IMPACT
INTRODUCTION FROM CEO TIM BENFORD
It has been fantastic to see university life return to normal this year, with the ability to host fantastic engaging and diverse events and campaigns that bring everyone together. Thank you to all of our members of staff, Trustees and Presidents, for their continued hard work, which has helped us to achieve so much this year and make a real impact on the lives of our members.
A particular highlight has been the Presidents’ work around Celebrating Culture. The campaign launched at the beginning of October to observe Black History Month with the aim of empowering students of colour, exploring the rich history of multi-cultural Britain, and celebrating the fantastic diversity of cultures at UWE Bristol. It culminated in the launch of the third Hall of Fame, with large crowds attending the launch of the Hall.
Other successes have included lobbying the University to commit to never investing in fossil fuels and our ‘Excellent’ rated Green Impact submission, which also saw us achieve the ‘Highest Scoring Students’ Union’ for the sixth year in a row.
We are also immensely proud of the Welcome programme that we delivered for new and returning students, including three fantastic Welcome Fairs, not to mention hugely popular events throughout the year, such as Sports Does Strictly, the Sports Awards and the Societies Awards.
Please read on to learn more about all the great things that we have achieved for our members this year.
PRESIDENT EVAN BOTWOOD
I am grateful to have been President for this year and on behalf of the team, I would like to thank all the staff at The Students’ Union and UWE Bristol who have supported us to better the student experience. We achieved so much this year, setting our direction with three main campaigns, two partnership projects, and continual support throughout the year.
I have kept the University accountable on sustainability through high-level meetings, contributed to a number of policies, and successfully lobbied the University to commit to never investing in fossil fuels.
This year I lead work on our Refreshers Fair, to provide January intake students with a fun welcome experience, which saw over 1,000 students attend.
It has been a pleasure representing and lobbying for students at UWE and beyond. This included presenting at conferences, engagement with NUS, appearing on BBC Bristol Radio, and lobbying the Universities Minister to introduce a program to protect at-risk students across the globe.
I’ve worked with the Governance team to transform how UWE Governors engage with students and Presidents, making sessions more relevant, engaging, and facilitating governors to speak to a diverse range of students.
VP EDUCATION OLUWADAMILOLA RACHEAL OKEYOYIN
One of my proudest achievements in the 21-22 academic year was the launch of the Zine “no more silence”, which was created from the contributions of students and staff majorly from ethnically diverse communities. I also enjoyed working on the Celebrating Culture Hall of Fame, which is displayed along the D block corridor and celebrates UWE students and staff from ethnically diverse backgrounds that have achieved great success in their various fields, overcoming racial biases.
Other key projects include Decolonising the Curriculum, exam de-stress giveaways with lots of self-care items, The World Fiesta Celebrations and the Disability Awareness and Action (DAA) events which support disabled students. I also represented the student voice at many UWE Bristol academic governance meetings, including the Learning and Teaching Student Experience Committee and Academic Board.
Also, as the head of the representation system, I over saw 1,000 Student Reps and 45 Department Reps all volunteering to make sure that courses and departments are held to account and students are getting the best academic experience that they can.
VP SOCIETIES AND COMMUNICATION
SAMUEL IKPE
Being VP Societies and Communication has been a life changing opportunity and one I will always treasure.
Highlights from my tenure in office have been setting up a TEDx UWE event championing mental health and leadership and promoting different languages through my “In My Language” campaign.
Amplifying collaboration for student writers, artists and producers of colour was an immense way to boost student participation during lockdown and we continued this event even after lockdown.
My time has been great and I am proud to have achieved all of this, it wouldn’t have been possible without the great support from the team.
We celebrated the tremendous success of this campaign through an open mic event for the winners and an outdoor Amplify event.
Finally, Societies Awards was a big part of my experience as VP Societies and Communication. The event was a huge success, taking place at the Bristol Hotel with a silent disco and magician to grace the night.
VP COMMUNITY AND WELFARE
RANIA REGAIEG
One of my main priorities for this year was leading our yearlong mental health campaign, Great Minds. We focused on men’s mental health in particular and collaborated with Callum, Men’s Welfare Officer, to engage young men and provide safe and inclusive spaces for students to open up about their mental health concerns. Great Minds later won the Best Campaign of the Year Award at the Welfare Awards.
Additionally, I planned and co-hosted Africa Day where we dressed up in our traditional clothing, explored the richness of the African cultures through authentic food, and danced
the night away with over 100 students. I also co-hosted the Celebrating Culture Conference with Dami in May with the theme ‘Being Successful as your Authentic Self’. Later that month, I jointly organised an International Students Experience Consultation with the University.
I also launched the monthly Cook-off competition, which taught students basic cooking skills and fostered a sense of belonging and unity amongst them, as well as how to eat well to boost their mental wellbeing whilst keeping their food waste to a minimum. Finally, I was elected to represent our student body nationally at the NUS National Conference and ended the year by hosting the Welfare Awards at Aerospace Bristol to celebrate students and staff successes who are passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion.
VP SPORTS AND HEALTH MOLLY HARRIS
Working with such a passionate and driven Presidents team, as well as The Students’ Union and UWE staff and students has been a blessing, and I am so grateful for their support.
As well as hugely successful Wednesday sports nights, I have successfully organised and run Sports Does Strictly and Fight Night, both amazing events to raise money for charity.
I have worked hard towards inclusivity in sport, supporting liberation campaigns and successfully supporting the setup of our first official wheelchair basketball club.
I have started important discussions around EDI in sport to influence the sports strategy and improvement of all of our provisions. In addition, I have influenced policies in The Students’ Union and BUCS to ensure that student support is at the forefront of decision making around disciplinaries and policies.
Alongside the Skate Society and The Students’ Union, I delivered a Skate Week and a well-attended skate park over three days, proving that campus recreational facilities need improving.
The year was celebrated through delivering a sell out Sports Awards. This brought together almost 500 students, staff and coaches one last time to celebrate the huge achievements of all our clubs and athletes.
KEY CAMPAIGNS:
CELEBRATING CULTURE
After the overwhelming success of the 2020-21 Celebrating Black Excellence campaign, The Students’ Union Presidents hosted a year-long Celebrating Culture campaign.
The campaign was launched at the beginning of October to observe Black History Month with the aim of empowering students of colour, exploring the rich history of multi-cultural Britain, and celebrating the fantastic diversity of cultures at UWE Bristol.
Throughout the year, the team organised a variety of events, including the second edition of the ‘No More Silence zine’ to allow students to share creative pieces on diversity at UWE Bristol and beyond. There was also a Spoken Word Slam, World Fiesta Days to highlight cultural specificities of different continents, and a Movie Night. The team also organised a Watch and Discuss session, a speaker event with social media influencer Sayo on self-realisation and journey to success, and In My Language videos, a project set out to celebrate the diversity of languages at the University.
KEY IMPACT: SUSTAINABILITY
The Students’ Union at UWE has been awarded Excellent ranking for Green Impact Students’ Union 2021-22, the highest level you can achieve. We are also delighted to announce that we are the winners of a Special Award for “The Highest Scoring Students’ Union”, for the sixth year in a row! We scored 472/500, an increase on 462/500 last year. Key projects included ethical fashion, period poverty and successfully lobbying UWE to sign a declaration pledging to hold no investments in fossil fuel extractor companies now and in the future.
In collaboration with UWE Bristol, we were awarded a Gold Hedgehog Friendly Campus Award from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. We are one of only thirteen universities to be awarded the gold status for the year 2022. The judges said they were “blown away by the fantastic, strong legacy work”.
We are so pleased to say that The Students’ Union and UWE Bristol renewed our Fairtrade University status, after being audited for the academic years 2020/21 and 2021/22.
KEY IMPACT: MENTAL HEALTH
The Great Minds Campaign was a new campaign for academic year 2021/2022 from our elected Students’ Union Presidents. This yearlong mental health initiative led by Rania, VP Community and Welfare, worked to equip students with proactive measures and tools to help them maintain positive mental wellbeing throughout the year.
The Students’ Union hosted a virtual TEDx talk with mental health awareness campaigner and advocate Amber Cowburn which has over 3,058 views.
The MenTalk Health series was launched in November by Rania (VP Community and Welfare) and Callum Jones (Men’s Welfare Officer) to provide a space for our self-defining men at UWE Bristol to come together and openly talk about men’s health from mental health all the way to physical and sexual health in a safe environment.
We delivered mental health training to all sports clubs and societies committees to ensure effective signposting. 25 individual committee members attended four different mental health sessions ranging from UWE Dance to Water Polo. In addition, a mass session was held for over 80 UWE Men’s Rugby Club members. 105 students were trained in total.
Drug and Alcohol Impact
The University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) and The Students’ Union at UWE are the first university partnership to receive a national Drug and Alcohol Impact Accreditation.
Drug and Alcohol Impact was launched by the National Union of Students and SOS-UK in 2020 in order to embed social norms of responsible drinking on university campuses, and refocus the conversation on drugs towards reducing harm, and building healthier, safer, more productive student communities. The partnership has demonstrated numerous approaches to educating students around substance use, this includes the ‘Let’s Talk About Drugs’ video campaign watched by over 3,200 students, speaking to over 650 students during welcome period and the introduction of a new Community module during student induction which was viewed by 4,800 students.
KEY IMPACT: REPRESENTATION
The Students’ Union is run by students and the higher-level decisions and actions are decided by the elected Student Council and Executive. 48 Student Ideas were submitted within the year with 1,059 votes, 12 of the ideas moved up through the system and became policy.
The 11 Part Time Officers (PTOs) volunteer their time to support the student groups that they represent. The PTOs campaigned with students on areas like sustainability, welfare, disability action and decolonisation of the curriculum.
Student Reps are your voice throughout the UWE Bristol academic governance structures raising issues and good practice on your behalf in meetings at course, department, faculty and university levels.
The Advice Centre supports students throughout the year with areas like accommodation problems, academic misconduct and other issues.
Working in partnership with UWE Bristol, The Students’ Union support the Student Consultation Panel enabling students to have their say throughout the University ensuring your voice is heard at decision time.
KEY IMPACT:
LIBERATION CAMPAIGNS
Along with the religious societies, the Green Team and Rania, VP Community and Welfare, we organised an Inter-faith café on the theme of sustainability. This brought students from religious and non-religious backgrounds together to reduce any pre-existing stigma and increase understanding between our religious and spiritually diverse student community.
As part of our Women’s History Month programme Rania (VP Community and Welfare) and Maria (Women’s Welfare Officer) worked with the Welfare Committee and Art Society to provide a Paint and Sip session to explore the effect of art in promoting mental wellbeing. Students were provided with refreshments, and easels and canvases to paint on. An external person ran a sculpting session, teaching students how to create vulva trinket dishes. Over 30 students engaged.
The Students’ Union ran a series of Disabled Student Action Breakfasts across the year, monthly at each campus. These events are open to all students identifying as disabled (including mental health difficulties, specific learning disabilities, and chronic illness), as well as allies looking for an inclusive space – we offered free food, guest speakers and will continue
CAMPUS
SITES
At Glenside we have redesigned the space layout with all new furniture in our main engagement space and newly installed student televisions to enable engagement with movie nights and game console activities. The new Meeting Room 1 is available for staff and student use and has a full IT set up. We have improved our accessibility by installing ramps in both our front and rear outside area and installing a DDA compliant door.
Students have been engaging with The Students’ Union at Glenside for weekly mature student meet ups, sustainable placement meal prep giveaways, activity packs, gaming events, and for our biggest Welcome Fair yet!
The Students’ Union at Bower ran a special event for Men’s Mental Health Awareness Week, ‘Speak for Yourself’. The event featured sets by two talented spoken word performers, Craft-D and Saili Katebe, who took part in a discussion around mental health and creativity. Students engaged in our regular event programme for gaming activity, clothes mending workshops, sustainable period product trials and lunchtime nature rambles, to name a few activities!
SPORTS CLUBS AND SOCIETIES
This year, sports club and society memberships exceeded 7,000 students across 150 student groups. Activities delivered by our National, Faith and Identity Societies engaged students from all cultures and backgrounds, encouraging involvement in events to celebrate important cultural events including Diwali and Ramadan. 28 new Societies were ratified, including the newly established Neurodiversity and British Sign Language Societies, creating inclusive communities and safe spaces.
Our sports clubs had one of their most successful seasons, finishing 38th in the BUCS League table. One of our success stories has been the achievements of the UWE Bullets American Football Team, winning their league and National Championship for the first time in UWE history. Several other teams celebrated successes, including UWE Women’s Rugby Union who were undefeated across the season, resulting in promotion to the Premier South league for the first time.
The year ended in celebrating all of the achievements of our student groups, through the annual Societies Awards and Sports Ball. Across the two evenings, over 650 students came together to celebrate, reflecting on another successful year for Team UWE!
OUR COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
Last year, we invested in refurbishment of our U Block shop, developing our range of hot food and food to go options, chilled and frozen ranges and grocery items alongside the introduction of six self-service tills earlier in the year.
Working with our partner promoters for a fourth year, our night time Welcome programme in 2021 delivered a huge number of events across two weeks, both on campus and in some of Bristol’s biggest and best night time venues. With a mix of free and paid events, there was something for everyone. This event programme continued through the year, with a number of student-led events in our Union 2 space.
We were heavily involved in the refurbishment of the Glenside space, revamping the area to add in new furniture and improve accessibility. Through the year, we also started work on a similar project at Bower, with staff from various departments coming together to look at ways to improve the space ahead of academic year 2022/23.
Bower Ashton Campus
Glenside Campus
Frenchay Campus
JOIN IN, SPEAK UP, BE MORE
JOIN IN, SPEAK UP, BE MORE
