Since being in the role of Vice President Education & Welfare (Uxbridge and Aylesbury) there have been several things that have been brought to my attention which could improve the Uxbridge campus. The first was microwaves.
Now this might seem small, but back in October once everyone was back on campus, students would all have their lunch at the same time. This meant they would spend their hour break stood in Pulse waiting for the microwave to be free to use leaving them minimal time to eat and have a proper break from academia. I had even watched a handful of students leave the line to buy something from Pulse or head into the town centre as it would be quicker, but with our students struggling with the Cost of Living now this was not acceptable. Along with this, I had also spoken to a handful of students and members of staff and they asked for more. Unfortunately, this was not possible in Pulse due to space, but students suggested the Third Floor where there is a decent size social/study space, so I got on it with the University staff.
As the microwaves were being ordered I got a request by an Uxbridge Rep that those with Halal food requirements did not feel comfortable with using the same microwaves as everyone else due to cross-contamination so with that, it was made sure that one of the new microwaves was for Halal food only and they are now based on the third floor.
The second win for the campus also took place on the third floor. Students had been coming to the office after being in Park Room letting us know they have sore necks and backs as they have been sat on uncomfortable chairs for three hours without any tables for their writing materials, whether that being a notepad or laptop. This is something that has been for a while and though students had made comments, nothing was yet to be done about it. Because of this, I brought it up with both the Nursing team and members of staff in the University and made it a priority for them to sort. As I expressed the issue there were a few people who pushed back as adding desks or tables to the room reduces the capacity of the room, but it was overruled as an uncomfortable learning environment is not a productive one.
This was then further confirmed in the Nursing Term One Programme Committee Meeting as Park Room was one of the big talking points. Only a few days after this, I received a message from a 3rd Year Children’s Nursing student with a picture of tables in Park Room and a lot of confused yet happy students who made themselves comfortable in their new working space.
The 3rd Year Adult Nursing Rep, Amy Pile, had said, ""Since joining in Sept 2020, I have seen many changes especially those that have been voiced by many students. At the start of this year students expressed their concern regarding the Park Room and the seating. It was then also mentioned in our Term One PCM where Emily explained that she was already in talks with the University and Nursing Team around this issue. After a short time of collaboration, the layout of Park Room had changed. Without the student’s voice this is something that could have taken a lot longer so thank you to those who have helped make this change happen. Thank you to also to the teams who worked together and who are putting in time to make the Uxbridge campus an environment which students can learn and fill comfortable in."
I have been informed that there are currently 50 desks placed in the room as a trial but there are more in the cupboard, so if more are needed please just let us know by emailing surepresentation@bnu.ac.uk.
Aylesbury Win
At the start of the year, Aylesbury was the quiet campus. Over this first term, I must disagree. Though it holds the smallest number of students out of our three campuses, there is a gentle buzz which is growing. This mainly happens at the students’ lunch break where the second floor gets filled with nurses and midwifes. I have managed to pop up there a couple of times where I have been able to chat to these students and engage some of them in our campaigns such as Monthly Monday Meals. Jess, your Vice President Student Involvement also took the Movember raffle up there which was received positively by students.
I was also was asked by the Engineering apprentices at the start of my term if there were any activities the Students’ Union could provide on campus. I spoke to our activities team and they gave the campus a table tennis table and equipment to give students a chance to have a break.
This is the first of many developments which will come to the campus so keep your eye out, if there is anything that we can offer you at this campus please do not hesitate to contact me on emily.crawshaw@bnu.ac.uk.
- Emily Crawshaw