OUR PLAN 2013 -16

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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Student Participation & Engagement

Working with Others

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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.

High Quality Facilities & Investing More in Our Students

Communicating What We Do

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