UPSU Impact Report 2015 / 16

our year 2015-16

Executive officers Ruth Titmuss // Matthew Dark // Steph Wearne // Davide Bertelli // James Stoner

EXTERNAL & STUDENT TRUSTEES Jane Hopkinson // Adrian Bratt // Matthew Horton // Graham Stirling // Nuria Bonet // Kieren Perry

Staff

Lewis Akeroyd // Emma Anderson // Rebecca Anderson // Linda Arthur // Velu Balasubramanian // Lucy Bannister // Sarita Banyard Jane Benton // Tammy Boniface // Alex Bordoli // Joseph Brearley // Lauren Brickley // James Came // Susan Cannon // Alan Cheyne Mary Coles // Gina Connelly // Denise Couves // Fiona Covell // Sarah Davey // Angela Davies // Harry Davis // Carl Evans Robert Fegan // Alan Ford // Jayne Ford // Daniel Forster // Louise Francis // Dave Furniss // Esther Gray // Victoria Greenway Julie Hahn // Janine Hems // Richard Hicks // Max Honeyman // Oliver Horne // Arun Hudson // Nadine Jeffery // Barbara Kaminska Dean Lawton // Zoe Leaton // Mark Lockett // Sarah Masey // Abby Mason // Daniel Matthews // Claire Massey // Johanne McAulay Josephine Meakin // Jonathan Noades // Catherine North // Naomi Norville // Russell Oakham // Joe Porter // Tracy Priestman Joanna Reed // Margaret Rees // Michael Richards // Paul Robinson // Michelle Rysdale // Lynne Shaw // Ian Short // Natasha Sprague // Heather Stenning // Clint Stephenson // Leona Sutton // Rhiannon Sweet // Nicola Symons // Dean Toney // Cat Tetreault Lisa Truesdale // Jacqueline Wakeling // Natalie Watts // Aimee Weet // June Welsh // Laura White // Sarah Winn // Paula Woodley

WELCOME UPSU has had another really successful year with all departments and services recording fantastic student engagement whilst continuing to deliver a high quality student experience for our members. 2015/16 was the first year of our new Strategic Plan and we are pleased to report that we have made excellent progress working towards our goals and ambitions ensuring that we not only continue to try to meet the needs of all of our diverse student and staff body, but that we also remain a sustainable, well governed Charity. We continuously seek feedback and research the needs of our students and carried out another “Big 10” survey this year ensuring that the services and activities we deliver remain relevant. We constantly look to enhance and develop our commercial offer aiming for best value wherever we can, despite the growing commercial competition both on and off campus.

We continue to celebrate the successes of all of our communities through our Sports, Societies, Volunteering and the SSTAR awards. We saw 77 students being recognised for their sporting achievements, 44 for Societies along with 941 SSTAR award nominations being received. Our Volunteering Department achieved the Investor in Volunteering status this year which we are very proud of indeed and our students recorded a massive 23,093 of volunteering hours along with £327,849 raised for local and national charities, this is a huge achievement for our students. UPSU also continues to be recognised as a high achieving organisation; we were awarded an NUS Best Bar None Gold award again this year and overall Best Bar None in the Plymouth region. We were also awarded a NUS Green Impact Excellence award for our environmental work and remain in the top quartile in the National Student Survey league table.

This year saw the introduction of a new 6th Executive Officer, VP Activities, who worked with our newly formed Societies and Activities department to grow and support our student led societies and groups. We had a great first year with 9 new Societies being formed and saw a significant increase in membership.

Both our Executive Officers and staff team have worked hard through the year to enhance community relationships and partnerships. We have worked closely with Plymouth Council on campaigns, with community groups organising events and also the Police, evening and night time economy groups to help improve the safety of the campus and surrounding areas. We will continue with this important work in the coming year.

The Executive Officer team have run a variety of successful campaigns in the year such as “Know the Line”, “Out in Sport”, “Right to Pray”, amongst many others, including a Voter Registration drive and an ongoing “Stress Less” campaign which included an extremely popular “Puppy and Cup Cake Party”. Our Union Executive Committee and student led Forum’s have been very active this year and we have also seen a significant growth in our Liberation Forums. Our Executive Officer team have worked on the Student Written Submission in preparation for the University’s Quality Assurance Agency audit and they have 25 recommendations which we will be working in partnership with the University to work towards in the coming years.

We have continued to build relationships and work in close partnership with the University this year, whilst of course remaining their critical friend and we are extremely grateful for their ongoing support. Everyone at UPSU is exceptionally proud of all that we have all achieved during this year and will all continue to work towards our vision “to transform lives through experience”.

Ruth Titmuss

UPSU President 2015-16

Gina Connelly

UPSU Chief Executive

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

President

VP Sport

VP Education

Ruth Titmuss

Matthew Dark

Steph Wearne

It’s been a great year for UPSU down to the hard work of all the staff and students who participate in the different activities that UPSU has to offer. A big success this year has been Sports and Societies attending our ‘Know the Line’ sessions to understand the campaign and champion zero tolerance to sexual harassment.

We have built relationships within our local community. The outdoor cinema and fayre in Mutley Moorview park has been a fab way to bring together students and residents as well as working with the council on campaigns.

The Climate Change Conference in November has been submitted as our Green Impact Project and the Environment and Sustainability Forum have gone from strength to strength. Producing the ‘Greening the Campus’ report to secure more green space on campus. Thanks for having me, it’s been a blast!

What a year sport has had! I have given it my all to make sure that students get the best experience possible, empowering many people along the way. I carried out communication training, worked hard on sporting partnerships and even started the ‘Out in Sport’ campaign to raise awareness of LGBT+ in sport and I am proud to have seen so many people getting involved. Sports Awards was an incredible experience with celebrations and well deserved awards! This year will be one that I will always remember, the incredible students, colleagues and the best team we could have asked for.

We’ve had record breaking numbers of participation in all areas of sport including Intramural, Give it a Go and MGA. I couldn’t have done it without the support from everyone at UPSU and Plymouth University, it’s been a pleasure! x

This year has been great for UPSU! We wrote 22,000 words and 25 recommendations for the Student Written Submission, trained around 400 Course Reps at the Course Rep Conference, engaged 160+ Postgraduate students with tea breaks and drafted a Placement Survival Guide for Nursing & Health Profession students as well as taking a motion to support NHS bursary students to UEC which was unanimously passed.

We received 941 SSTAR Award nominations and introduced the ‘Best Collaborative Student Project’ award.

We invited students to present awards and give speeches this year and I am incredibly proud of them!

We have carried on the Stress Less campaign with the Puppy and Cupcake Party engaging with around 500 students and then handing out sweets and Advice Centre leaflets in the Library around exam times.

VP International & Outreach

VP Activities

Davide Bertelli

James Stoner

2015/16 has been a particularly successful year for international students.

We have sealed a deal with the University to provide adequate, temporary praying spaces for our on-campus students of faith, showing a clear example of good collaboration between the Executive team, our Forums, Societies and NUS. I have also raised the issue of European students being not being able to express their view in the EU Referendum: I have submitted a motion asking NUS to campaign to extend the right to vote to EU citizens in future EU matters that passed unanimously at International Students’ Conference; the same motion passed at NUS National Conference too. This year has also seen a stark increase in the number of visits to our Partner Institutions, giving more support and guidance to the Lead College Reps, paving the way for stronger representation in future years.

This has been the first year for the role of VP Activities which has seen increased engagement in Societies resulting in more than 4300 unique individuals involved this year which is a first for UPSU, we as a department have also seen more funding applications and a brilliant diversity in the events they have created this year.

I have also merged 3 societies into SU:Media, consisting of Radio, TV and Journalism. Volunteering and Fundraising has also broken a new record this year with more hours being logged totalling more than 23,000!

Our core purpose is to represent the views of our students, to facilitate and drive positive changes and improvements to their University lives.

this year: We supported 88 election candidates running across 12 elections.

We ran an EU Voter registration campaign to encourage students to register to vote, holding 2 open debates.

2,663 individual student voters cast a total of 12,162 votes in the main election period in March.

Held 2 open surgeries with our local Member of Parliament

15 Forum Chairs have hosted over 50 meetings and been campaigning about adequate prayer space, green space on campus and cuts to disabled student allowance.

Supported 859 elected Course Representatives. Delivering 4 Course Representative Training conferences this year.

7 Union Executive Committee meetings have been held across the Academic Year. With 12 motions being passed and becoming UPSU policy for the next 2 years.

Supported 17 elected School Representatives who are or have been supporting students with issues around timetabling, transport to other sites.

147 School and Course Representatives and Forum Chairs logged 1,969 volunteering hours within their roles.

We sent 7 elected delegates to NUS National Conference with 3 motions being submitted and passed.

Lobbied our local Member of Parliament to save maintenance grants.

We made 25 recommendations for the University in the student written submission for QAA. We submitted Government consultations on the National Student Survey and the Higher Education Green Paper.

Our officer team and students were involved in the recruitment of the Vice Chancellor of the University.

12,162

VOTES CAST

“The SU continuously asks for student input and thoughts and frequently asks how they can improve services for students to cater for everybody’s needs. It makes me feel involved”

50

forum meetings held

7

NUS delegates “The Annual General Meeting is great to find about is what is happening ‘behind the doors’ and how students have influenced officers work and vice versa.”

CAMPAIGNED FOR VOTER Registration

“Forums are a brilliant way to bring people together on key issues that matter to us. They give us a platform to have your say in the SU and Uni to influence real change”

We believe that increasing and deepening participation, both students and the Union will be strengthened, creating lasting positive effects on the overall University experience.

this year: We have created a new Societies and Activities department to support the growth of student led societies and activities.

Invested in a mobile Students’ Union. Turning a Volkswagen Transporter T5 into a versatile mobile space that will enable students to take advantage of the opportunities available to them at the Students’ Union whilst not being based on campus.

We regained the Varsity championship for the 4th year running with a 22-18 victory over the University of St Mark & St John, raising £12,654 for charity en-route.

1,484 participants in our Motivate, Generate, Activate project.

Provided SU Trips to 5 national locations for over 250 international students.

We have had over 65,000 attendees to our nightclubs throughout the year.

Delivered a Post Graduate coffee morning at the start of the academic year with over 120 attendees.

We became a licensed centre of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Signing up 7 students and awarding 1 Silver and 1 Gold Award.

Held Christmas celebrations for international students and their families in the SU, hosting a traditional meal and entertainment.

Built Plymouth’s largest regular Open Mic night, showcasing local and student talent. With over 11,000 attendees throughout the year with over 250 hours of live performance and being aired on BBC Radio Devon.

Hosted our first Bollywood night in the SU in conjunction with the Asian Society.

For the first time we hosted the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Swimming Team Championship at the Life Centre - with over 200 students visiting from the Western region.

There has been a 50% increase in Intramural Sport participants.

Over 120 societies events organised Hosted the RAG Winter Ball event, the biggest yet raising over £3,000 for charity.

Launched

“UPSU has provided me with a with a number of opportunities throughout the year. It was a welcoming place when I first came to University and made me feel included”

THE mobile SU

65,000 nightclub attendees

120 Attendees of

post graduate tea break

Varsity Champions for

LAUNCHED DUKE OF EDINBURGH

4th straight year

AT THE SU

“Student life is sometimes scary but UPSU gives students events to attend so they can meet people and gain life experience.

It’s not all about work”

“The SU brings people together by having the pub quiz, and showing sports for people to come and watch and get a drink.”

HOSTED BUCS Swimming

Team Championship

Securing a job and enhancing employability is very important to our students. We provide a variety of opportunities to help develop skills that will enable our members to seek employment now and in the future.

this year: Over 50 students gained work experience by helping organise and run events with our Events department.

Launched our contribution to the Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR) with over 1,400 roles recognised and 1,100 students having HEAR verifiable activities.

20% of our salaried staff are Plymouth University graduates.

Over 400 student staff employed at the SU throughout the year, receiving skills training. ÂŁ471,000 paid in student staff wages.

79% of the UPSU Volunteering survey respondents said volunteering has increased their employability.

We ran 2 business orientation sessions for 60+ business school students, providing an insight into our commercial operations .

Supported students to use our commercial services as case studies for course modules, providing business insight and professional development.

On the SU Bar we empowered Student Senior Supervisors to run business operations within the bar to gain business experience running a commercial operation.

Over 800 hours of induction training provided for new student staff.

UPSU Volunteering worked in partnership with the University Summer Opportunities fair, highlighting opportunities for students.

We have worked in partnership with the University on their employability agenda throughout the year.

We delivered sports clubs and societies committee workshops on leadership, communication and finance.

“The SU offers fair employment for students to develop themselves whilst earning money during their studies”

“By being part of UPSU, I got to do something I loved whilst building invaluable skills and improving my CV. I think this type of experience is just as important as a degree”

H.E.A.R Contribution launched

“Working for the SU is great and has enhanced my CV” “Volunteering has helped me to develop skills that have allowed me to undertake internships, gain employment and improve my academic grades.”

400+ STUDENT STAFF employed

“Being a Club Host has been a tough but truly rewarding experience.

It has allowed me to learn important people skills while dealing with challenging and vulnerable individuals, as well as the ability to think on my feet in tough situations.”

“It’s great at providing employment opportunities for students and listening to employees for ways to improve”

800+ STUDENT staff

training hours Delivered

The wellbeing of our students and staff team is essential for them to enjoy a happy, healthy and fulfilling life.

Throughout the year we provide support, advice and information to contribute to their positive wellbeing.

this year: We supported 3,541 advice cases this year through our free independent Advice Service. With an additional 1,096 students engaged through our Advice on Tour activities.

There were 48,328 visits to our gym in the sports centre and 2,016 fitness classes delivered. 367 Sports Injury Treatments were administered by our trained staff.

UPSU Advice Service has seen over 20 students with consumer related problems, one of which we were able to help recover in excess of £5,000 from a utility company.

90% of student UPSU Volunteering survey respondents said volunteering has increased their confidence/self worth.

We have carried on the Stress Less campaign with the Puppy and Cupcake Party engaging with around 500 students and then handing out sweets and Advice Centre leaflets in the Library around exam times.

Motivate, Generate, Activate - Sport England Project supported 132 students with a disability and 58 students referred by Counselling / Disability support services.

The first student venue in the country to launch the Club Host scheme with Drinkaware in the nightclub, providing support to over 800 vulnerable students on a night out.

Achieved Plymouth Best Bar None Overall Venue Award and NUS Gold Best Bar None Award recognising our commitment to delivering a safe environment and responsible service of alcohol to our members.

We remain the top retailer in the country of NUS Extra Cards, selling 8,974 cards. Saving our members an estimated £4.5 million a year.

Delivered 14 Know The Line training sessions to over 400 students. With 1,121 students signing the Know The Line Pledge.

Introduction of a £2 hot lunch offer at the Food Cabin to provide a cost effective and substantial lunch for our members, helping them save money and eat well.

We launched the Out In Sport campaign to end discrimination in sport towards the LGBT+ community

3,541 Advice cases supported this year

CLUB HOST

first student venue in the country to Implement

8,974 NUS Extra

Discount cards sold.

“It’s a great support system and it really helped me during the first few weeks of uni life.”

WINNER BEST BAR NONE

“The SU has enabled me to develop new non academic skills which can be joyful and increase my well being”

BEST VENUE IN PLYMOUTH

LAUNCHED OUT IN SPORT CAMPAIGN

“The SU is also great with helping students with money. It can definitely be a worry when you don’t have enough to get through the week - the SU has guided probably quite a lot of us through it.”

48,328 Visits to the

gym in the sports centre

Our members communities might be their course, the activities they are involved in, where they live, study or socialise. We ensure that we support, promote and develop all communities that our students are part of.

this year: We supported students in fundraising ÂŁ327,849 for local and national charities.

23,093 hours of community volunteering hours were logged with UPSU this year by 788 students.

Working in partnership with the LGBT+ society we brought the first campus Pride event to Plymouth University, celebrating the LGBT+ community at the University and in Plymouth.

10 Market Days were hosted this year, bringing 50 local producers and traders on to campus for students to experience South West food, drink and products.

9 new societies were created this year and 2 reforming, bringing the total to 121 societies, with 4,357 members.

The Student Staff Teaching and Representation (SSTAR) Awards received 941 nominations for the 14 categories of the SSTAR Awards and four students won the Gold Student Voice Award for over 65 representation volunteering hours.

The Sports Awards had 208 students in attendance, where 11 awards along with 58 Half colours and 8 Full colours were presented.

14 awards were presented at the Society and Activity Awards, 3 Full colours and 27 Half colours. 119 students attended from 26 societies.

42 Volunteer Awards were awarded at the UPSU Volunteer Awards, plus 35 half colours and 6 Full Colours.

We supported 56 Sports Clubs with 3,824 members

1,392 school children engaged at 45 local community events/ sessions, supported and organised by the Relays@UPSU project.

The Societies and Activities department worked in partnership with 5 local communities to increase the opportunities for society members.

Provided Nursing students discounts within catering and retail and a bespoke events programme to suit their academic schedule.

3 local Mutley Matters community events supported by UPSU, including a Halloween Film Screening, the Mutley Matters Market and a Family Fun Day.

Our accommodation service signed up to and are on the steering group for Plymouth City Councils charter for private rented housing, which works towards improving the quality of rented accommodation across Plymouth.

-13-

23,093 hours of Community Volunteering

3,284 Sports club members

“The SU events definitely bring more people together and are a good way of meeting new people.”

10 Market

“The SU manages to reach all type of students, regardless of interests, age, gender, race, sexuality, and sociability.”

DAYS held on campus

941

Nominations for the SSTAR AwARDS

4,357

Society members

“The SU makes Plymouth University a fun and inclusive atmosphere, through events, fairs.

It helps to make the university courses come together, rather than being separated.”

“It brings together groups of people that normally would not normally interact”

To secure the future success and viability of the Union we need to ensure that we develop and maintain quality services and activities, with ethical and well-informed decision making, delivering long term financial stability.

this year: 90% of the catering products prepared were locally sourced in the South West. UPSU catering areas have committed to providing a good quality, cost effective locally sourced product to our students. 88% of our disposable products are recyclable.

Our accommodation service completed the UK Association of Lettings Agencies audit, a lettings industry recognised standard to ensure we are legally compliant with handling client monies.

1,100 hours of formal training undertaken by salaried staff.

Training provided on dyslexia awareness, transgender awareness and equality & diversity.

Invested in the SU Shop to ensure we can provide a wide range of products for our members in a space and location of convenience. Making best use of space to develop a sustainable retail outlet.

16 fully qualified first-aiders and 24 emergency first aiders trained to ensure the safety of students.

Invested in the Hive developing the space to create a diverse office and social space.

We asked our members ‘Should we change our name to be in-line with Plymouth University?’ 1,030 members contributed and 75% said for us to keep UPSU. Moving forward UPSU will remain our name.

Awarded NUS Green Impact Gold of our commitment to the sustainablity agenda and we are have submitted for excellence this year.

12 regular external user groups of the Sports Centre this year providing new sustainable financial sources of income.

We hosted 4 clothes swap shops hosted in the SU. Introduced an online rota system for student staff to improve effiency and manage payroll and allocation of shifts, making it easier for students to access and sign up for shifts.

90% of our event tickets are now hosted online to provide ease of access to students no matter where they are.

UPSU continues to manage its costs within the finite resources it has available, this year it is expected to return a small surplus which will enable future investment in our services.

The ‘Greening the Campus’ report was submitted to the University to help develop green spaces on campus.

SHOP

redevelopment

88%

of disposable catering packaging is 100% recyclable

HIVE

redevelopment

“UPSU, is very good at providing a great space to meet with friends, and an excellent time venue, with great night life.”

“Moving to another country can be a daunting process and I feel part of the reason I felt so at home in Plymouth is because of UPSU and their large presence on campus”

FINANCE

income

expenditure

£5,664,666

£5,664,666 £

University Block Grant

1,709,270

%

£

30

Trading

2,426,074

%

42

Fundraising

216,803

4

Fundraising

165,956

3

Investments

7,544

1

Support Services

2,288,838

Trading

2,631,059

45

Governance

39,612

1

41

Other

494,837

9

Clubs and Societies

583,336

11

Clubs and Societies

605,154

11

Other

160,849

12

University of Plymouth Students’ Union is a registered charity in England & Wales No. 1143614