Kingston University Students' Union Annual Report 2011-2012
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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