Hello University of Birmingham Guild of Students!!
For those of you who do not know or are joining us in September, my name is Mark Harrop and I am the new President.
Firstly I hope that this reaches you well and that you are having an ace summer! Birmingham is not the same and I can’t wait till everyone is back.
I thought I would just let you know what I have been up to over the past few weeks during handover, and also what I am currently working on.
Handover was awesome, and I want to thank Dora for placing me in such a strong position within the Guild, University and wider community, what Dora did last year was remarkable and was an unsung hero of the Guild. The Browne Review meant that she had to somewhat sideline some of her manifesto points in order to deal with the matter at hand: This is why she was a brilliant President and this is why I have massive shoes to fill (albeit not high heeled shoes!).
So, what have I been up to? Well a lot! Its been mad!
Firstly we had handover and within that I went to many meetings with the University such as University Council as well as having a one-to-one meeting with the Vice-Chancellor to mark out what my priorities are and how the Guild and University can continue to be critical partners.
I have also been in talks with university and Guild departments to do with things like library provisions, plug sockets, social learning spaces, as well as my flagship policy of a loyalty card in Joes (with Hugo as well) so watch this space!
I also went to a few national conferences such as Aldwych and SU2011. Aldwych conference is a meeting of Presidents and Education officers from the Russell Group Student Unions, so Oxford, Sheffield, UCL, Manchester etc. SU2011 is one of the biggest NUS conferences of the year where over 400 Student Unions from the Higher and Further Education sectors attended. This also had the annual NUS awards attached to it, we didnt win anything, but wait til next year! muhaha!
Apart from that I am settling into the office and what not! When you are back in brum, if you have any issues do not hesitate to get in contact.
You can also email me or follow me on Twitter:
E: president@guild.bham.ac.uk
T: Guild_President
Apart from that, speak soon!
Cheers
Mark
President