2011/2012

ANNUAL REPORT

Registered charity number 1144763.

CONTENTS

P2........................... 2011/12

P3........................... President

P4-6....................... Activities

P7........................... Education

P8-9..................... Student Life

P10.......................... CEO

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 oversee 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 of 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

2

THIS YEAR HAS

BEEN ONE OF THE

TOUGHEST THAT

KUSU HAS FACED.

“

”

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

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.

3

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.

It is a pleasure and an honour to have the

opportunity to lead KUSU this year and I for one

am proud of all that KUSU has achieved together

4

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 addi-

tions to the Kingston sporting community and

are more than ready for their second year. KUSU

sports committee 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 attend-

ing 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 Roe-

hampton took place at the beginning of the year

and Kingston came out on top. The Kingston Vs

Surrey Annual Varsity Games where the Kings-

ton 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 competitions which took place through-

out 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 Vaca-

tion 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 achievement 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, Liberation

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) rep-

resentatives who helped feedback 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 applica-

tion 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

members 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 Barcelona 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 coordina-

tor 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 discussing 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 students’ (NUS)

‘Be a Champion’ Scheme to encourage participa-

tion in Olympic related activity; KUSU Sport and

Volunteering have successfully collaborated and

have committed £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, Determina-

tion, 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 volunteering 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.

5

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 organisations

(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 Univer-

sity students took part in these one-off opportu-

nities contributing 791.5 volunteering hours.

Staff led one-off projects are predominantly

organised as part of London Student Volunteer-

ing 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 different taster

sessions; including creating Kites For Women’s

Rights (an Amnesty International 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 responsi-

bilities. Two sports clubs also ran student-led

projects under ‘Be A Champion’. The Cheer-

leading 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 posi-

tions across Royal Borough Kingston, some parts

of Greater London and sections of Surrey. Stu-

dents provide support to a range of local organ-

isations 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 conservation 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 volunteers give around 704

hours of time in 6 roles at 5 schools, which

represents substantial growth.

Kingston students have acted as Learning Men-

tors 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 con-

tinue to support pupils with learning disabilities

both in the classroom and on specialist reading

programmes 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 obvious

there is issue extends from not only Sports

facilities but also fit for purpose facilities for

Societies too. As a result, my priority project this

year is the ‘Your Campus Your Say’ campaign

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 campus 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!

6

RITA SERGHIS

VICE PRESIDENT LEARNING AND TEACHING

It was decided by the last Executive Commit-

tee 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 since 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 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 develop-

ment centres.

This year, with the introduction of the Student

Voice Co-ordinator role, student officers have

been supported and able to do much more.

Some examples of this is the development of

the KUSU Message, various training we are now

able to access in-house (e.g. campaigns train-

ing) and liason with faculties to support course

reps to increase representation throughout the

university.

During the first two weeks of semester one

2012 all student officers delivered over 30

induction talks, which has increased awareness

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 com-

ing to officers with issues to campaign on. To

date between the Student Voice Co-ordinator,

President and I we have delivered approxi-

mately 12 course rep inductions 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 induc-

tions, 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,

an idea 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 rep-

resentation 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

involvement 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 Assurance Agency) and qual-

ity 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 Asso-

ciate Scheme) of which a KUSU Student Trustee,

the Non-Portfolio Student Officer, the Student

Voice Co-ordinator and I sit on the steering

group. There were 49 applications in total, many

of which were student initiated research pro-

posals. 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 Bir-

mingham City University and we have been able

to make strong links with their student officers

as a result and endeavour 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 solu-

tions for such spaces, but to also feed into the

Campus Development Plans to help shape the

new buildings designs.

We have also created links with St George’s Stu-

dents’ 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 devel-

opment of the RAF (Review of the Academic

Framework) I am in the process of setting 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.

7

Last year as Vice President Communications

(VPC) I facilitated the long-running Fresh

magazine project, by coordinating an ambitious

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 communications team to secure a regu-

lar KUSU box both on MyKingston and the KU-

wide mail out KYou, and generally maintained

communications 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 appropri-

ate 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 respon-

sibility for democracy and governance, and Vice

President Activities, overseeing sports, societies

and volunteering, seemed fit for purpose and

those areas worked well. The Vice President

Education role was tinkered 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 univer-

sity’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 under-

represented student group part time officers

(LGBT, Women’s, Black & Minority Ethnic,

International, Mature and Disabled) had very

little obvious 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 Kingston

– and so the Vice President Student Life (VPSL)

role was born.

AS VPC the previous year I had often felt frus-

trated that I could not really get involved with

any full-on student-led campaigning 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 wonder-

ful position to be in because I can really shape

the role around the official, on-paper descrip-

tion 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 different events

over 5 days, all run by various KUSU societies

and student groups, which ranged from discus-

sions to debates to music, film screenings to

external speakers. Overall, the week was a tre-

mendous 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 securing more funding and broaden-

ing 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, selling cakes to fundraise for Mind. We also

held a raffle to raise money. In the evening the Cinema

Appreciation Society hosted a themed film screening deal-

ing 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 ongo-

ing 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 STUDENT LIFE

8

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 - consisting 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 surrounding 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-cam-

paigns, for example the provision of vegan food

on campus, the levels of security at Knights Park

campus and the cost of travel for commut-

ing 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 various resi-

dents’ 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 representa-

tion 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 running

their own priority campaigns, financially, mor-

ally and from a resource point of view. I have

developed relationships with the Equality, Diver-

sity and Inclusion department, both in terms

of securing funding and support for liberation

weeks, and in terms of feeding into establish-

ment 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 aware-

ness 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 deliv-

ering 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.

9

Across the UK many universities and their Stu-

dents’ 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 behaviour

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 satis-

faction with the Union being part of the National

student Survey (NSS). None of us want to be a

Union that is delivering satisfaction 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 moving 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 decisions 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 bet-

ter place once these issues (and any other issues

students raise with us) have been addressed. But

no year in a Union is ever without 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 student

issues are being addressed

•KUSU has seen significant growth in the number

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 continue 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 exter-

nal trustees and 3 student trustees) is starting 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 longevity to ensure a strong

Union for future students

•The new website has, despite being a late addition

to a pilot group and all the glitches associated with

that, allowed us to move forward with online regis-

trations 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

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