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Durham Students’ Union

Assembly

Agenda Location Dunelm House Date 19

th February 2015

Time 19:00

Subject Who Paper

A.

Apologies for absence and conflicts of interest

Chair

B. Notification of Any Other Business C. Minutes of the meeting on 29

th January UA/1415/032

D. Matters arising from the minutes

E. F. G.

GOVERNANCE Ratification of merging societies ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION Motion: International Attainment Gap Motion: Prevent

Academic Affairs Officer Academic Affairs Officer

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H. Motion: Embedding employability into the

curriculum Academic Affairs Committee

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I. J.

Officer Action Plans and updates Subcommittee Action Plans and updates

Student Officers Committee Chairs

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ITEMS FOR INFORMATION

K. L.

Verbal Update: Women’s Week Any Other Business

Activities Officer

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Assembly Minutes 29 January 2015

Attendance

Members present

Members absent

28

6

Members who sent

apologies

Members not yet elected

7

5

Chair: Daniel Morgan-Thomas (items 1-4, 4-11)

Dan Slavin (item 5)

Harry Inman (item 5)

The following staff members were in attendance:

Mike Potter (Governance and Democracy Coordinator), Paddy Reilly (Chief Executive).

M/001 Apologies for absence

The Chair informed assembly of members that had submitted their apologies (Harry Anders, Jordan

Riley, Thom-Addinall Biddulph, Akshay Sevat, Madeline Ridout, Simon Povey, Alex Tansey).

M/002 Conflicts of Interest

The Chair explained that he would be stepping down from the discussion of election regulations as he

was considering standing in a Union election in this academic year.

M/003 Notification of any other business

Society Committee ratification of new student groups.

M/004 Minutes from last meeting

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as an accurate record.

M/005 Elections regulations.

The Chair stood down due to a conflict of interest and the President briefly took the Chair in

accordance with the standing orders in order to elect a temporary chair. The Development Officer was

elected as the Chair. The President presented the proposed regulations. It was explained that the rules

had been slimmed down to what the Union could police and had been cleaned in order to make free

and fair election.

The Development Officer asked the members of Assembly vote.

Assembly voted to accept the proposed elections regulations.

Daniel Morgan-Thomas became the Chair again.

M/006 Officer Action Plans

The President outlined progress on his action plan explaining that the referendum had passed and that

he’d been working to improve the upcoming Students’ Union elections. The President explained that

he’d had a meeting regarding accommodation and asked the university for a detailed maintenance

plan by the end of the month. He also reported he’d been heavily involved with Student Safety

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meetings but stated that the Community Officer would be updating on this later. There were no

questions.

The Academic Affairs discussed updates on her action plan. The Academic Affairs Officer stated she

was reviewing the terms of reference for staff student consultancy committees and had been pushing

for some of the outcomes of the University zone to be implemented into the new academic strategy.

The Academic Affairs Officer was asked why the Union had not contacted department reps – she

explained that this was because the Union had not been informed who they were so the Union were

contacting course reps directly. This would be a focus on the election review for academic

representatives.

The Community Officer outlined her action plan and progress made. She stated that as a result of the

zero tolerance policy passing at the last Assembly, the university had set up a working group to tackle

the issue. There were questions regarding next year’s Community Fair and it was reported that it would

take place in the Palatine Centre at the same time of the Societies fair.

The Activities Officer presented her action plan. The questions were regarding the Union’s strategy for

stopping student groups wanting to leave the Union and what the impact would be if the Music

Societies chose to leave the Union after the ongoing DUMS referendum.

The Development Officer presented his action plan. There were no questions.

M/007 Committee Action Plans

The Chair of Junior Common Room President’s Committee presented the Action Plan and stated that

there had been delays because they were involved with Student Safety meetings. There were no

questions.

The Chair of Middle Common Room President’s Committee presented the Action plan. There were no

questions.

The Chair of Societies Committee presented the Action plan. There were no questions.

The Chair of Welfare, Equality and Diversity committee presented the Action Plan. There was a

question regarding timescales, the Community Officer reported that this was dependant on the

university working group.

The Chair of Media Committee explained that Media Committee had not met since last Assembly but

they had a meeting regarding the training part of their action plan. There were no questions.

The Chair of the DUCK Committee was not present at the meeting so did not report to the meeting.

The Chair of Governance Committee outlined the plan. There were no questions.

Joel Swift and Emma Thomason presented the Action Plan for Academic Affairs Committee. There

were no questions.

The Chair of Facilities and Services Committee outlined the action plan. There was a question

regarding whether this committee would deal with accommodation fees.

The Chair of Ethical and Environmental Committee outlined the action plan. There was a question to

clarify the point regarding trafficking, this was explained that it was aimed at human trafficking within

the supply chain.

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M/008 Student Safety

The Community Officer explained that the social norms survey which had been conducted last term

was being analysed by a creative agency. There had been a meeting of the Student Safety campaign

attended by over 50 students and the President and the Community Officer had attended a meeting

with key stakeholders within the city and would be keeping students up to date with weekly updates on

the website. ROSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) had been commissioned to

do a review of the river. The Student Officers and some of the JCR President’s had been volunteering

on a Wednesday night to find out the logistics of a volunteering scheme which would be ran long-term

through student community action.

The Community Officer was asked about what had changed in the last 14 months to lead to the tragic

deaths of three students but she reported that the police were not sure. There were questions about

the return of the night bus and the possibility of putting up short term signage. The Community Officer

also stated that she wanted to meet with police at Stockton campus to ensure the safety of Queens

students.

M/009 General Election

The Academic Affairs Officer reported the outcomes of the preferendum. The results were:

- No disproportionate fee increases

- No unpaid internships

- Citizenship education

- Living Wage

- Postgraduate funding system

The Academic Affairs Officer also stated that the Union was working with two further education

colleges in Durham and we’re still trying to get in touch with one in Stockton. There would be plans for

National Voter Registration Day and encouraged Assembly members to tell students that they will need

their National insurance numbers to vote due to changes to electoral registration.

The Academic Affairs Officer was asked why NUS’ point regarding Free Education was changed to say

no disproportionate fee increases, the Academic Affairs Officer stated that this was because Assembly

had voted not to support Free Education this year and Zones had suggested this change.

M/010 Union Strategy

The President stated that a research company was going to be talking to students and leading focus

groups in order to assess what students wanted from the new strategy. It was also reported that

common rooms would be involved in the process after the elections; there would also be consultation

with student groups.

M/011 Any Other Business

Nicholas Rudd asked Assembly to approve Societies Committees to ratify new societies.

The Chair explained that due to the changes in the articles of association that recruitment panels would

take place in order to appoint two new co-opted trustees. The President stated that this should be

delegated to the student officers and one member of Assembly who would apply to be on the panel –

Assembly approved this.

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Ratification of societies merging.

Assembly should note that two ratified societies ‘Durham Student Film’ and ‘Durham Student TV’

have decided to merge into one society: Durham Student Productions. This merge was approved by

both societies’ at EGMs.

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Motion: International Attainment Gap Assembly notes:

1. Nationally, undergraduate students with international fee status are less likely to attain a 2:1 or 1

st class degree than home students.

2. In 2013/14 85% of home students at Durham University achieved a 2:1 or 1st class degree

whereas 75% of international students attained the same level. 3. Students from particular parts of the world were much less likely to receive a 1

st or 2:1 in

2013/14: a. 55% of students from Africa and the Middle East achieved good honours b. 63% of students from Latin America and the Caribbean achieved good honours c. 58% of students from Asia (except Singapore) achieved good honours

4. That Quality and Standards Sub Committee minute 14/24 notes that a learning support programme and an academic skills programme have been developed; that steps have been taken to implement the principles of diversity in the curriculum; that there is a lot of work being done in the areas of induction and transition into university, including in the Education Strategy 2015-20; that has been requested that the Strategic Planning Office will analyse the data further.

5. International students are not a homogenous group and the relationship between international students and achieving a 2:1 or 1

st class degree is complex and multifaceted.

Assembly believes:

1. That all students should have an equal opportunity to achieve a grade which is a reflection of their true potential.

2. That Durham University should work practically to be inclusive and fair for all. 3. That more needs to be done to ensure that the university meets the educational needs of a

diverse student body. Assembly resolves:

1. To mandate the Academic Affairs Officer and relevant sub-committees to support the work of the university to implement the principles of diversity in the curriculum and encourage the university to advocate good diversity practice.

2. To mandate the Academic Affairs Officer and relevant sub-committees to lobby the university to expand and strengthen the academic skills programme and learning support programme, with specific consideration to international students.

3. To mandate the Academic Affairs Officer and relevant sub-committees to lobby the university to develop the use of technology to support learning.

4. To mandate the Academic Affairs Officer and relevant sub-committees to lobby the university to work to diversify assessment methods.

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Motion: Prevent.

Assembly notes:

1. On 26 November 2014, the Home Secretary Theresa May introduced the Counter-Terrorism and

Security Bill (CTSB) to Parliament. She highlighted some revised and new counter-terrorism

powers.

2. That CTSB seeks to make the Prevent strategy statutory.

3. That according to the current Prevent Strategy, potential indicators of “radicalism” or “extremism”

include:

a. “A need for identity, meaning and belonging”

b. “A desire for political or moral change.”

c. “Relevant mental health issues.”

4. That academics and campaigners fear the CTSB will criminalise ideas and create a culture where

students are unwilling to speak out.

5. The National Union of Students have condemned the Counter terrorism and Security Bill and

described the Prevent strategy as “further developing a culture of suspicion and surveillance on

campuses, whilst also potentially conflicting with institutions’ duties to promote freedom of

speech, by making them overly risk-averse and unwilling to engage in important topics of

discussion.”

6. That Universities UK have expressed concerns about academic freedom in their parliamentary

briefing on the counter terrorism and security bill.

Assembly believes:

1. Universities have a particular duty and mission to promote freedom of speech and academic

freedom, including a legal duty under the Education (No.2) Act 1986 to ensure the use of

university premises is not denied to any person or group basis of their beliefs or views.

2. That students should not be victimised for suffering from mental health issues.

3. That the Prevent strategy gives the Government undefined powers to order that “extremist”

speakers to be banned and asks Universities and Students’ Unions to monitor student activity for

‘extremism’.

4. That any expectation by the state for academic staff to be involved in monitoring their students is

deeply worrying, and could have a damaging effect on relations between staff and students.

5. The monitoring and exclusion of ideas from public debate opposes the basic function of

universities.

6. That it is important that students are introduced to a variety of opinions and encouraging them to

analyse and debate them.

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7. The CTSB significantly undermines the freedom and activities of university staff and students.

Assembly resolves:

1. To mandate the Student Officers to issue a public statement condemning the Prevent strategy

and the government’s counter terrorism and security bill.

2. For the Student Officers to work with campus trade unions on combatting the Prevent strategy

and lobby them to condemn the CTSB.

3. For the Student Officers to lobby the University to be more transparent about how the university

intend to implement the changes.

4. For the student officers to encourage students to join the #studentsnotsuspects social media

campaign and to raise awareness about the dangers of the counter terrorism and security bill and

the Prevent strategy.

Motion: Academic Skills

Assembly notes:

1. Durham University has an inconsistent approach in terms of embedding academic and

transferable skills into the curriculum.

2. There is a large focus nationally on the employability of students given the shift in funding

for higher education and an increase in tuition fees.

3. Universities are expected to produce students ready for the workplace who can compete in

a challenging employment market.

Assembly believes:

1. Students should have equitable opportunities to access academic and transferable skills to

support their learning and development whilst studying at Durham University.

2. There is duality of provision across academic departments and other University services.

3. The University should take a proactive approach to ensuring students have consistent

access to academic and transferable skills, in a climate where these skills are increasingly

important for our graduates.

4. Durham University degrees should equip and enables students to reach their full academic

potential.

5. The University should proactively provide students access to transferable skills to enhance

their employability and prepare graduates for the workplace and participate in society more

widely.

Assembly resolves:

1. To mandate the Academic Affairs Officer, Development Officer and relevant sub-

committees of the Union to research this issue.

a. To investigate provisions and approaches to academic skills throughout the

University.

b. Identify best practice and opportunities for quality enhancement.

c. To promote and engage with departments to share best practice in this area.

President Action Plan 2014-15 UA/1415/029a

Updates to follow

Objective Actions Date Update

Improve the resilience of the Union

Actively take part in forming the plans for Dunelm House and lobby for better provision for the Union

Ongoing

Review and make recommendations on the Union election rules Dec 2014

Ensure adequate preparation for the NUS delegate, officer and trustee elections and increase voter numbers.

Jan 2015

Increase number of candidates in Union elections Feb 2015

Engage regularly with the NUS with the aim to input into policy for NUS National Conference.

Ongoing

Develop a structure to enable student organisations to become part of the Union

Continue to sit on the University’s Governance Review Project Board

Ongoing

Work with student organisations to understand their needs in relation to the Union and the University

End of the year

Monitor the implementation of POSE in relation to student organisations

June 2015

Lobby the university to remove barriers to student group activities June 2015

Improve the effectiveness of the board

Make recommendations to the University on the make-up of the Union’s trustee board

Nov 2014

Call, promote and successfully pass a referendum on the board membership and structure

Dec 2014

Carry out an effectiveness review to identify skill shortages and recruit appropriately

2015

President Action Plan 2014-15 UA/1415/029a

Other Areas of Work

Accommodation Charges: Re-affirmed the position that charging should be based on cost, and that planned maintenance should be clearly communicated

to students.

Car Parking: Ensure student input into the process for student permits.

General Election: Preferendum took place alongside the trustee election to inform the Union’s lobbying work going forward.

Induction Week Survey: Analysed results and using them to input into the university’s review.

Living Wage Policy: The University is reviewing pay and conditions, which will report back by the end of the academic year.

NUS Engagement: Attended Zone Conference and NUS Locals where finalised the motion to go to national conference and discussed general election

strategy respectively

Strategy Development: Interviewed senior university figures to help form the next strategy of the Union.

Vice-Chancellor recruitment: Attended the long listing meeting in London.

Winter Congregation: Attended all ceremonies to represent students

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Officer Action Plan: Academic Affairs Officer 2014-15

Objective Action Date Progress

Update

To create a group/network to inspire and encourage women to pursue academic careers

Identify university staff working to develop equality and diversity initiatives

Before October 2014

Completed

Run focus groups to better understand student experiences and the main barriers to progression

Michaelmas Term Delayed in order to allow a survey of membership to take place first to better inform the discussion. Survey ready to be uploaded to the ‘women’s week’ website.

Research the national picture including other Unions, NUS, ECU, and HEA.

Michaelmas Term Completed

Create a project plan Michaelmas Term Delayed due to research delays.

Launch the group Epiphany Term

To develop a more effective academic representation system

Introduce academic reps to the context and value of representation and give them the skills to enable them be effective in the role.

1st November Completed

Assist rep teams to identify key issues in their department and enable them to conduct their own research and produce their own report

On-going Report has gone to education committee and faculty education committees for consultation. Recommendations have been made about how to proceed with department reps in the upcoming elections.

Collect data from all academic representatives End of the year 80 returned forms from Course Reps detailing work they have undertaken. Union supporting where necessary.

Consult with staff, students and reps to better understand what makes an effective student-staff consultancy committee (SSCC)

Epiphany Term Met with university and student focus groups to better understand SSCCs. Updated the SSCC terms of reference which is now going to faculty education committees for consultation.

Produce a tool which can be used to assess effectiveness of SSCC

End of year

To create a report that presents progress academic representatives have made and present & communicate findings to students

Collect data from academic reps On-going Feedback forms/ data sheets from SSCCs are being completed by reps.

Produce a report By end of Epiphany Term

Communicate and present findings for comment by students

Summer Term

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Student Officer Action plan: Community Officer

Objective Actions Date Progress Update

To create a central advice ‘hub’ accessible to all Durham University Students.

Review current internal and external advice services available to students.

End of Michaelmas term.

Completed

Determine relevance to students of the different current advice services.

Start of epiphany term.

Reviewing Advice and Help Service pages online. Asked students through Raise your Voice.

Identify the best method of communicating the advice.

Epiphany term.

Awaiting results of review and research.

Create the advice hub. End of the year

Continually review content and use of advice hub.

On-going Page traffic been monitored and changing content depending on time of year.

To increase student satisfaction concerning housing.

Run a housing campaign. Michaelmas Term

Completed.

Feed into and help launch the University’s housing accreditation scheme.

On-going Working with the County Council to get it up and running. Having conversations with marketing about how to market this.

Create a “rate your landlord” forum. Easter term

To increase engagement and representation of students in the community.

Support Community committee to meet and deliver tangible outcomes from their action plan.

Michaelmas Term

Assembly and Trustee Board approved Standing Order changes to facilitate the Election. First meeting to take place in Epiphany Term .

Community strategy to be written in partnership with community committee.

Start of Epiphany term

Attended a national conference to learn about both university and unions strategies. May be delayed to late meeting of the committee.

Community strategy to be implemented.

End of the year

Worked to set up a Student Safety Volunteering Project with SCA. Have chosen leaders and are interviewing for volunteers. There is more information about the timeline on the website.

Attended the City Safety Group.

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Got the night bus up and running again.

Have been working on the student confidentiality policy and student complaints policy with the University. To make sure that it is in the best interests of students.

Have been out getting students to vote in the elections.

Attended induction and implementation group- talked about medical registration.

Attended a County Durham wide Alcohol Reduction strategy day, we talked about reputation and the economy. It was interesting to see the effect that alcohol has on the community outside of Durham City. There were some extremely interesting talks.

Worked with the University to get a taxi scheme set up, where students can hand their campus cards to the taxi driver. This should be up and running ASAP.

Had a number of meetings with the library about work smart and we are looking at ways to improve and build on last year’s campaign. We are gathering useful data on this from our Raise Your Voice activity. The revision planners also arrived this week.

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Activities Officer Action Plan 2014-15

Objective Actions Date Update

Help student groups develop through skills sharing initiatives, training and networking.

Encourage the sharing of soft skills across student groups and the student population

End of the year

Work to start in Epiphany term

Create a hub so that students can exchange and develop their skills

Epiphany Discussed at both societies committee and societies forum. I received valuable feedback on the idea. I will develop a plan in the coming weeks.

Link up with relevant organisations to aid this task Epiphany

Work with College Common Rooms to increase engagement with student group activities

Conduct research into how students would like to engage with student groups

Michaelmas Spoken to relevant committees, this is informing work going forward.

Encourage the roll out of Give it a Go into the Colleges

Epiphany Completed- 25+ societies have signed up and 13 colleges. We will review success of scheme in order to make it better for the next academic year.

Encourage collaboration of societies from across the University

End of the year

Action Learning Sets planned for this term. Collaboration will also be incorporated into the June societies’ training.

Work with media committee to develop a model for student media in Durham

Conduct and utilise research from other Student Unions and Durham

Michaelmas Research conducted through Raise your voice. First draft of this research has now been presented to media committee. Media committee visited Newcastle Students Union last week for inspiration. One more trip to Sheffield is planned this term.

Conduct a skills and resources audit within the media groups to best be able to support training and development

Michaelmas Completed

Agree a model for student media with media committee

Epiphany Awaiting first meeting of media committee working group.

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Other Progress since the last Assembly meeting

New opportunities for student groups- I have met with the Cathedral and Student Community Action to create new opportunities for student groups and

societies. We are working with the Cathedral to provide new spaces for our societies so they have interesting venues to hold their events, we will also try to

make some sort of deal meaning that societies will have either free use of reduced costs to use the spaces.

I also met with Student Community Action to discuss how we could work together. We came up with the idea of a society/ project match up scheme. Societies

can now run outreach events in the community (either a regular volunteering programme or one off events). It is likely that we will team up with Student

Community Action for aspects of women’s week (2nd

-6th March).

Continuous reviewing of Union activities- In order to check that the events we put on are sustainable and worth putting on again (e.g. Union Fair II), we

are continually reviewing our events.

Grant Allocations- The grant allocations process is currently under review. We have asked for feedback from both grant allocations committee and societies

committee on how the grants should work and to review the criteria. We are also looking at how we can measure the impact of the grants that are given out.

Grant allocations committee have actioned me to look at how to measure the support that grants give to societies. By being able to measure impact, I hope

that we will be able to show the value of grants and subsequently be able to use this information to earn more funding for societies.

Music Society- the Music Society held a referendum to leave the Students’ Union, in favour of joining the University and becoming a Durham Student

Organisation. We are obviously disappointed by this decision, after trying to help Music Society members understand the full implications of leaving. We

maintain that no additional benefits can be derived from becoming a DSO and believe the move to be detrimental to music in Durham. We will continue to put

the upmost efforts into helping other music societies understand the many costs to leaving the Union.

Queen’s Campus- One of the Union’s main focuses this year is to increase its presence in Queen’s Campus. Several of our societies have now managed to

set up activities in Queen’s. Encouraging and aiding societies to be able to set up activities in Queen’s is an ongoing process that will continue this year and I

hope into the next academic year.

I am also currently working with the marketing department to devise targeted Raise Your Voice questionnaires for Queen’s Campus. From next week, officers

(with support from the Student Union reps) will be down every week in Queen’s Campus asking these questions. These questions will aim to generate

qualitative data, which can be used by us to see where the Union needs to provide more targeted provision in Queen’s.

Room Bookings- I met with Student Registry last week and will present an oral update at Assembly.

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Development Officer Action Plan 2014-15

Objective Actions Date Update

Training: (a) develop a sustainable training programme for student groups and representatives to enable them to function more effectively and (b) pilot a student leadership development programme.

a) Identify students who undertake extra-curricular activity in the Union

Sept 14

Completed

Conduct a skills audit of these student positions and identify training needs

Sept 14

Completed

Create training plan and communicate to students Oct 14

Completed

Deliver training Nov 14

Michaelmas training completed, planning for June underway.

Review training's success and sustainability, and communicate this process with Assembly

Dec 14

Completed, Assembly updated 4/12/14

(b) Identify role remits of key student leadership position holders Sept 14

Completed

Write brief for Project Manager staff position Sept 14

Applications have been collated

Employ Project Manager to develop programme 2015

2 proposals received.

Execute training programme, review, and present successes to the University, write proposal for the programme’s expansion in 2015/16

2015 Awaiting appointment of PM

Work to identify, record, and accredit student's extracurricular activities

Research best practice at other Higher Education institutions and Students' Unions

Ongoing

Waiting on the HEA report of the HEAR

Identify appropriate staff point of contact in the University Dec 14

As part of university academic strategy consultation, stressing the importance of accrediting students’ extra-curricular activities.

Identify university decision makers and identify most appropriate method for approaching this.

Dec 14

Work with the University to put extra-curricular activities onto the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR)

June 15

The HEAR will be issued to Durham graduates at the minimum level.

Work with the student body and the University to improve the provision of employability skills development in the curriculum

Conduct research into the most important employability skills (from AGR, CIHE, CBI, NUS

Sept 14

Completed; NUS will also be releasing a research report as soon as it is finished.

Research the current provision for increasing employability of Durham University students and identify key staff members in the university to work on this with.

Nov 14

Awaiting department feedback.

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Other engagement:

Did Tough Guy, and raised around £300 for the Great Northern Air Ambulance. It was horrendous. If you’d like to sponsor me then visit:

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/toughharry

Raise Your Voice in QC. We were asking questions about how students relax, who student would go to with an academic issue, and when students

might be willing to sign up to societies throughout the year.

Attended hustings at Queen’s Campus for the Officer Elections, where candidates were quizzed, scared, grilled, and pit off against each other to see

who will lead Your Union next year. By now, the winners will have been announced so well done to all who campaigned.

Attended Societies, which included discussions about training. Very informative, thanks for attending.

Attended the Voter Registration briefing, hosted by Leigh Spanner to kick-start her career in showbiz.

Encouraged 1,600 students to register to vote on Voter Registration day (Thursday 5th February).

Went Go-Karting on Saturday morning, for the sake of some fuel-injected fun.

Attended the Brass Band EGM and explained the benefits of maintaining their affiliation to the Students’ Union. They voted to leave the SU.

Voting all week for the Student Officer elections.

Patrolling Durham City on Wednesday nights to enhance student safety.

Shortlisted candidates for the annual external audit of Durham Students’ Union.

Conduct research with students to ascertain what students look for regarding employability skills development in the curriculum

Dec 14

Completed as part of Raise your Voice

Develop a partnership with the university to prioritise the outcomes of the earlier research to be implemented throughout all courses.

June 15

Actively contributing to University working group, utilising Union research

Lobby the University to improve the support available to graduate/sabbatical employees of the University

Conduct research on the employees: what is the current training provision, and what do these employees want?

Dec 14

Awaiting responses from graduates

Identify staff in Durham University with whom to start a dialogue Dec 14

On agenda for monthly meetings with strategic link

Improve training framework in conjunction with University to support common room Presidents and other graduate employees.

June 15

Awaiting response from Deputy Head of Colleges (Student Experience)

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JCR Presidents Committee

Objective Actions Date Update

Reduce Food Waste Research current practices in colleges November 2014

Work with the University to set achievable targets this year and going forward to reduce waste across the university

TBC

Develop initiatives with stakeholders and student societies to instil good practice

TBC Organising campaigns to prevent people taking excess food.

Work to define student involvement in Open Days

Discuss requirements within the colleges for open days with student recruitment and individual colleges

November 2014

Establish the aims of the open days for common rooms and match to university

February 2015

Agree process of recruitment and remuneration with University

March 2015 The President having a meeting with student recruitment.

Work to improve the accessibility of common room events allowing all members to participate.

Measure, diversity of attendance of common room events over Michaelmas Term, with a specific focus on induction

December 2015

Work to identify methods to overcome barriers to engagement, enabling under-represented to integrate with college life

Epiphany Term

Aiming to have consent workshops as part of JCR exec training.

Begin to implement agreed methods and review success Easter Term

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MCR Presidents Committee Action Plan 2014-15

Objective Actions Date Update

Induction Week 2015 Identify positives and negatives from Induction 2014 November

Establish principles of Postgraduate Induction, highlighting good practice and make recommendations.

Epiphany Term

PG Accommodation Research current practices across colleges November Questionnaire going out this week.

Establish desired model of allocation and mix between PGT/PGR

December

Work with university to implement above and agree timeline Epiphany Term

PG Social Provision

Research Current Provision across colleges November

Work out what is actually required/want/can achieve Michaelmas Term

Make Recommendations and implement across the University, to include inter-MCR formal and PG Ball

Epiphany Theme chosen.

PG Report Audit against current practice November Working on questionnaire.

Update accordingly throughout the year On going

UA/1415/038c Societies Committee Action Plan 2014-15

Objective Actions Date Update

Facilitate and support student-led events and activities.

Work with the Activities Team to ensure that all society documentation is easy and understandable.

On going

Ensure that societies have access to a wide range of resources to deliver quality events and activities for their members.

On going

Review the way that the Union offers support to societies and suggest recommendations for improvements.

On going

Facilitate collaboration between student groups

Committee members to hold termly society meetings with their groups to establish networks and create mechanism for feedback.

On going

Encourage society collaborative events On going

Organise termly society socials or mixers to allow members to meet a wide variety of likeminded people.

On going Discussed logistics at Societies Forum.

Aid the Activities Officer to organise skills sessions to share good practice/work that societies do among the Union’s diverse membership.

Epiphany Discussed logistics at Societies Forum.

Raise the profile of societies within colleges. Bring the Give It A Go initiative to the colleges in order to engage new students.

Epiphany Give It A Go in colleges have begun.

Encourage interaction between college and Union societies.

On going

Ensure societies are inclusive and engaging to all members irrespective of differences (cultural or mode of study).

On going

UA/1415/038d Welfare, Equality, and Diversity Committee Action Plan 2014-15

This committee has not met since the previous Assembly.

Objective Actions Date Update

Develop student associations (Students with Disabilities, International, LGBT, and Mature) to be engaged with common rooms and easily accessible to students.

Role descriptions for common room positions for association demographics to be produced and promoted to all common rooms.

Michaelmas Term

Ensure college reps for associations and the association executives are meeting termly in line with constitutions.

Michaelmas Term

All association constitutions to be reviewed and approved by Assembly.

June 2015

Produce a central resource for JCRs, MCRs, associations, and Nightline to share resources and provide feedback to ensure quality assurance for student signposting across all colleges

Produce a mechanism for providing appropriate feedback on experiences of signposted services and quality assurance of such services

Michaelmas Term

Explore an appropriate host space for such a central resource (Union website, Dropbox, etc.) for sharing services.

Michaelmas Term

Agree procedure for keeping information up-to-date and relevant.

Michaelmas Term

Collect resources from across the University, identify gaps and source appropriate information.

March 2015

Develop campaigns and projects around the issues of consent and sexual harassment

Research consent campaigns ran at Oxford and Cambridge and also the ‘I love consent’ campaign ran by NUS with a view to producing a campaign at Durham.

Michaelmas Term

The subgroup is due to prior between the deadline for papers and Assembly.

Explore producing a zero tolerance to sexual harassment policy at Durham Students’ Union.

Michaelmas Term

Use good practice from common rooms and elsewhere to share and promote across the University for 15/16

Ongoing

Use collaboration with stakeholders on the student alcohol and safety working group (county council, police, university, etc.) to get support for our work in this area.

Ongoing

UA/1415/039e

Media Committee Action Plan 2014 - 15

Objective Actions Date Update

Define media’s role and structure within the Students’ Union

Consult with media groups about their position within the Students’ Union structure.

November

Review governance structure of all student media groups. Michaelmas Possible structures being researched.

Conduct a resources audit for media

Investigate the possibility of the Union providing a media budget.

This is being investigated.

Raise Profile of student media in Durham City and Queen’s campus

Increase visibility of media on Students’ Union website. Michaelmas/ Epiphany

Changes have now been implemented.

Identify methods to showcase student media across campus.

Epiphany Methods discussed at last meeting, committee following up on Action Points.

Improve training provision for student media groups

Complete a skills audit to identify training needs. Epiphany Ongoing.

Forge links with trade professionals and other Student Unions to receive industry quality training.

Epiphany Google Doc created to gather details.

Plan training for student groups Epiphany

DUCK Committee Action Plan UA/1415/039f

Objective Actions Date Update

Transparency and Sustainability Use sponsorship money for the growth of DUCK as opposed to subsidising events.

Ongoing

Introduce the role of Treasurer onto the DUCK Exec and publish yearly reports for DUCK to raise accountability.

Ongoing

Educate students and the public regarding the allocations process and the DUCK Giving Strategy.

Ongoing

Fundraising Introduce new methods of fundraising to DUCK. ie. Text Giving.

December

Create a series of new events to maximise profits.

Ongoing

Identify opportunities to engage the wider community in DUCK’s fundraising.

Ongoing

Awareness Redefine the Queen’s Campus role and introduce team to increase DUCK presence in Queen’s.

Ongoing

Establish new Publicity and Communications teams in order to increase marketing through central DUCK Exec.

December

Create marketing training for members of DUCK to raise awareness of their events.

Epiphany term

UA/1415/039g

Governance Committee

Objective Actions Date Update

Ensure a smooth running of assembly Review all papers before being placed on the agenda, ensuring they have had appropriate scrutiny by Union Committees

Continuous

Oversee Cross-campus Elections Review and make recommendations on the Union election rules

February 2015

Rules agreed at last Assembly.

Set dates for the Officer, NUS delegate and Student Trustee elections

January 2015

Dates set for NUS Conference and Development Officer by-election.

Ensure appropriate candidate training for all elections Epiphany Term

Training completed, reviewed to follow.

Make recommendations to improve the Standing Orders

Review the current standing orders and identify areas for improvement

Epiphany Terms

Draft appropriate standing orders that meet the needs of the Union

Epiphany Term

Present to assembly for approval Epiphany Term

UA/1415/039h

Academic Affairs Action Plan

Objective Actions Date Update

Embedding the development of academic and transferable skills into the teaching, learning and assessment process.

Investigate approaches to, and provision of, academic and transferable skills throughout the university. Identify best practice, and opportunities for quality enhancement.

Policy produced.

Lobby for a consistent approach to, and provision of, academic and transferable skills across department and faculty, and provision which is appropriate and relevant to the entire student body.

Investigate the appropriateness and relevance of PGR researcher development programme and doctoral training provision and make recommendations for quality enhancement.

Ensure that support systems are conducive to students’ academic wellbeing.

Investigate how students access academic support and why they access it. Make recommendations for change where gaps in provision exist.

Investigate the disclosure process and make recommendations for change, focussing on improving coordination and transparency.

Raise the profile and strengthen the support of academic representation.

Ensure the sustainability and engagement with course rep system by staff and students.

Follow up with departments to ensure that department reps have been elected.

Evaluate success of course rep elections and implement changes in Easter term.

UA/1415/039i Facilities and Services committee

Actions Date Update

Improve opportunities for students through technology

Assess current technology provision across the campus and identify areas for improvement.

Develop a method to allow better student engagement in IT

The committee met with IT to discuss suggested changes.

Lobby for a Blackboard app.

Enhance the provision of communal space across both campuses.

Encourage the university to make it clear the purpose of spaces across the campuses.

Work with YUM to facilitate the ability of students to eat their own food on site.

Prioritise the need for student facilities in order to inform the university’s estate strategy

Establish principles on which priority should be given to refurbishment of the University estate.

Improve the faith space provision on campus

Research current provision versus need.

Discuss appropriate solutions and develop policy to put to assembly

UA/1415/039j Ethical and Environmental Committee

The committee have not met since the last Assembly.

Objective Actions Date Update

To evaluate the University’s supply chain to see whether trafficking has occurred.

Propose motion to Assembly against trafficking January

Use specialised software to rate the University’s supply chain.

January

Evaluate rating and make suggestions to make Durham University in order to become the first traffic free university.

Ongoing

To encourage the university to divest from fossil fuels.

Speak to Glasgow University who have agreed to divest from fossil fuels.

Investigate alternative provision and look at what impact there may be for Durham students.

Propose policy to Assembly pushing alternatives to fossil fuels.

To reduce the water consumption from Durham students and evaluate provision of sustainable water.

Evaluate how water is used in colleges and by livers out.

Work with University to increase provision of water fountains.

Epiphany.

Campaign to reduce water consumption in colleges and throughout the Durham community.