Cost of living survey
At the end of March, I launched my third and final Cost of Living survey for the academic year which gathered in total 312 responses which was the most of any survey currently. The survey has provided a lot of students Feeback which will be discussed during the committee meeting.
You can find the full survey here.
NUS national conference & Liberation conference
In March I attended the NUS national conference and was involved in feeding into the national policy revolving around the cost-of-living crisis. I massively pushed for the policy to include for the NUS to lobby the government for an increase in maintenance loan in line with inflation. I also had the opportunity to showcase some of the research I had conducted via my Cost-of-Living surveys and discussed what support Keele University has offered for students.
Last week I attended Liberation conference as the disabled student delegate and invoiced on policy around accessibility needs. I also had the opportunity to have a discuss with Chloe Field, the NUS Vice President to give feedback on both national and liberation conference. I discussed how the conferences lacked accessibility, student / delegate dissatisfaction with the NUS currently and the need for greater engagement and transparency from NUS UK.
Sexual Violence & Misconduct survey
In April I launched my survey to assess the prevalence of Sexual Violence & Misconduct experienced by students at Keele. The survey was supported by the Sexual Violence Steering group who have imputed on the design. The survey results will be presented in a report to the Sexual Violence Steering group and at the June University Student Voice Committee.
Extending free period products to Clinical Education Center (CEC)
I was approached by a student asking if the free period product scheme that was offered on campus could be extended to the Clinical Education Center. I am currently in positive discussions with Student Services on extending the provision to the CEC.
Access & Success fund
I have been working alongside the financial support team to promote the Access & Success fund to students this academic year who fall into categories related to widening access and participation. For a lot of students this fund has been a financial lifeline for them. I am pleased to announce that over 1,000 students submitted applications for the fund.
Housing accreditation
I provided feedback into the Stoke On Trent City council consultation regarding the Housing accreditation scheme. Since then that housing accreditation scheme has closed and instead Keele is allowing landlords to sign up to the two national landlord accreditation schemes, the British Landlord Association and the National residential Landlord Accreditation.
We share the similar concerns with Staffordshire University Student Union that these two national schemes seem very much like tick box exercises with limited interactions to ensure landlord properties are of good condition for students.
OFS regulation related to Sexual violence & harassment.
I have been engaging with the Office for Students proposal of introducing a new condition of registration to address harassment and sexual violence at university. We overall welcome the new condition and will be submitting feedback to the consultation with both benefits and drawbacks of each proposal on students and how practical they would be.
Evaluation of Gender Identity Fund & Drug testing kit
I have begun developing evaluation reports of two of the schemes I set up last academic year from financial support provided by the Hardship fund. To begin with the Gender Identity Fund has had 23 submissions that has allowed transgender and non-binary individuals be able to afford identity affirming items and travel to gender identity clinics. There has been a lot of positive feedback regarding this scheme.
The drug testing kit scheme has seen 151 test kits being accessed since the start of this academic year. This has been a key initiative that has helped promote the Harm Reduction agenda and helped Keele lead in the sector around safe drug use.