Officer Review

Keele SU students recently voted in favour of Model 1 for the incoming Full-Time Officer Restructure. This was then approved in a Union Executive meeting. You can read details of the full officer review, and what this model looks like, below.

Keele SU students recently voted in favour of Model 1 for the incoming Full-Time Officer Restructure. This was then approved in a Union Executive meeting. You can read details of the full officer review, and what this model looks like, b

We're reviewing the full-time elected officer structure at Keele SU. Throughout the last few months, we've spoken to students as well as university staff, SU staff, and past officers to find out what they think of the officer structure as it currently exists, and how they think it could be improved and what changes need to be made to do this.

We've then used these to make recommendations on what the officer team should look like. These changes were shaped both by the responses we collected from these groups, as well as research that looked at officer teams from other Student Unions across the country. In addition, we've looked at the workloads of the current officers, candidates in officer elections over the past five years, and the SU's strategic plan.

Two models have been proposed, based on the recomendations explained above. We've also provided all of the research that informed this process, as well as the original trustee paper that mandated an officer review, below. We are inviting Students to vote on these models, and the model that receives the most votes will be used in the Full-Time Officer Elections early in 2023, and will be implemented in the 2023/24 academic year. Please read on to find out our reasons for this change and what models we're asking students to vote on.

All officers should be relevant to all students – Officers represent nearly 14,000 students. Around 25% of these are involved in clubs and societies. By having an officer role that specifically represents members of clubs and/ or societies means that that officer position can feel irrelevant to at least 75% of the student population. Whilst we agree that it is important that clubs and societies are covered in the remit of at least one officer, it should no longer be the sole focus of an officer role.

Officer positions should have equal appeal - All students are eligible to nominate themselves for elected officer positions, however some positions are more popular in the Keele SU elections, leading to an imbalance in the number of candidates and votes for each position. Whilst we will never be able to ensure fair distribution across officer positions, we can do our best to ensure that officer positions have equal appeal to the student body.

Officer positions should help to deliver the core vision, mission and values of the Students’ Union – Our vision is to empower every student to be who they want to be and make a difference to the world. Our mission is through the delivery of our quality support, activity, representation, entertainment and value for money services, we will ensure that Keele students feel part of a community which is inclusive, where they can grow in confidence and simply, be students. We want our officer positions to help us realise this mission and to embody the values of the Students’ Union which are supportive, friendly, creative and putting students first.

All core student facing issues should fall within at least one officer remit – We live in a rapidly changing world and the issues facing our students change along with changes to the Higher Education sector and wider world. From the cost of living crisis to COVID-19, our students should never face a challenge that at least one of our elected officers can’t prioritise. By the same token, our officer positions should be nimble enough to respond to a multitude of issues and should be future proof.

The work of officers should be strategic not operational – Keele SU employs a team of staff who support the work of the elected officers and deliver the mission of the Students’ Union. Much of this work is operational; we are a charity that turns around £5million per year and that delivers a wide range of services. From a supermarket to an advice centre to a live music venue, we require a team of experienced staff to keep the Students’ Union running, but as a democratic organisation, we need to have elected student officers at the heart of our leadership. Officers need to focus on strategy, representation and campaigning and not on the delivery of services.

As we conducted a review only 2 years ago, we were able to revisit much of the research conducted at this time such as feedback from past elected officers. We have also conducted an analysis of the distribution of candidates for each position, as well as demographic analysis for BAME and Women students as these are the liberation groups least likely to put themselves forward for an elected officer position.

 

The Suggested Models

Please note, we do not wish to focus on the title of officers, but rather on the remit and responsibilities of the officers. As such, these names may be subject to change.

  • Development and Democracy Officer

Overall purpose; An officer that focuses on the student facing services of the Students’ Union, the University and the wider community with a particular focus on democratic engagement.

Example workload; Work with Student Voice to develop democratic systems, negotiate with university and local community to improve services such as accommodation and transport

Example campaign priorities; Their campaign priorities would be based on civil participation and student rights; such as voter registration, speak week and fair housing campaigns

  • Education Officer

Overall purpose; An officer that focuses on the educational experience of students.

Example workload; This officer would work closely with Student Voice Representatives and would represent students on academic committees.

Example campaign priorities; Their campaign priorities would be education based; such as assessment and feedback, course quality and value for money

  • Wellbeing Officer

Overall purpose; An officer that works to ensure there are suitable welfare support services available for students and to work to tackle structural discrimination faced by students from a liberation background (BAME, women, disabled and LGBTQ+ students)

Example Workload; This officer would work closely with Union and University support services to ensure the wellbeing and safety of students at Keele. They would also advocate on behalf of liberation students.

Example campaign priorities; mental health and wellbeing campaigns, consent and sexual violence campaigns and liberation campaigns

  • Experience and Community Officer

Overall purpose; An officer that works to ensure there are opportunities for students to participate in activities beyond the formal curriculum that will contribute to their sense of belonging, personal and professional development and overall happiness. They work to tackle the barriers faced by students who are less likely to engage in activity beyond their degree.

Example Workload; This officer would work closely with the teams within the Students’ Union to champion clubs, societies, volunteering and student development and employability. They would also work to engage those students who may be less likely to engage such as international, mature and commuter students.

Example campaign priorities; their campaigns would focus on inclusion such as lobbying for the rights of international students, celebrating clubs and societies and combatting loneliness and isolation on campus

  • Education – Focus on academic experience

Overall purpose; An officer that focuses on the educational experience of students.

Example workload; This officer would work closely with Student Voice Representatives and would represent students on academic committees.

Example campaign priorities; Their campaign priorities would be education based; such as assessment and feedback, course quality and value for money

  • Experience – Focus on professional and wellbeing services

Overall purpose; An officer that focuses on all non-academic services delivered by the University and wider community.

Example workload; negotiate with university and local community to improve services such as accommodation, transport and wellbeing services such as counselling

Example campaign priorities; their campaigns would likely focus on student rights such as fair and affordable accommodation

  • Inclusion – Focus on building a community and tackling inequality

Overall purpose; An officer focuses on making students feel part of a community and tackling inequalities faced by students from a liberation background or that are less likely to engage

Example workload; work with staff to deliver events and activities that build a community, work to tackle structural discrimination at Keele and in the wider world

Example campaign priorities; liberation campaigns, alcohol free events and activities, campaigns that focus on student wellbeing and safety such as consent and sexual violence  

  • Opportunities – Focus on developing students

Overall purpose; An officer that focuses on the development of students, helping them to develop skills and experiences that will enhance their university experience and increase their employability

Example workload; This officer would work closely with the teams within the Students’ Union to champion clubs, societies, volunteering and student development and employability.

Example campaign priorities; celebrating clubs and societies, combatting loneliness and isolation on campus and student workers' rights campaigns.

 

Won’t removing the AU Officer/ Activities and Community Officer take away support for clubs and societies?

No, there is still an officer with clubs and societies in their remit under both models, although it is important that this officer will now have significant focus outside of clubs and societies as only 25% of students are members of clubs and societies. We intend to increase staff support in these areas by employing student staff to support the current activities team in busy times, such as on Wednesday afternoons to support with the administration of BUCS games.

Is this a money saving thing?

We expect this project to be cost neutral, in that it will not cost or save the union money. We do hope to gain more value for money through this project though as we will have more flexibility on where budget is spent, such as on increasing student staffing and providing better funding for Student Voice Representatives and other high impact projects.

Why are we moving to four officers?

Keele has an unusually high ratio of student to elected officers. We have around 13,500 students and seven full time elected officers (including the full-time elected officers at the Keele Postgraduate Association). Whilst the KPA officers are not within our remit, we believe that we can better deliver the work of the Students’ Union with four officers and increased staff support. Please see this paper for more details on why four was decided to be an appropriate amount of elected officers.

When will this come into effect?

These new officers will be elected in the February/ March Elections in 2023 and the new officers will take up their new roles in July 23. It will not impact the current elected officer team.

Trustee Paper that determined the scope of the review

Candidate Demographic Data

Feedback Survey Results

Officer Teams across other SUs (2019)