Just thought I'd throw together a summary of the work that's been taking most of my time since the start of the academic year. This isn't an exaustive list of what I'm up to - a lot of our job at the SU is firefighting and being reactive but it covers most of the major long term things I'm working on. If you have any questions about anything here please feel free to get in touch on facebook, email (su.uddofficer@keele.ac.uk) or just stop by the office on the top floor of the SU.
Recruiting a new CEO
Some of you may have seen already that KeeleSU's current CEO, Daryl Ormerod, has landed a job as CEO of Nottingham SU and will be leaving at the end of January. We've obviously thrilled for him as it's a fantastic opportunity! Daryl has done so much to help make KeeleSU a more effective organisation, he's been instrumental in restructuring our staff team, putting together our new strategic plan and so much more that you'd probably find too boring to read about!
Obviously this means that we need to work out who's going to replace him and as I am chair of KeeleSU's trustee board this is a project that I'm taking the lead on.
There are two elements to this process. The first is establishing an interim arrangement, so that the even between Daryl leaving and the new CEO arriving the SU is functioning effectively and doing all the things we need to be doing. We're planning to have these arrangements sorted within the next few weeks. The second part is, obviously, the recruitment process itself. We're currently pitches from agencies who want to help facilitate our recruitment process, in the next few weeks we'll be making key decisions about what kind of support we need from recruiting agents and how our process will be structured.
The CEO is the most senior staff member in the SU so obviously it’s really important to get the best person possible for this role and that means it’s going to take a fairly large amount of time and effort to do this effectively.
Shaping the University's new strategic plan
In a matter of days we’re expecting the University to publish their draft strategic plan. This document will outline what the University’s key objectives over the coming years will be and how they intend to deliver against them.
Obviously we want to see education, student experience and mental health as key elements of this strategy and will be lobbing and campaigning to make that happen. Although the turnaround time is going to be fairly narrow, we’re planning to run some kind of student consultation on the strategy. Keep your eyes peeled!
Launching nearly £300,000 worth of new initiatives and projects funded by the strike fund
Many of you will know that many University staff went on strike. This was a really difficult time that caused massive disruption to our community. A major concession we negotiated last year was that the ‘strike fund’ (the money striking lecturers weren’t paid) would be spent on projects to benefit students. You will have recently had an email outlining what that was spent on the in the end. You can read about that here.
Buses
Last year First Buses committed to improving the bus services between Keele and Newcastle after our massive campaign - this doesn't seem to have materialised and they've now launched a number of changes to how the student tickets work that are frankly awful. I'm going to be launching a massive new push for reform. Keep your eyes peeled and follow this twitter account for more details.
Launderettes
While complaints are massively down compared to last year - we're still getting issues with launderettes in most halls of residence. I'm pushing for this to improve but to support this effort the most important thing to do is to report any issues or faults you have as soon as possible. If you are still having issues after that get in touch with either myself or the Universtiy accommodation team.
Brexit
Leaving the EU is the biggest economic and political shift in our lifetimes. Next week I'll be launching an initiative to encourage students to have their voices heard on this issue.
Reforming the NUS
Some of you may have seen headlines about the NUS being on the verge of being ‘bankrupt’. To be clear, much of this coverage of the NUS's financial situation is misleading. While it's true they are in serious need of reform they have the capital, in assets and reserves, to cover their losses and for a number of years. They are not realistically facing bankruptcy. There are going to be several events through the year which the NUS will be using to bring about the serious reform that is needed. Many of our officers and staff have roles on committees of importance within the NUS, we intend to use these roles to support constructive reforms and have every confidence that we’ll be successful.
Democratic Review
One of my key election pledges was to reform our outdated democratic structures, you can read more about my work on that here
Campaign Fund
As part of the full time officer team’s commitment to boost student engagement and foster student leadership, we have approved the creation of a Student Led Campaigns fund. Successful pitches will be given funding for campaign material alongside support planning and promoting their campaign by the Students’ Union. You can apply to the fund here.
Degree Apprenticeships
Keele, and a number of other Universities, have started ‘degree apprentice’ programmes, in which individuals can work and study in parallel and come away with a qualification accredited by the University. This is a very different method of study and will require very different support from both the University and SU.
Vet School
Some of you may have seen that Keele is planning to launch a Vet School in partnership with Harper Adams. These course are very intense and demanding. We’ve been working with the Universities and Harper Adams SU to make sure that students on this course get the support they need.
A wholesale brand review
Our banding is quite dated and doesn’t really look that great so we’re in the early stages of commissioning a brand review. We’ll be needing student input later into the process so keep your eyes peeled!