QMSU Newsletter - January 2011

For more information and contact details visit: www.qmsu.org

Its Elections Time!

Volume: 3 January 2012

QMSU NewsletterFind out what we’re doing for you

Sabbatical Trustees Educational Reps Welfare & Equal Opportunities Reps

Student Trustees

NUS Delegates

Four Positions Available

Four Positions Available

President Vice President Education Vice President WelfareVice President Barts & The London

Part-time Officers

Student Council Chair RAG Officer (ME) RAG Officer (BL)Societies Officer (ME) Societies Officer (BL)Sports Officer (ME)Sports Officer (BL)Volunteering Officer (ME)Volunteering Officer (BL)Vice President BartsVice President LondonDental Society President

Welfare Rep (ME)Welfare Rep (BL)Students with Disabilities Rep (ME)Campaigns Officer (BL)LGBT Rep (ME)LGBT Rep (BL)Multi-cultural Rep (ME)Multi-cultural Rep (BL)Womens Rep (ME)International Rep (ME)

BL Faculty Rep (Pre-Clinical)BL Faculty Rep (Clinical)BL Faculty Rep (Dental) Humanities & Social Science Faculty Rep (x2)Science & Engineering Faculty Reps (x2)Postgrad Research Rep (ME)Postgrad Research Rep (BL)Postgrad Taught Rep (ME)Postgrad Taught Rep (BL)International Rep (ME)International Rep (BL)

Available Positions

There are very few jobs, let alone graduate jobs, that provide the same varied responsibilities and experiences that being a Sabbatical Trustee

affords those lucky enough to be elected by their fellow students. It’s a job that you can uniquely make your own, as the heads of the Students’ Union, the Sabbatical Trusteess can shape the direction and activities of the Union towards whatever way they think is best for students.

It will also be an interesting year to be a Sabb, it will be the first time for a very, very long time that all the officers will be in their first year of the job. It’s the first year where the new structure is in place, with Education and Welfare being split into two roles and Communications and Student Activi-ties dropped as full-time roles.

It would be pointless to lie and say that it’s an easy job, it takes up a huge

amount of your time and will take over your life for your time in office, but it is worth it. Representing students and ensuring that they get the best possible deal from the university and from other organisations is a hugely rewarding thing to do and the skills you will gain will set you in good stead for whatever you direction you want to go in afterwards.

Even if you don’t want to take a year out of your studies to be a Sabbati-cal Officer, there are a huge number of part-time positions available, from becoming a Student Representative, a Part-time Officer, a Student Trustee, an NUS Delegate or even Executive Editor of the Student Media. With a frankly staggering array of different portfolios, these are oppportunities to suit everyone. These positions are open to people who will be students at QM next year and are done alongside your studies. They also offer a whole range of valuable skills and experiences and can act as a good taster to see if you want to run to be a Sabbatical Officer nearer the end of your course!

Need more information about the elections? Go to: www.qmsu.org/elections Contact: Election Official - Phil: [email protected]

Student Media

Executive Editor

Need more information about the positions ? President- Sophie: [email protected] President - Oscar: [email protected] President - Sam: [email protected] President - Dom: [email protected] President - George: [email protected]

information

Important Dates: Nominations Open Jan 9th, 10am Nominations Close Feb 2nd, 4pmVoting Opens Feb 10th, 10amVoting Closes Feb 16th, 4pmResults Party Feb 16th

For more information and contact details visit: www.qmsu.org

Make Volunteering your New Year’s Resolution - Student Volunteering Week, 23rd-29th Jan.

Provide Volunteering, have or-ganised a week’s work of volun-teering events and activities for you to get involved in during QMSU Student Volunteering Week, taking place between Monday 23rd and Sunday 29th

January. From feeding the home-less, to a toy trolley dash, there is something for everyone!

Volunteering is a great way of helping others and making a real difference, whilst also developing

the skills that employers are look-ing for.

To find out more details on the opportunities taking place and to apply, please register as a volun-teer on www.providevolunteer-

ing.org and click through to the News section of the homepage. Also visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/providevol-unteering

Award Season...

This spring QMSU will be rewarding and recognising our members who have contributed above and beyond the call of duty throughout the year. There are three celebratory events planned for March and you could be up for an award!

There are three awards ceremo-nies happening this term so keep an eye out for tickets and news and check qmsu.org for all the details. The ceremonies are:

Course Rep Awards – Friday 9th March in Drapers Hall.

Course Reps celebrate with your peers and lecturers in one of Lon-don’s richest and most beautiful buildings, the home of Thomas Cromwell and the Drapers Guild.

Awards & Honours – Monday 19th March in Rich Mix.

The Rich Mix is the cultural desti-nation for East London, offering live music, dance, theatre, com-edy, film, spoken word, and other creative arts all under one roof. It’s the perfect place for societies, volunteers, fundraisers, media, campaigners, and officers to show off and party.

Club Sport Awards Dinner – Tuesday 27th March in Proud Cabaret.

The Sports Clubs’ Black Tie and Cocktail Dress event with a sit down dinner and after party brings glamour to the Club Sport Awards Dinner.

For more information and contact details visit: www.qmsu.org

QMSU’s new recreational sports programme GET ACTIVE had enjoyed a hugely success-ful first semester with over 5,000 participants benefiting from the wide range of sport-ing activities on offer. Both stu-dents and staff have enjoyed taking part in turn up and play sessions and intramural leagues in 10 different sports – athletics, badminton, basket-

ball, climbing, cricket, football, judo, netball, table tennis and tennis.

Get Active is back BIGGER and BETTER in Semester 2! We have expanded, modified and improved our programme based on feedback we received in Semester 1. Some of our new features include: basket-ball leagues running every

Saturday, netball sessions being moved indoors to Qmo-tion and FREE badminton on a Monday morning. Get Active is a fun, convenient and low cost way to get in shape in this new year! Sessions start on the 9th of January 2012. For more information on all of our ac-tivities go to www.qmsu.org/getactive or email [email protected]

Student Council voted on a wide range of measures to improve the student experience from cashpoints to Q-Review.

The Union’s Student Representa-tives and Part-time Officers and, have called for an investigation into the future of cashpoints on the Mile End campus. The Union will also now lobby the College to encourage the use of Q-re-view, the lecture recording serv-ice, and to improve accessibility across the campus and online.

New job descriptions for the Un-ion’s Executive Officers, Student

Representatives and Part-time Officers were signed off ahead of the Union Elections later this semester (see front page).

A motion proposing to open up the new Postgraduate Reading Room in the Mile End Library to undergraduates did not pass. But Officers will work with the Library to open up empty teaching space for un-dergraduates that seek a quiet study space during the exam period.

Any students can attend Stu-dent Council, submit an issue

or motion to be discussed and take part in the debate. The next meeting of student Council will be at 6.30pm on 31 January in Francis Bancroft 1.02.6. Find out more at qmsu.org/studentcouncil.

Student Council Update

Student Council exists to change

things for you. To find out more and

get your issues discussed go to:

qmsu.org/studentcouncil

Next Meeting: Jan 31st, 6:30pm

Need Help?

Have Questions? Look out for the

‘Activators’ in their bright blue shirts!

Thousands of students are actively engaged in the wide range of extra-curricular activities offered by Queen Mary Students’ Union. Through these activities, students are developing a wide range of employability skills. To enable students to recognise and reflect on these skills, QMSU staff have been working hard to develop the

‘Beyond the Degree’ Develop-ment Programme.

The Union-wide programme will give students the chance to self-assess their current skill set, strengthen weaknesses by taking part in a range of training courses and work towards accredited certificates. A pilot of the scheme

Beyond the Degree...

will take place between January – March 2012, allowing QMSU staff to assess the effectiveness of the programme and to make recom-mendations before the official launch in September 2012.

The ‘Beyond the Degree’ pro-gramme will raise the importance of being involved in extra-curric-

ular activities, allowing students to develop further skills and improve the student experience.

For more information about the programme, please contact Claire Britton on [email protected]

For more information and contact details visit: www.qmsu.org

Week 1Monday 9th Jan – Mondays Calling @ DrapersTuesday 10th Jan – The Big Quiz & Rock n Roll Bingo @ DrapersWednesday 11th Jan – Play On @ Drapers; BLu Cheese @ New GlobeFriday 13th Jan – FND – School Disco

Week 3Monday 23rd Jan – Mondays Calling @ DrapersTuesday 24th Jan – The Big Quiz & Rock n Roll Bingo @ DrapersWednesday 25th Jan – Hail Mary @ Drapers; BLu Cheese @ New GlobeThursday 26th Jan – Lol Comedy Show @ Drapers Friday 27th Jan – FND – Neon Rave @ Drapers

For more info on events join our Facebook groups: Queen Mary, QMUL, QMSU Freshers 2011 - 2012

Barts and the London / Barts / BLSA BL Events and Info

Week 2Monday 16th Jan – Mondays Calling @ DrapersTuesday 17th Jan – The Big Quiz & Rock n Roll Bingo @ DrapersWednesday 18th Jan – Play On @ Drapers; BLu Cheese @ New GlobeFriday 20th Jan – BL Toga Party @ Drapers

Whats On?

Teaching Awards

The annual Queen Mary Stu-dents’ Union Refreshers Fair is now on the horizon. The event will take place on Tuesday the 17th of February 2012 from 5:30 – 7:30pm in the Francis Bancroft Building, Room 113 and 113a.

The event will include stalls from a range of Societies, the ‘Provide’ volunteering team, Club Sport, Get Active, Stu-dent Media, Student Repre-sentation and RAG.

The Refreshers Fair is open to all students and staff and is a

great way to find out informa-tion about the wide range of activities you can get involved in. If you are new to Queen Mary this is an opportunity to meet fellow students and sign up to new clubs, societies and volunteer opportunities. It’s also an excellent networking opportunity and the chance to pick up a few freebies along the way.

For more information please visit www.qmsu.org/refreshers

We hope to see you there.

Refreshers Fair 2012 - Jan. 17th

Week 4Monday 30th Jan – Mondays Calling Live @ DrapersTuesday 31st Jan – The Big Quiz & Rock n Roll Bingo @ DrapersWednesday 1st Feb – Play On @ Drapers; BLu Cheese @ New GlobeThursday 2nd Feb – Movie Night @ Drapers; Pressure Cooker @ Fabric Nightclub with Ms DynamiteFriday 3rd Feb – FND @ Drapers Free before 10pm.

This year the Students’ Union is playing a much more active role in the organisation of the Teaching Awards. We are

working with the Learning Institute so that students are not only the ones doing the nominating but that you also play a vital role in deciding awards go to through the involvement of Course Reps. This year we will also see the Teaching Awards being pre-sented at the Course Rep Award Ceremony on the 9th March 2012. If someone teaching you is outstanding, motivating or inspiring, why not consider nominating them?