HOW DO WE REPRESENT?
So ‘students as partners’ is now a thing, along with the fact that some of our Colleges will be moving from Singleton Campus to the new Bay campus. So, what resources do we need so we can meaningfully work as partners with the University to enhance the quality of education that Swansea students receive?

WHO ARE WE TALKING TO?
How do students engage with us? What kinds of students engage with us and why do some groups of students feel like we’re not somewhere they can turn to? How can we change what we do to reach more students?

WHERE DO WE GO?
The Students’ Union is currently situated in relatively poor facilities in Union House (back of Fulton House.) How do we make the case to secure new facilities on Singleton Campus as well as the Science and Innovation Campus?

AND THE DOLLA?
How do we safeguard our commercial activity from the impact of irregular student numbers / the University’s agenda to semesterise?

Over the next 9 months the Students’ Union will:

• CREATE A PLAN FOR CHANGE: The introduction of a 3 year strategic plan for the Union including key performance indicators for every single area of the Students’ Union - allowing students to better scrutinise our progress.

• Refocus resources: The Students’ Union is a c. £6 million operation. Everything you see is led by Full Time Officers and delivered by approximately 40 full time staff members. In order to continue delivering what we do over two locations, we need more full time staff. Our Students’ Union has an abnormally large number of Full Time Officers and as a result, we spend a large amount of the block grant we receive from the University on Officers rather than critical services. This has become financially unsustainable.
 

- I will lead a referendum to reduce the number of Full Time Officers from 7 to 5.

If the referendum is successful, we will see resources moved around the organisation to support students across both campuses. To make sure that the reduced number of Officers are able to serve students, we will see the introduction of a Membership Services Manager who will work year on year on strategic issues that will have an impact on your day-to-day life.

• Restructure of the Full Time Officer team: If the referendum above is successful, we won’t simply ‘cut’ officers but use this as an opportunity to go back to the drawing board and start from scratch. In consultation with students, and in light of the challenges posed by Swansea University becoming a dual-campus University, the NUS will facilitate a complete restructure of Full Time Officer roles along with a complete overhaul of all of our democratic structures with a view to enable students to shape their Union, University, and the Communities in which we live. I will have full strategic oversight over this project and will ensure its completion before the notice of poll of the 2013/14 Full Time Officer elections.