A President striving for improvement

We kicked off the month of August with more inductions across various departments including Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI), UWE Bristol Grand Challenge, the International College, UWE Speak Up and UWE’s Strategic Communication Team. This month, I am also working on achieving some of my manifesto points and a few weeks ago met with The Students’ Union’s Finance Manager to discuss the financial impact of providing cheaper food on campus.

Below are some of my highlights for the month of August.

Working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The Presidents and some of The Students’ Union staff had a  sustainability training day from NUS and UWE staff. The training gave us more of an insight into sustainability, the United Nations SDGs, and ways to encourage students to work together on achieving these.

Bristol HE and NHS Practice Liaison Forum

I spent a full day with staff members from UWE Bristol, The Students’ Union, the University of Bristol and the NHS. During this we discussed the partnership project plans to continuously cater to the needs of all students’ mental health including, international students.

Relaxation zone: Sleeping pods/room research

Two weeks ago, I and Jane Ojiako (VP Education) visited the University of Manchester to conduct some research on the sleeping pods they provide. Coincidentally, before getting elected we both had similar ideas on our manifestos of providing a relaxation/nap provision for students, to allow them to take rest breaks when needed to combat stress and prioritize mental health.

Sabbatical Officers Networking Event at the University of Bristol

We had a networking opportunity at the University of Bristol with some Sabbatical Officers from all over the United Kingdom.  During this, we discussed the impacts of Brexit on students and what we can do to enlighten students at our various universities. This discussion was led by FFS (For our Futures Sake).

Celebrating UWE RAG

UWE RAG raised a total sum of £91,800 in the 2018/19 academic year, allowing them to support many charities. I couldn’t be prouder of the hard work that was put into achieving this. Many thanks to of all our students and everyone who joined hands to make this happen.

UWE RAG also won campaign of the year for The Movember Foundation. This was awarded at The National Student Fundraising Awards at the University of Birmingham.

RAG Away Day

During the third week of August, the Presidents Team had a RAG away day, which allowed us to learn more about RAG. During the day, we visited Off-The-Record (OTR) and made plans for the upcoming academic year. This year, the Presidents are really keen to continuously support various charities. As you can see, not even the rain could stop us!

The Students’ Union inductions

This month, we kicked off The Students’ Union inductions. This allowed us to share information about new students about how they can get involved with The Students’ Union. We have planned many more inductions across all UWE Bristol campuses for September, so look out for us in your lectures. Oh, and we might have some freebies too!

Clearing  

The Students’ Union had a stall at UWE Bristol’s clearing events, which allowed us to introduce The Students’ Union to new students. We are beyond excited to meet you and welcome you to UWE Bristol. We also had the honour of having the Vice-Chancellor Steve West at our stall for a brief chat!

Bath Spa Sabbatical Officers Sustainability

Last week, our friends at Bath Spa University visited us. During the visit, we discussed various topics with a major focus on sustainability and the academic year ahead.

In conclusion, planning is underway for 2019/20 Black History Month, and we have a lot in store for October. We also welcome new ideas, so if you have any ideas, please get in touch.

Remember, I am here to represent the UWE Bristol student community, feel free to pop into The Students’ Union on Frenchay Campus to see me or catch me at our satellite campuses during one of my pop-ups.

You can contact me via supresident@uwe.ac.uk and on Facebook and Twitter @TheSUPresident.