest of the week will be relatively quiet as far as meetings go, but I have a lot of organisation and work to do for the week after with regard to my Out-Reach project, so I'll be keeping busy!

I've also been thinking about my plans for next year, with the elections opening soon... I've been considering whether I want to run, and trying to establish out of the new Officer Structure where I'd best fit in...

Following on from what will have been a relatively short term as Student Officer this year, I'm now pretty sure I'll be running for Campaigns Officer, as I feel the position will lead on nicely from the groundwork around communication I've been looking into this year.

With Campaigns, I'd still be able to continue improving and looking further into communications, whilst being able to encourage and support students to manage their own projects and campaigns; I can see there being great scope for students interested in political campaigning right the way down to simply wanting to offer suggestions to the Union - in which I think with my experience so far I'd be capable of supporting them.

Keep an eye out when we hit elections for my manifesto, as I'm sure if I do decide to run I'll have thought of many more opportunities in which I could support and represent students!

Enjoy they time we have before semester B! :)
Big love,
-Joe

1st day Back...

I arrived back in Lincoln on Friday at around 1:45, and straight to the office it was! :)

After having a chat some some of the other officers about various developments that'd been going on over Christmas, I activated my shiny new staff account and began putting together a more specific plan of how I want to work towards improving communication...
Over the next few weeks, hopefully a lot of you will be seeing me around, in various roles!

englishinguiabasico.wordpress.com

Some of the suggestions that have come up so far are; more publication of facebook groups for schools so that all students with facebook can join, coffee meetings with students who want to chat about anything and posters to improve the rep system, with photos and contact details of reps - something I myself was looking into as a Faculty Rep.
I'll be trying to find out through what methods people actually want to be contacted by, and how they'd prefer to approach the Union, and I'm sure some of the suggestions above will prove to be very popular!

Welcome back everyone!

[Also, my new e-mail address is: jhicks@lincoln.ac.uk - email links on this page will be amended soon.]