Epigram
28.10.2013
5
Sophia wins Kindle Fire in Epigram’s photo competition Joe Quinlan Web Editor
Joe Quinlan
Sophia Voicehovsky was the lucky winner of Epigram’s ‘tag the photo’ competition, walking away with an Amazon Kindle Fire, courtesy of sponsors PricewaterhouseCoopers. The competition involved tagging a photo of yourself with Ellie the Elephant, Epigram’s mammalian mascot, on the newspaper’s Facebook page. The photos were taken at the Freshers’ Fair on Thursday 26 September as students took the opportunity to pose alongside Ellie, with the winner later being drawn at random. Sophia said ‘I want to thank Epigram and PwC for the Kindle, I was very surprised and happy when I found out I had won.’ The prize was provided by Epigram sponsors PricewaterhouseCoopers,the multinational professional services firm. Alex Spaven is West and Wales Student Recruitment Manager for the company. ‘Epigram is a widely ready newspaper at the University of Bristol and we’re always looking for
ways in which we can build on the great relationship we have with the University’, he told this paper. ‘Supporting Epigram’s Kindle prize giveaway was an opportunity for us to be involved with Epigram’s Freshers’ Fair campaign and show our encouragement for students to get involved in extra-curricular activities. Contributing to a publication like Epigram is just one of many ways that students can improve their employability by developing skills outside of their academic studies - something we’re always keen to see.’ Managing Director of Epigram, Ollie Yorke, said that ‘It’s been a pleasure to work with PwC and we’re extremely pleased that they kindly sponsored our Kindle competition. Without their support, this competition would not have been possible. It’s also an extremely good way of promoting Epigram, and getting our name out there to the student population.’ Yorke added his congratulations to Sophia and insisted ‘we will definitely be looking to run more competitions like this in the near future’.
Sophia Voicehovsky recieves her kindle from Alex Spaven at PriceWaterhouseCoopers offices in Bristol
New Lettings Agency in Printer problems persist Bristol’s Student Union Adam Bushnell News Reporter
UBU Lettings: Bristol’s Student Union is to open a new lettings service.
University printers saturated with cash as student wallets run out of paper Students have been complaining that printing credit is yet another hidden cost of studying at university, which are not transparent upon application or included in the yearly £9,000 tuition fees. The new academic year has seen another year group grappling with the fee increase, amidst Oxford vicechancellor bleakly claiming that more academically advanced institutions should charge closer to £16,000. The implications of the fee hike have already generated higher expectations among students regarding overall educational quality. One student told Epigram that, ‘The fee hike is accompanied by a greater demand for high standardsuniversities are competitive and businesses would offer more for customer money’. However, the fee reform involved the government reducing their HEFCE teaching grant and so it is the students personally paying the excess, with universities receiving the same amount of funding. This has not prevented students complaining about extra hidden costs such as printing, with this cost rising at Bristol this year as students have to print out course guides and similar documents which are only available online. Whilst the university provided students with some money to cover
Printer in the Arts and Social Sciences Library
these printing costs, the amount provided was not enough to print all of the required documentation needed by students for their course. A politics student commented, ‘We were provided with £10 worth of printer credit but this did not even allow me to print half of the readings I am expected to read. I understand the University’s desire to go electronic but this means you always have to be on your computer to work – it was easier and cheaper when they provided a printed set of key readings.’ This issue forms a larger problem which the National Union of Students (NUS) has set about tackling, by launching its ‘Come Clean’ campaign to ensure that student rights are upheld. This culminates with a
Ryan Maguire
view, Griffiths said that the UBU lettings service is also going to fulfil the role of making UBU more financially stable. He told Epigram, ‘If commercially successful, the lettings agency will keep money, which students would only be spending with private landlords anyway, within the student body’. He suggested that this will be a great thing for all UOB students, as ‘like all of UBU’s operations (bars, cafés , merchandise), all the surplus from the agency will go straight back into our budget to spend on student priorities’ including grants, staff, equipment, projects and campaigns, which Mr Griffiths believes is ‘awesome!’
Flickr: Oatsy40
The University of Bristol Student’s Union (UBU) will be opening a new residential lettings service onn the 18th November. The service, called ‘UBU Lettings’ will establish a foothold in an area of student life that UBU has had relatively little involvement with in the past. The service comes following UBU President Rob Griffiths’ and Vice President for Community Ellie Williams’ manifestos that included plans to raise living standards for Bristol students. Williams told Epigram that the plan has been in the pipeline for some time, following student feedback suggesting accommodation providers and landlords have been giving students a less than adequate deal. Instances of more traditional corporate lettings agencies charging extortionate fees are rife along with poor service, such as slow responses to repair requests, shabby living conditions, and poor communications from landlords to tenants. Landlords holding on to security deposits for illegitimate or poor reasons is also another thing that UBU Lettings wishes to stamp out. Williams went further to say that the newly elected
Mayor of Bristol, George Ferguson, is campaigning to raise living standards and also to heighten the profile of well practising landlords, and that the UBU Lettings service will reward good behaviour on their part. ‘A good home is fundamental to good health’ and general well-being. By setting the standard, UBU lettings hopes to ensure that every student has the worry of substandard housing removed from their lives,’ Williams explained. The service is going to be run by Vicky Thomas, who has over ten years’experience in the lettings market and managed a similar project for the students of Cardiff. UBU Lettings aims to directly finance itself through income from landlords. From a financial point of
Ryan Maguire News Reporter
national student walkout and lobby of parliament in spring 2014. Hidden costs are central to the campaign as research showed that almost a third of student unions reported that their universities do not cover additional costs such as printing, studio fees, field trips, travel to work placements and course books. NUS president, Liam Burns, claims that additional costs create financial pressure and stated that ‘It cannot be fair that academic success is dictated by how much disposable cash you have.’ Perhaps university is not the utopia which some students may have imagined and the financial reality of choosing education over full-time employment under economic inertia is taking its toll.