Union Council Update - 18th March 2021

Your School Reps, Part-time Officers and Sabbs met for the fourth official Union Council of the year on the 18th March.

We were excited to have three policy proposals to discuss and are pleased to say all of them passed.

Academic Representation Structure Policy

USPU Communications Output Refresh Policy

Volunteer Recognition Refresh Policy

The first, submitted by Cat Dodd, School of Art, Design and Architecture rep and India Ellis, School of Law, Criminology and Government rep, called for a review of the academic representation system and the creation of a best practice toolkit for staff.

The aim of these changes is to increase the visibility of course and school reps and to ensure that they are adequately supported to fulfil their elected roles. In doing this students will be aware of how to address their concerns, raise ideas and the changes made by students can receive the recognition they deserve.

The other two proposals were brought for discussion by Viv Hocking, School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics Rep and Accountability Board Member.

The first one discussed the balance of student and commercial content on SU communication channels and the celebration of student achievements.

Union Council approved the proposal which will result in the following actions;

greater celebration of student achievements across all platforms
development in the support offered to elected reps to publish what they have been working on
timely updates to website information
ensuring that students remain the focus of student fairs
involving Sabbatical Officers in commercial decision making

ensuring that commercial partners are aligned with the values of the SU

The other proposal from Viv Hocking concerned the current volunteer recognition scheme which is undergoing a review by UPSU. The proposal resolves affirmed the need for a recognition scheme and called for;

the current review to consider feedback from student participants of the scheme
to ensure that the current scheme and anything that replaces it is actively promoted to all volunteers.

to ensure that all outstanding staff reviews of hours are completed and certificates are available
to switch to printed, personalised certificates rather than automatically generated ones
to allow all SU departments to have control over specific department output relating to their volunteers.

Both policy proposals from Viv Hocking called for consistent acknowledgement and promotion of the dedication of students and celebration of their achievements. We are delighted to work with Viv, other elected representatives and the student body to bring about these changes.

It was great to see our dedicated reps proposing these ideas to improve how the SU supports and advocates for students. Union Council members all give up significant amounts of their time to collect your feedback, propose changes and debate ideas on your behalf.

Find out who your representatives are

To hear more from the reps about their proposals head over to our Wins for Students page