THE BIG STUDENT SURVEY
FOREWORD FROM JAMES DURCAN This year a record 3139 students filled out our Big Student Survey! Every year, YUSU uses all the feedback, scores, and comments provided, to set its organisational priorities, to present the student view to the University and to shape the work of the Officers. But this year, not only have we spent hours reading through some inspirational ideas and taking onboard the constructive comments, we’ve also put together a summary to capture and respond to the feedback you all gave! Given that so many of you took the time to have your say, it’s only right that we communicate back what we’re doing to put in place your ideas and to also clarify what we’re already up to - as it’s pretty clear from the comments that we should be shouting about the work of Sabbs and the Union far more. That means celebrating suggestions that we can implement, fronting up and being honest when something isn’t immediately possible and also dispelling some crazy myths and misconceptions. This is the first time that the sabbatical officers have published a report outlining the main feedback
from the Big Student Survey. Previously we have used the survey to support officers representative work and to review union priorities. This time we wanted to do something really open and take a different approach. We want to
“we will do our best to try to identify the things we can do that will make a real impact to students lives” acknowledge some of the things that aren’t going as well as we would like, share with you some of the successes, clarify some of the things that are inaccurate and acknowledge that we have to prioritise ourselves in a way
which responds directly to student feedback but is mindful of our limitations. We can’t satisfy the individual aspirations and needs of all 19,000 students, some of which directly compete or contradict one another. But we will do our best to try to identify the things we can do that will make a real impact to students lives. We welcome your feedback on this new approach as we hope next year will include more examples of direct, open feedback to students on what the unions doing.
REPRESENTATION This year, 60% of you told us that you feel that YUSU represents all students. In this section of the survey, we asked you about general representation, how well you know your YUSU officers and your awareness of the networks. Here were the main themes that you gave us in the open comments:
and open up our policy process further. With the addition of a new Communications Manager (a newly created role) and the implementation of a new digital system, we’re also looking at ways to make it easier for you to give us feedback more regularly throughout the year - not just via a lengthy policy process or via this survey!
“The policy process isn’t a good way of hearing “Election turnout was students’ voices!” too low.” Many of you told us that you don’t think the current policy process works very well - and we agree! The process is clunky, difficult for students to understand and unclear in what it achieves. The policy process is underreview. We’ve got an independent consultant to work with the officers, students and various reps from sport, societies, student media and the colleges to help improve the current system. We want to transform engagement with YUSU and empower a wider range of students to have their say on the direction of the Union - so that it’s not just a select few who understand and submit policy. There’s not an easy fix or simple solution, as no Union in the country has cracked how to balance engaging more students in transformative change with meeting the expectations of interested groups. But we’re excited about the proposals which come out of the review and giving you the chance to suggest how we revamp
Although 30% of the student population here at York may not seem like a lot, it actually is! For the past two years, YUSU has been in the Top 10 of all Student Unions in the country for election turnout and we’re still keen to improve quality engagement more...
“Bring back Yorfess!” We were overwhelmed with messages saying this in the survey! Sorry to disappoint, but we did NOT shut down Yorfess. Although we appreciate it is an interesting feedback platform for students to voice their thoughts on YUSU, it is not a ratified society or student group and therefore we do not monitor its activity. What these comments did tell us, however, is that you want an easy way to give us feedback directly - and we want to make this happen. That being said, we also believe that face-to-face feedback is far better than anonymised comments, as it
gives us the opportunity to respond and get back to you on the issues that matter to you. So whether its best popping into the Sabb office, dropping us an email or pinging us a message, do it! We are looking at ways to make it easier for students to ask questions of YUSU and get prompt open and honest feedback. We know this is something the Union will be working on with next years officer team.
“We want YUSU Officers to be more brave!” We got a lot of comments saying that YUSU Full Time Officers aren’t vocal enough against the university in standing up for student views. Throughout our year, we’ve learnt that there’s various ways of making things happen, and we have applied pressure in a number of different ways, some more public than others. Part of our work as reps is about judging how YUSU can be most effective in securing change and making improvements on your behalf. For example, James H and James D secured free printing of dissertations, free lab coats for biology students and free washing of uniforms for health sciences students, among other ‘Equity of Provision’ wins, by producing a quality case in a paper to the Uni coupled with some persistent pressure in a number of meetings. Similarly, having highlighted the disruption caused by the closure of Central Hall, Finn negotiated behind the scenes and secured £5000 for the affected societies. And there’s loads more, like Zac getting
subsidised swim sessions and cheap gym passes, Steph lobbying for better mental health provision, working with the Uni to develop and deliver a new online mental health hub, James Hare securing lecture capture. Yet, we’ve also seen that some of our best campaigns this year, such as #BUStice, work incredibly well as they apply pressure in different ways and help to bring students with us. They allow students to share their experiences and be part of the campaign. Within 24hrs, Steph had secured over 1,000 signatures to her petition, which influenced local election manifestos and has made public transport a priority for the city council. Being outspoken on #RentRant has also had a massive benefit, as students sharing their pictures of mouldy rooms and broken buildings have helped to highlight some of the major problems with accommodation standards and prices. We’ve backed up this public pressure throughout the year by raising the issue of rents in a number of committees and to individuals, helping us to secure
meetings about proposing ways forward through improvements to accommodation transparency, quality and affordability. To be more political, and to secure a better position for students, we need you to continue to support, lead and promote campaigns, so keep engaging and we’ll continue to be vocal, both on social media and in every meeting that we represent the student body in.
“I’ve not seen the Sabbatical Officers since Freshers’ Week!” Many of you noted that you were introduced to the Sabbatical Officers in Freshers’ Week - but haven’t seen us face-to-face since. Whilst we’ve all made an effort to visit student groups, whether that be Zac’s 50 in 50, Finn trying out Pole and other societies, James D meeting with college committees, Steph joining networks or James H getting down to departments - it’s never going to be easy bumping into all of our 18.000+ students! But we do
recognise the importance of being as visible as we can, ultimately we are clear we are here to represent you so it’s important we talk to as many students as possible. If you’ve not already noticed, we’ve launched Sabbs in Short which has gone down really well from the feedback we’ve got. We each take in turn to write about big issues, upcoming events or some of our major accomplishments, and you can also find weekly updates of what we’ve been up to on our Sabb FB profiles. We’re always happy to answer any questions if students get in touch with us, whether that’s by dropping us a message about an idea, a question or a suggestion, and our office in YUSU is always open to anyone - so do pop in! This term, we also had a really successful AGM, where we reported back on what the Union had been up to, as well as taking questions from the audience on our main priorities. This year, we’ve been keen to push for greater Uni transparency, so we revamped our AGM and invited Estates to speak about some major developments on campus. This went down well, so we’ll be
recommending that the incoming officer team do something similar and look at providing students with more of a chance to interact, whether that be through termly question times or a form of town hall debates, where students can discuss big issues.
“YUSU is run by an unelected CEO/staff members!” Students’ Unions across the country have criticisms thrown at them that they’re run by CEOs or staff - but this simply isn’t the case. As a charity, YUSU’s Board of Trustees - which oversees governance, our finances and the Unions’ overall direction - is made up of the five elected Sabbatical Officers, three elected student trustees and three external trustees who provide specialist professional expertise in a range of areas from digital to HR and risk management. The YUSU President is Chair of the Board of Trustees, and the CEO reports to the board. It’s the board, not the CEO, that sets the ‘strategic direction’ of the Union and the majority of trustees are elected from (and by) the student body! Unsurprisingly, organisations of this size that provide so many services to students also do need staff and we really value the work of our staff who go above and beyond supporting student activity. Having staff members allows the organisation to have long term objectives and goals and gives our charity activities continuity: something that is really important as our officer team almost completely changes every year. For example, Roses 2019 is the spectacle it is today after staff have worked with York Sport Presidents to generate ideas year on year, making improvements every time we host.
A huge amount of time went into securing sponsorship, planning fixtures, developing marketing and communications around the event, working with our charity partners and local community groups, planning logistics and health and safety, recruiting volunteers, and when everyone had gone home for the day, collecting litter at the end! Next time round the staff will sit down with the Sports Committee and Sabbs and plan out an even better weekend. Some of our key funders and regulators expect the union to have a small core of staff to provide continuity and to support operations much as local authorities have politicians and civil servants or other charities have staff and trustees. But unlike the staff, in our elected capacity as Sabbatical Officers, we’re the ones who have responsibility for setting the political agenda for the organisation - and it’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly.
“Join/leave the NUS” Some comments said we should leave the NUS and others said we should remain a part. The NUS is the national voice of students and represents the 7 million students studying in the UK by lobbying government, helping groups to campaign and by providing representation for the student voice at a national level. What is obvious is that generally the student body does not know enough about what our affiliation to NUS looks like. At this moment in time, we ARE affiliated with the NUS which means that we pay £46,581 per year for certain activities: Being part of a national movement which campaigns and advocates for students in Higher and Further
Education. This includes sending to delegates to conferences to vote on NUS policy, elect NUS Officers and be part of the decision making process. Having access to training, guidance, resources and tool Being able to sell NUS extra cards, which means discount for students Being part of a purchasing consortium In Week 8 of this term we are holding a referendum (which happens every 3 years) asking students ‘Should YUSU remain affiliated to the NUS or leave the NUS?’ Each student is allowed one vote. The outcome will be decided by a simple majority. To reach the quoracy threshold, 5% of YUSU members must vote. If under 5% of members vote then no change will be made. If students vote for YUSU to leave the NUS, we will remain affiliated for one year before leaving.
VALUES In this section, we asked you how far you agreed that YUSU acts within its core values:
74% 74% of you said we’re for, with and by students
51% 51% of you said we are a brave organisation.
71% 71% of you believe we are inclusive.
In the open comments, the main bits of feedback you gave were:
“This survey is too. damn. long!” You’re right, and you don’t have to read through every response! The Big Student Survey began in 2015 (then called ‘The Student Life Survey’) when YUSU launched its 2015-2020 strategy. This annual survey was filled with questions that would help us to understand how well we were achieving our strategy and what areas needed improvement. Over the years, however, its gradually been added to and become what it is today a mega long survey that’s takes around half an hour to complete in total. It’s also worth noting that the data collected from the survey isn’t just used by us to improve our services. It is often seen by many other departments of the
university to help inform them on how to improve student life, and is presented by the YUSU President at a number of committees to highlight the issues that matter to the student body. Our new strategy begins in 2020 and as part of this we are developing a more efficient way of capturing this data - so watch this space!
“You did/didn’t take a side during the strikes that’s not brave’” We received many comments from students who are, understandably, frustrated that they are still feeling the effects of last year’s UCU lecturer strikes in their degree. Some people believe we sided with the lecturers and disagreed with this, others think that we were
against the strikes and disagreed with this. In summary, it’s obvious that how we communicated our position confused many of you! At YUSU, we didn’t take a side during the strikes, due to the wide range of student views on the matter. Whilst we respected the right of lecturers to strike and completely understood their motives for doing so (we even took tea and coffee to the staff who were striking in some pretty fierce weather), the impact on students was obviously a major concern to us as a students’ union. We also released video blogs and information updates from both sides to try to keep students informed of what wa going on. Moving forwards, we need to not only communicate better our position but also seek to engage UCU in dialogue prior to strike action to ensure that the impact on students is minimised as far as possible.
COMMUNICATIONS Something that was very obvious from the data and comments in The Big Student Survey was that students are dissatisfied with the YUSU communications that they receive, with only 24% of you agreeing that our communications with you are ‘good to very good’. This includes anything from our customer service, newsletters, social media and posters.
“We’re not happy with the communications we receive from YUSU” One of the most common areas of concern was our emails:
Emails It seems you are split over whether you think we send you too many or too few emails. Some of you love our ‘Sabbs in Short’ newsletters,
whilst other think they’re too long. This is the same with our ‘Weekly Info’ newsletter. However, regardless of your opinion on the frequency and length of our emails, one recurring theme that kept coming up was that you want to receive information that is relevant to you and your interests. We are in the process of moving across to a new digital platform, which with it will bring many opportunities to tailor our communications to your interests and could, in the long term, allow you to set preferences. On top of this, we have invested in our staffing to ensure we take full advantage of the possibilities this platform brings - the addition of a Communications Manager. Alongside the implementation of this new platform, their aim will be to review and improve all communications to students, including ensuring our
communications are accessible, relevant and exciting. This improvement is going to take some time. Having a whole organisation migrate over to a new digital system can be complicated and is being done carefully to ensure students experience limited repercussions.
STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES 54% of you believe YUSU’s Student Opportunities have positively contributed to your personal development. This part of the survey covered the opportunities we provide such as societies, sports clubs, RAG and volunteering and Give it a Go. You said:
“I’m too busy to get involved” While we can’t force student groups to adjust their timetables, Give It A Go is a great example of accessible, low-commitment student activity via one-off, entry level events. Satisfaction with the scheme actually went up this year: we’ll do our best to keep pushing it to the wider student body and get a wider variety of ‘GIAG’ activities on offer!
“Make activities cheaper!” We’re trying to! This year, Finn (Activities Officer) launched Activities Access Grants: a manifesto pledge aimed at making student group membership free (up to £20) for those who need the financial support. We started with enough to provide this for first year undergraduates from lowincome backgrounds; we’re writing funding bids to expand the offering to disabled students, among other groups who would benefit.
‘Not all societies are treated equally” We get that some societies have more resources than others mainly through membership revenue. That’s why, this year, we sought to level the playing field by piloting the STAR Counter:
a brand new recognition scheme that measures all 200+ societies’ successes on inclusivity, development, engagement and outreach. The metrics are the same for every society and we’re recognising some great achievements from societies of all sizes at this year’s STARs (societies awards)!
COMMUNITY 67% of you feel you are part of a community at York. In this section of the survey, we asked you about accommodation, pride in the university and your wellbeing. You said:
“Campus accommodation is too expensive!” Damn right it is! This year cutting costs has been a priority for the Sabb team, whether that be hidden course costs such as dissertation printing (which is now free!), scrapping the college fee and perhaps most importantly, having a #RentRant about accomodation. Throughout the year, we’ve banged on at the Uni about the need for more affordable accomodation, in meetings, committees and on social media. But we’ve not only stressed that the institution is forcing its students into rents
they simply can’t afford, we’ve also presented the case for a more greater transparency about accommodation as well as the need for improvements in quality. We’ve now put forward a proposal to the Uni calling for significant improvements in transparency, quality and affordability, which include: adopting an affordability policy; renaming room bands; introducing a budgeting calculator; undertaking better audits and checks on the quality of rooms, improving maintenance of rooms; promoting where to report issues; and a proposal to make the allocation of rooms, as well as rents, fairer. We have said that there needs to be a proportion of rooms available for under £100 per week for those who have the least available finances as well as reductions in other more expensive accomodation.
“Nisa is expensive!” This is not a YUSU-run shop. Nisa is in a contract with the University’s commercial services - therefore we don’t have any control over their pricing. It was sad having to close the YUSU shop as it provided better value for money for students, but it was suffering declining sales year on year so it felt like the right decision for students and YUSU. We understand that this means you now have a more limited choice of shops to get food and drink from on campus. However within our venues we have been sure to expand our food ranges and ensure we are catering for as many dietary options as possible - with student friendly prices. You can also use your NUS student discount in nearby Co-ops for supermarket related needs.
YUSU DEVELOPS As the newest strand of YUSU, this year we included questions in the Big Student Survey to gauge what sort of training and employability opportunities you’d like us to provide. You said you’d like:
‘CV workshops and employer networking events’ We’d be happy to run these but the University’s Careers and Placements department already do! Head over to their website for more information on how they can help.
‘Coaching/refereeing training’ This is a great idea and one we’d love to put on for you. Following the success of our British Sign Language courses, we’ll look into providing training on this.
‘Free language learning opportunities’
‘A part-time/summer jobs portal’
As mentioned above, our BSL courses were a huge success - but not free. The university offers parttime ‘Languages for All’ courses at a fee and we would not be able to replicate these for free without incurring the same tuition costs.
Again - an awesome idea we are looking into! In the meantime, check out Careers and Placements’ Careers Gateway for opportunities.
If you have any other ideas of the kinds of training you’d like to see us provide you, please email c.briggs@yusu.org
COMMERCIAL SERVICES 92% of you are satisfied with the YUSU venues on campus. In this section, we asked about The Courtyard, The Glasshouse, The Vanbrugh Arms, D-Bar, The Lounge and The Kitchen @ Alcuin You told us:
“Why did you change ‘V-Bar’ to ‘The Vanbrugh Arms’?” Short answer - we didn’t. This was a name change that was brought in by Vanbrugh College Committee before we took over this venue. There are no plans to change the name anytime soon, but our commercial services are
working hard to continue to make the Vanbrugh Arms more of a pub destination including creating a new entrance and hanging a traditional sign. The Vanbrugh pub quiz and live mic nights are now bigger than ever, and we’ve really enjoyed working with the committee on this, as well as on the new V overlooking Greg’s Place.
The University of York Students' Union yusu.org