president agm report 2013

7/30/2019 President AGM Report 2013

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Wow, what can I say, these past two terms in ofce haveell and truly own by. I still remember the very rst day I steppedo this University in September 2003, feeling anxious, lost yetishing this new chapter in my life. Throughout these almost

0 years I have greeted and said farewell to so many amazing,onderful and inspiring people. It is testament to the experiencesd lessons learnt from these people that I am the person who I

m today.

e University and College have come on so much since I startediversity. The university towers are no longer white dilapidatedonolith buildings; there was no Markeaton street, Enterprisentre or Multi-Faith centre. Brit mill was in a state of serious repairhere you played lift roulette on a daily basis. Yet the universityoup is constantly striving for better facilities, better infrastructured ultimately a better educational experience for its learners.

o being President, what is it like? How have I found it? How haveperformed? Honestly, it has been 2 of the most challenging andlightening years of my life. I never really truly understood

what living and breathing an organisations vision and values werelike before especially being the head of one. It has been a veryrewarding experience, having the opportunity to be around peoplewho are so passionate in what they do and the student movementis such a privileged and unique experience.

Meeting and learning from such committed and dedicatedvolunteers from all different walks of life is a very eye openingaffair. If it wasnt for such motivated and passionate staff andstudents your union will not be where it is today. These people

dont do it for the pay check, reward or recognition; they do whatthey do as they have a genuine will and desire to improve peopleslives. Organisations dont change people; it is people that changeother peoples lives! I never understood this until I was elected asPresident of your Students Union.

Two years is a phenomenally long amount of time in the life on astudents union as no 2 days are ever the same. One minute yourelobbying the university around student issues to marching in thestreets of London opposing the attacks the government is having onour education system.

DEMOCRACY&REPRESENTATION

90-100 students

at union council

16,000votes cast

95% of policies

student led

Over the past two years enabling ourembers to decide and direct their Unions increased year after year; this has

een in many ways. Attendance at Unionouncil has reached record numbers with average attendance of approximately

0-100 students. We have come a longay from Union Council being a room ofbout 10-20 students. Last January we heldr rst ever Emergency General Meetingd more policies have been submitted

y students then your Ofcer Team overese last 2 years, which emphasises theportance of your Union being Studentd and are testament to the student

ody. Policies have ranged from lobbyinge Union to pay the living wage to theroduction of new positions and Ofcerustee roles to help the Union to better

present the student population. Gaugingudent feedback has never been strongerth the introduction of advisory boards,rums and steering/student groups whichable more opportunities for students tol us what they want.

presentation both locally and nationallys never been stronger with all of yourfcer Trustees representing you bothcally and nationally. For the rst time evere represent you on 3 community boards

and within regional boards. This year wasthe rst time in a long time that we havehad so many Part Time Ofcer positionslled and with particular note of having astudent represent those over in Chestereldfor the rst time ever.

Our Elections and Bi-Elections over the past2 years have witnessed some landmarkoccasions such as record amount of voters,record amount of individual votes acrosspositions, record amount of votes for certainpositions, record amount of votes in our Bi-Elections and for the rst time in 12 years awoman was elected as President. It was therst time all Question and Answer sessionshave been streamed live online buildingupon just the Results being streamed live.

The annual Programme Rep conferencecontinues to grow and develop with oursbeing one of the only ones in the countrythat holds to account the entire UniversityCorporate Management team. The Board ofTrustees have gone from strength to strengthwith the recruitment of 2 new student trusteesand set up of sub-committees of the boardfor areas of Finance, HR and Risk.

Dom and I have sat on numerous universitycommittees and boards thus ensuring that

student representation and your voice is notonly heard but is woven into the sheer fabricof every level of the University. This year hasalso seen the addition of new members tothe University group in the merger with LeekCollege, throughout the year we have been

talking with these new members to gaugewhat they want from their union movingforward into next year when students atLeek College are fully integrated into theUniversity structures. Your Part Time Ofcershave delivered valuable campaigns thathave been student led like the SupportPlan Survey, International Womens Dayawareness and support for Equal Marriage.

On the national picture, this academicyear also saw the Union support just over50 students march through the streets of

Central London in peaceful protest overthis current governments savage cuts acrossthe education sector. Your Ofcers andPart Time Ofcers have attended recordnumber of conferences, seminars andworking groups/talks to put the voice ofDerby students into the spotlight whilealso collectively highlighting issues that allstudents are facing nationwide.


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The Students Union has gone throughme major milestones and overcomeme challenging situations. Over the

ast 2 years we have seen some majorstitutional changes such as the new feeructure, change to 20 credits, percentilearking and e-submissions. Each of theseings their own specic set of issues andeans a new wave of very dedicated andcused members. We also had a publicat with a political party in UKIP-gate.

e Union is now a registered charity, ourgistered charity number is 1147707.egistering with the Charity Commissionas had a signicant effect on how we

arry out our nances as an organisation.

egarding nances, your Union is in auch healthier state with the Union postinge most nancially sound gures for thest 6 years. Our commercial services arether on or exceeding budgets for the rstme in years.

e Students Union coffee shop Blends iskey performer...students and staff alike

o love their coffee...me on the other hand

m a hot chocolate lover, I like squirrelso. The food offer in the Academy barontinues to grow and mature as we haveen an increase in food sales within thenue despite a decrease of about 5% in

ur wet sales. We hope for this uptake tocrease to for the Academy to becomee place on campus for quality, value foroney food and drink.

vents and afliated nights in town areoing tremendously well with all areaserforming above budget and many

udents saying that they are enjoying theariety of events and student nights beingut on.

l this performing above budget is greatews as it means that we are able toinvest this money back into services andctivities for our members. We have alsoought certain events back in house most

otably the Graduation Ball and SummerMay) Ball.

These events have been cost effective andrealistic in their approach; gone are thedays where the Union would lose tens ofthousands of pounds booking ridiculouslypriced acts.

Our Freshers Fortnight of events continuesto grow and develop; every year moreand more events/activities during theday and night are included within therst 2 weeks of term. Over the past 2years more than 25,000 students haveenjoyed the Freshers Fortnight eventsand activities. How many other Unionsput on a shopping centre lockdown forthe students of their city? Not many I can

imagine.

Over the past 2 years the Union hasseen some signicant changes in stafngincluding the appointment of externalHR consultancy Lamont Jones. Duringmy terms in ofce the Union has seen acomplete change of Senior Management.This is due to various reasons such as theresignation of the Chief Executive duringmy rst term; for which I then led on therecruitment of a new Chief Executive. We

have also seen staff move on to pasturesnew for which we wish them the best intheir new roles.

Giving more opportunities for studentsto gain employment through the Unionhas been high on our priorities and overthe last 2 years the Union has employed200 students across our services putting180,000 back into the pocket ofstudents. We shall continue to employstudent staff across our services andto look at other opportunities such as

paid internships and work experienceplacements for further education students.

The Union has been in the nationalspotlight over the last 2 years. With theintroduction of Queston 23 in theNational Student Survey (NSS) whichgauges nal years students satisfactionwith the Students Union. Last year we hada score of 60%, which put us 6% belowthe national average and ranked 85 outof 127 nationally. This is a score that we

are not happy about and have started tomake changes to improve that score forwhich we hope to improve by 10% overthe next year.

Your Union

24,000lattes sold

8,000burgers sold

12,800free drinks

24,000pints sold

6,000paninis sold

35,500meals sold

helped over2000 students

via the source

200student staff

180k backin students

pockets


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o...weve heard about what has happened over the last 2 yearstime to say what is about to happen over the year to come. Asaid earlier, these are exciting times. There shall be some major

evelopments such as a new Mission Statement, Vision, set ofalues and Strategic Plan for the organisation. The Students Union

ll be having a new website designed over the summer due to ourntract with our current provider BAM Media coming to an end.

ur commercial services shall be reinvested in with Blendsdergoing a complete refurbishment. The Academy and Keddiesall undergo some spring cleaning with the Union Quarter andher spaces being spruced up. We shall bring back the shop atitannia Mill with additional space for Union services at the site.

We are in very early and rough stages of looking into having ammercial venue nearer to the student community and city centre.ore funds than ever before shall be invested into our clubs andcieties with an increased emphasis on developing current clubsd societies and additional support for new clubs and societies.

nds shall be set aside for members at Leek to support a range oftivities, events and student groups.

ur governance, representative and democratic structures shall beoked into especially with the formulation and implementation of aocieties Federation and new Ofcer Trustee position of a Societiesderation President.

We intend to join a select number of Students Unions nationwideby paying all of our employees the living wage and on theemployability agenda we hope to recruit more student staff in theform of paid internships and work experience for further educationstudents including the return of the Higher Education Achievement

Record (HEAR) which recognises the efforts of students in extra-curricular activities outside of their studies.

there has never beena bettertimetobeproudofyourunion

During my time the Union has received numerous recognitionsd awards for the work it has been doing. Last year we received

ronze in the NUS Green Impact Students Unions and weilt upon that by receiving a Slver Award (we were only 50

oints off Gold) this year. The Students Union bar Academy wascognised as 1 of 7 Students Union bars nationally to receive aest Bar None Gold Award, this is a great achievement ass the third year in a row we have been awarded Gold for thefety and operation of our bar and afliated nights.

e Athletic Union have had some amazing results over the last 2

ars. We were sat 104th nationally in the British Universities andolleges Sport (BUCS) league two years ago; last year we werewarded the BUCS Most Improved University for nishing 77th ine BUCS league last year and this year the teams have steppedup yet again by currently being 61stin the BUCS league. It isstament to our partnership and support from the University inhieving this but it is down to the students who compete week ind week out that we are where we are. Our teams have achievedleague wns and 6 promotons. There have been someenomenal performances this academic year, most notably theens Dodgeball team and American Football team being rankedt and 3rd respectively in the country.

The Union has never put so much nance and resource into our clubs,committees, societies and volunteers. We have record numbers ofclubs and societies set up and record numbers of students engagingwith them. This year I helped secure the relocation of your studentradio station d:one. Its new home is situated at Kedleston Road andit has developed its production, sound and output; it now can beheard in the Students Union shop Keddies with further developmentto be broadcast in other venues and sites.

Lastly and most importantly; we have conducted our most extensivepiece of feedback research with the rollout of our The Bg

Conversaton (TBC) Campaign. We asked our members andstakeholders what they thought about the union, what they thoughtwe do well and not so well and what they want us to focus on. Wereceived almost 2000 responses which is the biggest feedbackthat weve ever had and it is from this feedback that shall shapethe Union for years to come with it helping to form a new MssonStatement, Vson and set of Values while framing intohopefully 5 key areas/themes that a strategic plan shall be written.All this is based on your feedback and shall enable the Union tobe the relevant and t for purpose organisation that it needs to be.

THESE ARE VERy ExCiTiNG TiMES iNDEED.

whats next?

i w sh the of f ce r tea m of 2013-2014all the ver best n ther endeavours; i have no

oubt that ou wll be a great team. Fnall, i want to wsh allur members the ver best n all that ou strve to acheve.

i HOpE i HAVE SERVED yOu WELL

your students union president 2011-13

jAMES BECkETT

The Union has meant so much to me personally as Presi-dent, not just for shaping who I am but for also helping toshape people around me. It has been a pleasure and aprivilege to be a part of two wonderful, exciting, challeng-ing and unforgettable years.

I would like to say thank you to all the staff and manage-ment of the Union for all your hard work, it is through yourefforts that we are ableto achieve great things!

president agm report 2013

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