NUS Annual Conference

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Bonjour/Buenas Dias/Guten tag.

Welcome to my official blog, where I share my thoughts and updates in order to keep you, my constituents informed about the work I do, on your behalf. Recently I was lucky enough to attend the NUS Annual Conference, in place of a delegate who could not attend. ‘Conference’ as it shall now be referred to happens every year and all NUS affiliated student’s unions are entitled to send delegates to represent their students. As one of the larger unions in the country we have 8 places allocated to us. Conference votes on policy, sets the strategic direction of NUS for the upcoming year and elects a new National Executive Council, which includes the President, Vice Presidents and ‘Block of 15′ which is akin to our Non-Sabbatical Officers.

In the spirit of transparency and accountability that I have championed amongst Guild Councillors this year, of which many have taken up the mantle to great effect, I shall be publishing my voting record for you to delight in and share my thoughts about the Conference experience as a whole. If at any time you require clarification about what I have said please don’t hesitate to contact me through the usual methods.

For all of the motions, with explanations etc. please use this link.

100 – New Members and Constitutional Ratifications – For -Passed

101 – Constitutional Ratifications – For – Passed. This motion made the NUS into a company limited by guarantee, much like the Guild, as opposed to an unincorporated association as it used to be. Incorporation brings fiscal benefits and protects members of the board from becoming bankrupt if successful  legal action were to be taken against the organisation.

Union Development Zone (This zone concentrates on student activities, democracy, and other internal union affairs)

501 – Don’t just widen participation – Deepen Participation – For – Passed

501a – For – Passed

502 – Student’s Union Development; More Important Now Than Ever – For

502a – Against – Falls. Mistake in text.

503 – NUS; Developing Students as well as Unions – For – Passed

503a – For – Passed

503b – For – Passed

504 – Building a Generation Ready to Shout ‘I am the Change!’

504a – For – Passed

504b – Abstain – Passed.

505 – NUS is not the National Union of Sabbatical Officers but there should be one! – Against – Falls. This one was interesting, it wanted to create a trade union for Sabbaticals. Definitely did not agree with it, neither did Conference.

506 – Supporting Small and Specialist Unions -  For – Passed

506a – For – Passed

507- Democratic Student’s Unions – Abstain  due to not being in the room during amendments B and C.

507a -For -Passed

507b -Not in Room – Passed

507c – Not in Room – Fell

508 – Prioritise Further Education Student’s Unions – Not in Room – Passed

509 – New Income, Financial Management, RAG – Resolves 1, 2 & 4 Removed – Abstain – Fell. Abstained due to arriving towards the end of the debate.

510 – Right to Protest on Campus – For – Passed

The rest of the motions in the Union Development Zone were deferred to the NEC (their version of GOG) as time had run out on this zone.

Education Zone (Further & Higher)

201 – Keeping Colleges in Check – For – Passed

301 – Postgraduate Funding and Support – For -Passed

301a – For – Passed

301b – For – Passed

301c – For – Passed

301d – For – Passed

301e – For – Passed

202 – Offender Learning – For – Passed

302 – The Public Role of Higher Education -  For – Passed

302a – For – Passed

302b – For – Passed

302c – Against – Falls

203 – Free Education – Abstain – Passed

203a – Abstain- Passed

203b – For – Passed

303 – Student Engagement in teaching excellence – For – Passed.

303a – For -Passed

303b – Against – Falls. This wanted to boycott the National Student Survey, it didn’t go down very well!

303c – Against – Falls

204 – Lifelong Learning -For – Passed

304 – Access and Admissions – For – Passed

304a – For – Passed

304b – Abstain – Passed

304c – Withdrawn

304d – Not in the room

305 – Higher Education Bill – For – Passed

305a – Agaisnt – Passed

305b – Against -Passed

305c – Against – Falls

305d – Not disscussed due to time running out.

All other motions were deffered to the NEC due to time running out.

Welfare Zone

601 – The Pound in Your Pocket – For – Passed

601a – For – Passed

601b – For – Passed

602 – Localism -For – Passed

602a – For -Passed

602b -For – Passed. This was Zuki’s motion.

602c – For – Passed

602d – For – Passed

603 – Faith & Sexuality – For – Passed

603a – Against – Falls. Motion proposers weren’t even there!

604 – Prevent – For – Passed

604a – Abstain – Passed

604b – Abstain – Passed

605 – Stop and Search – For – Passed

605a – For -Passed

606 – Support for Student’s Taking a Year from Study – For – Passed

607 – Cyber Bullying – For – Passed

The rest of the motions were deferred t NEC due to time running out.

Society & Citizenship Zone

401 – Access and Citizenship in the Community – For – Passed

402 – Defend the Right to Protest – Against – Passed

402a – Against – Passed. An LUU delegate put in a procedural motion to remove resolves 9, which fell, which is why I voted against it.

402b – For – Falls

The rest of the motions were deferred to NEC due to time running out.

NUS Annual General Meeting

701 – Rules Change – Abstain – Passed

702 – Zones and Guilloutine – For – Passed

702a – Against – Falls

703 – Adminsitration of elections at politically autonomous events – For – Passes

704 – Password Protection a barrier to a layer of untapped talent! – For – Passes

All other motions were deferred to the NEC due to time running out.

Well done if you’ve got this far, and I hope you managed to cross reference the motions to the booklet provided. All in all NUS Annual Conference was a worthwhile experience, and if you think Guild Council is factionalised then this is on another level! From a democracy perspective it was interesting to see how another meeting is run (sad I know) but I definitely picked up a few tips and hints that might come in handy.

I only came out with one negative on my mind. That was the fact that on the odd occasion a delegate were to go on stage, and portray a different viewpoint on the status quo, particularly in regards to national policy on Higher Education, protesting or indeed both, many parts of Conference floor would boo and jeer to show their disaproval. Obviously this is a regular sight in the House of Commons or other legislative chambers, but in regards to the NUS, an organisation that champions equal opportunity and inclusitivity I found it to be appaling and somewhat hypocritical. I say hypocritical because many of the jeers came from factions who are constantly harping on about ‘democracy’ and ‘participation’ as reasons for pushing their agenda through, hence rather ironic that they were then heckling delegates with a different viewpoint to them, as for me, a plurality of opinions is a core factor in any democratic body.

Thats enough of a rant though, they know who they are. Additionally if you haven’t heard conference also elected a new set of Officers which are as follows.

President – Liam Burns. Elected for a second term.

Vice President (Union Development) – Vicki Baars. Former LGBT Officer.

Vice President (Higher Education) – Rachel Wenstone. Former NEC and Leeds Sabb.

Vice President (Further Education) – Toni Pearce. Elected for a second term.

Vice President (Welfare) – Pete Mercer. Elected for a second term

Vice President (Society & Citizenship) – Dannie Grufferty. Elected for a second term.

Hope you enjoyed reading and good luck with your exams!

Hugo

 

 

Review of Term Two

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Greetings one and all and thank you for visiting my VPDR blog.

In this month’s entry I shall be reflecting on the term just gone and touching on what’s to come in my final term in office. At this point I’d like to make an admission. ‘They’ always says that term two for the VPDR is the busiest by far, and after term one I did not think this possible. However, ‘they’ were right and I for one am rather relieved it’s over and I’m looking forward to what I hope will be a slightly more manageable final term. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed much of term two and it continues to be a pleasure to serve as your Vice President (Democracy & Resources).

Much of the last term can be surmised into two events; Officer Elections and Green Impact. Both of which unfortunately fell on the same week of each other, an unhappy coincidence which will not be re-occuring next year! I’ll  kick off with Officer Elections, the two weeks I was most looking forward to out of my entire term of office.

Guild Officer Team Elections 2012

So, Officer Elections. The most hectic, memorable, exciting, tiring, colourful, emotional and fun fortnight of the year. In my opinion, at least. This year was the third time and final time I have been actively involved in Guild’s biggest elections and I like to think my experience as a campaigner in 2010 and a candidate in 2011 help set me up as the guy ultimatley responsible for them all in 2012. Admitedly, being the VPDR is not quite the rollercoaster ride that being a candidate is, but it was still a pleasure to work with such an enthusiastic bunch of candidates and campaigners and I hope they enjoyed themselves as much as I did.

I’m going to run through the process chronologically and share some thoughts along the way. First of all, candidates numbers. We had 43 nominations and ended up with 39 candidates through 4 withdrawals. Our marketing campaign was ‘Better Guild. Better University. Better You.’ Designed to highlight the difference Officers can make to the Guild and University and ultimatley the skills that are developed through that. The largest drop in candidate numbers from 2011 were in VP Activities & Development where 7 candidates dropped to 3 and in VP Sport where 6 candidates also dropped to 3. Two of what could be many reasons for this is is the fact that potential candidates will have known how many people ran for those positions last year, expected a similar number and where put off by the potential of huge competition. Additionally, anecdotal feedback has suggested that potential candidates were put off by some of the negativity surrounding some parts of the Guild at the moment, and ‘didn’t want to go through what we have to go through.’ This is obviously a great shame, however 39 candidates is still a great achievement, and I’m especially proud of President, where 6 brave souls emerged! Candidates were also treated to more training than ever before, both when it came to campaigning and looking after their welfare while out on the trail. The bottom line on candidates is that while we would have liked to have had more nominations, it becomes unreasonable to expect continuous growth year on year as eventually it would become ridiculous, and the synergy of nearly 3 candidates per Sabbatical VP position hopefully made it easier for voters to distinguish between candidates based on policies.

 

 

 

For the campaigning period itself, there were two changes that were made and for those who regularly read my blog you’ll already know what those changes were. The most significant change was giving students an extra 72 hours to cast their vote, by opening voting on the first Friday, as opposed to the second Monday. This followed good practice elsewhere in the sector, with the University of Nottingham Student’s Union increasing their turnout by doing the same last year. However, I’m not entirely sure it worked for us in the same way. I think giving students that extra time to cast their vote meant we lost some momentum in the second week, which has traditionally been the only week in which you could vote. More information will follow in the annual elections report to Guild Council, however if I were to run the elections again next year, this is something I would strongly consider reversing. Having said that though, I don’t regret trying it. It was a decision that made sense at the time, and has been a useful learning curve which we can take into future years.

The second change made was introducing Unlock Democracy‘s VoteMatch module, successfully trialled at Leeds University Union last year, resulting in another increased turnout for them. We were one of eleven student’s unions to use VoteMatch for their 2012 elections, a list including other Russell Group Student’s Unions like Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool. I won’t bore you again with the reasons why, for this I’ll refer you to GTV’s and Redbrick’s brilliant Sunday Edition (skip to around 13 minutes).

The Sunday Edition – 19th February 2012.

I know that some students I have spoken to about VoteMatch have had their reservations, however almost everyone who I have spoken to has understood why this is something I feel will benefit Guild Officer Elections. This being the first year of us using it meant there was always going to be issues that would need to be ironed out in future, and I can think of a few aspects that I would change if I were lucky enough to be here next year. To skim the surface, this would include far more focus on role specific issues, a more extensive opportunity for students to contribute issues and statements  and making these statements much less internal facing and more relatable to a much more diverse range of students, not just those involved in the Guild. Using VoteMatch is something I would continue with into the future, as that sort of technology is going to be standardised in student’s union elections within the next two to three years, and the experience we have of using it this year will be invaluable in deciding how to make it better for years to come.

V-O-T-E

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The elections culminated in a fantastic results night ceremony, and if you haven’t seen the video that GTV put together for it, then I would urge you to check it out using the link below. It was my third results night, and I have to say it’s a lot easier walking into that room when you know you’re not a candidate with your future on the line.

G:TV Results Night 2012

Apart from the President-Elect’s nerves getting the better of him, the whole night went off without a hitch and I hope everyone who attended, win or lose, enjoyed the ceremony. The only disappointment from my perspective was the turnout of 6,161. While it’s great to achieve the second highest turnout in Guild history, I have to say its not what I had planned at the beginning of the year. I’ve already spoken about candidate numbers, and the drop for VP Activities & Development and VP Sport, however the notable statistic when looking at the turnout figures is the Presidential race. There was nearly 1,000 less votes in the Presidential race this year than last year. Additionally, the current President, Mark Harrop, was elected with over 3,000 votes and this year the President-Elect, David Franklin was elected with just over 2,000. A rather staggering statistic, especially with the aforementioned 6 candidates.

However, I am not one to dwell too much on the past and I am satisfied to say that with the beauty of hindsight, I wouldn’t have done too many things differently. I will miss Guild elections when I’m, gone, the excitement and buzz around campus is something really special and I was proud of everyone who took part and would like to say thank you, whether that be to the candidates, campaigners or voters, you all made it a memorable fortnight.

It’s at this point I’d also like to congratulate my successor, Leander Jones, who won with a convincing margin and I’m certain he’ll have a great year to look forward to come July, and wish him the best of luck.

Green Impact

Now I can’t promise that this part of my blog is as exciting as elections, however it still took up a huge portion of my time, and I’m proud that we were able to win Gold, for the second year running. For those who aren’t aware, which I’d imagine is most people reading this, the Green Impact scheme is run by the NUS which encourages student’s unions to focus on ethical and environmental issues. There are literally hundreds of criteria, which, rather unsurprisingly are divided up into Bronze, Silver and Gold, as well as numerous bonus criteria. These all equate to points, and we achieved maximum points in Bronze, Silver and Gold, as well as 422 points out of 638 available bonus points, giving us a total of 655 points out of 966. This criteria can cover anything from what paper we use in our printers, whether or student staff clothing is fairtrade or how much the we have decreased our carbon footprint by.

Green Impact Gold Award

As a result of Green Impact, our mixed recycling scheme has expanded to cover all parts of the building, the energy consumption of our commercial outlets has decreased and our food procurement is more ethical than ever. I could probably talk for a while about all things we have done or changed, but I’ve already gone on for a while so I’ll spare you. If you would like to know more about it, as always please don’t hesitate to contact me.

As a result of our successive successes, the NUS is creating an ‘excellence’ standard for those unions which have won Gold twice in a row, so the hard work won’t stop now, I guarantee you!

Ok…what’s next?

The summer term for me will include Gradball, the democratic structures review and setting our a Officer Comms strategy for the future, based on the lessons we’ve learnt this year. All very exciting, and its scary to thing our term in office is slowly coming to an end. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the last 1,700 words and I’m sure you’re looking forward to next month’s blog already! But, for now, good luck with all of your exams and essays. An unhealthy mix of coffee and fast food seemed to get me through it all this time last year, but it’s not something I’d really recommend.

As ever,

Hugo

Report to Guild Council

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This is my report to Thursday’s Guild Council which I wrote last week. Obviously a full analysis and report on the completed election cycle will follow soon.

 

Guild Officer Elections 2012

As some of you may have noticed, by the time Guild Council arrives we will have had our biggest election cycle of the year and will have a brand new Guild Officer Team ready and raring to go for July. Unfortunately as I am writing this during the middle of these elections there isn’t a lot I can report on, simply the fact that campaigning is happening and four days in I have still not had to hand out any campaigning bans (I am hoping this continues).

What I can talk about is what’s gone on in the run up to elections and how I’m hoping this will have helped the entire process. Our nominations period yielded 39 candidates, which is four down on 2011. While this is a shame I feel our publicity focussing around Better Guild, Better University and Better You helped us recruit a very high standard of candidates, with six candidates contesting the Presidential race, up from two the previous year. Additionally this is the first time since 2008 that all 17 positions have been filled first time round, without having to hold by-elections in October alongside the PMSO election.

Additionally, for the first time, we tried to raise awareness of amongst the student body that elections were coming, in the lead up to campaigning. This took the form of online exposure, social media coverage, Redbrick adverts and a banner at the Grange road entrance.

The biggest difference from last year is the fact that voting opens on the first Friday this year, as opposed to the second Monday, a full 72 hours earlier. This is giving students more opportunity to cast their vote, especially over the weekend which in the past has been a non-event. Additionally, a new module called Vote Match was tried after feedback from last year told us that only 49% of students vote based on policy. While this is obviously not a not a change in the e-voting system, it’s an additional weapon in student’s armoury to when it comes to cross examining candidates about where they stand on certain issues that they may encounter if elected.

On a more minor note, although it’s something I’ve been keen to do for a while is to make sure that results night is accessible as possible for those who aren’t able to be in the room. By this I mean enabling our fantastic media groups, who have as I write this done a sterling job of covering elections thus far, to get as much access and support as possible in order to open the ceremony up to the wider student population. Feel free to ask me whether or not I achieved this or not.

Green Impact

Alongside elections, albeit not ideal timing we have just been audited for the NUS’s Green Impact Scheme, which we were able to win Gold in last year. As part of the scheme this year we have had to enact a number of changes such as demonstrating a drop in the utilities consumption of our commercial outlets, producing a paperless Impact Report and demonstrating a commitment to reducing our carbon footprint through sealing our windows and insulating our loft space.

The winners of various awards will be announced at the NUS Services Limited convention in April, of which I will be reporting back as to whether which have achieved a Gold Standard award for the second year running.

Entertainments

Preparation has begun in earnest for GradBall 2012, which we have decided to keep on campus again, due to the overwhelming success of last year. The only pressing issue to resolve is the Dinner package, which undersold last year. Making the dinner more than just a dinner this year is a priority in order to boost sales and make the package more attractive.

I’ve also been working with an Open Place Guild Councillor and LUMSoc to put on a live music night on in Joe’s bar on Friday 2nd March. At the time of writing I don’t know how it’s gone yet but I’ve been really impressed with all involved regarding their passion and determination to get the project off the ground.

If you have any queries please feel free to contact me.

Brace Yourselves: Elections are Coming

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Yes yes yes! Its that time of year again. The time of year where campus comes alive with cardboard, campaigners and candy! Sorry for the Americanism there, but its all in the name of alliteration.

I love elections, the buzz and excitement of them gives me a cheap kick and I can’t wait to see what this year’s cohort of campaigners have in store for us. For a full list of candidates please click here. Additionally, Redbrick have an awesome microsite up which I really suggest you keep an eye on as it becomes populated over the coming days and weeks. Interestingly as well, this is the first year since we incorporated in 2008 that we have managed to fill every single position, Sabb and Non-Sabb and not had to hold by-elections in October, so congratulations to all candidates standing, hopefully it will be one hell of a ride.

Why do I love elections though? No, not simply because I’m the Vice President (Democracy & Resources), but because anybody can run and anybody can win. You don’t have to be ‘Guildy’ or ‘popular’ you just have to have a determination and a belief that you are the best person for that job and that you’re going to prove to students why they should chose you to represent them over the next academic year. The candidates who will win this year will be the candidates who put their heart and soul into campaigning and are determined to prove to students how they can change their University experience for the better. So get our there and ask them what they can do for you, question them about their policies, question them about their commitment to get the job done and vote for the candidates who you truly believe to have your interests at heart and really want to make sure that your voice is being heard.

And for the doubters? I tell them this, I tell them if you like the sound of an idea, of a policy, but don’t believe it can be done or make a difference, cast that doubt aside for a moment, get online, cast your vote and wait. For the more students who vote, the greater the mandate and the legitimacy of next year’s Officer team will be, and the chances of that idea or policy becoming reality will be far, far higher than if you just sat and did nothing. One of our greatest strengths as a Student’s Union is that our student leaders, the Officers, have one hell of a mandate from students to go and fight for change on your behalf. Last year, over 7,000 students voted, the 4th highest in the UK. When we talk, the University listens, largely down to the mandate that you as students give to us. One of the most influential things you can do to make that change a reality is to vote, and trust me, we’ll make sure the University listens.

But, enough of that. I hope I make sense and you understand where I’m coming from. Voting isn’t meaningless, its the mechanism for which change happens.

A few changes from last year which you may be interested in.

Voting Opens Earlier

In the past, campaigning started on Monday, and voting opened the following Monday. This year, we’re opening 72 hours earlier on the first Friday of campaigning, giving students a whole extra weekend to have their say. This was trialled at Nottingham University Student’s Union last year to great success, and hopefully will be just as successful here.

Vote Match

In order to focus the debate more around policy, this year we’re introducing an online module called Vote Match which will present students with around 20 issues based statements for each sabbatical position which they can agree, disagree or remain open minded about. You will then be matched to an appropriate candidate based on your answers. For example, candidate A – 60%, candidate B – 30% and so on and so forth.

I was invited on Redbrick and G:TV’s Sunday Edition this week where I was asked more about the elections. Click here to see it and skip to around 13 minutes in to see what I had to say.

I was going to use this opportunity to mention something about Wednesday’s protest, however for now I’d rather focus on positive messages. Certain people have a lot to answer for, but my job is to focus on making these elections the best ever.

Thank you for reading, and please don’t forget to vote.

Hugo

Report to the Trustee Board

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Hello!

For every meeting of the Trustee Board, Officers update trustees about what they have been doing since the last board meeting. We recently met on the 16th January so I thought I would share my report with you.

‘Since the last board meeting in October, the Guild has held two very successful election cycles, resulting in record turnouts for each. The Guild Council elections saw over 2,800 students vote, the largest ever non-Officer election turnout, while RA elections resulted in 2,169 residents voting, another record for 12 committees. Furthermore, the NUS Delegate elections took place simultaneously as RA elections and saw over 1,200 students voting to send 7 of their peers to the NUS National Conference in April.

The Joes+ loyalty card continued to sell well, with students’ saving over £17,000 in term one, which has correlated with bar sales being 10% above budget. Additionally, the Guild has once again submitted itself to the NUS Green Impact scheme, with our aim to maintain the Gold standard achieved last year

As for term 2, the Democratic Structures Review will be taking place, aimed at reviewing the change that took place 18 months ago and addressing any issues that may have been arisen. The scope for the project includes gauging how successful the changes have been in engaging students and giving them a voice, how efficient the structures are at responding to student needs and whether the current operational structure is helping. This review does not seek to investigate the powers or committees of Guild Council.

Additionally, term 2 will also see Officer elections taking place, with the organisation seeking to become the leading union in the country in terms of turnout, after finishing 4th in 2011. A number of changes are being made such as extending polling time by 72 hours and investing in a VoteMatch module, aimed at strengthening the debate about candidate’s policies.’

Additionally, we have recently welcomed Santander into the Guild. Redbrick asked for a quote from myself on the matter so for those who havent seen it

Hugo Sumner, Vice President (Democracy & Resources) comments: “Historically there has always been a bank within the Guild, the previous bank, HSBC, was at the Guild for 30 years. Since HSBC’s departure in 2009, it has always been the Guild’s plan to find a replacement. The elected Sabbatical Officer team made the decision to accept Santander into the Guild after considering research conducted a couple of years back which showed that 65% of students used the banking facilities in the Guild, and 85% of these did so at least once a week

“Santander has moved into the retail area of the Guild, and the SHAC, a year ahead of schedule, has relocated to larger premises. Having established itself as a successful student lettings agency, it was felt larger premises for the SHAC were necessary.”

I promise to provide you with a more comprehensive update soon!

In the meantime some dates for your diary are…

Officer Election Nominations – NOW OPEN!! The deadline is 12pm 6th February

Better Guild & Welfare forum – 2pm 25th January in the Rosa Parkes room

Guild Council – 6pm 2nd February

 

Review of Term One

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Seasons Greetings merry blog friends!

I hope the festive season is treating you all well, and you’re enjoying being home or successfully powering through those essays. As promised in my previous entry I’ll be reviewing term one, which will hopefully exceed the 400 word limit somewhat. As ever please feel free to comment below or contact me through the details provided. I’ll try my best to put it in some sort of chronological order so here goes…

Term One started with a blast as Welcome Week kicked us off in spectacular style. Thousands of students attended events at the Guild from the Freshers Fair to the Societies Fairs to our Freshers Fest evening entertainment. Introducing the Guild to our new students is a crucial part of the year, and as Officers we were certainly kept very busy, running around campus giving welcome talks to those new to the University, whether that be in departments or University accommodation. It only hit home afterwards that Welcome Week 2011 was to be my last Welcome Week at the University of Birmingham, having been heavily involved for the last three years, in three different capacities. September certainly wont be the same next year!

Manifesto

Our brand new Joes+ loyalty card was also launched at the beginning of term, after a very tight turn around during the summer. Myself and the President, Mark Harrop, were especially keen to get the scheme up and running for September in light of the cost price increase passed onto us by our supplier during the summer. With a Joes+ card, Joe’s Bar is now the cheapest place to drink in Selly Oak, a fact that the 6,500 students who have bought a card are now benefitting from. In total over the course of term one, the scheme has saved students over £17,000, no mean feat in these times of austerity. An interesting fact for you is that a pint of coke (£1) has been our best seller so far.

October saw us launch the ‘How Employable are you?’ Fair, aimed at raising awareness of opportunities designed to enhance your employability and improve your CV. I’m a firm believer that University is about so much more than just getting a degree, and in a graduate employment market where everybody has a 2:1 degree in this, that or the other, making yourself stand our is vital, and there are so many opportunities at Birmingham to do that. Working with Mark and Fliss Cross, the Vice President (Activities & Development), we managed to entice over 700 students through the door, and gained some valuable feedback to improve upon next time round. On the employability note, I’d just like to point you in the direction of the careers centre, who have been the subject of lot of investment by the University recently. Its never too early to think about life after university.

I might as well round off my manifesto updates with news on the new website. Unfortunately there is no new, news (?) however for those who don’t know, the Guild is currently a development partner in the NUS Digital scheme which will see us move over to a completely new web platform in time for September 2012, something which cant come soon enough in my opinion! However, as a little treat and appetiser for the new website, upon your return in January, our website ‘tweak’ will have been complete which I can tell you will make a world of difference by fixing some very simple problems. Watch this space for this very exciting development!

Democracy

Ok, now moving onto elections! Quite honestly this is one of the most exciting parts of my job, don’t ask me why, its just something I get a cheap kick out of. Out of our three election cycles which we hold every year, two are held in the first term, starting with Guild Council elections (combined with Officer by-elections).

We had a record breaking 99 (annoying I know) candidates, which resulted in a record breaking turnout of 2,822 votes, the largest ever turnout for a non-Officer election. Congratulations must go to all candidates who campaigned to make it happen, you more than doubled last year’s turnout of 1,300 which is an absolutely phenomenal achievement.

I suppose this leads nicely onto Guild Council itself which has been a feast of democracy and accountability. Both have been comfortably quorate (which is always a nice start) with some great motions and topics being debated. The level of engagement that Councillors currently have is really encouraging, and nothing pleases me more than when I see the new links being forged between Councillors and their constituents. The publishing of voting records and calls for scrutiny is something that I was really keen to see this year so a hearty congratulations to all those Councillors who have fully embraced the principle of representative democracy, and for all those yet to do so, I urge you to follow suit. I am more than happy to be held to account, but it must be a two way street.

I’d also like to thank our Chair and Deputy Chair of Guild Council. With a potent mixture of youth and experience, Johnny Dolan and Rob Sassoon have run an effective and fair Guild Council, and I’m sure will continue to do so in 2012.

As successful as Guild Council has been, unfortunately our Better Forums haven’t been as well attended as I’d expected. Despite an increase in promotion of these including a full page advert in Redbrick, not even School Guild Councillors saw it fit to attend the Better Education & University forum on November 30th, a key opportunity to lobby and feedback to the Officer Team about experiences of constituents. Forums are a great opportunity to question and scrutinise Officers in a much less formal environment than Guild Council, and with a lot of resources going into them, its imperative that students, and particular those student representatives such as Guild Councillors and Student Reps use them to the benefit of their constituents.

While on the subject of all things democracy, we recently held our RA & NUS delegate elections, which quite honestly are two very separate beasts! A record 1,200 students voted to send 7 of their peers to the NUS National Conference in Sheffield next year to set national policy for the following academic year and elect a new National Executive Committee. I’m delighted to say that Anisa Ather, Eytan Halon, Luke Reynolds, Shabana Kidy, Sophia Miller, Simon Furse and Zuki Majuqwana will be representing the views of University of Birmingham students in April 2012.

Elections for next year’s Resident’s Associations took place simultaneously, with residents voting for 12 new committees who will be responsible for representing the views of all students living in University accommodation and those Freshers living off campus through FOCSOC (Freshers Off Campus Society). 2,169 residents voted, another record and completes a hat trick of record breaking elections this term. These were by far my favourite elections this term, purely because of the creativity and quite frankly ‘different’ election material that passes through my desk, and credit to all the candidates who endeavoured to make themselves stand out through the use of different media. Special mention must also go to Elgar Court who got a whopping 74% turnout, which is testament to the great year they’ve had.

Resources

I would really love to go into detail about everything that ‘Resources’ encompasses but I doubt you have the patience and I unfortunately don’t have the time! However its safe to say that dealing with Incident Reports from club nights tends to take up a fair portion of my week, so here are my three top tips for enjoying a incident free night out!

  • Treat Security and your fellow students with respect
  • Urinate in lavatories
  • Pay for drinks

Common sense you may think, although apparently not so obvious to all! I’m hoping to tag along to a Security shift next term which will hopefully give me a completely different insight to a night at Fab so if you see me please do be kind!

On the communications front, website aside, the Officer team have been more active than ever engaging students in new and innovative ways. Hopefully you’ve noticed our weekly ‘Vlogs’ where an Officer will update you on whats going on every week which range from student groups, sporting opportunities, and of course, elections.  As well as this Zuki, the Vice President (Housing & Community) has, in collaboration with Luke, the Vice President (Welfare) released his top 10 tips for house hunting which can be found here. 

Additionally, for all those who took part in our Welcome Week activities, we have put together a special thank you, just for you!

Another new feature has been our ‘Sabbs on the Sofa’ idea, where we go out…on a sofa…and engage with students who wouldn’t otherwise see us. So far we’ve had trips out, centred around the library, first of all outside it and then in the iLounge around lunchtime. If you do see us out and about on campus please do come and say hi we usually have some interesting information with us, and besides, we might be able to help you with something.

Another new edition to the Guild this year, and something which has been expanded on during the Christmas holidays is the new wayfinding project (signs, to you and I). Quite a basic requirement around any building you may think, but something that after the building redevelopment has only been acted on this year. You’ll hopefully agree with me that the new signs have been a welcome addition, and look out for some ‘environmental graphics’ (otherwise know as pictures) of the Officer teams in and around the building from January onwards (apologies in advance).

As I’m now 1600 words in and verging on the length of a first year essay I’ll leave my review of term one here. Its been an absolutely hectic few months yet I’ve enjoyed every second. Thank you to every candidate who has stood in every election and every student who has taken the time to vote. Thank you to the thousands of you who have bought a Joes+ card, those who have attended our employability fair and everyone who has watched and enjoyed our vlogs.

I hope you have a relaxing and well deserved break, and all thats left to say is have a very Merry Christmas, and a wonderful new year.

Hugo

Reflections

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To one and all,

I hope this blog finds you well and that November isn’t getting you down. Having been in the job for many months now, it is often around this time that team members start to get a bit worn down and lose productivity. This was picked up by last year’s team who recommended that our team go on an away day to take a step back and evaluate where we are and what we still have to do. I have to say that they were very wise words indeed, as we all benefited from a day out the office, looking at the bigger picture. I’m happy to report that the outcome was positive and we’re doing a lot better than we’re meant to be doing at this stage! Long may the ‘performing’ continue in place of the ‘storming’ (See Belbin’s Stages of Team Maturity).

The main highlight since my last foray into the blogoshere has to be the first Guild Council of the year. 64 Guild Councillors were in attendance, and many more students choose to come along to the highest democratic decision making body in the Guild. Although I do question where the other 15 Councillors were, as attending 5 meetings a year is really a minimum requirement in my eyes.  I was also disappointed to find a few students handing out literature at the start of the meeting, designed at influencing the vote of Councillors by putting across their own agenda. Quite frankly, this sort of behaviour is unacceptable, as Councillors are able to make up their own mind on issues, and act in the best interest of their constituents, as opposed to in line with a piece of paper, handed to them five minutes before the start of the meeting.

The Steering Committee report was starred, and as Chair it is my job to field any questions students may have on it. Two motions ended up being debated, both of which I am currently working on amending with the proposers in order that they can be bought to a Guild Council in the future. Part of my role this year is that I am hoping to work closely with anybody who’s motion doesn’t make it through Steering, as more often that not there are very easy amendments to make in order to bring it to Guild Council. This is something which didn’t happen a lot last year and I’m hoping a trend can be set for future years.

Questions & Scrutiny also involved high levels of participation from myself, with me being actioned to go away to look at things like candidate gender balance,  online Better Forum conduct and promoters. Hopefully I’ll be able to come back with an answer on said issues at the next Guild Council. Its difficult for me to comment much on how debate went and which way votes ended up as it’s bound to annoy some people somewhere. What I will say is that on the whole I felt it a very positive meeting. There was one vote in which I question the validity of the decision made but I will leave that up to your imaginations to decide which one.

One thing which has really impressed me in the wake of Thursday 10th November is the accountability being showed by members of Guild Council. Its something that I mentioned in training, and I know something that new Chair Johnny Dolan is keen to see. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me when I see Councillors publishing their voting records online for their constituents to view and scrutinise. It never happened too much last year, which is why I’m delighted that Councillors are taking the message of accountability and transparency seriously. You know who you are, and I applaud you. For those who are yet to do so, I urge you open yourself up to your constituents so they can hold you to account.

Moving away from Guild Council, our second election cycle is fast approaching, with RA (Resident’s Association) and NUS delegate elections commencing from Monday 21st November. Voting opens the following week on November 28th, and for the first time ever RA elections will be online via the my.bham portal. Just a quick bit on why you should vote, NUS delegates represent the University of Birmingham on the national stage, at NUS Conference. This is where national policy is decided for the forthcoming year, and the new President is elected. Delegates are there on your behalf, so its important that you have a say in who goes.

As for RA elections, if you’re living in University accommodation, then you have a team of 7 students who represent you and are there to make sure you have the time of your life. RA’s lead your hall and will play an important part in the remaining two terms you have left, as well as being responsible for the new Fresher’s in September 2012. If you want your needs and views to be taken into account then make sure you speak to the candidates who are bound to be door knocking you very soon.

My next update will be after the end of term where hopefully I’ll be conducting a comprehensive review of term one for you to enjoy! In the meantime, good luck with all your exams and essays and don’t forget to vote in the upcoming elections and attend the next Guild Council on December 6th.

All the best,

Hugo

The VPDR

 

 

Is Democracy Dying?

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Howdy folks,

I hope you’re all well and have settled into the new term, whether you’re a fresher or returning student. I can assure you that your VPDR has been working hard since my last entry and I’m slowly beginning to understand why Officers in years gone by have had difficulties in complying with the monthly blogging policy! Nevertheless I will of course endeavour to keep you as up to date as possible, something I also try to do on my Twitter account.

I’ve decided the theme for this entry will be democracy, given the fact that its been the first week of campaigning for Guild Council & Officer by-elections. Now often, given the Resources aspect of my job title, I tend to find that I’m the unpopular Sabb from time to time, due to my responsibilities as Chief Financial Officer for the organisation and my dealing with membership disciplinaries and complaints. While I’m completely fine with this and understand that making unpopular decisions is sometimes necessary, dealing with Democracy gives me a chance to be nice and have some positive face to face contact time with students.

Recent events have led to some rather harsh criticism of the Guild, and especially of the democratic values that the organisation holds. Obviously whenever I see the word ‘Democracy’ it draws my attention in, so I tend to notice this more than most. I tend to disagree with many of the charges levelled and the past few weeks have strengthened my resolve, and I’ll explain why.

We have recently finished our first round of slightly amended Open Forums, having merged a few in the summer. For those of you who don’t know we now have

  • Better Guild & Welfare
  • Better Student Groups & Sport
  • Better Education & University

This was due to a few reasons I explained in a previous post. I was lucky enough to Chair two of these, and despite some rather heated debate in the Better Education & University forum, enjoyed being able to canvas student opinion on a number of issues. In total, over the three forums, we had over 180 students attending, which is a record high since they began last year. While the forum system is far from perfect, the fact that more and more students are attending them hopefully shows a higher level of engagement combined with a desire to hold the Officer Team to account. Obviously we are yet to have our first Guild Council, but if Open Forum attendance is anything to go by, I have to say I’m optimistic.

On the subject of Guild Council, campaigning has kicked off this week, with a record amount of candidates running for various different positions. Combined with the Officer by-elections there are over 100 candidates out there vying for your vote. Last year saw 63 candidates in the same election so congratulations must go to everyone who has put themselves up. Please note that voting opens on my.bham on Monday 24th October at 10am and closes the following Friday at 4pm.

For anyone is reading this but feels like they’re not inclined to vote, remember that Guild Council has the power to make your experience at University better. Having an elected representative who is there to vote on your behalf gives you the power to make a real difference to how your Guild and University is run. If you don’t vote, don’t complain – this is your chance to have your voice heard.

So, while we’re on the subject of record forum attendances and record Guild Council candidates, I thought it might be worth adding that the election is being overseen by myself (with a record amount of VPDR votes behind me) and two students, democratically elected by Guild Council, along with a  non-sabbatical officer, of course elected by students. My point is this, democracy is alive and well in the Guild, we’re now looked to as best practice in the student union sector and I for one am proud to be involved in a thriving democratic union.

Of course I dont expect everyone to agree with me, and I get the feeling that some people will never be happy unless the contents of what I have in my lunchtime sandwhich goes to a referendum or at least a Guild Council vote, but at the end of the day students are able to have their say in more ways than ever and I am thrilled at the levels of participation we’ve had this term.

At this point I’d like to wish good luck to all candidates as voting opens next week, and extend a challenge to the electorate to go out and vote in your droves, in order to give your Guild Councillors the mandate they need to fight for change on your behalf.

Thanks for reading,

Hugo

The VPDR

 

 

 

The Storm before the Storm

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So, thats it. Welcome Week is over, and tomorrow starts the new academic year 2011/12. Talk about full on! I must apologise for going under the blogosphere radar for a while, but as you can imagine the build up to the busiest week of the year has been somewhat unforgiving. Somebody much wiser than myself advised me soon after the election period that if you want to get anything done as a Sabb, do it in the summer. Advice I have attempted to adhere to, with mixed success.

While we’re on the subject of elections, those of you who were paying attention may remember the phrase ‘Hugo Boss for cheaper drinks!’  being banded about a fair bit. While this is obviously an attractive electoral prospect, it also had a serious message behind it, that being my belief that a students’ union bar should be giving the best value to its members. As one of my flagship policies, much of the summer has been dedicated to achieving this goal, alongside President Mark Harrop. If you are one of the 4,500 people who have already purchased your Joes Plus card you will already be aware of how we have gone about this.

The introduction of a loyalty card in Joe’s Bar aims to give students discounts on our best selling products. For example, while a pint of lager and cider are £2.65 and £2.70 respectively, with your Joe’s Plus card they can be purchased for £2. Likewise while a pint of Coke or Lemonade is £1.30, they are now just £1. Click here for a full list of discounts. In the interests of transparency it is worth noting that due the rise in VAT, and a cost price increase being passed onto us by our supplier, without a Joes Plus card drinks prices have gone up, but unfortunately this is out of our control and I feel paying £1 for a loyalty card is a very small price to pay for what I feel are great discounts. And before you ask, no they have not just gone back down to last years prices. They’re actually cheaper.

The drinks prices situation reminds me of former New York Governor, Mario Cuomo’s quote;

‘You campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose.’

Maybe myself and Mario had different problems, but I can relate to him on this one.

On the democracy front, Student Voice have had a busy summer making some fantastic improvements that are going to be rolled out for this term. First off its 99% certain that Guild Councillor elections are going to be online this year. While this has been the case with the Chair of Council and Open Place elections last year, paper ballots have had to be used in the past due to an inability to recognise an online voter’s school. This has now been rectified, which I’m hoping will lead to substantial increases in turnout, further strengthening individual school Guild Councillor’s mandates and improving their legitimacy as democratic representatives of their peers.

Now once these uber-democratised Guild Councillors get to Guild Council, they’re hopefully going to find it a lot easier to hold us, the Officer Team to account. This is due to the introduction of a new Guild Council beliefs document. In the past, if you wanted to find out what Guild policy was on XYZ you had to go into Student Voice, or onto the Guild website and search out Guild Council minutes and motions on said issue. If you were lucky enough to find what you were looking for you were confronted with what were rather wordy motions that weren’t exactly the most concise things you’d ever read. Now, while some democracy junkies loved this, the majority of students found this rather disengaging and obstructive to getting involved.

The new Guild Council beliefs documents lists every (valid) Guild Council motion that has been passed, written in plain English making it easier than ever before for students to hold Officers to account. Again, this is a 99%er, but I don’t envisage any problems to what is the most common sense thing to happen to Guild Council in years. Those of you keen to get your paws on this shouldn’t have to wait long before its available.

One last change on all things democracy is the restructuring of our Open Forums. Last year we had Better Guild, Sport, Welfare, Education & University and Student Groups forums. Due to poor attendance in some of these and the increase in Guild Councils from 3 to 5 (meaning increased pressure on staff time) we have merged some forums. As of this year we will have;

  • Better Guild & Welfare
  • Better Student Groups & Sport
  • Better University & Education

In addition to what I’ve said, RA elections are already being thought about, with the debate being centred around whether to keep them as a paper ballot (traditionally very successful) or to move them online. If you have any thoughts on this one please feel free to contact me. Furthermore, giving policy more of a starring role in Officer elections is something I’m keen to do.

To jump to another area of the ever so diverse VPDR role, communications is an area which I’ve been spending a lot of my time on. It may come as no surprise to many of you that the role of the Officer Team is somewhat unclear amongst the University of Birmingham student community. Raising the profile of the Officer Team has been a project I’ve been working closely with Marketing & Communications with, and we have an action plan ready for the new term which will hopefully see more students become aware of who we are and how we can help them.

Just a quick observation on Welcome Week, while ridiculously busy and 16 hour days not being uncommon, compared to my past involvement as an RA and Freshers Fest Crew member it was somewhat quieter than usual! I was warned to expect chaos, however the Guild enjoyed one of the most successful Welcome Weeks in years, this being down to the sheer hard work and dedication of the staff who work there, who have refined the process over a number of years, and everyone who was involved deserves recognition for the effort put in. Sabb time was generally spent running around campus giving talks to halls and departments explaining the wondrous nature of the Guild and why its awesome to get involved, not to mention being on hand to solve any problems that arose during Freshers Fair, Volunteering Fair and Societies Fair, all of which went very well with thousands upon thousands of students coming through the door.

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Well thats what I’ve been doing and no doubt I’ve missed something out, but I’d just like to take a moment to comment on life as a Sabbatical Officer a few months into the job. Safe to say its lived up to every expectation, good and bad. When you first arrive, after handover has finished and sit down in the office there’s a sudden realisation that you’re not entirely sure what you’re doing, and no length of handover time can solve that. Being immersed into a multi-million pound organisation where you’re looked to to provide direction and leadership is quite a daunting prospect. For the VPDR, where there are so many facets to the job, most of them not very straight forward, it has taken up to now for me to feel vaguely confident that I know what I’m doing. Jumping from meeting to meeting, where subjects are as varied as they are many take a little getting used to!

Affecting change is also as tricky as you may imagine, and thats a good thing. For somebody different to walk in every year and start turning everything upside down has its short term benefits, but has no merits in the long term. While this can be frustrating at times, taking a wider perspective is often useful. On that note however, I must say everybody I have worked with whether in the Guild or at the University have been extraordinarily responsive to what I’ve had to say and more than helpful over the last few months.

I’ve also learned that you can’t win. No matter what you do, there will always be somebody who thinks differently and will try and criticise and put you down. While I welcome constructive criticism, I am getting used to the fact that you cant please everyone. When making decisions I often try and keep in mind the silent majority, who don’t see it necessary to pipe up all the time, but who all have a stake in the organisation and serve to benefit from any changes we make.

But, all in all, the first few months in office have been fantastic, we have made some really positive changes and have laid the groundwork for more to come. I must apologise for the length of this post, but hopefully you’ve found it informative, and if there anything else you’d like to know, or require clarification on don’t hesitate to contact me.

I wish you every success in the new academic year and thank you for reading.

Hugo

The VPDR

Active Political Leadership

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Hi all,

I have just returned from an NUS conference in Canterbury, Kent. Firstly, why a national conference was being held in a distant corner of the country I dont know, but it gave me a valuable opportunity to explore a University (University of Kent -www.kent.ac.uk) that I wouldn’t normally have.

Two of us were sent down, myself and Mark (www.officerblogs.com/president) for a four day course in how to develop as a student leader and affect change for your organisation, leading from the front. I know Mark will at some point be posting a very detailed blog about his week, but I’d like to take the opportunity to offer a few reflections on the course from my own perspective.

It very quickly became apparent that a lot of material being covered, and advice being given was aimed at much smaller student unions. We were the largest union in attendance, closely followed by Cardiff and UCL. There is a second course next week in Lancaster which the traditional big unions such as Leeds and Sheffield will be attending, in case you were wondering. This slant towards smaller unions meant a lot of teaching wasn’t strictly relevant to the Guild, but there were moments of interest and information which I felt were valuable on top of what was a great opportunity to network and share best practice with Sabbatical officers from around the UK.

An evening plenary entitled ‘Students Unions are rubbish, discuss’ challenged my conceptions of how unions run and operate as a whole. The gist being the way we do things isn’t always right. Now, I’m not talking about the procedural and bureaucratic issues that annoy a fair amount of you, but the governance structure from the top down. This can be anything from the traditional make up of Sabb teams, the composition of student councils to financial reliance on bar revenue. While there were no conclusions, we were encouraged to challenge the merit of modern day student union set ups.

Furthermore, a ‘Masterclass’ on Democracy served to emphasise how truly ridiculous and drawn out the process of getting your voice heard is when it comes to student councils. The time delay, procedural jargon and often ruthless personal agendas all serve as barriers to non-engaged students who want to change things about their union and university. Anyone who has attended Guild Council will be able to relate to this, but thankfully this is something that has partly been addressed already with advent of Open Forums. Direct contact with your Officer team in an informal environment is a step in the right direction, and I feel tackling the obstructive jargon in Guild Council meetings is the next.

I must emphasise however that the issues outlined here are not just Guild issues, they are nationwide. This brings me on to my final observation. We have, and I say this with as much bias removed as possible, one of the best student unions in the country. While we are far from perfect, other Sabbs and NUS staff could not be more complimentary when it came to our Guild. Those who have visited us love the building redevelopment, marvel at our election turnout and seethe over the opportunities we are able to offer our students. What’s more, our positive relationship with the University is something that is not enjoyed up and down the country and we must be thankful to past Sabbatical teams who have helped to cultivate such a productive working relationship.

We can always do more, and we will strive to do more, but sometimes its worth taking a step back to appreciate how lucky we are.

Other than the wonderful world of NUS, your VPDR has been up to various other undertakings. An Employability Enhancement fair (it will have a sexier name than that I promise) is looking odds on for October. We’re hoping to provide students with volunteering and work experience opportunities to boost any identified gaps in their CVs. More on this to follow.

Along with the President, I am working on a loyalty card scheme for Joes Bar in order to get better value for students, a big manifesto promise from us both. With any luck this will be up and running for September, I promise to keep you informed!

Due to the Vice-Chancellor giving a welcome talk to all freshers during Welcome Week, 1/3 of registration (where you get your Uni card) will be held in the Guild. This will all take place on the first floor and cause minimum disruption to everything else going on during the busiest week of the year! The other destinations are the Avon room and the Hub on the Vale.

Guild Councillor and RA elections have already been discussed for October and December respectively. Accountability and constituency links for Guild Councillors is something I’d like to improve over the coming year so if you have any suggestions yourself feel free to contact me.

Other than that we’ve had a visit from the wonderful Sabbs at Cardiff SU, I’ve sat on the interview panel for a new Representation Co-ordinator and arranged meetings for getting Guild publicity out onto campus.

Sorry to go on a bit, but thank you for reading and well done for getting this far!

As ever,

Hugo