Swansea University Students' Union - Strategic Plan 2019 - 2022
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<strong>Swansea</strong> <strong>University</strong> Students’ <strong>Union</strong> is a<br />
charity led by students, for students.<br />
Ffion Davies<br />
President 2020/2021
Contents<br />
Our strategic plan for <strong>2019</strong>-<strong>2022</strong> sets out our goals for the<br />
next three years across seven themes:<br />
Academic1<br />
2<br />
Social<br />
Connecting Locally<br />
and Globally<br />
3<br />
4<br />
Looking Ahead<br />
Student Journey<br />
5<br />
6<br />
Governance, Management,<br />
People and Resources<br />
Partnership and<br />
Relationship with the<br />
<strong>University</strong><br />
7
ACADEMIC
Academic<br />
We aim to review the roles of our Part Time Officer<br />
Teams so that they are better engaged with the<br />
SU and help us to achieve our goals<br />
We will...<br />
research current trends in other SUs, evaluate best<br />
practice and appraise options that will enable us to<br />
engage better with our Part Time Officers (PTO’s)
Academic<br />
We aim to hold the <strong>University</strong> to account and<br />
seek positive change for our membership to<br />
maximise the student experience<br />
We will...<br />
analyse how we drive for change and learn how to better<br />
effectively campaign to make positive changes for our<br />
membership<br />
review our partnership agreements with the <strong>University</strong> to<br />
ensure that they align with our own goals and objectives<br />
work with the Joint Working Partnership Group (JWPG)<br />
to create more commercial opportunities that improve<br />
the services across the <strong>University</strong> campuses<br />
enhance, develop and restructure the Student Rep<br />
system<br />
improve the experience of PGR students based on<br />
research and feedback provisions
SOCIAL
Social<br />
We aim to improve our engagement with the<br />
students at Bay Campus so that they feel<br />
represented and a part of our SU<br />
We will...<br />
improve our presence at Bay Campus by reviewing the<br />
design and use of our space<br />
appraise the delivery of our services and events at Bay<br />
Campus<br />
seek more feedback from students at Bay Campus so<br />
that we can provide better support and improve their<br />
student experience<br />
improve the nightlife at Bay Campus and run more events<br />
so that students can socialise together and feel part of<br />
the SU<br />
continue to enhance the Fresher’s experience at Bay<br />
Campus by holding dedicated events as well as its own<br />
Fresher’s Fayre
Social<br />
We aim to provide more opportunities<br />
for students through volunteering and<br />
participation in Clubs and Societies<br />
We will...<br />
ensure that there is enough bookable space available to<br />
encourage and meet the demands of student societies<br />
allocate resources to our Societies to ensure that they are<br />
adequately funded to support their activities<br />
work with the <strong>University</strong> and investigate the possibility<br />
of creating more specialised society space such as that<br />
required by the Dance Society and Gaming Society<br />
look into the feasibility of developing a Society App that<br />
will support and increase student engagement with our<br />
societies<br />
strengthen our relationship with Discovery and third<br />
sector organisations so that we can collectively provide<br />
more volunteering opportunities
eview our <strong>Swansea</strong> Student Media (SSM) so that we are<br />
able to provide the best support possible, both now and<br />
in the future, to our student volunteers<br />
review the current structure and arrangements between<br />
the SU and Sports <strong>Swansea</strong> so that it represents,<br />
encourages and offers the best opportunities possible for<br />
students to get involved in sport at all levels<br />
Social<br />
We aim to provide a diverse range of student-led<br />
events, activities, trip and retail services<br />
We will...<br />
provide events that are welcoming, safe and appeal to<br />
all our members including increasing the number of nonalcoholic<br />
events within our venues and outside spaces<br />
aim to develop retail services that cater to all of our<br />
student community
CONNECTING<br />
GLOBALLY AND<br />
LOCALLY
Connecting Globally and Locally<br />
We aim to reduce our environmental impact and<br />
encourage our membership and staff to adopt<br />
sustainable management practices<br />
We will...<br />
set SMART objectives that align with the <strong>University</strong>’s own<br />
sustainability objectives<br />
campaign to reduce the use of plastic in our venues and<br />
across campus<br />
run environmental initiatives in our commercial outlets<br />
that recognise and reward best practice<br />
agree a budget to support our environmental<br />
objectives<br />
achieve Green Impact Award<br />
work with the <strong>University</strong> in pursuit of their ISO 140001<br />
objectives and retainment of the accreditation<br />
work with the <strong>University</strong> on the Aspect and Impact (A&I)<br />
objectives<br />
communicate our environmental objectives to our<br />
staff<br />
ensure that our Part time Elected Environmental Officer<br />
plays a key role in helping us achieve our environmental<br />
objectives<br />
open a new retail outlet that promotes environmentally<br />
friendly living and offers a range a products to support<br />
zero waste initiatives
Connecting Globally and Locally<br />
We aim to better engage with our alumni and<br />
enhance the benefits available for our Honorary<br />
Life Members<br />
We will...<br />
set up a database of alumni students to support<br />
communication and encourage engagement<br />
look at ways to offer opportunities to our alumni beyond<br />
university<br />
engage with our alumni to raise charitable funds<br />
(including through a third party such as Just Giving) and<br />
will seek opportunities to utilise their valuable skills and<br />
experiences since leaving <strong>Swansea</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
enhance our Honorary Life Membership (HLM) benefits
Connecting Globally and Locally<br />
We aim to have a better Welsh language focus<br />
We will...<br />
offer services in welsh, ensuring signs are equally worded<br />
in size Welsh/English<br />
audit our levels of compliance with our Welsh Language<br />
Policy, as contained in our Articles of Governance, and<br />
which is based on the NUS Wales Welsh Language<br />
Charter<br />
develop our new Welsh Affairs Full Time Officer role (FTO)<br />
to promote awareness and use of the Welsh language
LOOKING AHEAD
Looking Ahead<br />
We aim to increase the employability of students<br />
by providing opportunities to gain transferable<br />
skills that enhance personal development<br />
We will...<br />
hold seminars such as Ted Talks and Lightening Talks to<br />
inspire creativity and encourage the sharing of ideas<br />
work with the <strong>University</strong>’s employability academy (SEA)<br />
on aligning our employability objectives in order to<br />
maximise opportunities for students<br />
improve our induction and training for our student<br />
employees to provide the key skills necessary to support<br />
their own personal development<br />
continue to develop our <strong>Union</strong> Collective (UC) initiative<br />
in order to provide practical business advice and<br />
support to students enabling them to have best possible<br />
opportunity for success
STUDENT JOURNEY
Student Journey<br />
We aim to improve the mental health and<br />
wellbeing of our students so that they feel fully<br />
supported and make the most of their time at<br />
<strong>Swansea</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
We will...<br />
raise awareness of where support is available within the<br />
current mental health and wellbeing support network<br />
work with the <strong>University</strong> and campaign to increase the<br />
availability of when this support network can be accessed<br />
by students<br />
increase the number of hours available for students to<br />
access our own Welfare Advisers<br />
continue to work within the Information & Advice Quality<br />
Framework for Wales (IAQF) to aim to achieve the new<br />
welsh accreditation scheme<br />
work in partnership with Student Minds in accordance<br />
with their organisational values of collaborative, and<br />
innovative ways of empowering students to look after<br />
their own mental health and support others
continue to increase the availability of the Live Life to the<br />
Full course through our Advice & Support Centre so that<br />
our memberships can aim to improve their wellbeing and<br />
resilience<br />
Student Journey<br />
We aim to improve the levels of childcare and<br />
standard of facilities at our Nursery in order to<br />
support students with childcare responsibilities<br />
studying at the <strong>University</strong><br />
We will...<br />
continue to achieve high Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW)<br />
inspection report ratings which reflect our commitment<br />
to ongoing improvements in delivering quality childcare<br />
ensure that our Nursery leadership is strong and that<br />
staff benefit from training and a supportive management<br />
team<br />
work with the <strong>University</strong> to improve our current facilities<br />
and secure new and improved long term Nursery premises<br />
and funding<br />
work with our software provider, Nursery Connect, to<br />
improve the administration of our nursery and improve<br />
the communication with parents with regard to their<br />
child’s development and fees
GOVERNANCE,<br />
MANAGEMENT, PEOPLE<br />
AND RESOURCES
Governance, Management, People<br />
and Resources<br />
We aim to have strong leadership with highly<br />
motivated staffing teams who feel rewarded,<br />
have a shared vision and work together to achieve<br />
collective goals<br />
We will...<br />
define measurable objectives across departments and<br />
activities … including our elected officer teams to support<br />
both SU goals and manifesto pledges<br />
review our management team to ensure we have a<br />
balanced staffing structure<br />
implement a new HR software platform to provide<br />
improved support to our staff<br />
continue to review our HR policies so that they are up to<br />
date and fit for purpose<br />
support staff training opportunities to develop our staff<br />
review our staff induction process with a new staff<br />
induction pack<br />
provide an improved handover, induction & training for<br />
incoming elected officers<br />
introduce a buddy system for our elected officer teams for<br />
more accessible guidance and support<br />
offer opportunities for staff to ask questions with informal<br />
SMT on the sofa events
eview our formal meetings structure to ensure they<br />
are effective and encourage communication and<br />
collaboration<br />
provide regular and visual updates to staff to<br />
communicate progress towards achieving our strategic<br />
goals<br />
hold regular celebratory events to recognise and reward<br />
achievements<br />
recognise our past achievements, including members and<br />
staff<br />
establish a record of our past officers and honorary life<br />
members<br />
recognise staff lengths of service and reward loyalty<br />
review staff benefits and how we reward staff on their<br />
achievements
Governance, Management, People<br />
and Resources<br />
We aim to raise awareness of the Students’ <strong>Union</strong>,<br />
improve how we communicate and make our<br />
membership and the local community proud of<br />
what we do<br />
We will...<br />
use feedback from our membership and use it to improve<br />
our services through a ‘You Said, We Did’ campaign<br />
record and publish our feedback statistics to monitor and<br />
improve performance through KPIs<br />
make it clearer on our website of how to provide feedback<br />
or make complaints to improve our services<br />
set up a ‘Live Chat’ on our website for FTOs and staff so<br />
that our members are able to communicate with us easily<br />
develop a new student engagement strategy which will<br />
review our existing planning of Student Forums, Executive<br />
Committee Meetings, AGM and Officers Q&A<br />
develop an ‘About Us’ page on our website which will<br />
include staff bios
improve how we develop and promote our Impact Report,<br />
which highlights our achievements<br />
make a video that showcases all of our services<br />
effectively promote our services as putting all profits back<br />
into the SU and also brand our events as ‘Brought to you<br />
by your Students’ <strong>Union</strong>’<br />
develop a Community Engagement Strategy to improve<br />
communication, share information, gain feedback and<br />
harmonise relations<br />
Brought to you by<br />
your students’ union
Governance, Management, People<br />
and Resources<br />
We aim to review and update our Articles of<br />
Governance so that they are fit for purpose and<br />
enable us, as a charitable organisation, to<br />
operate efficiently<br />
We will...<br />
create an Articles of Governance Working Group (AoGWG),<br />
tasked with undertaking a governance review, the scope of<br />
which will be agreed with our Trustee Board<br />
communicate our progress at each stage of the review to<br />
our membership to ensure that they feel involved and part<br />
of the process<br />
use feedback from our membership and stakeholders to<br />
update our organisational Vision, Mission and Values
Governance, Management, People<br />
and Resources<br />
We aim to embed and enshrine principles of<br />
equality in all aspects of the SU and prioritise our<br />
work on equality, diversity and inclusion<br />
We will...<br />
ensure that our Equality and Diversity Policy is fit for<br />
purpose and reflects our organisations commitment to<br />
fairness<br />
schedule in events that promote positive discussion<br />
to help us understand and work towards our equality,<br />
diversity, and inclusion (EDI) targets<br />
set up BAME Student Advisory Committee to represent<br />
student voice, raise issues of race, suggest positive<br />
actions and changes, and link up with the <strong>University</strong>’s SLT<br />
and Equality structures<br />
campaign to advance equality of opportunity to those<br />
with protected characteristics<br />
develop systems to anonymously record information<br />
as part of our recruitment process so that we can<br />
encourage applicants from all backgrounds to work with<br />
us
PARTNERSHIP AND<br />
RELATIONSHIP WITH<br />
THE UNIVERSITY
Partnership and relationship<br />
with the university<br />
We aim to celebrate our history and be a part of<br />
<strong>Swansea</strong> <strong>University</strong>’s 2020 Centenary celebrations<br />
We will...<br />
work with <strong>University</strong> colleagues and play a key role in the<br />
2020 Centenary planning process<br />
plan and hold a number of Centenary Events which<br />
showcase our historic achievements as a SU as well as<br />
promoting our ambitions for the future