FXU Impact Report 2016/17

FXU Impact Report 2016/17

2

INTRODUCTION This report was produced in order to show the positive impact FXU has on and for students. Every year, FXU aims to represent students and undertakes activities in order to ensure students have the best experience that they can have while at University. FXU does all we can to empower students and give them the tools to lead, to represent their fellow students, and to gather feedback from students and ensure that student opinion is passed onto both Universities.

As with previous years, we took all of the feedback we received from students in the previous year and brought it together with our FXU Presidents’ manifestos in order to set our priorities for the year.

This became our ‘Top Ten’ Priorities list which was launched at our October Union General Meeting (UGM). Over the year we have worked on these priorities and strived to get the best for our students and achieve what students want FXU to achieve on their behalf.

There are also many additional ways that FXU has a positive impact for our students, and one of these that emerged this year has been our increased representation and recognition at a national level.

FXU staff and students have been representing students in Cornwall on more and more NUS committees and working groups, while our clubs and societies have won increasing recognition for their work at a national level as well.

This report highlights all of the work we have done to fulfil our priorities, as well as the additional work done by your FXU Presidents.

It also includes the often unseen work done by our three directorates; Student Voice, Activities and Advice. We feel FXU gives great value for money to our students, and we hope this report illustrates what we achieve on students’ behalf.

3

4

5

6

7

CONTENTS

8

13 15 16

Introduction Summary

38

38 a) FXU to work together with both institutions to form a joint communication strategy outlining institutional changes, partnership decisions and achievements that affect all students.

Your FXU Presidents 16 22 26 34

FXU Top 10 Priorities

38 Priority 1: Universities Communication

FXU President Exeter FXU President Falmouth FXU President Student Experience FXU President Community & Welfare

39 b) Both Universities to formalise how they get ‘FXU approval’ on institutional messages and vice versa.

39 c) Both Universities to look at ways of improving their communications to their student body about national educational issues.

39 d) Both Universities to coherently document and archive community interaction.

40

39 In addition

Priority 2: FXU Communications 40 a) Investigate and implement ways of communicating FXU/President big wins more effectively, reaching more students.

41 b) Provide students with a better understanding of FXU President roles and increased accountability of Presidents’ manifesto aims.

41 c) Improve students understanding of FXU’s purpose, Mission, Vision & Values.

42 Priority 3: Accommodation 42 a) All partners to look at not increasing the price of rent of UOMA – In reflection of rising cost elsewhere.

42 b) To make all UOMA available to both cohorts of students for the 2017 entry.

43 c) Increase transparency to both students and local community members around future accommodation plans.

43 d) Producing better information for students on their right to rent, and develop an FXU housing campaign with the FXU advice team.

43 e) Work to find solutions for international students who are being asked to pay one year’s worth of rent up front.

9

44 Priority 4: Mental Health, Wellbeing & DSA 44 a) Continue to work with both institutions to ensure no students’ education is adversely affected by the cuts to Disabled Students Allowance (DSA).

45 b) FXU to build on #MindYourHead and mental health campaigns with the aim of highlighting the services available to students.

45 c) Continue to work towards opening FXU Nightline to offer peer to peer support during the hours of 10pm and 4am.

45 d) Promote good physical, mental and sexual health to students making services easier for them to access and educate on wellbeing issues.

46 Priority 5: Academic Excellence 46 a) Increase Institutional data shared with FXU including annual application, offer, acceptance, progression and retention rates by gender and ethnicity.

46 b) Work with both Universities to ensure academic policy is clear and ‘student friendly’.

46 c) Deliver better exam support for Exeter students by using a range of examples and providing more comprehensive feedback.

47 d) Enhance the current approach to module feedback for Falmouth students and strengthen the quality and usefulness of feedback provided during modules.

47 e) Ensure all course curriculums continue to be sector leading and world class.

47 f) Endeavour to make sure campuses and course curriculum deliver an international experience for all students.

47 In addition

10

48 Priority 6: Celebrating diversity and fighting back

against intolerance.

48 a) Support for international students to explore Cornwall (#FXPlore Cornwall) to help them feel part of our wider community.

48 b) FXU to start a Faith Committee to represent and promote faith issues in FXU and the Universities decision making.

49 c) Diversify the range of events that FXU and the two Universities put on throughout the year, so that they become more appealing and inclusive to all of our students.

49 d) Work with Student Support to create Tell Me, an anonymous email service for students to report incidents such as hate crimes.

49 e) Student Support to become a third party reporting centre for hate crimes that all students can use.

50 Priority 7: Facilities 50 a) Explain and communicate what world class and sector leading means by making the Campus 2020 plan relevant to individual courses.

50 b) A financial commitment from both Universities to support the Campus 2020 plan and increase available individual, group study, non-commercial and social space as student numbers increase.

51 c) Continue to work towards having all campus facilities genuinely accessible to all students.

51 In addition

52 Priority 8: Cost of Living 52 a) Both Universities to publish up to date course cost information, including more detail on hidden course costs.

52 b) FXU to continue to publish their annual financial transparency document, with more detail than previous years.

52 c) Campus shops to work with Devon and Cornwall food association to hand out ‘free’ food to students.

53 d) Work with campus retail services to ensure all prices are competitive (vs. high street retailers) and transparent, and are mirrored across all campuses.

53 e) FXU and both Universities to work on clarifying and highlighting help for students facing financial hardship.

58

Student Voice

60 Elections 62 Meetings 62 General Meetings 63 Academic Representation 64 Leadership Team 65 Liberation Committee 65 Faith Committee 66 NUS 67 Development 67 Training 67 Top 10 67 Widening Participation 69 Communications & Marketing

54 Priority 9: Union Partnership 54 a) FXU to work collaboratively with all unions in ways that enhance the student experience.

54 b) FXU to look into ways we can support and collaborate with other Student Unions in Cornwall.

55 c) FXU to be directly involved in national movements to drive positive change including the National Union of Students (NUS), the Great Western Four (Cardiff, Bristol, Bath and Exeter - GW4) and the University of Exeter Students’ Guild.

56 Priority 10: ‘One Campus’ – One Student Body 56 a) Continue to improve clarity around campus course changes and locations.

57 b) FXU to continue to work on increasing availability of sports, societies and events to Truro and Falmouth campus based students.

57 c) FXU and both Universities to increase support of Postgraduate events throughout the year to help promote a thriving Postgraduate community.

57 d) FXU to provide more support and marketing for student-led events.

73

Advice

73 74 74 74

Service users Service use Case type Overall impact

75

Activities

77 78 79 80 81 82

Events Clubs Societies Volunteering Raise and Donate Green Living

83

Conclusion

84

Appendix (Print Version Only)

57 e) Work to tailor FXU to appropriately cater for all University students, both campus and non-campus based.

11

INTRODUCTION

FXU is the Students’ Union for all Falmouth University students, and all students in Cornwall studying with the University of Exeter. FXU ensures that students are represented at every opportunity. We continuously seek feedback and opinion from students which is then proffered by student representatives.

FXU encourages as much student-led activities as possible so that they learn complimentary skills in addition to their academic studies. In addition, some activities compliment students’ studies, while others give them some much-needed relaxation to give students space to recharge their batteries.

FXU recognises that University can be a variable experience and that sometimes some students may need a bit of support. FXU runs an advice service that gives students advice about money matters, housing, University related issues, employment rights and consumer rights. We also provide other services such as the stress free app and Tell me – which is a third party reporting system.

13

14

SUMMARY

Every year, students elect four Presidents for FXU to represent all students to both universities. The FXU (Sabbatical) Presidents are there to listen to students and then represent student opinion to the Universities and other institutional bodies.

FXU Presidents are full time paid positions that students can undertake either at the end of their studies or during a sabbatical year out of their studies.

As well as representing students, the Presidents get directly involved in gathering student opinion, and so they oversee our student rep system. Presidents also can be directly questioned by the Leadership Team at Leadership Team meetings, and by all students at general meetings. In October, the FXU presidents joined together to send an open letter to the NUS President with their concerns about the anti-Semitism highlighted by the Home Affairs Select Committee Report into Antisemitism in the UK. After lots of work, your presidential team were awarded “Officer Team of the Year� at the NUS Students Union 2017 conference in July.

15

FXU President Exeter – Tom Murray-Richards

Tom’s role is primarily around enhancing the academic and employability experience of all University of Exeter students on the Penryn and Truro campuses, and ensuring that they receive the education they expect from a prestigious Russel Group University like Exeter.

The following section will be a breakdown of my work as FXU Exeter President 2016/17. Although, by necessity, not covering all of my work over the past year, hopefully it will prove to be a robust and useful summary of the activity that has made the most significant difference to the students I represent over the last academic year.

RECOGNITION & AWARDS This year, I have worked hard to ensure that Cornwall voices, both staff and student, are recognised for the incredible work that they do. I was invited as the first FXU President to sit on the Professional Services Recognition Awards Super Panel. These awards recognise the contribution of Professional Services staff from Falmouth Exeter Plus and the University of Exeter in Cornwall. To recognise the contribution of Academic Staff, I co-hosted the Teaching Awards with the Vice-President Education of the Students’ Guild, which is and will continue to be an important statement of collaboration between the two unions, as well as rewarding staff for exceptional teaching.

As well as this, the FXU Awards will recognise the contribution of students to the experiences of their peers.

In terms of recognising student contribution, myself and Hannah Partington (FXU Student Representatives Coordinator) have begun to write letters of recommendation for Subject Chairs and Course Reps, so that they have the support required in order for them to pursue their graduate ambitions.

COMMUNICATION Another focus of my year in office has been to improve communication, both in the way that the University communicates to students and also in the way that FXU communicate to our members, the student body.

I have: • Worked with the Library to improve the interface for students so they can see when the Library is likely to be full.

• Reviewed and delegated University/FXPlus meeting attendance so I can spend more time talking to students, and prioritise my time most effectively.

16

• Hosted the second ever module fair at the Penryn campus, which ensured students were presented with choices to study new modules, especially those not in their primary discipline.

FXU President Exeter – Tom Murray-Richards

REPRESENTATION My main focus in representation over the last year has been ensuring that students, regardless of their campus of study, have their voice amplified to the same level. In practical terms, this has meant comparing the meetings and appointments of my equivalent at the Students’ Guild and establishing whether or not a Penryn voice would also be appropriate to attend.

The following has therefore changed over the last year: • Improved representation on Senate, the senior Academic Board of the University, meaning that three appropriate student reps can attend.

• Clarified the role of Students’ Guild College Officers in relation to Subject Chairs in Cornwall, establishing that College Officers are neither elected

by Cornwall students, nor can Cornwall students stand to become one, so therefore in order for all students to be consulted, both College Officers and Subject Chairs in Cornwall must be consulted.

• Became a full member of the University Governing Body, Council, rather than just being in attendance.

• For the first time, I have had termly 1:1s with the Vice Chancellor, Professor Sir Steve Smith, which have proved extremely positive.

• I have become a member of the Cornwall Advisory Panel, ensuring that there is a student voice on this important liaison between the community and the University.

My other focus, in terms of representation, has been ensuring that the structure of FXU allows all students to voice their views in the most effective manner. In this vein, I have: • Doubled the amount of time spent at the Truro campus compared to the year before.

• Led a review of the structure of the Leadership Team. The new structure improves flow of information to and from the leadership team, and reduces the expectation on Subject Chairs to attend multiple meetings that replicate the same information.

• I worked to improve the structure of ‘Make a Change’, improving the way that students’ can put forward ideas to the elected Leadership Team of FXU after extensive consultation with the Leadership Team.

• Was invited to and sat on the interview panel for the Head of Teaching Quality Assurance and Enhancement with Guild representatives.

• Facilitated a discussion on ‘Students as Partners’ with the Academic Dean for Students, Professor Wendy Robinson and Subject Chairs.

• I worked closely with the Director of Education and Student Experience, Ian Blenkharn, to balance the distribution of Graduate Business Partners (GBPs) across disciplines and campuses.

• Initiated regular 1:1s with Subject Chairs to make sure they felt supported and empowered to make change in their role.

• Working with the President of the Students’ Guild, I presented to University Senior Management outlining ‘what Exeter students want’.

• With the FXU Advice Director, FXU Student Voice Director and FXU Widening Student Participation Assistant, I hosted a lunch to talk to Mature Students about financial hardship and retention and FXU can support these students.

• I presented the FXU Top Ten Priorities to the University Senior Management Group Strategic.

• I presented an update on volunteering and community engagement carried out by students in Cornwall to University of Exeter Council.

• I am also proud to have contributed a half page to the University’s submission to the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). This framework will mean big changes to Higher Education in the UK, but I remain proud to have championed the student voice during this process and co-hosted #TEFXU, an awareness event to answer student questions, with the Deputy Vice Chancellor Education and our Falmouth equivalents.

• In January, I took incoming Study Abroad Students on a tour of campus and of Falmouth, including Fish & Chips, which was an important step in supporting these students in their first interactions with the University.

17

FXU President Exeter – Tom Murray-Richards

Lastly, as a group FXU have been working to increase our national reputation and ensure that we are representing students effectively to external agencies and also within the National Union of Students (NUS). I know that there was some dissatisfaction from students with NUS over the last year, but I have worked hard to ensure that we represent students’ interests wherever possible.

• I campaigned for Shakira Martin, the President-elect of NUS, who I believe will be instrumental and highly effective in delivering the sort of change NUS needs to make to earn back the trust of its constituent members, students’ unions.

• I also worked closely with Amatey Doku in his successful election to Vice President (Higher Education) of NUS. Amatey has resolved to tackle the BME Attainment Gap, work with sector agencies more closely and maintain a focus on solutions, rather than problems. As with Shakira, I firmly believe that Amatey will bring the change that students are demanding from NUS. • I contributed to the FXU’s submission to the NUS Democratic Review that subsequently passed at National Conference, which I believe will make NUS democracy more accessible to all students.

• I co-hosted the keynote speech at the JISC Change Agents Network at the University with the Vice President Education of the Students’ Guild and University Student Employability and Academic Success (SEAS) staff. This begun the conference on a significant note of partnership between the two students’ unions and the University.

• I attended a Year Two TEF briefing event, held by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), and fed back the opinion of Cornwall students to HEFCE and the Department for Education (DfE).

18

FXU President Exeter – Tom Murray-Richards

LOBBYING Working with the University, I have suggested and being successful in beginning conversations and making tangible changes to the experience that students have whilst studying in Cornwall. These changes are sometimes but not always in places where Cornwall students have received less support than their counterparts in Exeter, and therefore links closely to my work on representation.

A summary of some of the changes is below: • I successfully worked with the SEAS team to employ, for the first time, a member of staff to be based at Penryn to support Study and Work Abroad.

• I am currently drawing together research on peer mentoring and will present a paper on this in due course to improve the support that students receive.

• I worked to ensure that training for personal/academic tutors went ahead with campus specific messages, rather than less accurate generic messages that applied to the whole University.

• Senate, at their Autumn meeting, received an update on Wellbeing in Exeter, but not Cornwall. I successfully, alongside University colleagues, called for a paper to be written and submitted to the formal business in Spring Senate to ensure Senate received an overview of Wellbeing across all the University’s campuses.

• Working with the Students’ Guild, I ensured that new students starting in September only received targeted information about their respective campus on social media, rather than for a campus on which they would not be studying.

• I also now sit on the University of Exeter Wellbeing Review group as part of this work.

• I highlighted the ongoing issue with hidden course costs at the University, and worked with the Director of College Services, Linda Peka, to have a productive meeting with student representatives and College Registrars in Cornwall. Since this meeting, a number of actions have been circulated more widely with colleagues to ensure the University is transparent as possible about the costs a student can expect to incur during their degree.

• Worked with the Association Deans for Education and Directors of Education to increase module choice for students on Politics, History and English programmes in Cornwall, which had been an ongoing issue for a number of years.

• I worked to improve the annually released University financial transparency document and now sit on the Financial Transparency Task and Finish Group, which will go even further in improving the information released to students.

19

FXU President Exeter – Tom Murray-Richards

OTHER Alas, and of course, the final category must be ‘other’. A short summary of other significant activity this year can be found below: • I chaired the interview panel for the new Chief Executive Officer of FXU in December, which although did not recruit a CEO was an excellent opportunity and demonstrated the significance that FXU places in the leadership of sabbatical officers.

• I presented at five separate University of Exeter Open Days, continuing to show FXU’s commitment to student recruitment and ensuring that future students are aware of the huge benefits of studying in Cornwall.

• With the FXU Undergraduate Education Officer (Exeter) and Widening Student Participation intern, we hosted four University Challenge events on the Penryn and Truro campuses.

20

• I called for a discussion on the representation of ODLP (Online Distance Learning Partner) students who will be starting at the University from September. I worked with the University and Guild who would have responsibility to represent these students, and how we can work together to make sure these students get the most from their experience at Exeter, despite learning in a different way to the majority of Exeter students.

• Despite some significant challenges, I am proud of my work over the last twelve months, and must take this opportunity to thank the University staff who have contributed to the continued success of FXU. In particular, I feel confident that I will leave this job having done my utmost to enhance the representation of FXU students to the University, lobby on their behalf and try and deliver the mandate I was elected on.

FXU President Exeter – Tom Murray-Richards

Key Full bar = manifesto commitment complete

Correct as of 01/06/2017

21

FXU President Falmouth – Chris Slesser

Chris’s role is primarily around enhancing the academic and employability experience of all Falmouth University students on the Falmouth and Penryn campuses.

The Falmouth President is responsible for the academic representation of Falmouth students, and I am glad to say that this year has seen significant enhancements to FXU and the University’s academic representation systems.

I have led on an initiative to focus on each mode of study within the diverse Falmouth student landscape and ensure all have an appropriate and tailored method of academic representation in order to harvest authentic student feedback and create positive academic change for students.

One of my personal achievements this year has been establishing a really good and honest working relationship with the Falmouth Senior Team.

Very often this means being a critical friend — and has allowed us to collaboratively develop initiatives in order to enhance future student communications and consultation.

In addition, I have worked with and/or on the following areas:

FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY DIGITAL PRINT CENTRE Collaborated with the Falmouth Director of Finance on a breakdown of the Falmouth undergraduate and postgraduate fee for the first time alongside a departmental breakdown of costs. Printed versions were distributed through reps during National Student Money Week.

22

Following unanimous course rep feedback from all Falmouth Campus departments, a large-scale digital print centre was launched on the campus with a cross-campus delivery service for greater parity. Complimentary to this theme, ‘course costs’ were added as a strategic theme of the retention project with a focus on reducing student print costs.

HIGHLIGHT ART FAIR

THOUGHTFEED

An opportunity for students across departments to showcase and sell their work. Utilizing the Falmouth Campus as an event space around the Christmas period.

A monthly talk series to encourage a more thriving postgraduate community by discussing research interests, led by Falmouth’s Postgraduate Research Officer.

SENIOR STAFF DROP-INS

ARTS SU NETWORK

Monthly opportunities for students to meet with the senior management team were established to enhance dialogue around University strategy and current themes affecting the student experience and informing student feedback presented in senior meetings.

Established a network of dialogue with other Arts Student Unions to organize and strategize for a relevant national representational body for students studying in the creative industries. In May, I met with SU’s at University College of the Arts in London to formalize this relationship.

Mature students and the University’s Hardship & Retention Fund

Mature students and the University’s Hardship & Retention Fund

The University administers a fund of money that it uses to provide extra financial support to students in need.

The University administers a fund of money that it uses to provide extra financial support to students in need.

The University has identified mature students as a priority group to benefit from the fund because, for instance, mature students are more likely to withdraw before graduating than any other group of students.

The University has identified mature students as a priority group to benefit from the fund because, for instance, mature students are more likely to withdraw before graduating than any other group of students.

If you’re facing financial hardship - whether that’s for accommodation, general living costs or course-related expenses, or something else – think about making an application.

If you want some help preparing your application, make an appointment to see one of FXU’s advisers.

If you’re facing financial hardship - whether that’s for accommodation, general living costs or course-related expenses, or something else – think about making an application.

If you want some help preparing your application, make an appointment to see one of FXU’s advisers.

You can do this online – just go to the University’s website, enter ‘hardship’ in the search box and you’ll get to the right page.

To book an appointment drop-in to FXU reception or phone FXU on 01326 255861.

You can do this online – just go to the University’s website, enter ‘hardship’ in the search box and you’ll get to the right page.

To book an appointment drop-in to FXU reception or phone FXU on 01326 255861.

TATTOO TALES

RETENTION PROJECT

Hosted an event to document student tattoos for a community engagement project with National Maritime Museum in Cornwall and Storylines- Following this an exhibition ‘Tattoo’ launched (open until January 2018) in March documenting and integrating generations of students, members of the local community, and members of the Royal British legion.

I have actively been involved in a project to enhance the student experience by establishing initiatives based on student focus groups about key strategic themes. Led by DVC (Academic), Alan Murray, I collaborated on the brief adding additional themes such as, ‘communication of key student information’, ‘sense of belonging in HE’, ‘The Learning Space’ all informed by trends identified from rep feedback throughout the year.

Falmouth & Exeter Students’ Union is a registered charity number in England and Wales No.1145405

Falmouth & Exeter Students’ Union is a registered charity number in England and Wales No.1145405

23

FXU President Falmouth – Chris Slesser

FXU Course Rep

COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS COURSE REP SYSTEM I visited many of Falmouth’s collaborative partner institutions with FXU, working to create a more appropriate method of academic representation for off-campus students. I visited Bodmin College, the Academy of Contemporary Music and the Fashion and Retail Academy, and had termly e-meetings with CEG Digital.

This year I have been devoted to enhancing the structures of academic representation, working with our FXU Representative Coordinator to implement the following changes and formalizing an ongoing enhancement plan for reps: • FXU Department Representative role descriptor established with updated training and election for the next academic year. 1:1 Meetings with the President were established to better prepare reps prior to Department Board.

• Passed a motion to clarify the department rep role by removing them from the membership of FXU’s Leadership Team, utilizing the role of the Falmouth Education Officer to represent the holistic academic experience at Falmouth.

• Formalized the remit and agenda of Department Rep Working Group.

• Implementation of ‘Department Forum’ identified in the working group as best practice within AMATA to build a greater community of reps in each department.

• Development of a ‘Student Voice Tracker’ for a really clear ‘You Requested, We Delivered’ mechanism for clear actions to be enacted against student feedback to reps. Integrated on the Falmouth Learning Space, this was identified in the reformed working group as good sharable practice within the Games Academy.

• For the first time Academic Rep Feedback informed Academic Board papers presented to the Directors, Registry and Senior Team.

• Creation of Postgraduate department reps to enhance representation of the postgraduate academic experience.

• Synchronized FXU meetings with Falmouth’s Committee Calendar for enhanced synergy.

24

FXU President Falmouth – Chris Slesser

Chris Slesser FXU President Falmouth /chris.fxufalmouth

chris.slesser@fxu.org.uk

Manifesto Commitments 2016/17

Communicate

Highlight

Represent

Integrate

Socialise

Better communicate the success and achievements within all Falmouth departments to all students via a centralised news platform.

Create strong partnerships with local Cornish organisations to provide students with local industry briefs.

Increase visibility by splitting my time equally between Falmouth and Penryn campus and ensure I am in regular contact with our foundation, flexible and distanced learning student communities.

Ensure both Penryn and Falmouth campus have a portfolio standard, high quality printing facility that represents the needs of students.

Increase the number of events and activities that take place at Falmouth campus.

Improve communication of guest speakers outside of respective departments.

Create more cross campus inductions to better communicate the assets of each campus. e.g. The Cabinet, Penryn campus Library.

Establish a centralised communication platform to effectively market events by staff, students and alumni of Falmouth University.

Set up a platform to highlight student achievement and provide opportunity to showcase and sell work, as well as providing more energetic opportunities for students to fundraise for projects across both campuses.

Work in partnership with Falmouth Employability Team to enhance the Creative Skills Exchange to highlight the available networking opportunities for interdisciplinary and collaborative practice.

Enhance FXU’s academic rep system to better quantify student opinion and improve communication of feedback both up and down this rep structure.

Balance representation between quantitative and qualitative feedback.

Work closely with directors, department staff and students to embed FXU with an appropriate method of engagement among all departments.

Make sure Penryn campus shop is stocked with art materials that are representative of student need.

Develop a strategy in partnership with Penryn and Falmouth town council to create opportunity for students to link in with community events and local businesses.

Assess the potential of using empty shop venues for pop up events and exhibitions.

Reinforce The Compass as a source of connectivity and signposting to highlight the assets of each campus.

Construct more opportunity for students to collaborate with each other with the long-term goal of encouraging culture of collaborative between courses.

Make it easier for students to collaborate with each other by ensuring transparency of course locations.

Track my manifesto progress at: www.fxu.org.uk/fxupresidentfalmouth Correct as of 01/06/2017

25

FXU President Student Experience – Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson

Amanda’s role focusses mainly on student activities; be that sports, volunteering, societies, fundraising and sustainability — for all Falmouth University students and Cornwall-based University of Exeter students. She is also the main point of contact between all students and the commercial and professional services provider, covering everything from retail, estates, sports facilities, accommodation and everything in between.

The following is a summary of my work as FXU President Student Experience 2016/17. Some of the work I’ve done has covered both my years as President, and I won’t be able to cover everything, but I’ve chosen to cover four themes that I genuinely believe will have had the biggest impact on students, both short and long term.

I firmly believe in transparency of your elected leadership, so I’ve included some areas where I don’t believe I’ve created as much positive impact as I could have. It’s worth pointing out, that none of what I talk about here would be possible without the fantastic staff in the FXU team – I owe them an endless thank you for the unwavering support over the last year.

SPORTS CLUBS, SOCIETIES, RAD AND VOLUNTEERING More opportunities for committee members; more support from FXU for affiliated groups; and better recognition of your achievements.

Building on the work the FXU activities team started last year, we’ve seen a huge increase in the opportunities for our sports, societies, and student volunteer project committees. The students who run these groups give hundreds of hours to enhancing others student experience and I’ve always been keen to find new ways FXU can empower them and say thank you in return.

This year we have: • Introduced the FXU Step Up Fund – allowing committee members to gain professional qualifications that benefit their FXU Affiliated Group.

• Built on the new FXU Leadership Conference so that committee ‘top up’ training is now available three times a year.

• Collaborated with the Uni Employability team give outgoing committee members the skills to show how being involved with FXU Activities can bring benefits to future employers.

• Put funding and rewards behind the new FXU Special Awards – recognising groups exceling in four areas: Community, Development, Sustainability and Inclusion.

26

FXU President Student Experience – Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson

• Created and hired for a new team role – the FXU Activities Coordinator – specifically to give clubs and societies specialised help for throwing large and complex events/ programmes.

• Organised and ran 2 large scale participation programmes (FXYouCan and Refreshers: Give It A Go Week) • I’ve helped student-led committees apply for just over £31,000 amount of funding this year (Specialist FXU funds, Alumni Annual Funding, Sport England etc.).

• Worked with the student voice team to introduce a new student crowdfunding internship position, providing new avenues of funding support for committees.

• Supported the development of ‘Hubbub’ – a University platform that supports student led crowdfunding with promotion, advertising and practical information.

• Encouraged club and society committee members to log their volunteering hours via the FXU V-Team and benefit from our recognition and reward scheme.

• Supported the development the rebranded FXU Volunteering Team, which has seen over 9000 hours given back to our local community.

• We created the new FXU Volunteering & RAD forum and committee – breaking it away from the Sports & Societies forum and committee in recognition of the exponential growth and different forms of support these groups have seen.

• Volunteered at every large fundraising event RAD has hosted this year – Jailbreak, Lost, Movember and more.

• Prioritised publicity with FXU Activities so that this year we’ve seen 18 press releases, 66% increase social media activity, stronger relationships with both University marketing and communications teams, and we have had student groups running the FXU Snapchat during big events/matches.

• Secured more money for academic societies and events for use next year, that will benefit people’s extracurricular and career choices.

• Strengthened FXU’s relationship with University alumni teams so that students here see the benefits of philanthropic giving.

Finally on this bit, the conversation around the need for sports pitches has been complex, but when I started they were seen as ‘an expensive non-necessity’ by both Universities. Now, they are referred to as ‘the missing piece of the jigsaw’. In realistic terms, this is a huge step forward. It’s been discussed and recognised by governing bodies of both Universities and I’m confident that my successor will be able to secure a public commitment to these facilities.

27

FXU President Student Experience – Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson

CAMPUS DEVELOPMENTS & FACILITIES Ensuring student voices are at the centre of future campus plans; holding our shared services provider to account on the cost of student life; & lobbying for increasing diversity of services available.

One of the genuinely exciting things about all our campuses is that they are young, developing and receiving a large amount of investment from two Universities over the coming years. To me, this is an opportunity for students who are here currently, to be the driving voice in what students of the future will benefit from. This was something that hadn’t been prioritised by FXU Presidents before, but will hopefully continue to be so in the coming years.

To do this, I have: • Driven forward the process of securing an 11million pound investment in the central parts of the Penryn campus.

• Secured wide spread student consultation on what this investment should look like, in terms of new and improved social, academic and student support space.

• After plans for Falmouth campus canteen were sped through with no student input, I took this issue to the highest level of Falmouth University (the Board of Governors) and got it reversed so that student representatives were given the opportunities to have their say.

• Secured regular meetings for the Vegetarian and Vegan Society with campus catering teams to ensure that community are properly catered for • Worked with Islamic Society to get two big wins - Halal and Kosher foods are now sold in the campus shops for the first time, we’ve secured a bigger prayer space for all of next year and this then led to a genuine consultation about how prayer facilities could be factored into Penryn Campus developments.

28

• After significant lobbying, the two Universities shared services will be starting work on financial transparency of their services over the next year. This means for the first time we will see clearly where your money goes on things like accommodation, catering, entertainments and more.

• Ensured that Don’t DisAbility Society are now officially part of consultations around physical campus changes.

• Lobbied both Universities on their plans to raise rent by the average halls rent by 7% a week, successfully bringing the increases down to 2% per week. This is still 2% too much and I will forever be disappointed that they continue to make accommodation less and less affordable for all students.

• Insisted on a wide spread review of catering and entertainment services on all campuses, which is coming to a conclusion and should start to bring in positive changes from the Summer.

• Started the annual process of getting more student and graduate artwork displayed across all campuses.

FXU President Student Experience – Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson

“THE FXU NATIONAL TAKEOVER” Better National representation on what matters to you; more National recognition for student achievements; and more opportunities for students to work on the National platform.

One of the clearest things I noticed about being an SU President in my first year was how much of the work we do is caused by a lack of strong representation on a national level from the National Union of Students.

Myself and the team were determined to ensure that FXU student voices were better heard and represented on all levels, meaning: • Put more effort at holding our elected National leadership to account • Simultaneously invited National leaders to campus for debates, events and to join in with campaigns.

• Campaigned for candidates that embodied the FXU values and priorities.

In particular, I was involved in Shakira Martins campaign for National President and can’t wait to see what positive impact she has on the student lifestyle.

• Engaged more with BUCS (British and University Colleges Sport) – including contributing to their work for better inclusion for Transgender students in high level competitive sport and hosting one of the SW regional meetings at our Penryn campus.

• After such a strong awards season for FXU groups last year, I was absolutely determined to maintain the momentum this year and do everything possible to ensure the hard work put in by so many was recognised. We had 7 shortlists at the National Society Awards with two groups winning their categories; our first ever Student Publication Awards shortlist; and have more to come.

• Held FXU’s first ever #LoveSUs day, ensuring the FXU voice was heard on the National day for highlighting the work and opportunities Students’ Unions provide, whilst also updating students on what we were doing and our in-year priorities.

• Was invited to meet with HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council England) representatives – one of the first Students’ Unions in the country to do so in this context. This is new ground for both HEFCE and Students’ Unions, as previously there hasn’t been a want for this dialogue to happen.

• Supported FXU RAD President (Hannah Smith) in her election to the National Student Fundraising Association Committee (NaSFA) as South West and Wales rep; and also Harry bishop (President Community and Welfare elect) in his election as NaSFA chair.

• Was successfully elected on the NUS Student Opportunities Advisory Group, to ensure extracurricular activities are a priority in the work of our National Union.

• Attended GW4 (Great Western Four), NUS Regional Meetings, several National conferences and events, and was a delegate to NUS National Conference.

29

FXU President Student Experience – Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson

BEHIND THE SCENES STUFF AKA ‘OTHER’ As with every job, there are always things that have to be done that you didn’t initially set out to do.

For me, this year, these have included: • Leading on the prolonged recruitment of a new FXU CEO, a substantial piece of work that means we welcome Joff Cooke to the FXU family officially on July 1st.

AMPLIFIED STUDENT VOICE For me, lifting the student voice has come in two forms.

It’s either been ensuring I know the facts and feelings, to then be able to represent different student groups to the best of my ability; or providing you with new and different opportunities to have your own voices heard on any number of topics.

This has looked like: • Reviewing all of the meetings I attend with Falmouth University, the University of Exeter and FXPlus to ensure that FXU students are represented at all levels they should be.

• Actively found more opportunities for you to take the public platform – we’ve had students on BBC Radio Cornwall, BBC World News, featured in a range of regional press and radio.

• I led on the review of how we induct and train our student trustees, providing them with better financial skills and tangible benefits.

• And finally, I’m so proud to have led on creating The Cornish Roundtable – a partnership of all Students’ Unions that represent students in the Cornish education system and will work to support each other and campaign for better access to education in Cornwall.

• Ensured funding was ring fenced so that more of you than ever before could attend National conferences whether that be NUS, SPA or Sustainability campaign days.

I thought I’d finish with some stats for you, that will hopefully give a slightly different insight into the life of FXU President Student Experience!

• Fed into FXU, Falmouth University and the University of Exeter’s individual student commuication reviews – half the time things perceived as issues are brought about by communication issues and hopefully this extensive bit of work will start to reduce that.

• Written 2 Falmouth Anchor articles and been featured in 3 National news articles

• Increased the amount of contact I had with students living in Truro.

• Worked with postgraduate representatives to guarantee the first ever Postgraduate housing fayres and more tailored support throughout the year.

• Often challenged ways of thinking and senior members of staff, so that committee meetings are truly covering all campuses and all groups of students.

30

• Following mass student feedback and upset, I led on introducing a new Glastonbury style ballot system for both Garden Party and Graduation Ball. This has inarguably made the processes fairer – with people having up to 4 opportunities to buy tickets for Garden Party – but other factors, such as unaligned University term dates and limited event capacity, have meant that these events haven’t been the best they could be. I’ve listened, and hopefully student-led improvements and changes will come into effect next year.

• Appeared on the radio 3 times • Ran 2 Mass voter registration drives (EU Referendum and GE 2017) • Represented FXU 27 times at national, regional and local democratic or representational events • Attended 23 community events/consultations/open meetings • Received over 300 emails/messages about busses.

In one year. Lol.

FXU President Student Experience – Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson

Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson FXU President Student Experience /amanda.fxu

amanda.cc@fxu.org.uk

Manifesto Commitments for Falmouth Campus 2016/17 Sports, Societies and Sustainability

Facilities, Student Numbers and Campus Equality

FXU Special Awards

Campus Equality

I want to put money behind these awards so club and society members benefit from collectively leading the way on areas such as sustainability and inclusion.

I worked hard in 2015/16 to make sure that Falmouth campus wasn’t forgotten; Streatham wasn’t always prioritised and that Truro medics were included. This year I will carry on ensuring that the universities remember and consult with all of their students, regardless of where they are based.

Media Societies These are really taking off on our campuses; they need a dedicated space to work from with specialist equipment.

More Opportunities for Committee Members Whether it’s training with BUCS, attending national conferences or gaining valuable qualifications.

Funding for Student Projects More funding and help has been given to student sustainability projects than ever before! I want to carry on helping students run great initiatives that we all benefit from. I also want to help increase the number of student-led sustainability projects held at Falmouth campus.

Green Conference

Accommodation Falmouth and Penryn are filling up fast. The universities need to be more proactive in helping students find a home, particularly postgraduates and students on study abroad.

Financial Commitments to all Campuses I’m talking more studio space at Falmouth campus; more social spaces on all campuses and more available group study areas for when you need them. It’s time to get more student art work displayed around campus, it’s time to be proud of the talent we have here!

Communications to Students This needs some serious improvements. Whether it’s telling students about accommodation or letting you know about a change in your timetable. I spent a lot of time in 2015/16 making sure students know the truth – and this year I want Falmouth University and the University of Exeter to do the same.

I will help students organise a large scale conference on sustainability, with external speakers who are working in this field.

Key Full bar = manifesto commitment complete

Correct as of 01/06/2017

31

FXU President Student Experience – Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson

Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson FXU President Student Experience /amanda.fxu

amanda.cc@fxu.org.uk

Manifesto Commitments for Penryn Campus 2016/17 Sports, Societies and Sustainability

Facilities, Student Numbers and Campus Equality

3G Pitch on Campus

Campus Equality

Now that the sports centre is open, it’s time for a commitment to that much needed pitch so that ‘home games’ really are played at home.

I worked hard in 2015/16 to make sure that Falmouth campus wasn’t forgotten; Streatham wasn’t always prioritised and that Truro medics were included. This year I will carry on ensuring that the Universities remember and consult with all of their students, regardless of where they are based.

FXU Special Awards I want to put money behind these awards so club and society members benefit from collectively leading the way on areas such as sustainability and inclusion.

Media Societies These are really taking off on our campuses; they need a dedicated space to work from with specialist equipment.

More Opportunities for Committee Members Whether it’s training with BUCS, attending national conferences or gaining valuable qualifications.

Funding for Student Projects More funding and help has been given to student sustainability projects than ever before! I want to carry on helping students run great initiatives that we all benefit from.

Green Conference I will help students organise a large scale conference on sustainability, with external speakers who are working in this field.

Key Full bar = manifesto commitment complete

Correct as of 01/06/2017

32

Travel and Parking More parking spaces need to be written into the universities’ future plans, a wider variety of parking permits needs to be investigated and more buses at peak hours is a must.

Accommodation Falmouth and Penryn are filling up fast. The universities need to be more proactive in helping students find a home, particularly postgraduates and students on study abroad.

Financial Commitments to all Campuses I’m talking more studio space at Falmouth campus; more social spaces on all campuses and more available group study areas for when you need them. It’s time to get more student art work displayed around campus, it’s time to be proud of the talent we have here!

Communications to Students This needs some serious improvements. Whether it’s telling students about accommodation or letting you know about a change in your timetable. I spent a lot of time in 2015/16 making sure students know the truth – and this year I want Falmouth University and the University of Exeter to do the same.

FXU President Student Experience – Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson

Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson FXU President Student Experience /amanda.fxu

amanda.cc@fxu.org.uk

Manifesto Commitments for Truro 2016/17 Sports, Societies and Sustainability

Facilities, Student Numbers and Campus Equality

Truro Visits

Campus Equality

Continue to visit Truro with other FXU staff members, giving more chances for feedback and bringing more tea and cake!

I worked hard in 2015/16 to make sure that Falmouth campus wasn’t forgotten; Streatham wasn’t always prioritised and that Truro medics were included. This year I will carry on ensuring that the universities remember and consult with all of their students, regardless of where they are based.

FXU Special Awards I want to put money behind these awards so club and society members benefit from collectively leading the way on areas such as sustainability and inclusion.

More Opportunities for Committee Members Whether it’s training with BUCS, attending national conferences or gaining valuable qualifications.

Funding for Student Projects More funding and help has been given to student sustainability projects than ever before! I want to carry on helping students run great initiatives that we all benefit from.

Green Conference I will help students organise a large scale conference on sustainability, with external speakers who are working in this field.

Travel I want to carry on working with First Bus, Great Western Railway and the University of Exeter to get cheaper travel deals and student night buses!

Accommodation The universities need to be more proactive in helping students find a home, particularly Postgraduates and students on study abroad.

Financial Commitments to all Campuses I’m talking more social spaces on all campuses and more available group study areas for when you need them.

It’s time to get more student art work displayed around campus, it’s time to be proud of the talent we have here!

Communications to Students This needs some serious improvements. Whether it’s telling students about accommodation or letting you know about a change in your timetable. I spent a lot of time in 2015/16 making sure students know the truth – and this year I want Falmouth University and the University of Exeter to do the same.

Key Full bar = manifesto commitment complete

Correct as of 01/06/2017

33

FXU President Community & Welfare – Alexa Webster

Alexa’s role is primarily around community and welfare representation which covers a broad spectrum of areas such as equality and diversity, accessibility, liberation and faith, student health and wellbeing, disability and widening student participation. The role also has a responsibility to liase with student support services, living support, the police, multi-faith chaplaincy and the FXU Advice Service.

The role of President Community and Welfare has always been a broad one, covering everything from mental health to hate crime, community relations to your right to your faith. You never know what is going to land on your desk or what is going to happen, but that is why I love it and find the role so exciting! This year has been no exception, and we’ve been blessed to have such a productive and valuable year for FXU, Falmouth University, University of Exeter, FXPlus, the local community, and most importantly for students when it comes to Community and Welfare. We have achieved so much together, and I am excited to step back come July and watch as FXU goes on to be better and greater than ever before.

Below is my report for the year, covering my key manifesto areas and what we have achieved together, as well as a brief overlook at the FXU Priorities and our achievements we have made there together. Thank you so much to everyone who has been supportive, involved, enthusiastic, and more this year! We presidents often get a lot of individual praise, but this report is not about one person. Without the support of a small army of staff, students and community members could any of this have happened. Thank you, one and all, it has been a pleasure and honour to work alongside you for not only this year, but last year as well.

Before I begin my report however I would like to take a moment to remember two beautiful lives that were taken from us too soon. Bryony Freestone and Caitlin Cook were exceptional women, who brought their own uniqueness to our campuses and life here in Cornwall. I still find it hard to understand such losses, however I feel blessed to have known both of them. Thank you to their friends and families who shared stories of both women with me, and to the Multi-Faith Chaplaincy and Student Services for their exceptional work at these difficult times. I don’t have the words to express how grateful I am for all your hard work.

34

FXU President Community & Welfare – Alexa Webster

SUPPORT STUDENT TENNANT RIGHTS

PRIORITIZE HEALTH AND HAPPINESS When it comes to accessibility and mental health is can often feel like an uphill battle (sometimes literally when I am in my wheelchair!) however this year had a clear focus on creative, long term solutions to make our communities here in Cornwall more resilient and accessible to all. This year the Accessibility Prioritization Working Group have secured a full accessibility audit across all building on Penryn and Falmouth Campuses, with an individual report on each building making sure that all accessibility concerns will be highlighted and raised over the next few years. The first of the access routes have been put in place, with over one hundred of you sending emails of support in less than forty-eight hours. I am hopeful that these will be implemented before September. FXU made it easier for you to make your events more accessible to all students by now offering free rental of dictaphones and hearing induction loops to all sports clubs, societies, and student led projects.

We have been proud to work with the accessibility team and Falmouth University to secure disability awareness training for all Falmouth University staff, a huge achievement, and I am so grateful for the hard work of Anita Thomas (Accessibility Director) and Falmouth University to make this happen. The materials and branding for the FXU Campaign #MindYourHead has been expanded, meaning we could share a different post each day of the year on social media about mental health. I also wanted to tackle the issue of accessing support quickly and easily, when you need help most, so we are currently developing an online wellbeing database so you can find the support you need when you need it most 24/7. But we don’t want this to stop here, which is why we ran the FXU Wellbeing Survey, focusing on what you want to see from welfare, effects of stress, and success of services. This will be used moving in to the next year.

This year I have focused on having a good relationship with members of local councils and in the communities, as housing continues to be a clear point of contention. However huge strides have been made this year by all, and moving forwards I am excited to see projects that are on the horizon.

I personally wrote a booklet called #ThisIsMyHome which is letting you know your rights as a tenant, but because my successor Harry Bishop is really passionate about this too the decision has been made that it won’t be published until January 2018. On the previously mentioned FXU Wellbeing Database there is an entire section on housing and accommodation, as well as problems in the community, so you can access information quickly and easily. The biggest project has been working with Falmouth Town Council on their neighbourhood plan. This has been championing the building of more community homes to working on securing your rights at tenants. The work done on this will be confirmed to be accepted or rejected on the 16th of June followed by a town wide referendum.

GET POLITICAL This year the student body spoke of wanting to be more involved in the national movement, and politics both at home and abroad. It’s been a pleasure to work with students on this, especially on their own projects and initiatives such as the Politics Society running an event the night of the US Election. I’ve also been more involved and communicating with local political parties to find out what their aims are for the area, and wanted it to be easier from the start of the year for students to be political so had the great pleasure to run a Politics Fayre (with the terrible cheesy name of Let’s Get Political). Nationally FXU has been heavily involved with NUS, particularly in sending students to NUS Black Students Conference and NUS Trans Conference, as well as myself and Amanda attending women’s. We have submitted policy, supported national campaigns, and together made a difference!

Register HERE to vote in the General Election on 8 June 2017 Deadline to register: Monday 22 May YOUR VOTE MATTERS

For further information see www.fxu.org.uk/generalelection

MAKE SURE YOU REGISTER

35

FXU President Community & Welfare – Alexa Webster

PROMOTE LIBERATION FOR ALL

OUR COMMUNITY

This year Liberation (or Equality and Diversity) has gone from strength to strength, and that is in a large part thanks to the student body. The African Caribbean Society ran an incredible Black History Month, which was closely followed by the Islamic Society breaking down stigmas and stereotypes about Muslims. Don’t Dis-Ability ran an amazing week of educational (and fun!) events, and Feminist Society did a fantastic job of International Women’s Week. One of the biggest successes has been Tell Me, a direct email service offering confidential advice to students on hate crime, harassment, and isolation. Tell Me also allows others to report concerns about students, including staff members being able to seek advice if they are worried about a student. This can also act as a third party reporting centre for hate crimes (the only one in the county that doesn’t target a specific minority group).

Although not a manifesto point it would be impossible to write an impact report upon my role as FXU President Community and Welfare and not mention community! This year FXU has gone from strength to strength within our community, with more students than ever volunteering in the community, running events with and for the community, raising money for local charities, and simply being a part of the community. One of the most important parts of my role, and mission over my time with FXU, has been to champion that we are not ‘locals and students’ but instead one neighbourhood and one community. This year I have been lucky enough to work with some amazing groups and individuals, and FXU has really become part of our community and town councils.

We had a particular focus this year on working with Transgender and Non-Binary students. We have run a Trans Inclusion Survey getting direct student feedback. We developed a system with the on campus bar for Trans students to show their ID in advance and have their name on the door, thus eliminating having to interact with security/show ID in a way they don’t feel safe. We also made Trans Officer a permanent position on the Liberation Committee.

We have also looked at how FXU works for Liberation groups, and made some strategic changes. Changed budget within FXU Student Voice from a fixed budget to a flexible one, allowing for more resources to go towards Liberation and Faith, and FXU increased the number of meetings with the Liberation Committee (eight elected student officers) to the committee meeting monthly, and staff had more one on one meetings with Liberation Officers to help ensure their manifesto commitments were met. Students voted for Liberation Committee meetings being open meetings to all students, so students could feed directly in to the Equality and Diversity strategic direction of FXU. We also started the FXU Faith and Liberation facebook so students could see what officers were doing and find information/events. We also wanted to support students more directly, looking at training opportunities. Accessibility, equality and diversity, and consent training was all made available for all Sports Clubs and Society committees, as well as the Student Reps and Officers, and all FXU staff were trained in transgender awareness, and reasonable adjustments and disability awareness.

YOUR RIGHT TO YOUR SPIRITUALITY This year we have worked with the Multifaith Chaplaincy more than ever, and it has been great to have such a close relationship. Aside from supporting events such as Holocuast Memorial Day and Diwali, together we secured permanent safe and private prayer/ritual location for Pagan Society, and increased number of faith books available in the Multifaith Chaplaincy, including Pagan and Buddhist.

FXU also started the UK’s first Faith Committee, creating ten elected faith officer positions within FXU, each one chosen as it is recognised by Interfaith Cornwall. It has been a pleasure to work more closely with students of faith and be able to offer them a platform so instead of having their issues always spoken about for them, they can raise their own voices.

36

Now, before I begin, I do need to apologize for how this will read very much as a list, it was the only way I could fit it all in! So, the President Community and Welfare role now sits on the Falmouth Town Council Surgeries, and I have attended all this year.

Looking forwards this is hopefully going to be implemented for Penryn. We have a standing invite to town council meetings of both, as well as guests of Save our Falmouth to see what the community is talking about. We have worked with both universities on community news letters as well as open houses for the community to have conversations and ask question. We have pushed to have a better relationship with local media, it being impossible to go a week without seeing something our students have done in the Packet! A Community Committee has been passed by the FXU Leadership Team, bringing together our campus community with the town community. All four FXU Presidents are now invited to services, parades, and events in town which we all appreciate and enjoy. FXU have made Fair Trade links with Falmouth Town Council. And finally, my role now has a monthly meeting with both Falmouth Mayor and Penryn Mayor!

I think it is fair to say that it has been an exceptional year of working with our communities, particularly the town councils, and I am grateful for every second. I can honestly say it has been an absolute pleasure, joy, and highlight of my role.

FXU President Community & Welfare – Alexa Webster

Alexa Webster FXU President Community & Welfare /fxupresidentwelfare

alexa.webster@fxu.org.uk

Manifesto Commitments 2016/17 Prioritize Health and Happiness

Fight Back against Drink Spiking

Continue to develop the support available to you through FXU, as well as work with Student Support Services to support your health in all ways. The main aims are to access paths across both Falmouth and Penryn campus, work towards all buildings being fully accessible and FXU to continue to develop mental health support and resources for students using #MindYourHead

Organise a united campaign against drink spiking throughout the whole of Falmouth and Penryn. One person spiked is one too many. #WatchOutSpikesAbout

Support Student Tenant Rights Continue to campaign for affordable housing. Promote clear and concise information on managing your finances, finding a house, and the support available to you through a housing booklet that lets you know your rights, how to set up your bills, top tips for living in a community, and more! This will include working towards community reps, so there is always someone you can contact to get advice and support. #ThisIsMyHome

Claim Back The Night Develop resources for students to use to help you get home safely. This will ideally be an app that you can easily put on your phone as well as working with local taxi firms for emergency transport to get you home safely after a fun night out. #MyNightMyRight

Set Up an FXU Nightline A free peer-to-peer support phone-line and online messenger service from 10pm until 5am so there is always someone there for you to call when you need it most. A phone line run by students, for students.

Get Political

Your Right to your Spirituality

From campus campaigns to international politics, more support and a better platform to give students a voice and ensure that voice is heard! Send your elected Liberation Committee officers to NUS Liberation Conferences so their voices and your opinions are heard nationally. Make registering to vote easier than ever before and ensure information about local council elections is made available.

Continue to work with all faith groups on campus to promote inclusion, as well as show unity in working together to support each other’s causes. We are stronger united. A big part of this will be launching the FXU Faith Committee, a group of elected students who will feed back directly to myself and FXU on what we can do to support them and make faith more accessible to student life.

Fight Hard against Government Funding Cuts Promote Liberation for All More support for liberation groups, from national issues to local ones. Celebrate our amazing diversity with month long celebrations that promote inclusion and knowledge throughout the academic year. I also want to put support in place using an email service where you can reach out for support, as well as developing a third party reporting centre for hate crimes. #TellMe

Work at a local and national level with NUS to fight back against government cuts. Ensure all students get everything they are entitled to. Education is a right, not a privilege, and we must keep it that way. This includes help accessing hardship funds, as well as developing the FXU Foodbank.

Enhance the Student Mentor Programme Mental health support and more diversity training for student mentors. Set up disabled students’ mentors to help new students through their transition into university.

Key Full bar = manifesto commitment complete

Correct as of 01/06/2017

37

PRIORITY ONE

UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS “Improve the communication between the universities and students, especially with the bigger issues to do with money or course changes.”

— FXU Annual Survey 2015/16

Feedback from a number of sources, such as the FXU 2015/16 Annual Survey and face-to-face feedback indicated communication from both institutions was an issue for students.

So we made the communication by both universities our number one priority this year. The priority was broken down into the following measurable points: a) FXU to work together with both institutions to form a joint communication strategy outlining institutional changes, partnership decisions and achievements that affect all students.

Your FXU President Student Experience (Amanda ChetwyndCowieson), FXU President Exeter (Tom Murray-Richards) and FXU President Falmouth (Chris Slesser) have put this priority to both institutions.

ABOUT Every year FXU sets priorities for our presidents to work on in the coming year to best represent our members, the students of both universities. Every year our priorities are drawn from the FXU Annual Survey, Shared Services’ student survey, feedback received throughout the previous year, the FXU 5-year strategy and presidents’ manifestos.

We launched the FXU priorities in October and here is our progress. Bear in mind that some priorities are part of a long term strategy that may take more than one year to complete.

Joint University Services (such as estates, security, accommodation, the Stannary) have reviewed how important messages are communicated with the student body – and FXU have provided input into this process.

FXU have provided input into the University of Exeter’s “Student communications plan”, which is being produced following FXU lobbying.

FXU have provided input into Falmouth’s enhanced communications this academic year, including a fortnightly newsletter, which following a student competition is named ‘The F Word’, and opportunities for face-to-face discussion with members of the senior team facilitated by the communications team and FXU President Falmouth.

FXU Presidents 2016/17

38

So FXU have argued convincingly to improve institutional messages. A “Cross Campus Communications working group” has been set up to align both Universities’ communications with students.

Top 10 Priorities

b) Both Universities to formalise how they get ‘FXU approval’ on institutional messages and vice versa.

This element was included to ensure that university communications that cite FXU and carry our logo have actually been seen and approved by FXU before being issued.

FXU have secured agreement from joint services, the University of Exeter and Falmouth University not to use our logo without our approval.

c) Both Universities to look at ways of improving their communications to their student body about national educational issues.

The main national educational issue affecting our students are the proposals for TEF (Teaching Excellence Framework) and its use as a mechanism to increase fees. While FXU opposes any fee increases, we understand why the Universities have made this decision, and strongly believe that an increase in funding is necessary to maintain and improve your student experience.

In addition: • FXU Students have had a positive impact on the local community.

As mentioned above, Falmouth University now communicates regularly with their student body.

In addition, FXU has a guaranteed slot in each newsletter they issue.

The University of Exeter used to send out generic guides without recognising the unique situation in Cornwall. In October 2016, following lobbying from FXU, the new tutoring guide sent out to Exeter staff included campus specific communications for staff on Cornwall campuses.

FXU lobbied both universities who then sent senior representatives to answer student questions at an FXU organised event named “TEF: Why are my fees increasing?”. Student interest can be seen by the subsequent article in the Anchor and you can see the discussion by searching for #TEFXU on social media.

d) Both Universities to coherently document and archive community interaction.

Alexa Webster is working with Living Support to log community feedback.

39

PRIORITY TWO

FXU COMMUNICATIONS A variety of research, including the FXU Annual Survey and targeted research by students into student engagement with FXU, indicated there are many misconceptions about FXU. Some students assume that FXU runs the Stannary Bar and all of its events, and others are not aware that FXU run the student rep system, give advice, and some are also not aware that FXU is a representative system with elected students speaking on behalf of their cohorts. It is clear that however well we work, our achievements are not so great if the students we represent are not aware of them. a) Investigate and implement ways of communicating FXU/President big wins more effectively, reaching more students.

Alongside this report, which lays out how we are achieving these priorities, our presidents have been making short video updates every month that outlines how they have been working on your behalf. These have been more widely viewed than our previous method of only-written blogs, or long videos.

Falmouth’s Academic Rep System - Following SSLG meetings, Senior Administrators within each Academic Department now fill out a ‘Student Voice Tracker’ to clearly communicate that academic enhancements as a result of student feedback occur through a channel of partnership between FXU and the University.

On 2nd December, Students Unions up and down the country were highlighting their achievements as part of the NUS #LoveSUs campaign. The campaign was created to highlight the impact of students’ unions, why we are incredibly proud of all our amazing work, and why decision makers need to take student voice seriously. FXU presidents were in the Compass asking students what we do well and gathered feedback for improvement.

“I love FXU because of the friendly staff and ease of communication” — Student

40

Students said “I love FXU because FXU are great about being enthusiastic about EVERYTHING!” and “I love FXU because of the friendly staff and ease of communication”. Students also said, “FXU needs to work on more face to face contact with the union staff (Tom is already on it though!)”, “FXU needs to work on making a truly ‘Green’ campus x2” and “FXU needs to work on wider awareness for students that don’t necessarily use the services.”

b) Provide students with a better understanding of FXU President roles and increased accountability of Presidents’ manifesto aims.

We have aimed to raise our FXU Presidents’ profiles this year and so images of each one were mounted in the windows of the FXU Offices at both Falmouth and Penryn campuses.

In addition, their images were added to the window of the Lower Stannary as well to help students recognise them and therefore hold them to account more effectively.

Next, the FXU President manifestos were translated into large weatherproof boards that were erected on the outside wall of the FXU Office in Penryn. Manifesto boards were also erected outside the library on the Falmouth campus. This reminds students of the commitments made by their elected representatives.

c) Improve students understanding of FXU’s purpose, Mission, Vision & Values.

We are in the process of updating our FXU website, making it more user-friendly; logical, easier to navigate and provide the information you are looking for.

Following last year’s feedback that suggested a “refresh” informing students about FXU, we held Student Voice Week on the 6th – 10th March where we took these banners explaining the student rep system around to different sites on Penryn and Falmouth campuses.

As mentioned above, we have focussed more on FXU Presidents providing shorter video updates, raising their profile and letting students know what actions elected representatives have done on behalf of students.

In order to better hold those representatives to account, we have started encouraging question submissions in a variety of formats, always with an anonymised option. This has resulted in our presidents being questioned more closely on their manifesto commitments, and on these priorities.

For example:

Anonymised questions have been employed at all Leadership Team meetings and General Meetings as well, and have proven very popular, to the extent that it is not always possible to answer all of the questions raised in the time allowed. We encourage people who still have questions to bring them to us.

We invited students to take part using a basketball competition where they could win prizes for how many baskets they scored in three tries. We took the opportunity to explain the rep structure in the banners as above, and emphasised that FXU facilitates student representation at every opportunity.

Students said “you make an important point in a fun way” and “that was fun, thanks!”

41

PRIORITY THREE

ACCOMMODATION FXU scrutinises university owned and managed accommodation (UOMA), but has less influence over privately owned accommodation. The provision of accommodation was a contentious issue in 2015-16 where students proposed a motion at the FXU AGM to limit university growth to sustainable limits with enough accommodation space for both new and returning students and therefore it remains a priority for FXU. a) All partners to look at not increasing the price of rent of UOMA – In reflection of rising cost elsewhere.

For the second year in a row, the two Universities have raised rent in halls despite overwhelming proof that it is quickly exceeding what both students and FXU as a Union consider affordable.

It was also beyond disappointing that the consultation on this discussion was rushed and not comprehensive, despite plenty of notice from the Union about our reasoned request for no increase in rent early on last summer. The original proposal would’ve seen rent increase by an average of 7% per week in halls, so we negotiated it down to 2% increase per week, we still see this as 2% too much.

b) To make all UOMA available to both cohorts of students for the 2017 entry

Initially, all UOMA was available to all students. About two years ago Falmouth began to seriously increase student numbers. They split from Exeter and took on headleases on additional properties and underwrote the rent on those properties and therefore only Falmouth students could apply. The reason it is a priority for FXU is because now Exeter students now get six accommodation pricing options while Falmouth students are offered fourteen pricing options.

While it looks unlikely that FXU is going to get the Universities to budge on this issue, we continue to raise it with both institutions in order for them to aim to provide a comparable experience to both cohorts.

42

c) Increase transparency to both students and local community members around future accommodation plans.

FXU continues to lobby both institutions to provide both FXU and the wider student body of their accommodation plans. The “Campus 2020” plan includes accommodation, and we are pleased that University staff came and talked to students at our first UGM about these plans for campus and the surrounding area, and answered student questions.

d) Producing better information for students on their right to rent, and develop an FXU housing campaign with the FXU advice team.

FXU Advice Housing section has been updated, where we have produced factsheets to help you with your housing search. If you need help to find accommodation, then do check with the accommodation office, and the FXU Advice service can help you with rights, responsibilities, tenancy checking, disputes with landlords.

A housing booklet is due to be published in January 2018, informing students of their rights to rent. There is also a section of the FXU Wellbeing Database (previously mentioned in Alexa’s Manifesto breakdown) that will be entirely on information around housing.

e) Work to find solutions for international students who are being asked to pay one year’s worth of rent up front.

We are currently working with both universities to establish a ‘University Guarantor Scheme’ whereby the university could act as a guarantor for those without access to one. Schemes like this one exist in many other universities across the UK very successfully.

This is a standing agenda item at the Accommodation Meetings we have with campus services to look for solutions. We are also pushing for this to be a part of House Hunting Fair organised by the Accommodation Team so that International Students know there will be information they can easily access.

43

PRIORITY FOUR

MENTAL HEALTH, WELLBEING & DSA This priority developed as a result of changes to government funding of DSA that could have a negative impact, and because university is a high stress environment then mental health remains a priority for students. We at FXU wanted to reflect all of this and the below priorities were chosen by students through DSA survey feedback, feedback during Mental Health Week 2016 and our FXU President Community & Welfare’s manifesto. a) Continue to work with both institutions to ensure no students’ education is adversely affected by the cuts to Disabled Students Allowance (DSA).

As a result of FXU’s DSA Survey:

• The survey has been communicated to senior staff who now know how disabled students feel.

• Disability awareness training has been added to Falmouth University’s core academic training and the University of Exeter is reviewing its training provision for academic staff.

• Staff now recognise the wide range of different needs and are more ready to deal with students on a case-by-case basis to make reasonable adjustments for variable needs.

• Students now input directly into changes as they are all passed to the FXU Don’t Disability Society for comment.

44

b) FXU to build on #MindYourHead and mental health campaigns with the aim of highlighting the services available to students.

See section d below to see the ongoing work FXU is doing in order to provide specific wellbeing help to highlight what is available to students. In addition, sometimes you need a little reminder to mind your head and look after your mental health, so during exams and deadlines Alexa Webster, FXU President Community & Welfare launched #32DaysOfSelfCare – for a daily reminder to practise self care, and a suggestion of what you could do to help aid your mental health.

Due to it’s success it was brought back again in the summer term for exams and deadlines.

The materials and branding for the FXU Campaign #MindYourHead has been expanded, meaning we could share a different post each day of the year on social media about mental health.

I also wanted to tackle the issue of accessing support quickly and easily, when you need help most, so we are currently developing an online wellbeing database so you can find the support you need when you need it most 24/7. But we don’t want this to stop here, which is why we ran the FXU Wellbeing Survey, focusing on what you want to see from welfare, affects of stress, and success of services. This will be used moving in to the next year.

c) Continue to work towards opening FXU Nightline to offer peer to peer support during the hours of 10pm and 4am.

We have funding, policy, and location in place, but for this to happen we now need students to volunteer to deliver it. So if you are keen to gain new skills and help support your peers, please send us an email to register.

d) Promote good physical, mental and sexual health to students making services easier for them to access and educate on wellbeing issues.

FXU is in progress of updating our website. It is a long job, but one significant change is distinguishing between our advice service and its pages, and welfare which when published will include our wellbeing database.

As mentioned the wellbeing database will include sections on physical, mental, and sexual health. We have also run several online campaigns throughout the year, including the current campaign #FXULovesYou which recognises that although students might have finished for the year they are a student with concerns three hundred and sixty five days of the year

45

PRIORITY FIVE

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE The FXU Annual survey 2015/16 demonstrated clearly that students wanted the universities to focus on improving academic issues, and therefore this is a priority. a) Increase Institutional data shared with FXU including annual application, offer, acceptance, progression and retention rates by gender and ethnicity.

Wayne Evans (Head of Business Intelligence at Falmouth) sends a fortnightly snapchat of retention by gender and domicile broken down into departments and individual courses to me. Currently the system does not house information on ethnicity but are in dialogue to develop to retain this information for Falmouth and FXU to tailor our support even further.

The University of Exeter does not produce one single document with this data at this time, but does share data as it comes up in meetings.

b) Work with both Universities to ensure academic policy is clear and ‘student friendly’ FXU President Falmouth is part of the Making the Curriculum Clearer (MCC) project that will be highlighting academic policy that needs to be clearer and more student friendly. Additionally, the ‘Retention Project’ will develop principles and initiatives to be implemented for new academic year on ‘Student attainment, failure and progression across the University and the clarity of academic policy’.

A pilot programme of “exemplar essays” in the Humanities department generated feedback that suggested they were useful, and they also increased inquiry-led learning and discovery. The pilot generated these recommendations:

c) Deliver better exam support for Exeter students by using a range of examples and providing more comprehensive feedback.

46

• To extend a pilot into STEM-M disciplines (and disciplines not based in Cornwall) to observe differences and best next steps.

• In HASS, to provide exemplar pieces of work before a student completes their first assignment of a particular type (i.e. not just for essays but also for literature reviews and group-based work).

• To make sure students expectations are met and exceeded where possible, it is important to prescribe the purpose of exemplar assignments and how they can help students in their learning process.

d) Enhance the current approach to module feedback for Falmouth students and strengthen the quality and usefulness of feedback provided during modules.

Following a review of the Academic Rep System, the current process of student’s feedback throughout courses has been enhanced to a significant degree.

There is now complete transparancy of the academic channel of feedback with the introduction of a ‘Student Voice Tracker’ following SSLG meetings and an editors note summarising key dialogueat Academic Board level in Falmouth’s new all student newsletter.

The role of department reps has been strengthened to create a clear community of support reps and for the first time SSLG minutes are now sent to d.reps in order for collation to FXU. Falmouth’s Module Evaluation has been tailored to allign to the new NSS 2017 Questions and FXU President Falmouth and DVC (Academic) Prof Alan Murray are working to create a consistant action plan process in response to student’s evaluation of each Module.

e) Ensure all course curriculums continue to be sector leading and world class.

In term two, students were asked what “world class” and “Sector leading” looked like, and what the Universities could do to achieve such a status. The responses were collated and passed to individual courses. The summary forms an interesting word cloud:

f) Endeavour to make sure campuses and course curriculum deliver an international experience for all students.

We have re-affirmed the function of our International Student Experience Group which George, the FXU Widening Student Participation intern, co-chairs. George has mapped out a Cultural Events Calendar in order for us to highlight and facilitate a more international experience across campuses through events and campaigns.

FXU President Falmouth is working closely with Falmouth Employability Team to create a campaign to remove the sacrificial perception of Erasmus and Study Abroad Opportunities to students. Following International Student Day the International Student Experience Group promoted international experience by giving returning students the platform to speak about their cultural exchange.

In addition: Following lobbying by last year’s presidents Grace Fisher and Amanda ChetwyndCowieson to fulfill last year’s academic priorities, FXU has worked with the Universities to increase the number of study spaces by over 30% in the Penryn Campus Library Reading Room!

47

PRIORITY SIX

CELEBRATING DIVERSITY & FIGHTING BACK AGAINST INTOLERANCE This has always been part of the FXU strategic plan, but there was also a swell in racist and homophobic reports in the wake of the Brexit vote and so this remained a priority. a) Support for international students to explore Cornwall (#FXPlore Cornwall) to help them feel part of our wider community.

The FXU Widening Participation Officer has worked with the International Society to lay on trips such as one to the Eden Project, to Exeter Diwali, and to St Ives. b) FXU to start a Faith Committee to represent and promote faith issues in FXU and the Universities decision making.

We currently do not have any formal representation feeding in to Student Council on issues of faith, which for those who are religious or spiritual is a vital part of their life and identity. It was our Welfare President’s belief that these students need to be given representation and a voice, much like we did with the Liberation Committee which has been a huge success for FXU, and has helped to ensure university life is more inclusive to all students.

The need for there to be formal representation for those with faith can be perfectly demonstrated by the existence of the FXU Pagan Society, the Falmouth Christian Union, and the FXU Islamic Society. Aside from being three of our more successful, productive and empowering societies they are currently the only formal voice that students of faith have to FXU and thus Falmouth University and University of Exeter. However these are the only faith societies that currently exist, and the aim of the FXU Faith Committee would be to give a voice to not only those of Muslim, Pagan or Christian faith but also to those not currently represented within an FXU Society.

The Leadership Team and board of trustees approved the proposal and the committee has started meeting. If you want to get involved, then put yourself forward here.

48

c) Diversify the range of events that FXU and the two Universities put on throughout the year, so that they become more appealing and inclusive to all of our students.

We are looking at diversifying events more – FXU delivered a Liberation picnic during Freshers, held a faith fair, politics fair, and international day. The Liberation committee is looking for more opportunities and are keen to work with people hosting events to make them more inclusive.

We are also planning for Freshers 2017 (yes, already!) to see how we can provide more variety for everyone, including looking at what we offer to returners.

The Stannary events team are working with us to see how they can diversify both the type of events they provide and also broaden the price range of tickets. We are hoping that the Fox Café at Falmouth Campus will give more bookable space for clubs and societies to use there hence bringing more events to everyone who is based in town.

d) Work with Student Support to create Tell Me, an anonymous email service for students to report incidents such as hate crimes.

Tell Me launched on November 14th see here!

e) Student Support to become a third party reporting centre for hate crimes that all students can use.

The “Tell me” campaign was one step towards Student Support becoming a third party reporting centre for hate crimes.

49

PRIORITY SEVEN

FACILITIES Following the publication of the Penryn Campus 2020 plan, we wanted to ensure the maximum student input into how the campus develops and so we made this a priority. FXU also wants to know what is happening, and what the student input into other campuses will be.

a) Explain and communicate what world class and sector leading means by making the Campus 2020 plan relevant to individual courses.

FXU has facilitated and supported student consultation and actively encouraged students to participate in consultations about the Campus 2020 plan. In order to promote student engagement, we have argued for plans to be relevant to students. When we took CLES students to meet with campus staff, they talked specifically about Laboratory provision.

b) A financial commitment from both Universities to support the Campus 2020 plan and increase available individual, group study, non-commercial and social space as student numbers increase.

Both Universities have committed to the Penryn Campus 2020 plan and that is now being broken down into individual projects. All FXU Presidents are involved in these discussions and are constantly pushing for not only more investment, but also for more student consultation and published time frames of individual projects.

FXU was happy to support student consultations that took place in December 2016 and March 2017 where students gave their opinion on the plans and suggest ways to improve the student experience.

50

c) Continue to work towards having all campus facilities genuinely accessible to all students.

The accessibility audit continues.

Peter Lanyon has been done, and the next building to be audited will be Tremough House. The list of identified issues is considered by the “Don’t Dis-ability” FXU Society so that students decide the priorities.

In Addition: To raise the visibility of current study space, a ‘Room Availability’/’Study Space’ button is now available on the Falmouth FIX and iExeter App to show availability across rooms on both Penryn and Falmouth campuses.

51

PRIORITY EIGHT

COST OF LIVING From the FXU Strategic Plan: “Today, going to university is a major investment.

On a national level we will work with NUS (National Union of Students) to fight for a change to fees and grants so that going to university is affordable for everyone. But, additionally, we also heard you when you told us that studying and living costs are also becoming unaffordable for many of you. For many the essentials of financial management are something you need help with.” a) Both Universities to publish up to date course cost information, including more detail on hidden course costs.

Both Exeter and Falmouth present their additional course cost information differently. Exeter’s information is collated in one place but is generic rather than specific, while Falmouth publish theirs in the individual course pages on their website. FXU President Exeter, Tom, is liaising between Exeter Guild and FXU staff to achieve more detail, which is up to date. Meanwhile, FXU President Falmouth, Chris, is trying to work with both Falmouth DVC’s and the Director of Finance about including an overall cost summary to Module Evaluation to offer a more real-time snapshot of course costs to inform future bursary brackets and hidden course costs on the Falmouth website.

b) FXU to continue to publish their annual financial transparency document, with more detail than previous years.

The FXU financial transparency document is scheduled for publication at the end of the financial year and we have confirmed it will have more detail than last year’s document.

c) Campus shops to work with Devon and Cornwall food association to hand out ‘free’ food to students.

We continue to hand out free food to students in need. We continue to ask campus shops to do the same.

52

d) Work with campus retail services to ensure all prices are competitive (vs. high street retailers) and transparent, and are mirrored across all campuses.

The hospitality team are constantly working with the FXU President Student Experience to ensure that they are reviewing both their prices but also their offer. This isn’t something that will be solved quickly, but will hopefully be an area where we continue to see improvements throughout the year.

e) FXU and both Universities to work on clarifying and highlighting help for students facing financial hardship.

I have worked in partnership with Rob Holmes (Director of Finance) to create Falmouth’s most financially transparent document to date, which clearly clarifies and highlights the financial help available for Falmouth students and was included in the new all student newsletter and cascaded through student reps.

53

PRIORITY NINE

UNION PARTNERSHIP This priority came about because unions exist to help people at work and want to make the workplace better. By working with staff unions, then we can better understand their needs and work with them to make all of our experience better – staff and students. By working closer with other Students Unions in Cornwall we support the FE sector and some of those students may come and study with us in the future. Working with other SUs in our region and farther afield, we can share best practise and learn best practises to be better than we are now, and by working with NUS we represent students at a national level. a) FXU to work collaboratively with all unions in ways that enhance the student experience.

Amanda and Alexa are working with the FXU Societies who affiliate to national bodies closer to ensure that they are linked up and benefitting from the national Unions/Collectives. For example, the Federation of Student Islamic Societies and the FXU Islamic Society.

FXU has made more of an effort as a Union to represent you nationally, both with NUS and outside of that. We have taken quite clear steps to ensure that NUS in particular are representative of your needs as they are our national representatives.

Their reputation has an affect on how Students’ Unions are considered both nationally and regionally, we took the lead on writing openly to the NUS President (Malia Bouattia) with concerns/requests around antisemitism and this was co-signed by 100 other students’ unions from around the Uk as well as the Union of Jewish Students’ - jointly representing approximately 500,000 students nationally.

b) FXU to look into ways we can support and collaborate with other Student Unions in Cornwall.

FXU joined up with Cornwall College and the University of Plymouth to hold a meeting of Students Unions in Cornwall. This meeting brought us closer to Cornwall College and FXU are also supporting UPSU’s Green Impact pilot.

54

c) FXU to be directly involved in national movements to drive positive change including the National Union of Students (NUS), the Great Western Four (Cardiff, Bristol, Bath and Exeter - GW4) and the University of Exeter Students’ Guild.

FXU submitted a response to the national ballot calling for an impact report before any NSS boycott, voted on by the Leadership team.

Amanda and Alexa attended NUS Women’s Conference, setting the policy for this campaign for the next year which included having a national campaign that prioritises new sexual harassment guidelines in Universities and providing more national support links for feminist societies and women’s officers.

Amanda, Tom and Alexa are FXU delegates to National Conference and have submitted the following motions – all built off either President manifestos, FXU Top Ten Priorities or driven by Make A Change proposals combined into national/ regional conversations.

Bella and Isaac went to Black Students Winter Conference, Cam to Trans Students Conference/LGBT Conf and Mackinlay will be going to disabled students conference.

The NUS are reviewing democratic structures as they recognise they are currently flawed, your FXU Presidents encouraged students to tell us what the NUS means to them, and gave their feedback as part of the process.

Chris has set up a network of Student Unions from Arts Universities - in order to share best practice with a long term attempt to strengthen representation within NUS. FXU led the way creating the regional network of every FE and HE Student’s Union. This forms the basis of the “South West Region” within the proposed NUS structure.

Tom continues to work with student engagement teams and students’ unions at the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter to share best practice and enable FXU to improve.

I continue to sit on the NUS Student Opportunities Advisory Board, feeding into the national strategy around all things sports, societies, volunteering, fundraising and Union democracy.

This has involved working closer with British University Colleges Sport (BUCS), National Student Fundraising Association (NaSFA), Student Volunteering Week (SVW) and others to ensure that student led activities are prioritised in the national conversations around education strategy. Perhaps as a result of this, I have now become a trustee of NUS.

55

PRIORITY TEN

‘ONE CAMPUS’ – ONE STUDENT BODY This was a priority last year and was a presidential manifesto as well. Our FXU Strategy also states “We will reflect and seek to understand your needs regardless of where, how or what you study. Our reach to hear your voice must not be dependent on location and we must strive to ensure you feel part of our FXU community.” a) Continue to improve clarity around campus course changes and locations.

Two presidents, Exeter and Falmouth, work with both universities to get them to inform students at the earliest opportunity of any changes around their courses. FXU President Falmouth, Chris Slesser, has been in consistent dialogue regarding the disruption to the student experience due to changes in the academic calendar this year.

This was evidenced through FXU’s most popular “Make a Change” idea and the qualitative data recorded in the comment section was presented at the Falmouth’s May Academic Board. This resulted in a wash up review of the calendar by all academic departments to be concluded in AQSC in June.

Alongside this dialogue- the academic calendar was identified as a key theme in the University’s Retention Project led by Falmouth DVC Academic, Alan Murray. A student focus group of 11 students across all academic departments was held in collaboration with FXU on the 5th May to identify points of tension and recommend new initiatives to enhance the student experience in the next academic year. Other complimentary themes such as the communication of key student information,

56

b) FXU to continue to work on increasing availability of sports, societies and events to Truro and Falmouth campus based students.

By having this priority, FXU has kept students in mind on different campuses.

We arrange regular visits from your FXU Officers and Presidents – Exeter President Tom Murray Richards visits Truro twice a month (which is as often as possible given the exceptionally busy calendar of the BMBS students in Truro) while Falmouth President Chris Slesser divides his time equally between Falmouth and Penryn campuses .

I have worked with individual clubs and societies to see what they can offer across all of our campuses and I have also been more involved with supporting societies that have memberships specifically from either Truro or Falmouth.

This has involved working with Truro Med soc to make the Truro common room a nicer place to hang out in/use and also gave more help to any Falmouth campus students who were looking to set up course related societies. I also successfully negotiated better transport provision going to and from Falmouth and Truro

c) FXU and both Universities to increase support of Postgraduate events throughout the year to help promote a thriving Postgraduate community.

Amanda and the joint Universities Events and Entertainments team met with Postgraduates during term two to try and bring together a programme of events for the summer months.

Falmouth Academic Directors agreed to the implementation of postgraduate specific department representatives following presentation from FXU President Falmouth in the May Academic Board. This will provide FXU with more quantative and tailored insight into the needs of Postgraduate students studying at Falmouth University.

Following informal feedback collected at socials with Falmouth research community, FXU’s Postgraduate Research Officer (Cieran Clarke) established ‘Thougthfeed’ a monthly talk series for students to share their research interests and build a more thriving and visible community amongst the student body.

d) FXU to provide more support and marketing for student-led events.

This year, FXU have provided the “StudentLed Event & Project Fund” where students can request up to £500 towards supporting an event or project which is open to all students.

This may be a one off event or project that takes place over a period of time on campus or in the community. Student-led events that are not funded by this fund, nor provided by our FXU affiliated clubs and societies, can still be promoted on our Facebook social media page, provided the necessary documentation is in place.

e) Work to tailor FXU to appropriately cater for all University students, both campus and non-campus based.

After revamping the Officer ads, we have increased engagement of our Falmouth Officer positions and successfully recruited an Education Officer, Open Officer, joint PGT Officers, PGR Officer as well as introducing and recruiting a Distance Learning Officer. I have balanced my time equally between Penryn and Falmouth Campus. So far this term FXU has managed to visit our Bodmin campus and visited our , The Fashion and Retail Academy.

FXU is held our first Distance Learning Student Conference to better familiarise, create and increase engagement with our distance learning student community.

57

Student Voice

STUDENT VOICE Student Voice is responsible for all of the representative democracy in FXU. By “Representative democracy” we mean that students choose people to represent the student body and their views. This means we cover president elections and all other representative recruitment and elections such as student reps, committee members and executive officers.

We also manage union meetings (AGM, UGM, Leadership Team, committee meetings, Department Rep Working Group, and Subject Chair Working Group) and send your representatives (Course Reps) to attend SSLC and SSLG meetings organised by the two universities.

Student Voice also sends delegates to national meetings, mostly arranged by the NUS, but also by other universities’ Student Unions. Student Voice supports and develops all representatives and encourages all students to develop leadership skills. Student Voice also gathers student opinion (your voice) so your feedback to FXU is collated, sifted and analysed by student voice. Student Voice also communicates back to the student body the results of student representative’s efforts on students’ behalf.

58

Student Voice

59

Student Voice – Elections

FXU PRESIDENT ELECTIONS The 2017 FXU President elections took place in February. FXU produced brand marketing and promoted the election considerably, and also provided as many voting opportunities as possible for students.

The FXU Presidents represent students to both of the universities and beyond to national bodies, such as NUS. The proportion of students who engaged placed FXU among the top comparable Students’ Unions for student engagement. The last time national averages were calculated, unions receiving our level of block grant had an average of 28 candidates and a voting average of 15.65% of their student body.

These figures represent an overall increase of 5% compared with 2016’s Presidential elections.

60

Student Voice – Elections

FXU LEADERSHIP TEAM ELECTIONS The 2017 FXU Executive Officer elections took place in March.

The FXU Leadership Team elections are slightly lower profile than the FXU Presidential elections, and therefore attract less engagement. However, thanks again to FXU’s marketing and voting stations, the number of candidates and voters all increased this year and nearly doubled last year’s participation. This has resulted in the election of a strong Leadership Team for the 2017/18 academic year.

Established 2005

WANT TO BE OUR

SPORTS OFFICER? ROLE IN A NUTSHELL You will be working with the FXU President Student Experience and FXU staff to promote sporting opportunities to all Falmouth University and the University of Exeter Cornwall Campus students.

THIS ROLE INCLUDES: • Working with the FXU President Student Experience you will act as the Co-Chair for the Sports & Societies Forum.

• You will be a key decision maker as part of the Sports and Societies Committee, supported by FXU staff.

• Working with the FXU President Student Experience, you will lead on sports related campaigns and events both on and off campus.

• Regularly report on news and updates that affect sports using FXU media (website, video & social media).

SKILLS YOU WILL DEVELOP IN THIS ROLE

Established 2005

• Leadership and public speaking • Project management and decision making • Research and engagement • Professionalism & Accountability

WANT TO BE OUR

FAITH COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON?

DEADLINE: 24 MARCH 2017

Nominate yourself online at:

www.fxu.org.uk/elections

ROLE IN A NUTSHELL This is a key communication role, managing the Faith Committee meetings.

To be successful you will require tact and great people skills.

THIS ROLE INCLUDES: • Working with the FXU President Community & Welfare and the FXU Widening Student Participation intern, you will manage the FXU Faith Committee ensuring they are organised and well run throughout the academic year.

• Represent the Faith Committee at Leadership Team Meetings.

SKILLS YOU WILL DEVELOP IN THIS ROLE • Networking • Excellent communication • Public speaking • Social media marketing • Time management • Ability to work with confidential information

DEADLINE: 24 MARCH 2017

Nominate yourself online at:

www.fxu.org.uk/elections

61

Student Voice – Meetings

GENERAL MEETINGS These share information and updates between the students and elected representatives, as well as ensuring that these elected reps remain accountable to the students. A useful innovation this year has been the introduction of anonymised electronic questions that has improved the sense of accountability.

The first general meeting of 2016/17 was the Student Voice Conference held on 22nd November 2016 on Falmouth Campus. The anonymous online question system proved popular and generated a number of penetrating questions so it was decided to continue using such a system to hold presidents and both universities to account.

On the 17th February 2017 we held our AGM which again used an anonymous online question system, this time on the hot topic of student finance under the heading “Can I afford my degree?”, followed by the announcement of candidates for our 2017 presidential elections and a live-streamed question and answer session.

FXU hosted a further general meeting on Tuesday 23rd May 2017 where the FXU impact report was launched to students, the new FXU Leadership Team were announced and a Question and Answer session was held with the FXU Presidents.

62

Student Voice – Meetings

ACADEMIC REPRESENTATION FXU elected and trained over 300 student reps this year from every year of every course, from Foundation to PhD. These students represented their peers at meetings with academic staff through the year. This course level feedback is the essential first link in a chain of academic representation, which feeds up through Department Reps (Falmouth) and Subject Chairs (Exeter), to the FXU Education Officers and finally the FXU Presidents, all of whom sit on University Board meetings and Committees appropriate to their roles.

It is through this system that FXU ensures that students are represented at every academic level within University structures, and is also the way we disseminate and share how your feedback has been responded to and what action has been taken in response to it.

In November, FXU Student Voice met FdA Digital Media students in Bodmin to hear how they felt about their course and university experience. In December, FXU Student Voice alongside our Distanced Learning Officer Jo Sutherst, held an online conference for Falmouth postgraduate students studying online with CEG Digital (Falmouth Flexible).

63

Student Voice – Meetings

LEADERSHIP TEAM

64

As well as department reps and subject chairs, students also elected twenty-one Executive Officers in the previous academic year. All the roles are filled by student officers undertaking a voluntary position alongside their studies.

They work closely with the Presidents to ensure that every area of representation and campaigning work is acted upon.

There was an introductory BBQ to meet the team followed by meetings on the following dates – click on the date to link to the minutes of that meeting (or see appendix for the url).

The Leadership Team includes FXU Presidents and Executive Officers who are there to listen to students and speak on your behalf to the University and external agencies.

Members are expected to highlight issues affecting students, represent students’ views, develop and review FXU policies, collect student feedback, problem-solve, and liaise with the universities and external agencies.

The FXU Presidents and members of the FXU Leadership Team sent an open letter to local MP Sarah Newton requesting that she ratify the Istanbul Convention into UK Law. This was a vote on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence on 16th December 2016. One of our education officers also attended The Student Engagement Partnership (TSEP) conference, held in London.

11 October 2016 14 March 2017

6 December 2016 9 May 2017

31 January 2017

Student Voice – Meetings

FXU also has a number of committees that make sure that what we do supports and represents our students.

LIBERATION COMMITTEE The Liberation Committee is here to work towards the equality of all students on campus, including representing marginalised / under-represented groups. On 18th September 2016 there was a welcome picnic to meet the committee, followed by meetings on the following dates – click on the date to link to the minutes of that meeting (or see appendix for the url).

20 October 2016

29 November 2016

31 January 2017

3 March 2017

For October’s Black History Month, the Liberation Committee supported activities led by the FXU ACS Society. Then in November, members of the Liberation Committee attended the Disabled Students Forum in Exeter, hosted by FXU and Exeter Student Guild. The Liberation chair attended the Black Students’ Conference in November, and the meeting in that month was thrown open to everyone with the title “Why Liberation Matters”.

FAITH COMMITTEE The Faith Committee is here to support students with faith. FXU held a Faith Fayre celebrating the different faiths on Campus and recruiting candidates for the committee, followed by meetings on the following dates – click on the date to link to the minutes of that meeting (or see appendix for the url).

29 November 2016

30 January 2017

FXU administers/supports other committees, but the minutes of their meetings are not publicly available.

65

NUS FXU, along with 600 other Students’ Unions, is a member of the National Union of Students. NUS divides its’ work into 5 policy zones, each run by a Vice President. Each zone leads research and discussion on issues important to students, and delivers campaigns relevant to that area. NUS offer training and development opportunities, as well as conferences to direct the work of its staff and elected reps (see diagram below):

66

This has been a busy year with the NUS, right from last August when FXU achieved recognition and greater representation at the national RAG conference. In October FXU Presidents sent an open letter signed by a hundred Student Union Presidents and officers to the NUS President.

FXU also sent representatives to NUS Black Students’ conference, LGBT+ Conference , Womens’ Conference and NUS Annual Conference.

FXU supported national campaigns including #LoveSUs by gathering feedback from our students about what they love about FXU. FXU Student Voice made sure our students’ representatives on our Leadership Team voted on the national ballot to decide if NUS would carry out an impact assessment on their proposed boycot of the National Student Survey. The overall result was “Yes” which we fed back to our students. We also supported the FXU Presidents to gather student opinion before formally commenting on the NUS Democracy Review.

DEVELOPMENT Training At the Leadership Training conference in September 2016, Student Voice led a series of workshops aimed at the Leadership Team to take participants through the FXU structure and governance, the roles of various student representatives and some tools they may need to gather evidence and feed it back to the students they represent, as well as promoting their successes.

Feedback from participants is recorded here.

Top 10 FXU’s major tool for improvement and progress is our Top 10 priorities. The Student Voice role here is to support the formulation of the priorities, launch the priorities at our general meetings, and then monitor and report on their progress.

Widening Participation FXU Student Voice employs a Widening Participation intern who supports the faith and liberation committees and organises activities to improve inclusion. They have worked with the International Society to lay on trips such as one to the Eden Project, to Exeter Diwali, and to St Ives. There was also the international students day in November, and some longer term work benchmarking guarantor schemes at other universities.

67

FXU Student Voice gathers feedback from students, and supports all forms of students providing feedback about their whole university experience. Feedback ranges from informal comments made face-to-face, student opinions gathered and presented by our student reps, to our annual formal survey.

Student Voice delivered an arrivals survey on behalf of Falmouth University in September. We then analysed and reported on student opinion about Disabled Student Allowance (DSA) provision in an Accessibility and Inclusion Report which has been used to inform subsequent meetings about DSA. On the 2nd December, FXU held the #LoveSUs event gathering feedback from our students. We also supported student consultation in January on the Penryn Campus 2020 plan. Also in January we asked our reps at their social what they think would continuously improve the rep scheme. Further opportunities for students to be involved in future/big decisions and conversations around campus were described by Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson, President Student Experience.

68

COMMUNICATION & MARKETING

69

LIKES - 8744 (INCREASE OF 13% ON LAST YEAR) FACEBOOK LIVE - USED FOR FXU PRESIDENT ELECTIONS, AGM, FXU LEADERSHIP TEAM MEETING

FOLLOWERS - 3798 (INCREASE OF 16% ON LAST YEAR)

FOLLOWERS - 1692

FOLLOWERS - 500+

WEBSITE REVAMP IN PROGRESS

70

SUMPTUOUS WELCOME GUIDE MAGAZINE ISSUED TO NEW STUDENTS

OPEN DAY POCKET LEAFLET PRODUCED

The Design and Marketing Team have used a mix of online and offline marketing communications to increase awareness of FXU and encourage student engagement. Throughout the year it has produced a range of inspiring campaigns to support events and projects for FXU’s Activities, Student Voice and Advice departments. The team has also worked hard to enhance the accessibility of print and online communications for students and stakeholders with special requirements.

New ideas implemented this year include; the introduction of regular video and GIF communicatons; open day pocket size leaflets, animation promoting the Advice Service, Presidents’ window graphics and manifesto boards, and ‘Facebook Live’ which enabled FXU to stream student voice events such as the President Elections results.

A Joint facebook page for the Liberation and Faith Committees was launched on the 5th October to join our suite of facebook pages informing students about what we are doing on their behalf, and also to communicate student achievements.

On the 1st December, FXU Student Voice arranged a Q&A with senior staff in Falmouth University and the University of Exeter to explain proposals for national changes to Higher Education, and the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).

71

Previous research had indicated that students could be better informed about Student Voice and so we held a “Student Voice Week” on the 6th – 10th March where we took banners explaining the student rep system around different sites on Penryn and Falmouth campuses. We took the opportunity to explain the student rep structure and emphasised that FXU facilitates student representation at every opportunity.

Finally, we have expanded the Top Ten report to show the wider impact FXU has by producing this report!

72

FXU Advice Service’s primary role is to deliver free, confidential, impartial advice and guidance to all University of Exeter Cornwall Campus and Falmouth University students.

The advice encompasses a range of legal and University-related issues including: • Money matters – e.g. grant/loan entitlement, bursaries, University hardship funds, emergency loans, budgeting, debt, welfare benefits • Housing - rights and responsibilities • Employment– e.g. income tax, national insurance • Consumer rights • University-related issues – e.g. academic appeals, complaints, disciplinary issues, fitness to study, extenuating circumstances, intermitting, withdrawing The Service provides advice to students in 1:1 appointments (usually in-person, though also by phone) and by email.

SERVICE USERS Of the 152 students with whom we conducted appointments during the period January-March 2017: • Falmouth students comprise 68% (69%) • Exeter students comprise 32% (31%) The figures in brackets indicate each University’s share of the total number of students across the Cornwall campuses. The data indicates that the Service is engaging with the Universities’ students in proportions that reflect the composition of the student body.

OVER

500

APPOINTMENTS UNIVERSITY RELATED ISSUES - 49% FINANCE RELATED ISSUES - 37% ACCOMODATION ISSUES - 12% 73

SERVICE USE The figures in the table below demonstrate significant growth in the number of students using the Advice Service and exceeds the proportionate growth in student numbers over the same period.

MONTH

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

%age change over 2 years

SEPTEMBER

32

41

70

+119%

OCTOBER

41

73

70

+71%

NOVEMBER

43

54

81

+88%

DECEMBER

23

28

35

+52%

JANUARY

40

43

57

+43%

FEBRUARY

56

51

60

+8%

MARCH

59

59

91

+54%

TOTAL

294

349

464

+58%

CASE TYPE For the time-being the ‘case type’ data is not as robust as it needs to be to undertake an entirely satisfactory analysis. However, in its current form the data indicates that: • University-related issues constitute the single largest case type (49%); • Finance-related issues (37%) • Accommodation (12%)

OVERALL IMPACT At least for the time-being, save for the questions asked in FXU’s Annual Survey, the Service does not seek formal feedback from service users. However, anecdotal evidence indicates that service users value the Service highly and that our involvement in some students’ cases has a material impact on their success while studying in Cornwall.

FXU Advice team won NASMA Innovative Activity of the Year 2017 award for our use of videos to generate increased awareness of and engagement with FXU’s Advice Service.

74

We believe that by getting involved in activities outside of studies students get the most out of their University experience. This can be gaining skills that supplement studies, or skills outside of studies, or opportunities to unwind and do something utterly unconnected to studies in order to return to them feeling rejuvenated, FXU supports all activities that enhance the University experience.

Activities include joining one of our sports clubs or societies, attending one of our events, but we also encourage students to volunteer and give their time to help others, which also includes raising money for good causes and sustainable initiatives.

The FXU Leadership Conference was offered jointly with FXU Student Voice to committee members of clubs and societies as well as the FXU Executive Officers. This event in September imparted skills and information essential to run clubs, societies, and also inspiration from NUS CEO Simon Blake. 250 people attended the event whose photos are here. FXU Student Voice collected feedback which is available here.

FXU Activities also co-ordinated the Freshers programme to give new arrivals a taste of all the sports clubs and societies we have on offer. This was followed by FXYoucan to encourage more physical activity and Give it a Go week to broaden stduents’ horizons. To encourage and maintain high standards, FXU also runs an accreditation scheme for clubs and societies and gives special awards for outstanding achievement.

75

870 82 50 18 48 35 5

EVENTS

SOCIETIES CLUBS VOLUNTARY GROUPS students/s ta ff trained in first aid

students/s ta ff completed mida s minibus training

CHARITY CHALLENGES ABROAD

8960 3395 2947 170 £62,654 £78,170 £268,243

VOLUNTEERING HOURS LOGGED BY STUDENTS student society members

STUDENT CLUB MEMBERS

76

CHARGEABLE EVENTS

raised by rad this year income from memberships TOTAL SALES OF WHICH, £135,826 ARE TOTAL FXU EVENT TICKET SALES

EVENTS There is always something happening at FXU, from Freshers events to Grad Ball, we are with our students for every step of their university journey.

This year we will have supported hundreds of socials from our sports clubs and societies, funded nine studentled projects (through our Student-Led Events & Projects Fund and Green Fund), held our first FXU Leadership Conference, and celebrated the achievements of students at the FXU Awards. We also sold out of tickets for our Freshers events!

• Freshers Fayre – over 40 local businesses introduced themselves to incoming students at our annual Freshers, which was held alongside our Freshers Fayre and Clubs/Societies Fayre, where student groups met and encouraged signups from Freshers following their introductory activities • FestiFal – a day long festival with 16 local businesses involved?

• Freshers Wristbands, Garden Party tickets Sold Out! • The first FXU Leadership Conference held in September 2016 • Lots of social events held by Sports Clubs and Societies – too many to count (but close to 900)!

• FXU Awards – 27 awards were given for outstanding achievement!

77

CLUBS [Photo – professional photos of sports teams] FXU supports 50 sports teams that provides activities for 2947 students, some of whom are members of more than one sports team. FXU is lucky to be part of Bottle Match, one of the oldest Varsity matches in the world. Being part of a sports club gives students activities to keep fit and healthy, as well as providing sometimes much needed distraction from studies.

Being in a sports club brings the opportunity to develop additional transferable skills such as leadership, accounting and reporting that enhance the employability skillset as well as providing an enjoyable and fruitful experience.

This year our Sports Clubs Manager has focussed on marketing by writing and supporting more press releases that has seen more mentions in the local press, on Exeter and Falmouth’s marketing sites as well as allowing Student Clubs run Snapchat for particular events and activities. A new section of our website has raised the profile of our sports clubs. The Falmouth Anchor also set up a Falmouth Anchor Sports Hub Facebook group for all committee members to feed into their weekly sports update. Again this has helped raise the profile of some of our Sports Club successes. In addition, Take That Photography visited on the 7th February for the first time to take professional photos of our clubs/societies and Sports Bursary student.

The photos provided by Take That helped improve Activities visibility in the new Sports Centre, and FXU works closely with the Sports Centre whenever possible. In addition to our promotional wall, FXU managed to convince Sally Gunnel to come down for the Sports Centre’s official opening. In addition, we have worked more in the local community, and with Penryn Rugby Club in particular which opened a number of volunteering opportunities for students.

Further opportunities for students have come from two funds in particular. FXU Launched the Step Up fund in February with £2,000 from the Exeter Annual Fund to support students looking to undertake essential training that will enable their community project/FXU Affiliated Group to operate safely or at a higher level. The students personally advance their career, while the Clubs are enhanced by their improved training and experience as well.

In addition, FXU has a Sports Bursary scheme to support students who compete at a national/international level, with recipients winning Bronze in fencing, and silver in Judo at national competitions. We have had other successes, winning in football, hockey, netball, tennis and surf leagues and/or competitions.

It is clear that FXU Sports Clubs are establishing a formidable reputation. We are currently 104th in BUCS, but in addition to everything our teams are achieving, we have entered more individual events than before including the first time for: Fencing, Athletics, Gymnastics, 10TT & 25TT. Our increasing engagement has enabled FXU to represent students nationally on the BUCS Social & Recreational Sport Steering Group for 2017/18.

78

SOCIETIES Getting involved with a society provides endless opportunities for learning, socialising and developing life and career skills, as well as enhancing your university experience. Whether it’s a course-related society, an area of interest or something completely new, we can guarantee once you have joined in with the varied activities and events each society provides, you will never look back! You will have some unforgettable experiences and make some friends for life.

We now have 82 affiliated societies which provides activities for 3395 students ranging from Afro Caribbean Society to Women in Mining. Just to select some highlights; in September there was sport cross-over when Don’t DisAbility Society ran FalOlympics with wheelchair basketball. They followed this up by making a film showcasing FXU’s Sports Clubs and Societies.

The Afro Caribbean Society ran a series of events for Black History Month in October. FXU Veg and Vegan Society brought virtual reality headsets to Falmouth and Penryn campuses to show students the insides of factory farms in October.

Wild Doc Soc provide highly popular talks with well-known figures, they hosted Michaela Strachan in November and Dr George McGavin in March. This illustrates how FXU Societies can attract popular newsworthy people to Cornwall. Because of the various environmental courses on offer, it is not surprising that there are a lot of environmental related societies that FXU supported. This included selling BeeSoc’s honey; encouraging student-led, cross-course collaborations such as NatureWatch which sees student film makers, presenters and scientists from both universities collaborate to create a high standard programme. The Vegan Society also hosted events as part of the national Great University Vegan Challenge, and Bioblitz was hosted by EcoSoc. SciFest was supported by FXU Green Fund, to provide a day full of science communication hosted by Wild Doc Soc. Other course-related societies include the Dartington Society whose “Concourse” provides creative students with a platform to showcase their work.

In addition there are societies related to interests that are not specifically course related; so First Aid society taught students CPR in November. The Don’t Disability Society also held a week of activities as part of their “Don’t DisAbility” week. This year they focused on making the invisible visible to raise awareness of those conditions which may not be obvious to the eye but have a huge impact on people’s lives. Then societies collaborated with each other to celebrate Women’s Week and came together just for fun with the Societies Slam Down.

Islamic Society had an amazing year, raising £1,000 for “Orphans & Needy Children” charity in November and following that with Believe and Do Good in February, which is a national campaign as part of which the FXU Islamic Society arranged lots of community support activities. With all this activity, it is not surprised that FXU societies are making a national impact.

Islamic Society won “Best Newcomer” at the Annual South Dinner for Universities across the southern UK in November, then “Community Heroes” at the FOSIS winter conference, and then Most Outstanding Student Affairs award at The Federation of Student Islamic Societies annual awards dinner .

Life Magazine was shortlisted for Best Specialist Student Publication award by Life Mag SPA, which is the UK and Ireland’s largest student media association. Then in May, the NUS hosted the second annual National Society Awards. Representatives from five FXU Clubs and Societies travelled to Nottingham to celebrate their nominations for seven out of the 14 awards.

FXU’s Islamic Society won Best Cultural and Faith Society and Wild Doc Soc won Best Hobby and Interest Society.

79

VOLUNTEERING FXU provides quality opportunities for students to volunteer in Cornwall, allowing students to try new experiences, developing skills and to make a difference. We work with a range of community partners, charities and Student Led Projects.

We offer many one-off opportunities in addition to assisting students in finding regular placements and setting up their own volunteer projects.

• V Team - Student use of the V Team has shot up this term seeing hours logged rise from 2957 In December to a total of 8960 student hours logged. Last year the total number of hours contributed by volunteers was 5343 including one-off FXU Volunteer days, SLVP activity and V Team hours.

• Student Led Volunteer Projects (SLVP’s) - We now have 18 groups on our books.

80

RAISE AND DONATE RAD stands for Raise and Donate and that’s exactly what we support you to do - raise thousands of pounds for local, national and internationally recognised charities. RAD is completely run by student volunteers and is constantly looking for more motivated fundraisers to get involved or be part of the committee.

• Student fundraising total so far: £62,654.25 A major increase on this time last year.

• Increased FXU representation at the national RAG Conference.

• CSM Rugby and Geogsoc have introduced fundraising committee positions.

• Challenges abroad - 5 charity challenges lined up to take place this summer and fundraising is on track • Independent Student Activities - This year we have seen a lot of students sign up to take part in individual fundraising endeavours including marathons and one student is still perusing his channel crossing due to take place in Sept 2017.

• Jailbreak - On the weekend of the 1st April 7 teams took part in our second Jailbreak event which raised over £3,000 for MIND. • Charity of the Term – MIND – The Mental Health Charity. Falmouth University and University of Exeter Cornwall Campus students have now raised over £7900 for RAD’s Charity of the year, MIND. • Rally4ShelterBox - Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st May. 81

GREEN LIVING FXU is committed to green and sustainable action. In 2015/16 we were the proud winners of the Green Impact Excellence Award, as well as receiving Gold status for the third consecutive year. Past projects include trips to Earth hour bicycle powered cinema screening, Sci-Fest, Vegan Challenge, and we plan to continue this level of enthusiasm and activism in the coming year. Long-term campaigns include the sale of re-usable water bottles and coffee cups and the Digital Detox, as well as the Green Fund, where students can apply for financial assistance with their own ideas for environmental and sustainable projects.

82

CONCLUSION FXU has had a very busy year. It should be clear from this report that FXU provides multiple and varied opportunities for students. We encourage and support students and provide them with the tools to compliment their studies, and gain additional skills. FXU gives students every opportunity to provide feedback and all of our activities are aimed to add value to their university experience. It is not luck that FXU enjoys one of the highest levels of student engagement in the country – we work hard to listen to students and respond to ensure that we are an essential part of their University journey.

83

APPENDIX Some text in the report links to external websites and social media. There are some links between different sections of the report, but the external links are here.

YOUR STUDENTS’ UNION Page 9 FXU: https://www.fxu.org.uk/about/ Represented: https://www.fxu.org.uk/studentvoice/ student representatives: https://www.fxu.org.uk/studentvoice/studentleadership/ student-led activities: https://www.fxu.org.uk/activities/ advice service: https://www.fxu.org.uk/advice_welfare/ stress free app: https://www.fxu.org.uk/stressfree/ Tell me: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/Tell-Me-has-launched/

YOUR PRESIDENTS Page 15 Presidents: https://www.fxu.org.uk/about/fxupresidents/ send an open letter: https://medium.com/@amandafxu/open-letter-to-malia-bouattia-from-students-unions-in-responsetothehome-affairs-select-e25dc52e8f34 Officer Team of The Year - http://www.nusconnect.org.uk/articles/nus-awards-2017-officer-team-of-the-year-awardrecipients-announced President Exeter – Tom Murray Richards - Page 16 President Exeter – Tom Murray Richards: https://www.fxu.org.uk/about/fxupresidents/fxupresidentexeter/ Professional Services Recognition Awards: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/staff/benefits/excellence/ President Falmouth – Chris Slesser - Page 22 President Falmouth – Chris Slesser: https://www.fxu.org.uk/about/fxupresidents/fxupresidentfalmouth/ Highlight Art Fair: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/Highlight-Art-Fair/ Thoughtfeed: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/Thoughtfeed/ Senior staff drop-ins: https://www.facebook.com/chris.fxufalmouth/posts/284964278627445 Arts SU Network: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/HEA-Networking-and-SU-meet-up/ Tattoo Tales: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=189848881472319&set=pb.100013416242088.2207520000.1496317579.&type=3&theater Page 22 Financial Transparency Document: https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/sites/default/files/download/falmouth_university_finance_ figures_2015-16.pdf Digital Print Centre: http://www.fxplus.ac.uk/news/2017/01/17/digital-print-centre-%E2%80%93-it-enhancementsfalmouthcampus President Experience – Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson - Page 34 President Experience – Amanda Chetwynd-cowieson: https://www.fxu.org.uk/about/fxupresidents/ fxupresidentstudentexperience/ President Community & Welfare – Alexa Webster - Page 28

84

President Community & Welfare – Alexa Webster: https://www.fxu.org.uk/about/fxupresidents/ fxupresidentcommunityandwelfare/ violence against women: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/An-open-letter-to-Sarah-Newton/ registering to vote: https://www.facebook.com/pg/FXUnion/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1589881824387879 #Tell me: https://www.facebook.com/FXUnion/photos/a.356747734367967.79926.221237157919026/1336813896361341/? type=3&theater Liberation Matters: https://www.fxu.org.uk/ents/event/1636/

FXU TOP 10 PRIORITIES Page 38 FXU Top 10 Priorities: https://www.fxu.org.uk/studentvoice/fxupriorities/topten2016-17/ Page 39 TEF: Why are my fees increasing?: https://www.facebook.com/FXUnion/photos/a.245318132177595.58271.22123715791902 6/1357772297598834/?type=3&theater Anchor: http://www.falmouth-anchor.co.uk/wp/index.php/2016/12/13/its-only-student-voice-if-you-speak/ #TEFXU: https://twitter.com/hashtag/TEFXU positive impact: https://www.facebook.com/dean.pomeroy/posts/10154483340885975?comment_ id=10154483419475975&reply_comment_id=10154488372575975&notif_t=feed_comment_reply&notif_ id=1490602283050404 Page 40 #LoveSUs: http://www.nusconnect.org.uk/winning-for-students/campaigns/lovesus Page 41 FXU website: https://www.fxu.org.uk/ Student Voice Week: https://www.facebook.com/pg/FXUnion/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1508453192530743 Page 43 FXU Advice Housing section: https://www.fxu.org.uk/advice_welfare/housing/ accommodation office: http://www.fxplus.ac.uk/accommodation FXU Advice service: https://www.fxu.org.uk/advice_welfare/ Page 44 DSA Survey: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/reports/2016-Accessibility-and-Inclusion-Report(1.pdf Email: volunteeringandrad@fxu.org.uk advice service: https://www.fxu.org.uk/advice_welfare/ Page 48 FXU strategic plan: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/about/vision/FXU-Strategic-Plan-2016-20_.pdf Exeter Diwali: https://www.facebook.com/events/1136388226396276/ Page 50 Penryn Campus 2020: http://www.fxplus.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/ campus_plan_2020_presentation_16.12.05.pdf Page 42 ‘Room Availability’/’Study Space’: https://mytimetable.falmouth.ac.uk/roomavailability/ Page 51

85

FXU Advice service: https://www.fxu.org.uk/advice_welfare/ hardship funds: https://www.fxu.org.uk/advice_welfare/hardship_funds/ Page 52 FXU Strategic Plan: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/about/vision/FXU-Strategic-Plan-2016-20_.pdf Page 54 Better: https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/unionsatwork.pdf writing openly to the NUS President: https://medium.com/@amandafxu/open-letter-to-malia-bouattia-from-studentsunionsin-response-to-the-home-affairs-select-e25dc52e8f34#.kawp114y4 Feedback: https://www.facebook.com/FXUnion/photos/ a.245318132177595.58271.221237157919026/1465932830116113/ ?type=3&theater FXU Strategy: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/about/vision/FXU-Strategic-Plan-2016-20_.pdf

STUDENT VOICE Page 58 FXU President elections: https://www.fxu.org.uk/studentvoice/elections/results/ FXU Executive Officer: https://www.fxu.org.uk/studentvoice/elections/results/ Leadership Team: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/FXU-Leadership-Team-201718-announced/ Page 62 General Meetings: https://www.fxu.org.uk/studentvoice/generalmeetings/ Student Voice Conference: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/generalmeetings/ previousgmminutes/2016-11-22-FXU-UGM-minutes.pdf AGM: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/generalmeetings/previousgmminutes/2017-02-17-AGM-Minutes.pdf general meeting: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/generalmeetings/previousgmminutes/2017-05-23FXUUGMminutes.docx.pdf Page 63 student reps: https://www.fxu.org.uk/studentvoice/studentleadership/studentreps/ Conference: https://www.facebook.com/FXUnion/videos/1376402465735817/ Page 64 introductory BBQ to meet the team: https://www.facebook.com/221237157919026/photos/?tab=album&album_ id=1278345148874883 11th October 2016: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/feedbackandresearch/meetingarchive/2016-10-11Leadership-Team-minutes.pdf 6th December 2016: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/feedbackandresearch/meetingarchive/20161206Leadership-Team-Meeting-Minutes.pdf 31st January 2017: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/feedbackandresearch/meetingarchive/2017-01-31Leadership-Team-Meeting-Minutes.pdf 14th March 2017: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/feedbackandresearch/meetingarchive/2017-03-14LeadershipTeamMeeting-minutes.pdf 9th May 2017: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/feedbackandresearch/meetingarchive/2017-05-09Leadership-Team-Meeting-Minutes.pdf open letter: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/An-open-letter-to-Sarah-Newton/ The Student Engagement Partnership (TSEP conference: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/FXU-Education-OfficerInspired-by-other-Students-Unions/

86

Page 65 20th October 2016: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/reports/2016-10-20-Liberation-Committee-MeetingMinutes.pdf 29th November 2016: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/reports/2016-11-29-Liberation-Committee-MeetingMinutes.docx.pdf 31st January 2017: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/reports/2017-01-31-Liberation-Committee-MeetingMinutes.pdf 3rd March 2017: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/reports/2017-03-03-Liberation-Committee-MeetingMinutes.pdf Black History Month: https://www.facebook.com/FXUACS/posts/1213129445412196 Disabled Students Forum: https://www.facebook.com/events/1154574511292390/ Black Students’ Conference: https://www.facebook.com/fxuliberationandfaith/posts/1518346441515683 Why Liberation Matters: https://www.fxu.org.uk/ents/event/1636/ Faith Fayre: https://www.facebook.com/221237157919026/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1277249425651122 29th November 2016: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/reports/2016-11-29-Faith-Committee-Minutes.pdf 30th January 2017: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/reports/2017-01-30-Faith-Committee-Minutes.pdf Page 66 National Union of Students: https://www.nus.org.uk/ Page 67 national RAG conference: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/National-Representations-for-FXU-students-increased/ open letter: https://medium.com/@amandafxu/open-letter-to-malia-bouattia-from-students-unions-in-response-tothehomeaffairs-select-e25dc52e8f34 NUS Black Students’ conference: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/The-NUS-Black-Students-Conference/ #LoveSUs: https://www.facebook.com/FXUnion/photos/a.245318132177595.58271.221237157919026/1357792177596846/ ?type=3&theater fed back: https://www.facebook.com/FXUnion/posts/1376424492400281 gather student opinion: https://www.facebook.com/FXUnion/photos/a.245318132177595.58271.221237157919026/146593 2830116113/?type=3&theater NUS Annual Conference: https://www.facebook.com/pg/FXUnion/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1572150952827633 Page 68 Here: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/reports/2016-FXU-Leadership-Conference-Feedback(1.pdf Top 10 priorities: https://www.fxu.org.uk/studentvoice/fxupriorities/topten2016-17/ Exeter Diwali: https://www.facebook.com/events/1136388226396276/ international students day: https://www.facebook.com/events/144626436001470/ Page 69 Accessibility and Inclusion Report: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/reports/2016-Accessibility-and-InclusionReport(1.pdf #LoveSUs: https://www.facebook.com/FXUnion/photos/a.245318132177595.58271.221237157919026/1357792177596846/ ?type=3&theater Penryn Campus 2020 plan: https://www.facebook.com/FXUnion/photos/a.245318132177595.58271.221237157919026/1451 275634915166/?type=3&theater our reps: https://www.facebook.com/photo. php?fbid=243143942803091&set=a.149284638855689.1073741829.100013224617659&type=3&theater&notif_t=like_ tagged&notif_id=1485431747237923 described: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.fxu/posts/272812743169215

87

Page 70 Joint facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fxuliberationandfaith/ Q&A: https://www.facebook.com/FXUnion/photos/a.245318132177595.58271.221237157919026/1357772297598834/?typ e=3&theater Student Voice Week: https://www.facebook.com/pg/FXUnion/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1508453192530743

ACTIVITIES Page 75 Here: https://www.facebook.com/221237157919026/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1272221799487218 Here: https://www.fxu.org.uk/pageassets/studentvoice/reports/2016-FXU-Leadership-Conference-Feedback(1.pdf Freshers programme: https://issuu.com/fxu-marketing/docs/freshers_programme_issuu FXYoucan: https://www.facebook.com/FXUnion/photos/a.245318132177595.58271.221237157919026/1329895300386534/ ?type=3&theater Give it a Go week: https://vimeo.com/198971174 accreditation scheme: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/League-of-Accreditation/ special awards: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/Special-Award-winners-announced/ Page 77 Freshers Fayre: https://www.facebook.com/pg/FXUnion/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1274189489290449 FestiFal: https://www.facebook.com/pg/FXUnion/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1270581969651201 FXU Leadership Conference: https://www.facebook.com/pg/FXUnion/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1272221799487218 FXU Awards: https://www.facebook.com/pg/FXUnion/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1621452594564135 Page 78 Bottle Match: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/Results-from-FXUs-biggest-sporting-weekend/ local press: http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/14959638.Students_hold_dodgeball_tournament_in_aid_of_breast_ cancer_charity_Coppafeel/ section of our website: https://www.fxu.org.uk/activities/sports/sportsinspotlight/ weekly sports update: http://www.falmouth-anchor.co.uk/wp/index.php/2017/02/27/weekly-sports-round-up-february-20th26th/ Activities visibility: https://twitter.com/FXU_Experience/status/861132842843209728/photo/1 Sally Gunnel: https://www.facebook.com/FXUnion/photos/a.245318132177595.58271.221237157919026/132970377707235 3/?type=3&theater volunteering opportunities: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/Penryn-Rugby-Football-Club-UndergraduateVolunteer-Opportunities/ Step Up fund: https://www.facebook.com/FXUSportandSocs/photos/a.235192369928110.51668.235185583262122/1179985 482115456/?type=3&theater Sports Bursary scheme: https://www.fxu.org.uk/activities/sports/sportsbursaryscheme/ Bronze in fencing: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/Menna-wins-Bronze-at-Fencing-Nationals/ silver in Judo: https://www.facebook.com/FXUSportandSocs/posts/1223260191121318?pnref=story BUCS: https://www.bucs.org.uk/homepage.asp Page 79 FalOlympics: https://www.facebook.com/events/949762355153082/?active_tab=about Film: https://www.facebook.com/dontdisability/videos/vb.589751714519156/610014529159541/?type=2&theater Black History Month: https://www.facebook.com/FXUACS/posts/1213129445412196 show students: https://www.facebook.com/FXUSportandSocs/photos/a.235192369928110.51668.235185583262122/107297

88

4676149871/?type=3&theater Michaela Strachan: https://www.facebook.com/events/1297566656955393/ Dr George McGavin: https://www.facebook.com/FXUSportandSocs/posts/1224045411042796 selling BeeSoc’s honey: https://www.facebook.com/FXUSportandSocs/photos/a.235192369928110.51668.235185583262122 /1099125603534778/?type=3&theater NatureWatch: https://www.facebook.com/events/1765423370374888/ Events: https://www.facebook.com/FXUSportandSocs/posts/1179239805523357 Bioblitz: https://www.facebook.com/pg/PenrynBioBlitz/ SciFest: https://www.facebook.com/wdsscifest/ Concourse: https://www.facebook.com/pg/dartsoc/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1474920162559357 First Aid: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.fxu/posts/207103999740090 Don’t DisAbility: https://www.facebook.com/FXUSportandSocs/photos/a.235192369928110.51668.235185583262122/11871 82438062427/?type=3&theater Women’s Week: https://www.facebook.com/FXUSportandSocs/posts/1210457752401562 Societies Slam Down: https://www.facebook.com/pg/FXUSportandSocs/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1231864753594195 Orphans & Needy Children: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/Islamic-Society-raise-over-1000/ Believe and Do Good: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/Believe-and-Do-Good-2017/ Best Newcomer: https://www.facebook.com/FXUSportandSocs/posts/1099053063542032 Community Heroes: https://www.facebook.com/photo. php?fbid=220669358383554&set=a.135231730260651.1073741828.100013214748234&type=3&theater Most Outstanding Student Affairs award: https://twitter.com/fosischannel/status/856233726115803136 Best Specialist Student Publication: https://twitter.com/SPAJournalism/status/847197004811943936 National Society Awards: https://www.fxu.org.uk/news/article/6013/Societies-win-two-national-awards/ Page 80 18 groups: https://www.fxu.org.uk/activities/volunteering/findopportunities/student-led-projects/ national RAG Conference: https://www.facebook.com/pg/fxurad/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1768883826661929 Challenges abroad: https://www.fxu.org.uk/activities/rad/getinvolved/challengesabroad/ Jailbreak: https://www.facebook.com/fxurad/posts/1866265626923748 Rally4ShelterBox: https://www.facebook.com/Rally4Shelterbox2017/

89

90