STUDENT COUNCIL WRITTEN FEEDBACK all councillors northumbria students union

STUDENT COUNCIL WRITTEN FEEDBACK

14TH November 2011
5pm
Stage 2

All students welcome to attend Student Council





Contents

Jo Rhodes (President) 4
Kate Bradshaw (Vice President Academic Affairs) 5
Holly Seabrook (Vice President Communications & Involvement) 7
Hannah Horne (Vice President Welfare & Equality) 9
Andrew Cheung (Vice President Activities & Development) 11
Alex Lenaghan (Lay Student Councillor) 12
Ashleigh Mitchell (Lay Student Councillor) 13
Mike Squair (Lay Student Councillor) 14
Nicole Pegg (Lay Student Councillor) 15
Robert Sharp (Lay Student Councillor) 16
Robert Gowling (Arts & Social Science School Rep) 17
Philippa Summers (Built & Natural Environment School Rep) 18
Gregory Newton (Computing, Engineering & Information Sciences School Rep) 19
Lauren Teague (Design School Rep) 20
Paul Heslop (Health, Community & Educational Studies School Rep) 21
Yunus Akram (Law School Rep) 22
Tanisa James (Life Sciences School Rep) 23
William Downey (Newcastle Business School Rep) 24
Conall Mallory (Postgraduate Research Rep) 25
Bryce Moore (Black & Minority Ethnic Students’ Rep) 26
Amy Irving (Students with Caring Responsibilities Rep) 27
Matt Dinnery (Disabled Students’ Rep) 28
Sarah Urwin (European Union Students’ Rep) 29
Gaurav Jain (International Students’ Rep) 30
Manish Abraham (International Students’ Rep) 31
Jacob Turner (Mature Students’ Rep) 33
Rachel Smith (Women Students’ Rep) 34
Sophie Chilton (Coach Lane Students’ Rep) 35
Sam Booth-Malone (Community Rep) 36
Amy Terry (Environmental Rep) 37
Tilly Smith (Halls of Residence Rep)* 38
































*- Co-opted rep for the start of student council, this position is now filled by Caroline Craig.


Jo Rhodes – President
Hidden Fees
I’ve had various Hidden Fees meetings this week with people within the University and some good news!! We have had he £900pa additional fee that law students pay every year removed for students starting in 2012 as well as a £250 fee for resubmitting a project/dissertation. Also, some postgraduate students were paying a 30% premium that postgraduates have had to pay if they have already received an award of the same level to the one they are studying towards.
The University are currently working out the exact costs to removing Hidden Fees and are waiting for schools to get back to them with more specific figures. It will then be decided what will be removed – so hopefully more good news soon!
Additionally, I have supplied some information to the Money section of the Guardian, which should help us with the profile of the campaign if it is published.
NUS Zone Conference
The NUS Zone Conferences were held at the end of October and I attended the Union Development/Student Development zones. They were really useful and have given me some good ideas.
Committees
I am currently working on gaining a place on the Performance and Risk Committee to enable better student representation. I am currently attending as an observer and contributing to the discussion in order to have student views heard. I’ve also been to Academic Board which was the quickest it’s ever been in under half an hour!
Coca Cola Torch Tour
As I hope you saw, the Coca Cola Torch Tour came to campus and was so successful it was broadcast on BBC Look North
NUS Conference
Nominations for NUS Conference have opened and I’ve been working hard to raise the profile of it and generate interest by doing talks about it and encouraging people to run. Hopefully it will be a very successful election!
AGM
We had our AGM this month which I thought went very smoothly and was chaired rather excellently – big well done to Rob!
This is a flavour of what I’ve been doing but there are so many more things that I could talk about but I wanted to keep it short, sweet and readable!

Student Council Feedback (14/11/2011)-Kate Bradshaw Vice President- Academic Affairs.
Since the last council I have...
• Attended the NUS Higher Education Zone conference. This was a two day event in which I helped to shape the policy decisions that may come up on NUS conference 2012 as well as attended sessions that helped share academic best practice. I found two sessions in particular very helpful which discussed how postgraduates could be affected by the white paper and also how international students could get a stronger grip on what constitutes academic misconduct. I know that both of these sessions will help me with two of main priorities for the year so it was time well spent. I also discussed policy whilst at the zone and put some ideas forward including; the implications of group work, how to make assessment regulations more international student friendly and also the impact of being able to choose your own types assessment. At zone, I also voted in the elections for the zone committee who will monitor and scrutinise the Vice President- Higher Education (Usman Ali). I am confident in the choices I made and some of those people now sit on the committee and I think they will do a great job ensuring that your voices are being carried nationally.
• I also spent a large part of my time planning for Course Rep Conference 2011. I had three plenary sessions and workshop to plan so it took a long time put everything together and thinks of the different things I might want to speak about.
• This leads on nicely to...COURSE REP CONFERENCE 2011- WHICH WAS AMAZING!!! I could not have been happier with the way the day went. We had a total of 280 sign ups, which is much more than ever before and we had a total of 180 people come along on the day. Everybody seemed to really enjoy themselves were constantly tweeting about how it was going. Not only that, but Usman Ali (mentioned above) came along to close the day and he gave one of the most inspiration speeches I have ever heard. Everyone was really touched by it and left really inspired.
• We also launched the education policy during Course Rep Conference and I think this was definitely the best time to do it. Now I know that the course reps can take away that policy and use it to ensure positive changes occur within their school. From the questions they were asking that day, I couldn’t be more proud and more sure of the fact that this policy will fly from strength to strength in their hands.
• On top of Course Rep Conference, there is also a new online module on BlackBoard for course reps. This site includes discussion boards to see if others are having the same issues, documents to advise on how to get the most out the role and how to submit agenda items and committee papers and most importantly a brand new online training package. The online training is the very basic level of training that every rep is expected to complete. Interestingly, those who attended course rep conference aren’t always the same people who are doing the online training which just goes to show how people respond to different training methods. BECAUSE OF THIS....WE HAVE NOW, IN A MATTER OF A COUPLE OF WEEKS, TRAINED MORE COURSE REPS THAN EVER BEFORE, EVEN IN THE SPACE OF A YEAR!!! As you can well imagine, this is something which has made me immensely happy and proud.
• I also took part in our second GOAL day alongside the sabbs and lays and some other kind volunteers. It was a great day, I spent the whole time at Coach Lane, asking questions such as “do you use the Coach Lane free bus?”, “Do you live in private rented accommodation?” And “Do you know who your sabbatical officers are?” I also had a good chat with some students about things unrelated to the above but were still affecting their student experience and I will follow those issues up over the coming weeks.
As always, if you would like to ask me any questions or would like advise or to help on anything academic or Coach Lane related, please feel free to come and see me!
Kate xxx


My Student Council feedback!!!
This Month I have been working on a variety of crazy things, from the usual nu:life to nu:tv, to our publicity for the referendum which you passed the motion for and working on our NSS projects. I have highlighted some of the best things, and as always, if you want more info, ask away 
nu:life
Issue 20! I can’t believe were in the 20’s but we are, and issue 20 is out on the tables looking for a good home now! If you’ve picked it up you will have noticed it’s a whole 8 pages larger, and you really can see the difference. Full of more students’ articles than ever before it really is amazing! And the writers are getting better and better!
Believe it or not, issue 21 has gone to print! So that one is on its way to you, and I’m in the process of pulling together issue 22, it’s all a bit mental  nu:life is flying out at a dramatic rate, but having a monthly magazine is amazing, so I hope your happy with it.

NU:TV
The Committee have been hard at work, developing new marketing strategies, fundraising events, fixing all the equipment, and briefing all the media teams! There are four Programmes in production as we speak, a sports show, a news show, a environment movie and a drink awareness video, so subscribe to the NU:TV YouTube Page and Like the Facebook Fan page to get more updates!

Referendum
Last Student Council, we decided to run a referendum on “Are Students Consumers” so I have been hard at work sorting that all out. We know have an awesome concept which is – the big question – and the artwork is tres-amaze! We have t-shirts ordered alongside flyers posters and a report to explain to students what it is they are voting on. I have also began putting in motion a Mega GOAL Day on the 1st of December which I would love you all to come along to, which will be a day spent dedicated to getting people to vote in the referendum! You will get a t shirt, a breakfast sandwich and a mega hug from me if you come along. Let me know asap so I can order your breakfast.

NSS Campaign
Over the summer I ran a concept competition for all students to submit their ideas for next year’s National Student Survey campaign. I have been working in collaboration with the Dean of Arts & Social Sciences and our Marketing Manager to come up with the best concept, design and budgets. It’s all looking amazing and as soon as I have a confirmed artwork I will bring it along for you to have a look at. I really think it will be the most effective and student engaged yet!

Zone Conference
I also spent three days along with your VP Activities and Development and Your President in Liverpool at NUS’ Zone Conference. It was useful in many ways, particularly with making me think about the dangers of radio, as well as the plus points of it. I got to discuss with people options and made contacts to help us in the future of media. It is also worth mentioning that al of the elected Zone Committee are from Northern Institutions which means we should be well represented (fingers crossed).

Too the future......
Over the next week I will Spending most of my time helping Andy with RAG If he will let me, counting all the money RAG will make and getting hypnotised by the awesomeness of 50 pence pieces then putting it all into issue 22!
Remember to look out for the SABB Vlogs- there on the plasmas as well as our Facebook and YouTube and there updated every fortnight.
Oh! And Add me on Twitter – NSUCommsOfficer
That’s all from me for this council. Love ya love Holly xxxxxxxx

Hannah Horne
Vice-President Welfare & Equality
Student Council Feedback – 02/11/2011

Since I wrote my last written feedback I have:
- Fed into and took part in two GOAL days. In which, as a group, we listened to well over 300 students. These goal days included questions relating to housing preferences and whether student’s properties had To-Let signs displayed upon them. I aim to include the conclusions from the responses into the papers I am writing and submitting to Newcastle City Council.
- Attended two drop-in sessions at the Council. These were on the topics of HMO licensing and the regulation of To-Let signs. I found these sessions very helpful in terms of information gathering for the responses I am writing to these consultations.
- Had meetings with security and the police to discuss and develop actions to tackle student safety issues in the city.
- Had our first trustee board meeting of the year.
- Been involved in the periodic review of sociology, criminology and politics. This included chairing a student written submission meeting where the aim was to gather student feedback on a wide range of things on their course. Subsequently, I have read through documentation provided by the discipline and carried out my preliminary analysis of areas that could be improved and areas of best practice.
- Attended an International Community Day whereby me and the other Sabbs got a chance to talk to international students and tell them how they can get involved in the Union.
- Enjoyed the SU Celebration Party for winning Students’ Union of the Year! It was great to reward all our key volunteers, past and present.
- Had our monthly catch-up with the Vice-Chancellor.
- Had a few meetings organising the university sub-committee Student Support which I am going to chair over the next year. I also had the first of these meetings which went very well and we set the scope of the sub-committee over the coming year.
- Interviewed some more students wishing to be Halls Reps. We now have 5 reps recruited.
- Met with the welfare officer at Newcastle University regarding our work together for the ‘Not if, but when...’ campaign taking place in December.
- Shortlisted for our new Advice & Representation Manager.
- Prepared and delivered a session at course rep conference entitled ‘Understanding and Valuing Equality and Diversity’. I was really pleased with how this went as it provoked healthy discussion and the course reps this year seem really engaged.
- Had the first Equality and Diversity Working Group meeting of the year. In this group all the equality reps will be able to work as a team on projects and will have a say in policies and plans relating to E&D issues.
- Attended two ward committee meetings. The councillors at these meetings seem very appreciative of student presence at these meetings.
- Met with (nearly) all of the Equality Reps in order to get started on the projects, events and campaigns that they wish to deliver in their work this year. This was really promising as many of them have some great ideas that will really make a difference to the students they are representing.
- Took students on a ‘grizzly’ ghost walk!
- Had the first official Community Rep Forum. This was really productive and the reps have started to plan the work they wish to achieve not only this term, but in the second term too. It’s good to see them thinking so far in advance as more planning means better outcomes!
- Delivered Halls Rep training. This also went well – it was great to see every one of them wishing to sit on student council! We also elected 3 of them to sit on the Environment Committee.
- Done further planning around Safe in the City Week – its shaping up to be good!

Andrew Cheung – Vice President Activities and Development
Since last council I have been very busy preparing for RAG Week amongst other things
• I took 35 volunteers to Edinburgh for another RAG Raid, and we raised over £2603.66, it was a great success with the Top collector for Northumbria RAG being myself. We were just beaten by Durham University Charity Kommittee (DUCK) by £9 per person.
• We have had our RAG applications closed, and have 19 teams, with 310 volunteers signed up.
• I have delivered a session on Employability at the Course Rep Conference, the workshop was popular with 50 people attending, and everyone left with lots to think about. The workshop was about the importance of employability skills, and that a degree is not enough. How the students can gain these skills, and what they should be considering.
• I attended NUS Union Development and Student Development Zone Conference, please see feedback attached.
• I’ve gone out on GOAL day and spoke to students about current issues, and got their opinions on the matter, it was interesting to see how others thought.
• I have trained my Team Leaders for RAG, I’ve restructured the training, into one that is more focused on leadership development, and more informative, rather than active.
• I have met with 3 students, all wanting to run their own events to do with fundraising, and have given them tips and ideas on what to do, and will hopefully have them as a RAG One Off Event.
• I have met with the Islamic Society, and discussed how we could better support them as a society.
• I have been working with Andrew Teasdale, setting up more societies; we have a back log of around 30 at the moment.
• Volunteer Northumbria now has 6 projects, one is the Northumbria Says It Gets Better campaign which is about anti-bullying, and the main week will run next week.
• I have taken part in the group discussion alongside the other Sabbatical Officers for the interview of a new director of membership services and HR.
• By the time student council takes place, I will have delivered the RAG Team training.
• The balloon launch will have taken place – ask me how many did we launch!
• We will have collected for the Royal British Legion and Becoming Visible.

Alex Lenaghan – Student Feedback

Elections Committee -

As you guys know myself and another lad were elected to the elections committee and since then we have had a meeting regarding certain rules and our roles during the elections ensuring we know what to do if certain actions occur.

GOAL Day -

The other Lay Councillors and Sabbatical Officers carried out the GOAL Day and asked students whether they knew who the Sabbaticals were and what they do, and also where abouts they lived and times they would be interested in a Student Radio station. However I could not attend due to timetable clashes, I have been asking people the same questions in my own time.

That’s all I’ve done really as nothing much has occurred since then!

Thanks for reading.

Hey Guys!
Since we last met, the Lay Team (Rob, Mike, Alex, Nicole and myself) had our first catch up with Holly since term started. We had a discussion about different things that had caught our attention and what we might do about them. We have now decided to hold weekly meetings to organise ourselves and update each other on what we are doing/wanting to do. Watch this space to find out what we decide in our next couple of meetings!
I also took part in a RAG day in Newcastle for the Ghanaian Children’s Trust (before last council after feedback deadline) and had a sneak preview of the new program created by Matt Dinnery for signing buckets in and out and the counting process (Well Done Matt!) After the Lay Meeting with Holly I attended some RAG training, involving learning about how to sign buckets in and out and the counting process.
Other than that I haven’t been too busy unless you count the hectic course schedule and various placements to keep on top of whilst also running a Rainbow Unit. Exhausting stuff! Hopefully next month I will have more to tell you about!
Love Ashleigh! Xx
Lay Student Councillor

Since the last council meeting I have participated in a few different activities around the union. I've been involved with the 'it gets better' anti-bullying campaign with Volunteer Northumbria. I have done this both as a member of the LGBT Society as well as my capacity as a councillor. Giving them feedback and information on the set up and how to of the event. Its looking awesome and the VN team have done an awesome job! Can't wait to see it all come to fruition during anti-bullying week itself (14-28th November)

In addition to this I've participated in another Go Out And Listen (GOAL) day. It was great being able to go to Coach Lane Campus and get feedback on some on different events coming up.

We also had our first Lay catch up session with our mentor Holly where we've got some good goals that each of us want to aim to do with our time in council. Some awesome ideas were going around about some ideas which is great!

And finally I attended the Course Rep Conference where I was in a talk about campaigning and also about communication techniques. Both of which were interesting and constructive for my role as course rep.

Mike Squair
Lay Student Councillor

Nicole Pegg- Lay Student Councillor
Hi fellow councillors! Since the last council was held I have:-
GOAL Day
Participated in my second GOAL day canvassing opinions from a number of students about topics such as the Coach Lane bus and if the university was to have a radio station what time would students be most likely to listen to it. At the end of the day we had a discussion of the responses that we had received.

Lay Catch Up/Meeting
I attended a meeting with the other Lay Student Councillors and Holly Seabrook (Vice President Communications and Involvement) to discuss how we can utilise our roles effectively. As a result we have decided on having weekly meetings to work out how we are going to spend our termly budget and what campaigns we want to run as well as any motions we might want to work on.

Rag Database and Counting Training
I attended a session enabling me to be fully competent using the new RAG database for signing in and out buckets and if applicable how to count all the money raised during RAG week in the most efficient way possible.

Whilst also starting to become very busy with university work.

Nicole  xxx

This month, I've attended RAG cash handling/counting training, which will allow me to work alongside Lays, Sabbs and Committee members to ensure the smooth running of RAG week!
I attended a catch-up meeting with VP Comms and discussed the further roles of Lays.
I also met with the other lays and had a campaign discussion.
We had a goal day and I collected over 20 responses to this effect.
I also secured a deal for Northumbria RAG volunteers.
Robert Sharp
Lay Student Councillor

Rob Gowling – Chair of Student Council – SASS Rep

During the last council I delivered a speech giving reason why I wanted to be your chair and as a result I was elected as your chair of student council! So a big thanks to my fellow councillors for that and also a promise that I will give this role my all and you shall not be disappointed.

After being elected as a chair I was thrown in at the deep end and chaired the AGM during Course Rep Conference, which was very exciting. This was a big deal for me and I was nervous at first, but everything went well and I was helped along by our president Jo Rhodes, who did a great job at the meeting.

I participated in the GOAL day on the 1st November, this gave me an insight into what students know about our current Sabb team, it led me to think that they need better promotion across campus and particularly at CLC. I learned that private rented homes are starting to put up to let signs more and more around this time of year.

From the emails I have already received it seems that the attendance at council shall be high again! I look forward to chairing my first student council and I’m sure it will be exciting!

Pippa Summers- Student Councillor
Student Council Feedback 03/11/2011
Hello,
During my short time of being on the student council I have been involved in:
1. Welcome Week- Helped on the Representation stalls.
2. Made an information power-point slide of my role and contact details which is on the school office screen in the HUB.
3. Introduced myself to various staff and students in the Built and Natural environment school as the school rep.
4. School Representative training.
5. Student Council training.
6. School Rep Forum-brought up issues within the school.
7. Course Rep Conference
8. Annual General Meeting
9. Emails to a student advising on where to get help, advice and guidance on international and finance issues.
10. Talked with course reps from over the school about the issues they have come across and nothing as yet came as a school wide issue.
Once there is another Built and Natural Environment School Rep there will be more information and meetings attended on the schools behalf.

Pippa Summers- Built and Natural Environment school representative.

Gregory Newton – School rep (CEIS)
Written Council Feedback

Hello Everyone,
Well Uni life is fully back up and running now after a long and eventful summer. I was appointed as one of three School Reps for the School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences before returning in September. Already, I have had a number of memorable and first time experiences related to my role. I attended a day long course ran by Kate Bradshaw and Helen Whitfield, which basically taught me everything I need to know (and what to be prepared for) in the coming year in the role of School Rep. I was then elected to sit on Student Council. I attended the Course Rep Conference in order to meet as many course reps as possible before they properly started their role. I was able to discuss my role in student council with them, and encourage them to get involved by suggesting anything to me (or fellow councillors) to bring up or even write a motion on. I’m looking forward to getting plenty of feedback from my Schools Course Reps, and writing motions on that to bring up at Council.

Lauren Teague
School of Design Representative
October-November 2011
BIG News for the month: The second Design School representative role has been assigned! I have, therefore, been able to set the ball rolling, discussing some of the key aims that I, personally, would like to see achieved for Design students, this academic year.

SSLEC: At this SSLEC meeting this month, I was able to speak up my opinions on the new HEAR suggestions, making sure that students from the Design School, as well as volunteers within the Union were represented as fully as possible if/when this form takes effect. I have also begun talks with Jane Shaw (library) with the intention of setting up library sessions specifically for design students, which will allow a more focussed and subject specific guide to the library’s facilities that the “open to all” library inductions which take place at the start of year one. I have also had various meetings with Christine Saunders regarding the new format for Course Rep Forums, as well as setting up timetabling for drop-in sessions. These will take place as soon as we know who all of the Course Reps are!

School Rep Forum: During the School Rep Forum, I was able to contribute to a variety or points raised, as well as updating Kate Bradshaw with the progress of “events in the Design School”. It has also come to my attention that a lot of problems caused within the school (based on NNS results) are the result of a lack of knowledge within the student base. For example, knowing that there are extra computers which feature CS5 PhotoShop programmes in Pandon Building, which is open 24/7! Again, as soon as Course Reps are known, we will begin procedures to increase communications in the School. Kate also informed me that CS5 programmes are now available on library computers. This is the best piece of
news ever!!!

Course Rep Conference: The Course Rep conference was a great success, both as an organisation in general and from the perspective that Ollie Brunt and I were able to meet some of our fellow Representatives (as well as the first time we met each other)! I was really pleased to be able to help out.

RAG:Raid Edinburgh: Although not strictly an Representative based achievement, attending the NSU RAG:Raid in Edinburgh, it has become a personal ambition of mine to get more Design students involved with NSU activities. I am currently awaiting some statistics to back up my theory that the Design School has a low rate of attendance for “extra curricular” events. I believe it to be important for students (particularly with the intensity of a Design course - although I am sure this will be argued about by the students of more academically associated courses!) to take breaks from study and participate in CV enhancing opportunities. I definitely believe that the main cause of this is lack of knowledge, as the City Campus East building is not often accessed by walking past NSU.

Aims for the coming month: Having spoken to two eager course reps at the conference, it has come to our attention that the increasing number of international students in the Design School are often overwhelmed by new experiences of moving to a new university in a new city - a new country! It is, therefore, our aim to consider ideas (such as a buddy system”) which will contribute to a positive for ALL students when moving to a new city. We hope that this will also improve cross-course interaction, as well as home/international student relationships. We aim to have SOMETHING in place in preparation for the new student intake in January.


Student Council Feedback
Since the last Council meeting I have contacted all of the Course Reps in the School of Health, Community and Education. I asked them to contact their students and to report back with any issues and concerns. Through all of this contact, I have identified the key, common issues which the students have raised. I will meet with the School Rep team and we will discuss how we will tackle these concerns.
I have got in touch with the other School Reps from my school and suggested that we divide up the meetings held in Coach Lane Campus as well as the City Campus in order to lighten our own workload. Hopefully this will have a positive effect on our team by making sure that at least one of us attends each meeting to deliver the thought and feeling of the students.
Paul Heslop – HCES


Yunus “DMDD” Akram – School Rep. for Law
Having been appointed one of two School Reps, for the School of Law at Northumbria University, I have been very busy. I attended the School Rep. training (5/10/11) which was fantastic and I enjoyed meeting new friends and learning more about my role. The next day (6/10/11) I went to the first Student Learning and Experience Committee for the law school and although slightly bewildered at the start I slowly got to grips with what was being discussed and hope to play an even bigger role in these meetings in future. Having been elected at School Rep. training, I attended Student Council training (9/10/11), and went to my first Student Council meeting (20/10/11). I joined the eLP User Group meeting (12/10/11) which was very informative. At the first School Rep. Forum of the year (19/10/11), it was agreed that I would bake cakes for the next forum and was put onto the Election Committee, to which I had training for (21/10/11). I really loved helping out at the Course Rep. Conference this year (26/10/11) and hope to have more opportunities to help the NSU this year.
I’ve also been busy in the Law School, publicising my role, and meeting my fellow students & the staff. I’ve recently just won the 1st year Mooting competition and regularly attend the Debate Society. I also sit as the Treasurer of the Human Rights Society, which is also good for meeting law students, and have attended all the guest lectures at the Law School (regularly making sure my key staff contacts are aware of myself and my role).
I’m starting to get a real “feel” for my role within the NSU and in the Law School, though this has been down to excellent training and support I have received from within the NSU, and I hope to go from strength to strength in the upcoming year, proving myself as a valuable member of the NSU & repaying the faith shown in me.

Tanis James- School Rep for Life sciences
Student Council feedback
Training
I have attended school rep training at Kirkley hall in Ponteland. It was a very enjoyable day as I got to interact with all the other school reps. I also had the opportunity to begin discussions with the other life science reps regarding issues within our school. I have also attended student council training.
Course rep conference
Course rep conference was a great experience. I particularly enjoyed the speech by Usman Ali vice president of higher education as it was very inspiring. He demonstrated how valuable the skills gained as a course rep and as a school rep can be for future success. It was also lovely to meet the course reps within my school. At course rep conference I also learnt about the 2011-2014 Northumbria students’ union education policy. I am looking forward to helping to achieve the milestones outlined for this year.
Interaction with course reps
I have contacted all my course reps through email, to introduce myself. I hope to be arranging a forum within the next month.


Feedback for Student Council –
William Downey, School Rep for NBS

This has been a quiet month over at CCE1 – I have attended regular meetings with the Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching and looked at how we can market the role of School Rep at NBS – in particular to show what we can do for the students in our school.
We are in the process of arranging a regular drop-in session in our school, and this is being looked into by the Information Management people.
I was nominated onto Elections Committee as a Student Councillor and look forward to attending the training session that will be taking place on the 11th November (so last week!)
I attended a meeting of the eLP task group with some of the other School Reps.
Course Rep conference was a great success with some of the keenest and most engaged reps I’ve met.
The next School Rep forum is coming up soon – and I intend to prove that our school rep team of 2 blokes can bake cakes just as well as everyone else!!!


William Downey
BA (Hons) Human Resource Management Year 2
Undergraduate School Representative - Newcastle Business School
Member of Northumbria Students’ Union Student Council
Newcastle Business School
Northumbria University
City Campus East 1
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST
United Kingdom
Mob: +44 (0) 7854 928040
Email: william.downey@northumbria.ac.uk
Newcastle Business School – ranked in the Top 10 for Graduate Level Employability, ‘The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2012’

PGR Student Council Representative - Conall Mallory
Update November 2011
The new term has brought new challenges for the Post-Graduate Research Representatives forum. The forum has a number of new faces as some long serving reps have either completed their studies or stepped aside allowing for newer faces to join the forum. This has meant a quick transition for the new reps as the forum is eager to continue the progress made last year:
• In order to have the post-graduate research community represented at all levels in the wider university community a number of nominations and appointments have been made to the Library Users Panel, Research and Innovation Committee, Graduate School Committee and Student Council.
• Discussion has been held within the PGR forum regarding a £300 honorarium payment which is made directly to reps. Consultations are continuing within the forum, but there is a possibility that reps will move away from receiving the payments personally and instead have the payments made for the benefit of their specific school.
• Discussions are taking place in a number of the schools within the university to provide better workspace and working environments for PGR students. Although there has been recent success in some schools, others have not enjoyed such success and are continuing their campaign.
• The PGR forum came to a consensus that Graduate School conference funding bursaries, which supported 77 students last year, should remain at the lower level of £200 to assist more students as opposed to a higher level of £500 where less students would benefit.

Finally we would extend our congratulations to Beth Fazackerley who was recently awarded NUS course representative of the year runner-up.


Student Council Feedback:

Since the last council I have had a meeting with Hannah Horne to discuss my role as BME Rep and the things that this would involve. Since this meeting I have been researching the various campaigns and issues that are relevant to BME students and set up a Facebook group for Northumbria BME students.
I am very excited to be involved with student council and look forward to the opportunities this and being BME rep will present throughout the year.


Bryce Moore – BME Equalities Rep.

Feedback – Student Council 20th October 2011

Amy Irving – Students with Caring Responsibilities Representative
I would like to begin by thanking those students who voted for me in the recent student council elections to represent students who have caring responsibilities. I am looking forward to the year ahead and hope to achieve the objectives set out in my initial manifesto.
One of my aims as a representative was to campaign for an earlier provision of timetables, especially for those students who have commitments at home. During my campaign some of the students I spoke to expressed concerns about some of the issues they were having with timetables. I hope to resolve these issues and I am currently in the process of putting forward a motion to student council, to achieve this I will be working alongside Katie Bradshaw VP academic affairs and hope to gain as much feedback as possible from students at both City and Coach Lane Campus. Another objective of mine is to be accessible and communicate to Students with caring responsibilities, to achieve this I am currently in the process of setting up an online group specifically for the students I represent.
Alongside monthly Student Council meetings I will be attending Equality and Diversity meetings once a month. During these meetings I will be able to discuss issues with other reps and maybe generate ideas into how we can overcome them.

Disabled Students’ Representative Feedback for Student Council

Communication
• I’ve setup a twitter account, @NSUDisabledRep, to keep in touch with my constituents, and update them on the progress I’ve been making
• I’m planning to setup a Facebook group later this month, to allow informal discussion between disabled students, and also to promote the excellent opportunities that the Students’ Union offers to every student, regardless of ability

Feedback
• I took part in the Go Out And Listen day on Tuesday 1st November alongside other councillors, which gave me real insight into how students view the Students’ Union
• I’m considering submitting my own questions to be included on a future GOAL day

Representation
• Through my lead Sabb, Hannah Horne, I planned a meeting for early November with Karen Newton, the Disability Support Team Manager at Northumbria University
• I discussed, and assisted with writing, fellow councillor Lauren Teague’s motion, which I am seconding

Equality & Diversity
• I am a member of the Equality & Diversity Working Group, though submitted apologies for the first meeting due to academic commitments

Reporting & Accountability
• I wrote this feedback for all councillors, my constituents, and all students to read
• I had a meeting with my lead Sabb, Hannah Horne, in late October to discuss my plans for my term as Disabled Students’ Representative, and how I can go about achieving my outcomes

Other
RAG
• I attended the RAG MegaRaid in Edinburgh, and spent some time discussing with students what can be a disability, and why somebody with a disability might self-define as not having a disability, and vice-versa
• I’ve been very busy getting RAG Week sorted out as part of the Committee. As the person who’s overseeing all signing in & out, and stuff like that, I’m hoping to ensure that all of our printed materials and guides are easy to read by all, and that our RAG Office room is fully accessible by everyone

Academic work
• Lots of essays, lab reports, critical evaluations, and project/dissertation work always going on for me
• I held a critical discussion about the use of exclusion criteria with my project group and supervisor, and am ensuring that the minimum group of people necessary are excluded from my research

Matt Dinnery

Student Council Feedback
At the last council meeting a motion was passed to take a direct stance against paid proof-readers. I feel very strongly about this topic, as I feel that international students especially will be targeted by agencies. Throughout this campaign I will be working alongside other council members and Sabbs to ensure that paid proof-readers are not able to promote their services throughout Northumbria Students’ Union and to inform students of the consequences of having their work proofread.
As EU students’ rep I stated in my manifesto that I planned on working towards making Welcome Week easier for our foreign students. I have not been able to work towards this goal as of yet, but I plan on working very closely with the Vice President of Welfare & Equality to make sure that this goal is achieved as soon as possible.

Sarah Urwin

Student Council Feedback (For 1st Meeting):-
Since taking over the role of International Student’s Representative, I am really starting to enjoy it. I also received a lot of training for my role so that I can be the best at my role and represent International Rep very well. I am trying to learn more & more new things after this position. I will try my best to do all work perfectly as an International Student’s Councillor and trying to help as much as possible.
When September started and with that I join as a volunteer In Welcome week I took training for that and then I start working as team member I really enjoyed it so much then I starting involving more in student union and now I started RAG as team member. I am also taking part in a meeting with in the Northumbria & Newcastle Union and Newcastle city Council, inputting a student voice in front of them.
I am looking forward that hopefully by next meeting 14th November 2011 I will be keeping some Motion for International Student’s so that there will be on problems for them.

Thanking you for reading.

Gaurav Jain
International Student’s Representative (2011-2012)

Manish Abraham (international student’s rep)
Student’s council feedback – Monday 14 November 2011

The first few weeks in my new role as the international students rep has been really busy but I am enjoying it fully, here are the highlights of what have I done so far in these few weeks :

• After winning initial elections I attended the council training session in the students union. I too am excited that a well structured good team of reps are sitting in the council.
• I attended the celebration party on 14 th October 2011 which was attended by the vice chancellor of our university.
• I attended the first student’s council on 20 October 2011 in which we selected the chair of council. We also passed a few motions.
• I started a blog page for the Northumbria university international students http://northumbriauniversityinternationalrep.blogspot.com/ this was in order to keep them more informed about the happenings in the university.
• I started a group on face book Northumbria International students rep 2011- 2012 which already has 93 members, where basically the problems faced by the international students is discussed.
• On Weds October 26th I attended a meeting along with the pro vice chancellor of our university Lucy Winskell and PRESIDENT NSU Jo Rhodes at Newcastle university where we discussed a lot of topics on how to make new castle a more international city and everyone agreed that the international students played a major role in the economy of the city . This year there has been a decline in the number of international students due to the change in visa rules ,It was discussed how could the NE1 group help the students in the city, we also discussed about keeping bicycles in the university( scrap bikes ).
• We intend to conduct an international night in the coming month which basically will help in joining the different cultures in the university.
• On 28 th October 2011 Friday 1300 hrs I had a meeting with Hannah Horne(VP welfare and equality ) in which we discussed various problems being faced by the international students and we decided that we start an awareness campaign regarding the recent changes in the visa rules and Psw rules since many of them are still confused about the future . We decided that Hannah will try contacting the international office and we will have a meeting with them and plan the campaign. We also decided that me and my counterpart Gaurav will meet up and work together so as to make the campaign a success.

• As part of my project in a module me and my group has planned the launch of a new internet based radio for international students of our university and named it SRFm (Student radio Fm) and hope to launch it in a few weeks , this will further help in the bonding between the international students of our university. I hope that it will be launched in a few weeks , first we planned to go in for a Fm station we even had meetings with spice Fm and Ne1 radio but then we decided to go in for internet based 24 hour radio since it was more economical.
• As discussed with Hannah Horne we will look forward in spreading awareness among the international students that me and Gaurav are there for there the international students and make them feel more free to come and use the Students Union facilities . I would also take your attention that just behind the students union in Lovaine flats ,halls and even Claudd gibb hall there are many international students who haven’t entered the NSU even once they need to be motivated to take part in various activities which is only possible if they know who are there representatives and hence request for focussed advertisement of the international reps explaining how can we help them even in their smallest problems.
• I also met Richard on 29 October 2011and had a discussed that they should make a conversion tool for Chinese students on the black board so that it becomes easy for them to convert the academic topics in to regional language for better understanding , I was told that this was against university rules that we could only produce material in English so i gave up the idea .

Change is inevitable and if plan A fails, I don’t worry bcz there are 25 more letters left
My wishes and prayers for the success of the rag week which is due this month
Manish Abraham
International Students Rep


Mature Student Representative Feedback

Mature Student Socials
A mature student recently got in contact with my via e-mail asking if there would be any social events for mature students. After discussion with Hannah Horne I have sent out a blurb which she has put on the Northumbria Students’ Union facebook page inviting mature students to a get together in Reds next Thursday (10-11-11) at 5PM. I think this will be a good opportunity to meet other mature students and ask them what kinds of socials they would like to attend.

Jacob Turner

Rachel Smith – Women’s Rep Feedback
• I ran in the equality rep elections and got elected –yay!
• After this I attended student council training, it was great fun meeting all the new councillors and getting trained in council again, and then following this I attended the first student council of the year.
• I had a meeting with VP Welfare Hannah to discuss my manifesto and the year ahead –we came up with a date for the Fashion show; March 8th which is International Women’s Day. I’m hoping to make the day a big event across campus, with things happening all day culminating in the fashion show, and a panel of guest speakers similar to last year’s event. I’m in the process of organising things and hoping to get a team of students together to help organise the event.
• I also attended the Equality and Diversity Working Group, and Hannah discussed what the group would be doing over the year.
• I found an organisation called “Endangered Bodies” which is currently running a “Ditch the Diet” Campaign, basically encouraging women to not comply with the diet schemes that do not work and cost too much money so subscribe to and instead encourage women to be healthy and love the skin they are in. I sent them an email and I’m happy to say they got back in touch with me and would love to do an event at Northumbria as part of their speak outs! I’m currently in contact with someone from the organisation and we’re hoping to work something out.
• By the time you’ll be reading this I’ll have attended a free lecture at the Sage as part of BBC3’s ‘Free Thinking’ festival given by Susie Orbach, a successful writer and psychotherapist who is working with organisation and talked to her about the campaign (if you want more information there website is : http://www.endangeredspecieswomen.org.uk/ )



Sophie Chilton: Coach Lane Students Rep.
Student Council Written Feedback
Since being elected in the Equality Rep Elections I have firstly attended training for Student Council, as well as attended my very first student council which I thoroughly enjoyed!
I have been trying hard to start engaging with the coach lane students in a number of ways! I firstly published a Coach Lane Representation group on Facebook, which I have been gradually publicising, hoping to raise the group numbers to raise awareness of the support of the Students Union available to our Coach Lane students. I have also attended the first three course rep lunches, along with our coach lane school reps, to get to know our reps and hear their first views of the campus and how it is going.
I have also worked on my first motion to be submitted to council upon the free cross-campus bus service.

Sam Booth-Malone
Community Rep Feedback
Student Council: Monday 14th November 2011
Hi Councillors ,
This is what I have been doing since being appointed as a Community Rep!
• I attended my Community Rep training with Hannah & Richard, and the other Community Reps & Halls Reps. This was excellent, and gave us all a chance to meet each other and get to know each other by the classic ‘ice break’ activities!

• I have researched and found out the ward councillors for my ward (Ouseburn) and introduced myself!

• I attended my first Community Rep meeting the other day, and this was a fantastic way to get updated on what all the other Community Reps have been doing!

• I attended the consultation meeting with Hannah at the Civic Centre, and listened to the proposals for the ‘To-Let’ board campaign.

• I shall be attending my first ward committee meeting soon; I am very excited about this!

• I have set up a facebook group for all students living in the Ouseburn ward, I shall use this as a way to give feedback on my progress and also a way for Students to post their issues.


Amy Terry-Environment Rep
Since starting my role as Environment Rep I have attended the first Environment Committee where I got elected. In the meeting we discussed reusable mug refill reduction in order to aim to get a reduced price on hot drinks around campus if you take your own flask/mug. We also briefly discussed Halls issues, the Ouseburn allotment and grants and making the website more up to date with everything that the environment committee is doing in order to get more people involved.
After the first committee, I have had numerous meetings with Francesca Di Giorgio and Richard Buckley in order to help me prepare for chairing my first Environment Committee which will be held on Friday 18th November at 1pm. We discussed various issues and worries that I had and ran through my agenda to give me more confidence. I am looking forward to my first chairing my first committee and excited about working on the projects and issues that are presented by the Committee.
Since being elected onto Student Council, I have attended Student Council training on the 9th October and Student Council 20th October which were very enjoyable.

Tilly Smith Feedback
Due to recruitment for halls reps being fairly slow my training has not been arranged until the 2nd of November, so will send further feedback when this happens. I have arranged to have a meeting with the manager of my halls once the meeting with the other students living in my accommodation takes place on the 5th of November takes place. I currently have a feedback mechanism for my halls set up in the form of a Facebook group and word is finally going round that I am the halls rep and people are now aware that they can come to me with any further comments. There was a meeting within the halls arranged by Student Castle last week regarding how to improve the living conditions within the halls and ideas such as a minibus to the local Morrison’s was discussed, it is therefore my plan to try and work within the management team to help with the feedback and further ideas.