Welcome back to another update of my 25/26 elected officer term. Each month, I will be aiming to provide an update about what I have been up to that month.
December has been busy with a variety of meetings with both students and university staff discussing the student experience. I have been hosting activities and events, which have been successful!
Starting with my areas of focus:
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Campus Consistency: With discussions ongoing and plans being finalised, we are actioning feedback directly given to develop campus facilities and resources. Following on from this feedback, at the Aylesbury Campus, the previous café space will be developed into a community/commuter kitchen/larder space. This is due to open in January.
Similarly on this point, I have been in discussions with Student Voice Officers, students, and university staff about how the campuses can provide more for students including, learning resources and spaces. If you have any feedback to share, please get in touch.
Also, keep your eyes peeled for the events taking place across the year, with events taking place providing a key space for students to speak to others, build connection and find out information on support. We run wellbeing crafts, mindfulness activities (and sometimes with visits from Pets As Therapy too!) These activities will change and adapt across the year as well with each event taking on a particular theme (such as Brew Monday, and Time to Talk day).
Myself and others, are also collaborating with the Student Hub team on campaigns and projects across the year. These have a focus about supporting you whilst at university and supporting you and you’re understanding. Some of these topics include financial awareness, and mental health.
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Academic Experience: I continue to work with the university departments to support the development of policies and encourage the process to update and develop guidance available for students. I am also encouraging the university to train staff on this guidance as well to support the information shared and ensure that students know that this available. If you have any queries or want to share your feedback, please email surepresentation@bnu.ac.uk. We continue to work with the university’s teams to develop these areas of your academic experience and work to ensure that you are supported throughout your time here.
I am also supporting the university in the process of developing Artificial Intelligence use and guidance for students. If you have any feedback on this, please contact bethany.jackson@bucks.ac.uk.
Amongst policies that are being reviewed, the university are also working to update the ‘Assessment and Feedback Policy’ and are hosting drop-in sessions for students to share their feedback. These are running at each campus – check out the What’s On page to find out when.
I also had the opportunity to attend the RSASS ‘Breaking Barriers, Building Solutions’ conference on 8th December. This was an event hosted by RSASS (our RAG Charity to this year) and brought together a range of support services within the VAWG Alliance (Violence Against Women and Girls Alliance). This was a very informative day hearing about the work these charities to do and the support they offer. I was grateful to have had the opportunity to attend this day, hear from guest speakers and speak to a range of individuals from various services to find out more about the work they do.
Activities: Building on feedback received, we have put together a yearlong calendar of events for the academic year, running during the day at the Uxbridge and Aylesbury campuses. You can view these on the What’ On page and your campus specific pages.
I am also working with different departments to expand the current offer, as well as exploring wider options in the local area to work to develop options as well.
Taking place at Uxbridge this there is:
Taking place in Aylesbury there is:
If you have any ideas for sessions that you’d like to see or want to run a session, please get in contact by emailing bethany.jackson@bnu.ac.uk.
Check out the What’s on page for recreational activities happening in the local area as well! If you have any questions or suggestions, email surecactivities@bucks.ac.uk. Some of these activities are:
Taking place in local Aylesbury area:
Taking place in the local Uxbridge area:
Key Dates:
Here you’ll find a few dates that you might want to pop in your calendar. These are great opportunities to meet others, share feedback or get information. You can find out more information on the What’s On page.
That concludes another monthly update, be sure to check out our socials (@bucksstudentsunion and @buckssuvpew_au) for any quick updates and to see the day-to-day announcement.
As always, if you need anything please reach out.
Until next month,
Bethany