our plan
DESCRIPTION
The Guild's vision for the next three yearsTRANSCRIPT
OUR PLAN2013-16
WHO WE ARE4
WHERE WE’VECOME FROM
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OUR CHALLENGES8
WHAT WE WANTFOR STUDENTS
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OUR KEYPRIORITIES
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The student body at the University of Exeter is made up of a wide and diverse range of individuals, but they all have one thing in common: they are all members of the Students’ Guild.
It is therefore the Guild’s promise that whatever our vision for the future is, it is our members who shape and approve everything that we do.
We’ve spent the last 12 months consulting our students, staff and trustees, as well as stakeholders from the University. Having listened to all of their feedback, we have drawn together a strategy that we believe fully embodies our all-inclusive, democratic ethos.
As such, we are confident that this is the best plan for us to follow over the next three years, and we now look forward to implementing it.
Nick DaviesGuild President, 2012/13
Chair of Trustee Board, 2012/13
James HutchinsonChief Executive
University of Exeter Students’ Guild
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We are your Students’ Union We just have a different name.
WHAT WE WANT TO ACHIEVE
To deliver dynamic services and effective representation that lead to the highest levels of
participation and engagement in the country.
To be recognised as a leading
students’ union in the UK, delivering the best student
experience.
ALLOW US TO INTRODUCE OURSELVES
WE EXIST
To represent all of our members (if you are a student, you are
automatically a member of the Guild).
To provide great services and facilities.
To make a positive difference to
every student’s ‘Exeter Experience’.
WE ARE
STUDENT-LEDWe seek to place students at the heart of our decision making and support them as leaders of the
organisation.
DEMOCRATICWe are committed to the most
open, accessible and fair democratic processes.
ACTIVE
Engagement with the Guild at any level should support students to be active, engaged and participative
citizens, both as students and graduates.
RESPONSIBLE
We embrace our social responsibilities as an organisation, and aim for this to be the driving
force behind everything that we do.
PROFESSIONALWe aim to deliver the highest
professional standards in everything that we do.
EQUAL & DIVERSE
As an organisation we are entirely committed to equality
and diversity, and will go above and beyond to ensure that this is
realised.
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WHERE WE‘VE COME FROM
It was 2009 when we put forward our last plan, and for the last three years it has played an integral role in maintaining and enhancing the quality of the student experience at Exeter. However, for our latest plan to be successful, the new set of circumstances we now face must be taken into account.
The Forum had not yet been built. The maximum universities could charge for tuition was £3,000.
The University of Exeter was ranked outside of the top 10 British universities.
The University of Exeter was part of the 1994 Group of universities.
The Guild didn’t routinely conduct consultation on key issues with its members.
The Guild had turned year on year deficits.
Election turnout in Guild elections stood at 27%.
Improving student satisfaction was a key priority for the Students’ Guild.
The Forum is open and fully functional.
The University of Exeter increases its tuition fees to £9,000.
The University of Exeter is ranked as a top ten British university.
The University of Exeter is part of the Russell Group.
The Guild consults 12,000 students annually.
The Guild is achieving year on year surpluses.
Election turnout in Guild elections is one of the highest in the country (34%).
The Guild achieves one of the highest student satisfaction scores in the NSS (76%).
IN 2009/10 IN 2012/13
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UNIVERSITY GROWTH
The University is likely to grow to around
20,000 students over the next six years, and
target £100m in research grants by 2018.
If the Guild is to keep up then we will have
to respond accordingly to this continued
expansion of the University. There will have
to be significant investment in staff and
infrastructure, as well as a continued focus
on maintaining the highest possible quality of
teaching and student experience during this
period of growth.
For all the new developments over the last three years, new challenges have inevitably arisen. How we respond to them will be paramount to the success of our plan. However, first of all we must recognise exactly what these challenges are.
OURCHALLENGES
CAMPUSES
Ensuring that students from all of the Universi-
ty of Exeter’s campuses are benefitting equally
from the Guild’s work is of great importance.
Following the development of the new Medi-
cal School, the University will have a presence
across four campuses: Streatham, St Luke’s,
Tremough and Wonford. While the Guild is
responsible for students across all campuses,
the relationship with students in Cornwall is
more complex due to the arrangements with
the Falmouth and Exeter Union (FXU).
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TUITION FEES INCREASE
With tuition fees for Home and EU
undergraduate students tripling in 2012/13, it
is inevitable that the expectations of students
towards the Students’ Guild, as well as their
university experience as a whole, will have
begun to rise.
INCREASED FOCUS ON FAIR ACCESS MEASURE
Widening access is a significant challenge for
the University of Exeter; meeting the targets
set out in the University’s Office of Fair Access
(OFFA) agreement must be a priority. The
Students’ Guild supports the University’s use
of background data during the admissions
process, as this allows them to make offers
to applicants which take into account the
context in which academic grades have been
achieved.
MEDICAL SCHOOL
The development of the new University of
Exeter Medical School is going to require
significant investment from the University,
and will require the Students’ Guild to
be more directly involved in supporting the
representative structures within the new college.
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WHAT WE WANT FOR STUDENTS
HAVE THEIR SAY & MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN
At the core of all we do is encouraging
students to get involved in the democratic
processes we are able to offer. Through the
Guild every student should be able to have
their voice heard and implement the changes
that they think will help best enhance their
university experience. By supporting students
to do this we can ensure they get the most out
of their time while at Exeter.
Delivering students with the best experience possible while at the University of Exeter motivates everything that we do. We believe the Guild will have the biggest impact on students’ lives by supporting them to do the following.
An extensive series of con-sultations where we asked over 2,200 students to pro-vide comprehensive feed-back on a wide range of top-ics related to the Guild.
EXEQUEST 2012TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE IN SOCIETY
Through engagement with the Guild students
gain valuable skills and experiences that
influence their future careers and engagement
in society. The importance of students gaining
these through the Guild was something that
was highlighted in ExeQuest 2012, which
informed our focus in all key areas.
GET THE MOST OUT OF THEIR TIME & MONEY
The Guild wants to ensure that the investment
each student makes in coming to the University
of Exeter is one which provides them with
an experience that meets their expectations.
From taking part in some of the wide range of
societies we offer, having a great night out in
one of our venues, or working with us to get
the most out of a course, there are a number of
ways students are able to maximise the quality
of their university experience with the Guild.
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Have Their Say & Make Change Happen
Take an Active Role in Society
Get the Most out of Their Time and Money
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OUR KEY PRIORITIES
STUDENT PARTICIPATION & ENGAGEMENT
High levels of student participation and en-
gagement underpins all that we do as the
Guild. Over the last four years the number of
students interacting with us as an organisa-
tion has increased significantly. As we move
forward however, we must now focus on the
quality of this engagement. Students who
invest their valuable time engaging with the
Guild should be highly satisfied with the sup-
port they receive, and able to see the benefits
of their participation both at university and in
the careers ahead of them.
In order for our plan to succeed, we must prioritise. These will be our key points of focus over the next three years.
STUDENT VOICE
Our representation has been highly effective
at an institutional level. We have been able
to consistently advocate for students, and
enact the necessary changes to enhance
their time at Exeter. However, as ExeQuest
2012 established, students consider seeing
an improvement in representation to be
their number one priority. Therefore, we will
be working to build better partnerships with
the University’s colleges so that new ways
for students to influence key decisions at
some of the highest levels are developed.
WORKING WITH OTHERS
It is key that, whilst upholding our right to
challenge them on key issues, we build upon
our beneficial relationships with other like-
minded organisations. Therefore, to deliver a
better student experience, we plan to continue
to work closely with the University, the Devon
County and Exeter City councils, and the
surrounding community agencies.
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COMMUNICATING WHAT WE DO
Research we have recently undertaken has
shown that students are very satisfied with the
Guild’s services. However, when it comes to
satisfaction at an organisational level, there is
certainly room for improvement. For example,
respondents of the 2011 International Student
Barometer (ISB) gave a very high rating to our
societies (93%), as well as our advice serv-
ices (90%). In contrast, in the 2012 National
Student Survey, 76% of students stated that
they were satisfied with the Students’ Guild. In
order to do better in this area we must work to
improve the Guild’s communication with stu-
dents, and develop our visual identity so that
students are more aware of what the Guild
does, how we benefit their daily lives, and how
we are separate from the University of Exeter.
INVESTING MORE IN OUR STUDENTS
To ensure students get the most out of their
time at Exeter, we will invest in areas which
will be of maximum benefit to them. We will
also continue to make sure that our trading
services demonstrate good value for money,
and that they are able to reinvest their
profits straight back into improving student
satisfaction to the highest possible degree.
HIGH QUALITY FACILITIES
We will continue to invest in new spaces for
students which are both environmentally
friendly and of the highest quality. As part of
this process, we will need to conduct reviews
on our existing facilities, and secure the
necessary funding to ensure that the spaces
we provide all meet the high expectations of
our students.