KENTUNION

impact

report

Our vision

is to be an exceptional organisation that has a lasting impact on the world around us, through helping our members grow as people, representing their views to improve the educational experience at the University of Kent and being a sustainable and responsible organisation.

The front cover of this report is the image that kicked off #buildingup - a campaign to secure Kent Union a new Student Activities Centre.

#buildingup is the priority campaign for Kent Union for 2012/13 and we hope to have secured agreement with the University of Kent for the new centre by July 2014.

Our values

Democratic We are student led through strong democratic structures; we believe in the principle and power of democracy; our members play an active role in our democracy and in society.

OutstandingWe know that our stakeholders expect a lot from us, so we endeavour to excel at everything we do – representing students and providing high quality services.

InclusiveWe have a deep belief in the principle of equality of opportunity and take positive action to promote diversity; we campaign on behalf of discriminated-against groups and have an inclusive culture.

Responsible We are an open, transparent and responsible organisation; we have strong and effective governance arrangements; we implement best ethical and environmental practice and are committed to the principle of volunteerism.

ProfessionalWe have a professional management team and professional staff and we are an outstanding employer; we create a positive working environment in which our staff enjoy work and are passionate about what they do.

Our plan 2011 - 14 is divided into 5 areas:

Creating changeWe take positive action to create change and to help students play a full role in society.

Enhancing the student experienceWe help students to stay on track with their courses, to complete their studies and to enjoy their time at Kent.

The voice of studentsWe are the voice of all students at the University of Kent; we represent our members to the University, the communities in which they live and to wider society through our membership of the national student movement.

Supporting graduate employabilityWe work with the University to help students develop transferable skills and self-confidence so that they are better able to secure graduate employment.

Sustainable and healthy organisationWe ensure that Kent Union meets its charitable objectives and is a successful, well-governed and well-managed organisation, which keeps an eye on the present as well as ensures its long-term future.

Introduction

This 2011/12 Impact Report provides an insight into the amazing work carried out by Kent Union and UMSA (our operation in Medway); the achievements made by us and our members and the impact this has on the world around us.

We hope you’ll agree the evidence speaks for itself.

2011/12

Let’s see what we achieved and how we made an impact...

Creating Change...We take positive action to create change and to help students play a full role in society

18,231 votes cast in our

Leadership election

626 election candidates across the year

from the local community joined us for volunteering projects across the county

volunteers

30

Bags of rubbish collected from the London Road Estate Litter Pick

510students involved

in student media

27,234 votes cast throughout the year

Creating Change...We take positive action to create change and to help students play a full role in society

... and making an impact.and this is the impact we made in 2011/12

At an Education Zone meeting, our members discussed how we could reduce access barriers to education for students studying at Kent, particularly those living off campus, working long hours to support themselves, those with disabilities or those that study part time.

Kent Union successfully lobbied for a lecture recording pilot which

will run in the 2012-13 academic year. This was achieved following a campaign which culminated in a petition signed by hundreds of students.

We lobbied the University regarding the importance of students being adequately supported through their studies.

We secured funding for a free, confidential and impartial Student Led Mediation service which will

be launched in 2013.

We continued to work with our student newspaper InQuire, supporting over 240 volunteers, providing them guidance and training for their career development in student media.

When we asked them, 79% of our InQuire volunteers agreed that

being part of InQuire makes them more employable in the future.

Our Psychology Society developed a ‘Buddy Scheme’ aimed at supporting learning among young children with autism in the local community.

The highly successful scheme was nominated for a national Student

Innovation award. It will extend its reach in 2012/13, working with the Tizzard Centre on a study to investigate learning development in autistic children.

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We developed our Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment and Discrimination campaign, focusing on improving customer experience in our venues and training staff to be more confident in dealing with issues.

Our students feel safer.

“My female friends and I enjoy, and feel more comfortable, going out now since the introduction of the Zero Tolerance policy. It is definitely a safer environment on a night out. Everyone is aware of the consequences if they break the policy. I also think that it has made more female students aware of issues affecting them and has made them more interested in getting involved in women’s issues.”

Megan Wells, 3rd year student

Enhancing the student experience...We help students to stay on track with their courses, to complete their studies and to enjoy their time at Kent

296successful VISA approvals

Students earned

£714,000working for our services

426

students employed by Kent Union

5678 students helped via the Advice Centre

18,834 student

temping hours

6005 studentsjoined

There are

217

sports clubs and

societies

We held over

500 eventsin The Venue, Rutherford Bar, Coopers, The Attic

and Woodys

Our Advice Centre provided support to 5678 students on issues concerning welfare, housing, academic and consumer issues.

Our service has continued to provide crucial assistance to

students’ needing support during their studies, helping around 15% more students than in 2010/11.

We delivered training on Inclusivity and Diversity to one of our larger sporting groups Kent Snow, raising their awareness of issues in sport such as discrimination and access.

Following the training session, the Kent Snow committee has

organised an international tour for physically disabled students, helping to break down access barriers to sport experienced by disabled people.

In partnership with our members, we concluded our Inclusivity in Sport study and co-created a new Behaviours Policy governing how our sports clubs should behave.

Our clubs embraced the policy and committed to the new positive behaviours, evident by the

reduction of problems associated with sporting initiation ceremonies.

Our Student Committee Presidents helped organise seven days of events and activities during Welcome Week 2011 to help new students ease into university life.

The work of our Student Committee Presidents led to

the highest number of candidates for Student Committee roles and the highest vote turnout for Student Committee elections.

... and making an impact.and this is the impact we made in 2011/12

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Chen Yu, is an International Postgraduate Research Student. He has volunteered as a PGR Course Rep and also as a Welcome Helper for the Graduate Students Association (KGSA).

Having taken part in volunteering activity,

Chen Yu now feels confident to speak in public using English (English not being his first language).

He would happily recommend volunteering to other international students as a way to meet others and build confidence.

Supporting graduate employability...We work with the University to help students develop transferable skills and self-confidence so that they are better able to secure graduate employment

1,850student

volunteers 82,024 volunteering hours

692Kent Student Certificates in Volunteering

that’s 44 hours per student (on

average)

5793registrations with

215students

employed as temps

2898jobs

advertised through

jobshop

@kent

and earnt £174,000 working through

We launched an intern programme, committing to develop opportunities for students to work within our organisation in 2012/13.

We’re increasing students graduate employment opportunities, working

closely with our members helping them to build skills for the future.

Kent Union delivered the Award in Volunteer Management training for 34 of our lead student volunteers.

34 students became Institute of Leadership and Management

accredited in areas such as ‘Building and supporting a team’ and ‘Motivating volunteers’ giving them valuable skills to cite on their CV and improving their graduate employment opportunities.

We held Stand Out training sessions which focused on ‘Building committee skills’ and ‘Enhancing employability’.

We trained 371 students, building their confidence and skills in

leadership, management and volunteer empowerment.

We trained students groups to develop and deliver training and, with thanks to funding from the Faculty of Humanities, these groups were able to pass on valuable employability skills.

Our student trainers were able to build their employability skills whilst

reducing access barriers to society membership for some of our marginalised student groups.

We piloted our new Employability Toolkit from February to July. The toolkit is an interactive online resource allowing students to capture their employment skills and voluntary experience.

Students can now record their development, training and

volunteering efforts, identify skill gaps and take away a transcript to show potential employers.

Via our Jobshop service, we advertised 2898 part time, full time and graduate opportunities to students.

We provided our members with diverse employment opportunities,

enabling them to better to support themselves whilst studying at university .

... and making an impact.and this is the impact we made in 2011/12

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We are thrilled to have received funding to repeat this programme again!

Thank you School of Humanities!

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1,500 Teaching Award nominations

The voice of students... We are the voice of all students at the University of Kent, we represent our members to the University, the communities in which they live and to wider society through our membership of the national student movement

218 elected Course Reps

154 trained

£26,808the amount of money

raised by RAG 800students submitted ideas for the

Presidents Priority campaign

We campaigned to Canterbury City Council for over two years regarding the Houses of Multiple Occupancy policy.

We successfully blocked the policy, meaning that our students have

more freedom to live where they wish.

Our members lobbied Stagecoach to raise awareness of the need for a later bus service in Canterbury.

We won the first bus scheduled to run past midnight, enabling

students to travel more safely around our city.

We continued to work in partnership with MPs and Council leaders.

Our officers raised awareness of key student issues such as

community engagement and the NUS ‘Come Clean’ campaign.

Kent Union campaigned to the University of Kent to improve IT provision for Post Graduate students.

We succeeded in wifi being installed in Woolf College, providing

additional support to students when completing their studies.

Through our ‘Good, Bad and Ugly’ campaign, our members lobbied the University to improve the way students receive feedback on their coursework.

Policy has now passed stating that students must receive their

coursework in three calendar weeks. The quality of feedback has also significantly improved.

... making an impact.and this is the impact we made in 2011/12

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We developed a student ambassador scheme and supported our volunteers to deliver a project in Canterbury primary schools aimed at widening participation to Higher Education

Following the project at Pilgrims Way Primary

School the teacher highlighted how many of the boys were now interested in drama and had joined the drama club at the school. Teachers at Canterbury Primary School really felt that it had boosted the children’s desire to read, both in and out of school.

From our independent evaluation“The children loved it, and it did increase enthusiasm for reading... Within this school it’s quite difficult to get the children to read outside of school.”

670 points in the Green Impact awards (the student union average is 499)

A sustainable and healthy organisation...We ensure that Kent union meets its charitable objectives and is a successful, well-governed and well-managed organisation, which keeps an eye on the present as well as ensures its long-term future.

268 Fairtrade, organic and local products sold in

our outlets (25 more than last year)

97.2percent

of our staff are satisfied working for Kent Union

We reduced our carbon footprint per

full time staff member by

3.1%

We launched our new extensive Behaviours Framework, which was co-created by career and student staff working at Kent Union.

We can ensure positive behaviours are rewarded and that our staff are

supportive of our organisation’s values.

We collaborated with the University and other stakeholders to develop a plan for our new nursery building.

Through our improved facility, we will be able to provide childcare

for a greater number of children making our service more accessible for student parents.

We worked hard at reducing the waste we send to landfill and lessening the negative the impact we have on the environment.

Our landfill waste was reduced by 6.96 tonnes on the previous year –

a fall of 28.2%.

Our highly successful GEM ‘Go the Extra Mile’ awards continued. The awards reward our staff and recognise excellence in the service they give our customers.

We celebrated the successes of 122 students by presenting them

with GEM awards which recognise and reward their positive achievements.

... and making an impact.and this is the impact we made in 2011/12

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We were awarded 35th place in the Sunday Times ‘100 Best Not for Profit Organisations to Work for 2012’.

“Kent Union understands that for staff to be able to do their best work, they need to be happy with their employer, their surroundings and their team.”

Tom Ritchie, Union President

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£1,665,986University Grant

We raised...£10,412,532

We spent...£10,412,532

£827,886Income from other

trade such as Jobshop, Nursery, Sponsorship and Advertising Sales

£5,294,901Spent in our shops

£418,113Subscriptions

and fundraising

£2,205,646Spent on food, drink and having fun in our cafes,

bars and venues

£83,195Surplus made

for future development

£718,320Cost of providing services such as Jobshop and the

Nursery

£4,950,413Cost of running our shops

£752,507Campaigning

£2,428,442Cost of providing food, drink

and fun in our cafes, bars and venues

£1,016,083Cost of providing student activities: Clubs, Societies, Media and Volunteering

£463,572Free advice and

support

£

Officers 2011/12

Tom RitchieUnion President Lauren CrowleyVice-President (Education)Colum McGuireVice-President (Welfare)Kenny BuddVice-President (Activities)Hannah DavisVice-President (Sports)

Student Trustees 2011/12

Emily Morrey-McGrathPhil ButlerEtienne ChuretSue ShepherdAlexis Lee

External Trustees 2011/12

Matt Williams Ted FriswellDerek Smith Kate Heywood

Senior Managers 2011/12

Jim GardnerChief ExecutiveTony LoganDirector of OperationsPeter ColeDirector of FinanceHannah WallingtonDirector of Marketing and Business DevelopmentKirsty MonkDirector of Graduate Employability and Medway

• We will have achieved Leaders in Diversity status from the National Centre for Diversity.

• Our members will cast at least 50,000 votes in our democratic processes.

• We will employ 600 students directly or through Jobshop.

• We will increase the number of students involved in clubs and societies to 45% of the membership, whilst retaining member satisfaction.

• 85% of our members will rate Kent union as either Good or Very Good in our annual satisfaction survey.

• We will have secured firm commitment from the University for a new Student Activities Centre

• 60% of our members will agree that their Course Reps provide them with effective representation.

• We will ensure 200 student staff leave university with a certified transcript of all training they have completed through Kent Union.

• 800 students will graduate with our new Skills Record.• We will reduce our carbon footprint per fte employee

by 3%.• We will have opened our new nursery and increased

the number of places for student parents. See our website for From Good to Great: Our plan 2011-14

Some of our goals for 2012/13

Mandela Building, University of Kent Canterbury CT2 7NWwww.kentunion.co.uk

t: 01227 824200 e: kentunion@kent.ac.uk