Officer Monthly Update November:
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.
November has been busy with meetings with students and university staff discussing the student experience and how this can be improved. I have been hosting activities and events as well as campaign planning and launching campaigns.
First of all, a huge thank you to everyone who attended the Uxbridge Fresher’s Fair on Monday 3rd November. This was a great success with over 150 students attending to meet all the different stall holders from the SU services, clubs, and societies to university support, as well as externals from local businesses on the high street as well as some of your placement providers. I hope you all had a great time and if you have any feedback on this event, please email bethany.jackson@bnu.ac.uk. We brought the fair back to Uxbridge as a direct result of feedback so a massive thank you to everyone for sharing feedback, ideas and suggestions. This is just one example of action the student voice can make happen, if you are interested in hearing more about the representation system and how to be involved, please email surepresentation@bnu.ac.uk.
Moving onto my areas of focus:
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Campus Consistency: We have taken part in conversations to have further and more in-depth discussions around the campus facilities, particularly those at the Aylesbury Campus. Following on from one such discussion we have been working closely with the university’s Senior Management Team (USG) and the university’s Estates Team to establish an improved service and resource provision at the Aylesbury campus – more details to follow. Similarly on this point, we have been in discussions 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.
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Mental Health and Wellbeing advocacy: 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. We also continue to work with the university services to support how students can access and find information on the services at the university. The Mental Health Provision team are looking for students to feedback on ‘A Guide to the services”, which is a document created as a one spot place to find all the information for support services. If you would like to feedback on this document, please email bethany.jackson@bnu.ac.uk with an expression of interest. We are also collaborating with the Student Hub team on campaigns and projects across the year. These are about supporting you whilst at university and supporting you and you’re understanding. More details to be shared soon but if you want to get involved in these projects please get in touch.
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Academic Experience: I continue to be involved in discussions about this topic. We have supported the development of policies and are encouraging the updating and development of guidance available to students, and we are also encouraging the university to train staff on this too. 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.
If you are a student at the Aylesbury campus, thank you for providing your feedback. We continue to take this forward and work with the university to improve the student experience. Your feedback has developed conversations around student study/socialisation spaces, and the commuter space. With your feedback we are working with USG and the University’s Estates team to improve the current commuter space and adapting this into another space with more on offer making an improved community kitchen/larder area. We will share more details on this as this progresses. We are also in discussions around the free lunch offer and how this can be adapted. In addition to this, we were able to work the departments to acquire more microwaves and kettles on the campus, these are on the 1st and 2nd floors. Please do continuing sharing any feedback.
Jean-Marc and I also recently sat down with the Aylesbury MP office to discuss options to support the students. This was a very beneficial discussion which has explored potential avenues with the council and local transport providers. There is also the potential to have a session where you can meet the Aylesbury MP, Laura Kyrke-Smith, ask questions and share your thoughts too. Keep your eyes peeled for more information and an update on this area.
I visited the Nottingham campus earlier this month, speaking the students there to hear about their student experience. This was a great experience and the Student Rep elections have gained a lot of interest with students standing to be the voice for their group. It was great to hear students enjoy getting involved in the activities and opportunities on offer, with particular enjoyment for the “make own iced coffee” session. We are also working with university teams on areas of feedback to improve the student experience and we will provide an update soon.
We continue to work on “Rusty’s Retreat” and how individuals can be involved. We hope you are enjoying using the space and thank you to everyone who has got stuck in. If you still want to be involved with the garden itself, get in touch with volunteering@bnu.ac.uk to found out what opportunities are on.
We have built on feedback received and there is a calendar of events planned 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.
Taking place at Uxbridge this there is:
Taking place in Aylesbury we:
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:
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