NUS Governance and Reform (and other related matters...)

...I know, I know, it sounds really boring! But in reality, the National Union of Students (or the NUS) is going through a governance review just like the Guild did, to make it more effective and relevant for students. The review has been dragging on, and this year will see the chance to shape the future of the NUS once and for all, so your national union, which the Guild is affiliated to, can focus more on campaigning for your rights.

The picture shows the proposed structure - it means that there will be more space for conversation and debate over issues than there is currently, and the trustee board also allows for external expertise (a model which we have recently adopted).

On November 12th 17 student delegates from the University of Birmingham will be going to Wolverhampton to vote on this proposal at an extraordinary conference. Those who go will be going to represent you - so it is important that they know what you think! Either comment on the blog or e-mail me and I can pass any feedback on to the President, who is the delegation leader. Delegates will be elected tomorrow at Guild Council - if you want to stand, come along to the meeting at 6pm!

On a related note, elections for NUS delegates (who will go the annual conference and represent students there) are on 17th and 18th November. Nominations open on October 27th and close on November 7th - packs are available from reception.

Students and the Credit Crunch...

There was an interesting article in yesterday's Observer which featured students from the University of Birmingham. Whilst I'm not going to comment on what they said, it makes me wonder whether people are really aware of the fact that their loans will not be going up with inflation, which will really have an impact on what people can afford to do and eat, especially with jobs being more hard to come by.

The article is here http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/12/recession-economics1, as I don't understand to make it all fancy yet (gotta start somewhere, hey?)

Anyway, that was all just a point of interest - more blogs to come on what I have been doing later!

What have I been doing?!

Hey guys,
Long time no blog - sorry about that! Since I last blogged, its been absolutely mental in the Guild! This is a short post to tell you all what I have been doing since then - I'll write seperate blog posts about some of the bigger points later on!

*I went to the Birmingham City Council Best Bar None awards dinner. Joes have already won a NUSSL award for this, and fantastically Joes won Best Suburban Bar! Massive thanks to the venues staff for working so hard on this.

*I have got the Sound Impact Awards under way with Pippa, our EEO, and our Buildings Manager.

*Welcome Week! I'm not even going to tell you what I did then because it definately warrants its own post!

*Have done a student consultation and been involved heavily in the building redevelopment meetings, to make sure that the Guild, when it is fully redeveloped in 2010, is better for students than it has ever been!

*Done lots of planning for elections!

*Been to a University Council away day and induction session. Myself and Jen, the President, are the student representatives on this, which is essentially the highest decision making body in the University!

*Been to the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford.

*Attended meetings on the Nightbus and the SHAC.

...and lots more! It has been really great having students back as it injects so much life into the building, and I feel as though I have a greater sense of purpose when people are about! Yay!

...and lots of other things! It has been really great having the students back as it feels as though there is

The Guild Building Redevelopment!

Here at Birmingham we are very lucky to have a big building, which we have full use of. Over the summer I have met some Officers from other Unions who are very jealous of us.

Anyway, I digress. As if our building isn't good enough already, over the next 2 years we will be undergoing a massive redevelopment to make sure that our building is bigger and better than ever, and better served to meet the needs of our students.

Phase 1 is due to be completed in mid-October. This is about bringing you better toilets, and these are already open in the Basement and Underground. New toilets on the first floor next to the Common Room will be opened mid-October.

Phase 2 will start in April 2009, and will be making our bars and retail services even better. This will be ready in time for Welcome Week 2009.

Phase 3 is about improving our student services - thats Student Development, the ARC and the Jobzone. That will be finished by Apil 2010.

But what we really need is your opinion! I am currently looking for students who will complete a brief questionnaire for me so we can get your opinions on what you would like to see from Phase 2 of the redevelopment.

Please e-mail h.lazell@guild.bham.ac.uk

Hidden Course Costs!

Last friday I was lucky enough to finally finish my MSc course. Sadly though, after paying almost £6,000 in tuition, buying countless books and spending almost £10 on printing my dissertation alone, I then had to fork out £34 just to get it bound!

Whilst these seemingly trivial amounts of money may be nothing to the minority, to the majority of people they are becoming part of a greater problem which is seeing students graduate with crippling amounts of debt. Student loan debt, combined with top up fees and these other hidden costs are not only forcing many graduates to move back home after they finish, but is meaning that less and less people are attracted to higher education, and ultimately university is becoming a privilege, not a right.

This is why the Officer Team this year are putting Value for Money at the heart of the campaigns we do. We don't think its right that students who are paying large amounts of money for tuition and accommodation are getting seemingly little out of it, whilst having to pay for all these hidden extras. So for the next academic year, look out for our many campaigns, be they to do with printing credits or halls fees, and get involved!

NUS Reform

Hello all,

The NUS (National Union of Students) are currently undergoing a governance review, as the Guild did earlier in the year. The NUS represents millions of students like you around the country, and their work is primarily focused on leading campaigns on issues such as top-up fees and free prescriptions for students. However, they can only continue to do this if their structure can change to be more relevant to students.

This is where you come in. The NUS are leading an e-consultation that ends on August 31st, and they want as much student input as possible. Obviously the summer is a difficult time to be doing this, but it is certainly doable!

To be part of the NUS reform and to have your say, go to this website http://www.officeronline.co.uk/news/275620.aspx and get involved!

If you would like more information either e-mail me at h.lazell@guild.bham.ac.uk, or come and see me in my office (top floor of the Guild directly above Spar).

Our first few days!

Hello all!

On our last day of training we got sent on a "suprise" trip to Alton Towers, as one last day of fun before we started properly. I say it was a suprise, but most of us had guessed despite the efforts of Sparky (our VPS) to keep it a secret! With limited time we managed to go on a lot of the big rides (I loved Air!!) and also, more importantly, we spent lots of time (and money) trying to win cuddly toys...most of which are now going to be living on the exec corridor for the next year! On the left you can see a picture of the seven sabbs at the end of the day, along with our winnings.....

Friday, August 1st was our first full day. Needless to say, we were all quite excited about getting our offices and shifting them round so not much work got done....

Naively I thought that this week would allow us to get our heads round things and get settled in, but we were properly thrown into it with a 9am-6pm day with the University! Since then I've been occupied with appeals, one to one sessions with staff to find out more about the job, and showing people from UCL round the building so they could learn about us and we could learn about their union!