2011/2012 ANNUAL REPORT

Registered charity number 1144763.

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THIS YEAR HAS BEEN ONE OF THE TOUGHEST THAT KUSU HAS FACED.

2011

2012/11 will forever be remembered as the

year that the Government trebled tuition fees

under such acrimonious circumstances and as the

year thousands of students and their supporters

came together up and down the country to

campaign against them. KUSU played its part

of the National Union of Students (NUS) and

voted for National policy (against fees and cuts)

to be passed, and have joined and are building

towards a day of action whereby students’ unions

and students from across the country are coming

together in solidarity to march on London in

protest against the Governments attacks on the

Education system. This is DEM012, and KUSU

have linked up nationally to fight for and on

behalf of not only local Kingston students rights

but nationally too.

KUSU is Kingston University’s (KU) representative

body for all 26,500 students and provides a whole

range of representation, support, social activities

and services. KUSU is run by students, for students.

The key function of KUSU is to work for and on

behalf of all KU students to deliver an improved

educational and social experience, to enhance all

KU students life’s academically and socially, and

most importantly to provide any support and

advice that’s needed.

There are over 120 staff members in KUSU mostly

consisting of student staff that run the day to day

operation, and there are 20 elected student offers

that over sea KUSU’s governance, democracy,

ethics and strategy.

The 20 elected student officers consist of; 3 part

time student trustees, 13 part time executive

officers, and 4 full time executive officers.

This year has been one of the toughest

that KUSU has faced, with the challenge of

providing increased services to KU students in an

environment of limited resources and potentially

at risk real estate. However, KUSU is going above

and beyond all expectations and fighting these

difficult times nationally in Higher Education

(HE) and at KU. KUSU is fighting for all KU

students and is fighting to protect, and better the

student experience.

Over the past year, KUSU has achieved key

changes in assessment and feedback, Library

resources, an extensive review of student

representation, vast improvements and expansion

of the course rep scheme

“

”

KUSU’s Mission:

Making life better for Kingston students

KUSU’s Vision:

To give all our students the opportunity to love

their time at Kingston

KUSU’s Values:

•To be innovative in providing services that

students want and need, in a way that they

want

•To be professional in our management of the

Union, therefore ensuring a strong union for

future students

•Treating all students and stakeholders as

equals

•Creating a Union that students aspire to be a

part of

SEAN KELLY, PRESIDENT

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

It is with great pleasure that I am able to report

that KUSU has a full and active executive

committee this year.

While the President, along with the staff, is mainly

responsible for the day to day running of KUSU,

KUSU’s Executive is the committee that runs KUSU

on an ongoing basis. It consists of thirteen elected

members, whose responsibilities cover the whole

spectrum of student concerns from educational

issues to accommodation to discrimination and

much more. Of the seventeen members of the

Executive, four are full time officers, i.e. the

President and three Vice-Presidents, while the

other thirteen officers work on a part time basis.

Our Trustee Board continues to flourish, boasting

by the end of the year a full quota of external

trustees and student trustees with every meeting

to date being quorate.

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KUSU’S COMMERCIAL SERVICES

KUSU currently runs 5 commercial

units and receives income from a

further two franchise operations:

•Hannafords Bar - Kingston Hill

Campus

•Kingston Hill Shop - Kingston Hill

Campus

•Knights Park Bar - Knights Park

Campus

•Penrhyn Road Shop - Penrhyn

Road Campus

•The Space - Penrhyn Road Campus

Alongside:

•Hannafords Subway

•Space Subway

KUSU’S TRUSTEE BOARD

KUSU’S FINANCES

KUSU continues to do well financially and continues

to improve a sustainable position.

Last year, KUSU generated an overall surplus of

£66,133 which went directly back into KU students.

This year KUSU generated an overall surplus of

£23,460 which may seem a lot lower compared

to last year, but when you take into account the

fact that we have expanded our staffing levels by

creating 3 new roles (Student Voice Coordinator,

Communications Coordinator, and another

Student Advisor), and KUSU’s major investment

in improving a student voice arm, I can safely say

that our forecasts look impressive and the work

from last year combined with the work thus far is

to be applauded.

The executive meets on a fortnightly basis and is

responsible for all detailed matters concerning the

functioning of KUSU. The Executive Committee is

answerable to KUSU’s members – all 26,500 KU

students.

It is a pleasure and an honour to have the opportu-

nity to lead KUSU this year and I for one am proud

of all that KUSU has achieved together with KU

students over the last couple of years and especially

over the last 6 months.

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2011 – 2012 WAS AN EXTREMELY BUSY YEAR FOR ME AS

VICE PRESIDENT ACTIVITIES. THERE WERE SO MANY GREAT

EVENTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS WITHIN THE 3 AREAS OF THE

UNION I AM SPECIFICALLY RESPONSIBLE INCLUDING KUSU

SPORTS, KUSU SOCIETIES AND KUSU VOLUNTEERING – THIS

CAN BE FOUND IN MORE DETAIL BELOW.

LAUREN MCCORMACK

VICE PRESIDENT ACTIVITIES

KUSU SPORTS

The Kingston Cougars had a great year once

again with 1800 members of KUSU sports

clubs participating across 35 sports clubs

supported, developed and administered by

KUSU. American Football, Lacrosse and

Cycling were new additions to the Kingston

sporting community and are more than ready

for their second year. KUSU sports com-

mittee members attended the annual Sports

AGM in September to vote in their Sports

Working Action Group Representatives,

who helped feedback on important issues

and ideas arising throughout the year and

to shape the future of Kingston Sport. This

included attending the Union Annual General

Meeting (AGM) where they ensured it was

KUSU’s official policy to oppose the proposal

for Monday – Thursday teaching which if

implemented would have had a negative

impact on Wednesday Afternoon Sport.

There were many events over the year for

KUSU Sport including The Coca Cola

Olympic Torch Tour which came to KUSU

as one of 20 Unions successfully chosen from

around the country in November last year.

The local community and local schools, as

well as students, staff and Dave ‘Kingston’

Cougar came along to have a photo with the

Olympic Torch.

The Annual Mini Varsity Games against

Roehampton took place at the beginning of

the year and Kingston came out on top. The

Kingston Vs Surrey Annual Varsity Games

where the Kingston Cougars returned to

Surrey Sports Park in force for a great day of

sport, saw 500 students and supporters make

their way down to Surrey to watch both

Universities’ battle it out in 27 sporting com-

petitions which took place throughout the

day. Unfortunately it was Surrey’s year and

they took home the Varsity cup; however,

Kingston are still unbeaten as champions

of the ever popular tug of war. During The

Easter Vacation KUSU sports clubs embarked

on the Annual Sports Tour with 200 students

taking part in tournaments in sunny Salou,

Spain.

Cougar Socials were planned and developed

over the summer following feedback from

the Sports Working Action Group (SWAG)

forum meetings. On one night per month the

Kingston Cougars get together to encourage

a sporting community and celebrate success.

8 Cougar Chaos nights were run over the

course of the year which raised £6147.45

to reinvest back into KUSU sports events. 3

Cougar calm events also proved popular with

the Hypnotist, comedy, and quiz nights.

Twickenham stadium played host to the

Annual Sports Awards evening once again

where a record 260 students attended. Full

and Half colour contribution and achieve-

ment awards were given to those students

who had gone above and beyond for their

clubs. The black-tie event is the pinnacle of

the University’s sporting calendar and was

a great way to finish off a fantastic year of

sport.

“

”

KUSU SOCIETIES

There were over 60 student led societies this

year falling into the five different categories:

Faith, Culture, Arts and Activities, Libera-

tion and Campaigns, and Academic.

The Societies AGM was held at the start

of the year and KUSU Society committee

members elected their society working group

(SWG) representatives who helped feed-

back on important issues and ideas arising

throughout the year and to shape the future

of societies and the union. This feedback

from societies as well as sports played a

large part in KUSU moving from a paper

based membership sign up system to the

online website and membership system that

is now in place today. The societies working

group representatives were consulted on

the changes to the new semesterly grant

application system which helped ensure all

societies had the opportunity to grow and

flourish to become an active society putting

on events and meetings throughout the

year for its members. They also approved a

proposal from myself on behalf of societies

to invest in a range of media equipment for

use at society events. The structure of the

SWG altered slightly this year to incorporate

online forums where the elected reps can

gather feedback from the committee mem-

bers who fall within their group which has

proved useful.

There were 3470 members of societies this

year in total and 29 new societies were

formed. 67 guest speakers were processed for

approval and £8350 was raised by various

societies for charity.

There were several main events for societies

this year including an Annual Society Trip

where KUSU took 40 students to Barce-

lona for a short Break; The Annual Society

Awards of which the format was changed to

make it a Black Tie event that is today and

was held at the end of the academic year in

the Holiday Inn with over 80 nominations

submitted.

Inspired by cultural events at other Union’s

and the Olympic Games, the societies coordi-

nator and I planned, developed and delivered

KUSU’s first ever Global Festival – ‘The

World in a Week’ in March 2012. The event

aimed to celebrate and promote culture,

diversity and internationalisation at Kingston

University as well as addressing and discuss-

ing current global issues. Global Festival

was held over a week with a programme of

free events – many run by societies where

2413 students attended 37 different events

held throughout the week. Due to its success

Global Festival is now integrated into KUSU

activity and has been included in the societies

budgeting for the year.

BE A CHAMPION

As part of the National Union of stu-

dents’ (NUS) ‘Be a Champion’ Scheme to

encourage participation in Olympic related

activity; KUSU Sport and Volunteering have

successfully collaborated and have com-

mitted £7000 over 2 years for Sports card

holders or sports clubs to plan, develop

and run their own community volunteering

event. The projects are to reinforce at least

one of the Olympic or Paralympics values of

Respect, Excellence, Friendship, Courage,

Determination, inspiration and Equality.

30 students took part in 4 projects over the

year including a 2 fun sessions run by Rugby

and Cheerleading for Kingston Young carers

and a fun session by American Football for

a local school. KUSU sport and volunteer-

ing organised a project to redecorate a local

school sports hall. 15 of us worked together

to whitewash the wall and stencil silhouettes

to transform the space – and it looked great.

After the hard work of the volunteers on the

sports projects combined with the success of

‘Global festival’ and the Coca Cola Torch

Tour we were awarded Silver accreditation in

the national ‘Be a Champion’ scheme.

KUSU VOLUNTEERING

Over the course of the past year, 233 new volun-

teers were registered and 237 students actively

participated in our voluntary activities. Kingston

University students gave 3671.5 hours across

108 voluntary opportunities in 65 organisa-

tions (increase of 15 on 10/11) throughout the

Royal Borough of Kingston and neighbouring

boroughs.

One off Volunteering continued to be incredibly

popular. This academic year KUSU has supported

73 events for 46 different organisations which

require volunteers on a “one-off” basis. This has

provided students with a flexible programme

of voluntary activities to get involved in with

both local and national charities. 134 Kingston

University students took part in these one-off

opportunities contributing 791.5 volunteering

hours.

Staff led one-off projects are predominantly

organised as part of London Student Volun-

teering Fortnight and Student Volunteering

Week. London Student Volunteering Week in

October/November saw 48 people give 123

hours of voluntary activity on a variety of dif-

ferent taster sessions; including creating Kites

For Women’s Rights (an Amnesty Interna-

tional Campaign), creating hats for children

in Kingston Hospital’s Special Care Baby Unit

and stewarding at the Bloomsbury Festival.

There have been four Student-Led Volunteering

Projects this year with five students in leadership

roles. Two second year Fine Art students worked

with local school Hollyfield and ran three days

of art workshops across every year. A final year

Music and History of Art student ran a two hour

art collage workshop for eight Kingston Young

Carers on 7th June 2012. The project was highly

successful providing enjoyable respite time for

the young people from their caring responsibili-

ties. Two sports clubs also ran student-led proj-

ects under ‘Be A Champion’. The Cheerleading

Club ran a fun day for sixteen Kingston Young

Carers in early February and the American

Football Club did an all-day American Football

session with pupils from King Athelston School

which took place in March.

‘Community Volunteering’ involves brokerage

of volunteers to mid-long term volunteering

positions across Royal Borough Kingston, some

parts of Greater London and sections of Surrey.

Students provide support to a range of local

organisations and charities in a wide range of

roles on a regular basis, generally for a couple

of hours once a week or once a fortnight.

Over the past academic year students have

undertaken such diverse work as helping map

ancient floor-plans of Hampton Court Palace,

measuring eels in the Hogsmill River for a con-

servation project with London Zoo and helped

the British Red Cross construct emergency

plans in case of terrorist attack on the 2012

Games. Overall, 77 students have given around

2176 hours of their time in 25 different roles

within 19 organisations.

Our school volunteer programme has had

a very positive year following two difficult

years caused by several schools withdrawing

from the scheme due to space constraints and

staffing problems. We have seen 21 volun-

teers give around 704 hours of time in 6 roles

at 5 schools, which represents substantial

growth.

Kingston students have acted as Learning

Mentors to pupils at Tolworth Junior School

who are disaffected with school or whose

education has been disrupted by ill-health,

family upheaval or bullying. A new reading

scheme has been started at Kings Oak, a

Primary school in a very deprived area of

Norbiton, and students continue to support

pupils with learning disabilities both in the

classroom and on specialist reading pro-

grammes at Southborough High School.

The format of The Volunteer Awards was

changed this year from a day volunteer event

to an Awards ceremony at Kingston’s Dorwhich

House Museum with a speech from the Vice

Chancellor Julius Weinberg. A day volunteer

event at Kingston Hill campus was open to all

volunteers where we made bat and bird boxes.

There was also a celebratory BBQ lunch to

reward our volunteers for all their hard work

throughout the year and certificates were

given to recognise their contributions.

KUSU CAMPAIGNS

In February I managed to run a ‘KUSU Swap-

shop’ event to promote sustainability and

re-usage of clothing. This event gained a lot of

interest with students asking when the next

one was. I hope to run this more regularly in

the 12/13 year.

Following the Support Our Sports campaign

last year I have continued to work on the free

Wednesday afternoons policy to make sure it

is enforced. There is a clear want and need for

increased facilities and provisions for sports.

After feedback throughout the year it is obvi-

ous there is issue extends from not only Sports

facilities but also fit for purpose facilities for

Societies too. As a result i my priority project

this year is the ‘Your Campus Your Say’ cam-

paign where I will be making sure the students

voices are heard and that enough feedback

is gathered to help shape the decisions that

are going to be made. Kingston University has

committed expenditure on improving the cam-

pus through the Campus Development Plan

with the big decisions being made this year

12/13 so this is our opportunity to help make

sure the right decisions are made!

RITA SERGHIS

VICE PRESIDENT LEARNING AND TEACHING

It was decided by the last Executive Com-

mittee to change Vice President Education to

Vice President Learning and Teaching, as it

added focus to the role by solely representing

issues on education delivery. The addition

of Vice President Student Life also caused

this need to focus on learning and teachings

as welfare and non-academic issues which

affect academia now fell under VP Student

Life.

I feel if I had had the title of VP Education, I

would have fallen into the trap of thinking of

educational representation and progression

in a remedial mindset as opposed approach-

ing higher education critically in its day to

day delivery, methods and their effects. It

seems that the KUSU may be the first Union

to have a VP Learning and Teaching and that

this may soon be trend, with the increasing

involvement of Student Unions with their

academic development centres.

This year, with the introduction of the Stu-

dent Voice Co-ordinator role student officers

have been supported and able to do much

more. Some examples of this is the develop-

ment of the KUSU Message, various training

we are now able to access in-house (e.g.

campaigns training) and liason with faculties

to support course reps to increase represen-

tation throughout the university.

During the first two weeks of semester one

2012 all student officers delivered over 30

induction talks, which has increased aware-

ness of KUSU, its officers and the support

which is available to all students. This has

been reflected in the increase in number of

course reps we have inducted and increase

in students coming to officers with issues to

campaign on. To date between the Student

Voice Co-ordinator, President and I we have

delivered approximately 12 course rep induc-

tions including two which were at St George’s

for the joint faculty representatives. The

record numbers of reps to be inducted last

year were 330, this year we have inducted

over 500 course reps (I am still collating

all the details of all the reps from faculties

against those who attended the inductions,

so it may be a lot more than 500). Since the

beginning of inductions I have been able to

support 3 sets of reps from different courses

on higher level issues which are in process of

being addressed by their relevant schools.

To support course reps, this year Senior

Course Reps have been developed across

all faculties, which was an initiated by the

Student Voice Co-ordinator. The reason for

developing the Senior Course Rep role is to

a) Provide extra support for course reps b)

Increase student representation on university

committees, research and focus groups. The

difference between a Senior Course Rep and

an ordinary Course Rep is to act as a mentor

to ordinary course reps, as they will have

one year’s experience as an ordinary course

rep, will be part of university committees and

have a wider understanding and involve-

ment in university wide representational

activities. To co-ordinate their extra roles an

opportunities bank has been devised and the

conditions for taking up an opportunity was

designed by the Senior Course Reps i.e. rules

for commitment and consequences.

A Senior Course Rep skills day induction

was held for them, where they took part in

an active listening workshop facilitated by

the KUSU Advice Centre, chaired a formal

meeting, learnt about QAA (Quality Assur-

ance Agency) and quality enhancement, the

Academic Development Centre and how the

representational formal structures work.

This year we have seen the launch of

SADRAS (Student Academic Development

Research Associate Scheme) of which a

KUSU Student Trustee, the Non-Portfolio

Student Officer, the Student Voice Co-ordi-

nator and I sit on the steering group. There

were 49 applications in total, many of which

were student initiated research proposals.

KUSU have been involved in the design and

facilitation of SADRAS from the beginning

and took part in the two day residential

in Leeds hosted by the Higher Education

(Change) Academy. Our mentors for the

scheme are Birmingham City University and

we have been able to make strong links with

their student officers as a result and endeav-

our to conduct research together as both

unions are incredibly similar.

During Freshers Week we conducted a survey

based on campaign areas; mine was around

learning and teaching facilities and technolo-

gies. I am currently identifying problematic

learning and teaching spaces by asking

students on different campuses using posters,

speaking to students and a survey monkey

questionnaire; the questionnaire will also

be sent to staff. This is in the hope to create

some short term solutions for such spaces,

but to also feed into the Campus Develop-

ment Plans to help shape the new buildings

designs.

We have also created links with St George’s

Students’ Union, to better represent students

who belong to both universities as they are

quite often underserved and misinformed

on access to services and support at both

universities.

To increase student representation on the

development of the RAF (Review of the Aca-

demic Framework) I am in the process of set-

ting up focus groups for the changes in policy

areas on Study Abroad and UMS Grade

Criteria, to ensure both areas are developed

in a way which is accessible to students.

Last year as Vice President Communications

(VPC) I facilitated the long-running Fresh

magazine project, by coordinating an ambi-

tious and determined group of students –

both writers and designers – and empowered

them to reshape and relaunch the magazine.

The designers especially were absolutely

committed to the project and have built up

an extensive portfolio through the project.

I also built upon our student-facing social

media, collaborated with KU communica-

tions team to secure a regular KUSU box

both on MyKingston and the KU-wide mail

out KYou, and generally maintained com-

munications both between the union and the

university, the union and the students, and

the union and the community at large.

I enjoyed my year as VPC. However over

the course of the year conversations arose

about how representational the role really

was. It was felt on the whole, and especially

by myself, that the job I was doing was more

operational than representational, which was

not appropriate given that the role was an

elected one. Discussions began at Executive

Committee level, followed shortly by Trustee

Board level, about establishing a new staff

member role to deal with communications

and looking hard at what was missing

in terms of representation and what our

students really needed from an elected officer

team. It was decided that a staff role for

comms was indeed the way forward.

The President role, overseeing the general

day-to-day running of the union and taking

responsibility for democracy and gover-

nance, and Vice President Activities, oversee-

ing sports, societies and volunteering, seemed

fit for purpose and those areas worked well.

The Vice President Education role was tin-

kered with slightly to Vice President Learning

and Teaching, to ensure that all aspects of

both learning and teaching at KU were being

delivered effectively and to quality standards,

particularly in line with the university’s

recent Review of the Academic Framework

(RAF). That left the now vacant fourth

student officer role.

It was recognised that within the full time

officer posts, liberation, community and

welfare provision was lacking, and generally

if a student was having an issue that affected

their life as a student that wasn’t directly

related to their course, there was not an

obvious ‘go-to’ officer. It was also noted that

the liberation and underrepresented student

group part time officers (LGBT, Women’s,

Black & Minority Ethnic, International,

Mature and Disabled) had very little obvi-

ous full time officer support. Therefore the

obvious solution seemed to be to create a full

time officer role that covered these areas to

improve the student life experience at Kings-

ton – and so the Vice President Student Life

(VPSL) role was born.

AS VPC the previous year I had often felt

frustrated that I could not really get involved

with any full-on student-led campaign-

ing as most of my time was taken up with

operational tasks. Because of this, I jumped

at the chance to run for the newly established

VPSL role and was lucky enough to become

elected. It’s a wonderful position to be in

because I can really shape the role around the

official, on-paper description and make some

real positive changes on campus.

So far this year, under the coordination of the

VPSL, KUSU has delivered the first official

Black History Week to Kingston students in

a number of years. This comprised of 7 dif-

ferent events over 5 days, all run by various

KUSU societies and student groups, which

ranged from discussions to debates to music,

film screenings to external speakers. Overall,

the week was a tremendous success and of

the feedback collected, it has received a very

positive response from students. A report will

be delivered on the week and plans for next

year are already underway, including secur-

ing more funding and broadening the event

to a community project to further student-

resident relations within the borough.

MENTAL HEALTH

We have also begun work on a positive mental health

awareness campaign for all KU students. This kicked

off with a daylong event in celebration of World

Mental Health Day. KUSU, local mental health charity

Mind and the Kingston Primary Care Trust set up

home in Penrhyn Road’s Foodstore, engaging students

in discussion about mental health and how to live

a more positive life, through games and on-the-go

information. The Kingston University Psychology

Society (KUPS) were on hand with refreshments, sell-

ing cakes to fundraise for Mind. We also held a raffle

to raise money. In the evening the Cinema Apprecia-

tion Society hosted a themed film screening dealing

with mental health issues, which was introduced by

Hannah Paterson, the National Union of Students

Disabled Students’ Officer, who gave an inspiring and

eye-opening talk about mental health and disability

discrimination, and how we can work together to end

it. Over the day we raised £120.55 for Mind. This

event is the start of an ongoing campaign and was

highlighted at the recent National Union of Students’

(NUS) Welfare Zone Conference as an example of best

practice regarding mental health campaigns.

LUCY WILLIAMS

VICE PRESIDENT STUDUENT LIFE

VPSL

The introduction of VPSL has also led to the

establishment of KU’s first ever university-

wide Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender

Working Group. To date, not a huge amount

of work has been done around the LGBT

community at KU, and this group - con-

sisting of staff, students, gay and straight

members - aims to develop this area. Two

key outputs that we are hoping to achieve are

the introduction of gender neutral toilets on

each campus for our transgender staff and

students, and an LGBT Staff Network, which

will work in tandem with the student-led

LGBT Society to feed into policy surround-

ing LGBT equality on campus. I have also

been working closely with the LGBT Society

committee to provide training and feed into

campaigns they wish to run.

Student issues that have been brought

directly to me as VPSL have also fed into

mini-campaigns, for example the provision of

vegan food on campus, the levels of security

at Knights Park campus and the cost of travel

for commuting students using the Abellio

bus service. All students are encouraged to

bring me the day-to-day issues that affect

them here on campus: no issue is too big or

too small.

PARTNERSHIPS

Partnerships have also been built on within

the community. As VPSL, I now sit on vari-

ous residents’ association groups, the Royal

Borough of Kingston River Safety group, the

Kingston LGBT Forum and the Kingston

Domestic and Sexual Violence Forum. In

terms of student representation on a national

level, I have been invited to sit on the NUS

Spotlight Advisory Board and the NUS

Membership Engagement Committee, which

is wonderful as it means Kingston gets to

feed into the national picture.

Over the remainder of my year in office, I

hope to run a Better Choices, Safer Students

campaign, covering all aspects of student

life (responsible drinking, drug awareness,

river safety, safe night-time travel, crime

prevention) and hold more week-long

liberation campaigns (including Women’s

History and LGBT History Weeks), deliver

a Disability Awareness Week (covering all

aspects of disability, dyslexia and mental

health). I will also be working closely with

LGBT, Women’s, Black & Minority Ethnic,

International, Mature and Disabled Students’

Officers to ensure they are supported in run-

ning their own priority campaigns, finan-

cially, morally and from a resource point of

view. I have developed relationships with the

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion depart-

ment, both in terms of securing funding and

support for liberation weeks, and in terms of

feeding into establishment and development

of policy. Health and Counselling and I are

also working together on many health events,

such as an upcoming World AIDS Day event,

which will serve to raise awareness about the

importance of protection when entering a

sexual relationship and where to get support

if those issues do affect you.

Overall, at this point I could not be more

pleased with the establishment of the Vice

President Student Life. Many of the students

I have dealt with so far this academic year

have been overly enthusiastic about what the

role can achieve for them as students, and it

is delivering outputs that perhaps KUSU had

not been delivering prior to now. I feel it was

absolutely the right direction to take the full

time officer team, and really goes a long way

in fulfilling our objective: making life better

for Kingston students.

Across the UK many universities and their

Students’ Unions are facing challenging times,

and this is particularly true of Unions like

ours which are part of metropolitan, post-92

Universities.

The main challenges we will face going

forward, and in some cases are already seeing

the impacts of include:

•The impact of tuition fee rises on the behav-

iour and expectation of students

•The impact of falling student numbers –

not only are there less students demanding

services, but falling student numbers mean a

reduced income to the University, which will

inevitably impact on the level of funding for

KUSU

•The potential of course cuts, and the impacts

they will have on our students

•Making sure that our services are delivered

in such a way that they are both cost-

effective, but also fit the needs of our diverse

student body.

•The fall-out from the first year of student

satisfaction with the Union being part of the

National student Survey (NSS). None of us

want to be a Union that is delivering satisfac-

tion levels below the national average, and

we will be working with students all year to

make sure we serve their needs better.

•Our future location. It is almost certain

Town House will be being replaced over the

next few years and that KUSU may be mov-

ing as early as late 2013. We will engage with

both students and the University to ensure

both our interim and new location is driven

by the needs and wants of our students, and

that students are at the very heart of all deci-

sions relating to the new building.

•Changes in trading behaviour

•We will be negotiating with the University

in the remainder of this academic year about

the future delivery and funding of a number

of our services

However, these challenges are being addressed,

and out of the solutions we are aiming to

create, there will be many more positives than

negatives, and we firmly believe that the Union

will be a better place once these issues (and any

other issues students raise with us) have been

addressed. But no year in a Union is ever with-

out positives, and there have been a number of

significant positives this year, across all areas.

In the period of this report,

•KUSU has created 3 new full time posts,

focussed on ensuring a student body with both

a better understanding of the Union and a much

stronger voice on campus.

•KUSU has seen further growth in both the

numbers of societies and the number of students

engaged in them

•KUSU has seen the continued growth of “The

Cougars”, our sporting brand, which continues

to create a strong community feeling across the

University

•KUSU has been actively involved in the review

of academic delivery (the RAF) to ensure stu-

dent issues are being addressed

•KUSU has seen significant growth in the num-

ber of trained course representatives, ensuring

that students have a chance to air their opinions

at grass roots level

•After a very low electoral turn out in February

2012, the bye-election turn-out in October was

the highest in a decade, and we hope to con-

tinue that trend in the February 2013 elections

•The green roots of campaigning appear to be

re-appearing, with a number of successful events

as the new full-time officer roles bed in

•The Trustee Board (the 4 full time officers, 3

external trustees and 3 student trustees) is start-

ing to take a lead on setting the Union’s long

term strategic direction, and we are confident

that we can ensure the Union’s financial longev-

ity to ensure a strong Union for future students

•The new website has, despite being a late addi-

tion to a pilot group and all the glitches associ-

ated with that, allowed us to move forward with

online registrations and payments; and we intend

to be adding online voting and other functionality

allowing more student input to the site over the

next few months

•NUS Extra card sales have continued to grow,

saving money for thousands of students, whilst

providing us with an additional income stream

•KUSU generated a small financial surplus

Overall, whilst there is nothing to be complacent

about since a Union should always be listening to

students and striving to improve, reports of our

demise are greatly exaggerated.

FinaLly, the only way we can truly be your Union

is if you use every opportunity to engage with us

– we can only improve if people tell us what they

need, or what we might need to do better. We

welcome and actively encourage student opinion

and engagement and we aim to be an integral

part of your daily life as Kingston students.

MARK HORNE

CEO