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2023-24 Term 1 Impact Report
Introduction
There is always so much going on at the Students’ Union in term 1, but this year felt like something really special. We had an incredible Welcome Week, with sold-out events, a fun-packed Welcome Fair, and a huge range of activities to help new students make friends and settle in.
The refurbished SU Atrium looks brilliant, and with the newly launched Food Station and the new-look Curiositea adding to the atmosphere in that space, it’s great to see it busy everyday with students relaxing, socialising or grabbing something to eat and drink.
To make sure the needs of Warwick students were represented, the SU facilitated elections for Officers and Academic Reps, and got your feedback on student motions in the All Student Vote.
We supported student-led campaigns including Stand Up Against Islamophobia, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, Safer @ Warwick and Disability History Month.
The Students’ Union’s 300+ Societies and Sports Clubs put on events, balls and trips, and won multiple medals and awards, and the Advice Centre made sure you were supported with over 450 cases covering academic, money, housing and personal issues.
The SU Officers and staff are here to deliver the best experience for every student at Warwick, and we are so pleased that student satisfaction with our services is continuing to increase year on year.
Thank you for a fantastic start to the year; we hope you have an amazing Term 2!
Representation
Student Voice
- 3 Part-Time Officer positions filled, and 32 Forum members elected with a total of 1,653 individual voters and 6,054 total votes cast in the Autumn Elections.
- 350+ Course, Faculty and Department Reps trained by the Student Voice team.
- 14,054 individual votes cast by 1,630 individual voters for 10 motions in the All Student Vote.
- 4 Decolonise Advocates recruited to undertake initial research around supporting decolonial activities relating to the student experience.
Projects and Campaigns
Successfully secured 30k of funding through the Warwick Innovation Fund to support 7 student-led projects in Term 2:
- Warwick Growers
- (Free) Breakfast Club
- A2Z
- Trans Activism and Wellbeing Conference
- Warwick Sportswear for All Fund
- Disability Item Fund
- PG Connections
November was Islamophobia Awareness Month and the team provided a fun social event for students to come together, mark the month and break down barriers between the Muslim and non-Muslim community.
In November we celebrated Diwali, which featured Mehndi designs using henna and plenty of arts and crafts such as paper lanterns.
The first PG Connections Fair was held in the Atrium, for postgraduate students to find out the resources available to them. There were stallholders from different societies and departments of the University and Students’ Union, with lots of freebies and giveaways.
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign ran 3 dynamic workshop events that explored the root causes of gender-based violence and gave practical advice on how students could support peers in creating a safer campus environment.
To mark Disability History month the team hosted a Disability Fair with support services and SU disability societies in an exploration into disability histories, and a zine-making workshop to get creative.
Social Activities
Venues and Outlets
We were proud to open the all new Food Station and a refurbished Curiositea for the start of Term 1, and we were happy to keep you topped up with food and drink from these and the other SU outlets. Throughout the term you got through:
- 8,305 Burrito Bowls from The Food Station
- 17,935 hot drinks from Curiositea
- 27,096 Jungbombs across all our bars
- 888 cans of Red Bull
- 19,884 VKs
- 10,926 burgers in the Dirty Duck
...and you bought 34,000 tickets and passes for SU events!
On top of the regular SU events, we hosted over 35 student group and society events in The Copper Rooms, and 65 in The Graduate.
The Terrace Bar hosted Glow and there were two Loud and Proud events in The Copper Rooms for our LGBTQUA+ students and their allies.
Sports Clubs and Societies
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Sports
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Societies
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Events: 39
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Events: 126
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Balls: 10
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Balls: 18
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Trips and Tours: 24
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Conferences: 6
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BUCS update:
- Total Fixtures: 452
- Won: 210
- Draw: 26
- Percent Won: 46%
With their total points accumulated, Warwick were sitting in 12th place by Christmas. Some standout achievements included:
- 21 medals at the Midlands Fencing Competition
- 18 medals at the Autumn Taekwondo Championships
- 3 medals for Indoor Rowing (Gold, Silver, and Bronze)
- 1st place at the pilot Men’s Netball tournament
- 2 major finalists at the Swimming Short Course Championships
- Finalist at the Surfing Championships
- 5th place finish at the Sailing Fleets Championships
RAW also did exceptionally well at the Student Radio Awards. A relatively small student station in comparison to many others, they were nominated for 6 awards on the night and came away with 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze awards.
Support
SU Advice Centre
Total of 452 cases: 138 x Academic, 53 x Money, 178 x Housing and 83 x Personal Issues.
Some successful case outcomes from Term 1 include:
- Supporting a WMS student through disciplinary proceedings, with outcome at the panel being not proven. The student was not referred to Fitness to Practice, so they can continue training to become a doctor.
- A student’s initial appeal for review of degree classification was rejected on the grounds that mitigation could have been submitted beforehand. The student was in an abusive relationship during the time of their exams, and after the Advice Centre requested a review, the exam board accepted that late penalty could be removed.
- Student was withdrawn from University due to an admin error, causing a significant decline in mental health and getting into a large amount of debt. Advisor supported with submitting a complaint and student was offered £40k in compensation.
- Student who had been completing an UG degree since 2013 was withdrawn after little support from department. Advisor was able to prove procedural irregularity on the University’s part and get the student a final attempt.
- Accommodation removed the majority of a student’s belongings while student on holiday (still within tenancy period). Got the student £8,000 as compensation.
- The University paid for a water bill debt that a landlord had illegally put in a student’s name
Projects the Advice Centre team have been working on in Term 1 include:
- Housing Day – successful reintroduction of the in-person event which saw over 250 students attend the one-day event in collaboration with the University and external stakeholders.
- Academic Integrity Week – in partnership with the University, the Advice Centre hosted a weeklong promotion of the University’s new regulation on the use of AI. The team hosted 10 stalls throughout the University to promote the service and engage students.
Full-Time Officers
Termly Round Up
Your elected Officers were busy representing you throughout the term. Here are some of their highlights:
Anna Taylor - President
Wrote and delivered a bus survey to better represent student experience of local bus services to service providers - had over 900 responses to feedback.
Led on conversations with University colleagues about developing student consultation and collaboration in decision-making.
Represented and defended student interests in over 38 different University committee spaces.
Holly Roffe - VP Education
To increase meaningful SU engagement, and improve SU communication, I started a bi-weekly newsletter for course, department and faculty reps, that details what I’ve been up to and what opportunities are coming up for reps to get involved with.
Worked with the University’s Disability Code of Practice team to ensure student co-creation is central to the training - due to be delivered in 2024.
Alongside Vaish, I’ve collated a list of SU Education priorities, which we presented to a number of key stakeholders at the University, ensuring that a wide range of students and University staff are aware of what is on the SU’s agenda in regards to Education.
Max Pike - VP Societies
Revising and refreshing societies forum (joint highlight), seeing it transition from a primarily decision-making committee to a forum where students can actively and regularly inform and impact decisions for the betterment of societies.
Welcome Week & Societies Fair: Everything from academic inductions to working the SU stands, and of course Societies Fair. It was a great opportunity to meet so many execs and see them engaging with both new and returning students.
Societies Assembly is a termly meeting of 2 execs from every society - myself, Student Voice and Student Activities offer updates on what we’ve been up to, any relevant changes, along with a Q&A. We’ve received lots of feedback and are making plans for next term now.
Vaishnavi Ravi - VP Postgraduate
PG Fair was successful - had a good turnout.
PG assembly is now running, had the first assembly in term 1.
Cost of living workstreams have all started to meet now.
Sophie Clark - VP Democracy & Development
Liberation Conference: Planning a collaborative set of workshops, talks and discussions, where students can come together to discuss and learn about a variety of political issues affecting marginalised people.
Warwick Growers: Trying to increase small growing on campus, increase the size of our allotment space, and create a community-supported agriculture scheme.
Demilitarisation: Mapping out University relationships, speaking with relevant student groups, and liaising with SU officers and forums to divide up the workload and make a plan.
Enaya Nihal - VP Welfare & Campaigns
1,268 responses to the SU x Uni “Safer @ Warwick” survey - resulting in a safety app, a permanent welfare stand with spiking test kits and drink covers, plus sexual assault and harassment prevention training for SU security staff.
Received the full £8.2k, applied for from the Warwick Innovation Fund, to start the (Free) Breakfast Club in Terms 2 and 3!
Relaunched the Women + Non-Binary Students Self-Defence Classes, training 30 members a session on average over 7 weeks with combat sports clubs.
Emma Birch - VP Sports
Successfully delivered Sports Fair, the event saw over 7,000 attendees, clubs have seen a significant rise in memberships from last year.
Granted £4,000 from the University Innovation Fund for my “Sportswear for all fund” which I applied for to help support clubs and individuals fund kit.
Worked with Enaya and some amazing combat sports clubs to deliver self-defence classes for Women and students who identify as non-binary
Warwick SU
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