I write this right before heading home, to Italy, for a week of annual leave. Some quiet before the inevitable rush and business that will characterise the beginning of this unusual academic year.
I’m writing this to you all not only to update you, but also to reflect on this unfamiliar, packed, challenging, and ultimately fruitful summer. Having been an officer for a year already, summers tend to be the downtime, the quiet period where students are off, staff take holiday, and everybody has time to recalibrate, organise, and get ready for the upcoming academic year. Needless to say, this has not been this summer at all, to the extent that I’m not sure we actually did have a summer. I’m still a bit startled when I check the calendar and it’s the 26th of August.
Ultimately, we all did what was needed to start building a new type of student experience, in a heavily altered campus, in the first academic year starting during a global pandemic. You don’t need to be reminded of the baggage of challenges that that presents; in many ways, the work is not yet over. So many things need to be tweaked and finalised, ready for our students to come back, but after having seen the hard and committed work of staff and students across departments of the University, I am certain that we will thrive and make the most out of a challenging situation.
As your SU President, I’ve been heavily involved in the SU’s and University’s response to coronavirus since day one, and this has been an incredibly exciting experience. As part of that, I sit in the weekly meetings of the Student Experience Project Team (SEPT), as well as one of its sub-groups, the Academic, Pastoral, and Living Support (APLS) group. A lot of acronyms to get used to, but we made it eventually! These meetings regularly discuss upcoming issues regarding the broader student experience (except Learning and Teaching, which is covered by the Resilient Curriculum group, where Annie, our Education Officer, sits) and make decisions that will impact our community next year. With such an important task, and the importance of decisions increasing week by week, we thought it’d be hugely important to gather immediate and genuine feedback and engagement from our student population. Over the last few weeks, I set up the Student Experience Advisory Panel, where you get to express your thoughts and opinions and help the University and the SU shape what next academic year will look like. If you’re interested in joining, please fill this quick form: https://www.thesubath.com/news/article/thesu/Student-Experience-Advisory-Panel/
The group has already given crucial information to University managers, and will continue existing over the year to gather feedback on the implementation of the plans to ensure mistakes are spotted and fixed quickly for the benefit of our entire student community. As part of this overall role, I have had the chance to present a paper on the SU offer and the Students’ Union update to the Academic Year Delivery Programme Board, chaired by the Vice-Chancellor with members of the University Executive Board present.
One of the first areas of work I covered since starting the role has been to advance the work started by Eve, my predecessor, on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, working with academics and staff members across the University and liaising directly with the Vice-Chancellor. I cannot, here, not pay tribute to the incredible work done by Professor Marcelle McManus, Professor Julie Barnett, and George Brown, to get where we got, with substantial changes made to the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion structures of the University to create a senior position to look after it, and a specific component and taskforce to address racial inequality at this University. The full update can be found here: https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/equality-diversity-and-inclusion-ed-i/. Whilst this is an incredible development, we look forward to the University community being updated about this regularly, and look forward to the University establishing a commitment to a permanent senior position looking after Equality and Diversity at our institution.
Another area of work I have picked up since taking office has been the issue of our student staff and their inclusion in the furlough scheme. The University, in liaison with The SU, agreed to guarantee a 100% paid furlough to our casual student staff who had an obligation to work but couldn’t because of Covid. Whilst some departments excelled in inserting students in the scheme, some didn’t, leaving a lot of students without a pay check with bills, rent and living expenses still to be paid. I am working with students who have faced financial hardship as a result to this to apply to the Student Hardship Fund and supporting their cases. However, more must be done, and, although this is being met with some resistance, I am still pushing for a full review of the furlough scheme for student staff, to make sure that students who were entitled to receive furlough do receive that money at some point. If this has affected you and you haven’t gotten in touch yet, please drop me an email at supresident@bath.ac.uk.
On a more technical note, but still worth mentioning as that is a huge win for us. Our SU is way, way more than just the bar and the amazing events our students throw. We campaign and lobby and work with the university on a daily basis championing your interests, engaging with you, understanding and listening to your voice. We regularly run surveys and data gathering activities to that end, to have consistent data to back our research and our demands to the University. I have been working with the University to ensure that the SU had access to additional data fields so that we can understand and interpret the research that we do better, understand the myriad of voices within our SU, and address the issues that arise, particularly for different groups. The quality of our research is massively going to improve as a result of this and I’m so glad to have achieved this over summer.
Aside from the multiple internal activities we have started and continued as an organisation (including preparing for Freshers’ Week, inaugurate our amazing and new groups membership system), the Officer Team has been working to develop our Top Ten priority campaigns for the year ahead, and we are so excited to be getting closer and closer to announce them. The issues that are arising and campaigns we’re developing are important, diverse, and comprehensive, and we can’t wait to get started.
Moreover, in August I was appointed to become a part of the Office for Students’ Student Panel. The OfS is the independent regulator of Higher Education in England and I’m excited to continue championing student rights and the student voice at the national level. I have also spoke at a Quality Assurance Agency webinar and, only recently, at the Vox Students UnConference panel on Digital Opportunities.
Also, something I really was not expecting: I was added to the “Bath Power List 2020” as one of the most influential 100 people in Bath. This is probably the funniest thing that’s ever happened to me as an Officer.
On a personal note, as I take some much needed holiday, I am already looking ahead at September and how excited I am to know that students are coming back soon. It’s going to be a unique, challenging, and strange year. It doesn’t mean it needs to be any less exciting. Our SU is getting ready to welcome our community back, and this wouldn't have been possible without the relentless and incredible work of our SU staff and the officer team I'm so, so proud to be part of. In all of this, our hearts are still heavy and in mourning from the passing of our dear friend and colleague, Rob Tyrrell. We will continue the work he wanted to start and continue his legacy; he is constantly on our mind, and I know we will do him proud.
I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe. As always, when back from leave, I’m going to be an email or a Teams message away. If you want to chat about anything, I’ll be available at supresident@bath.ac.uk.
Stay awesome,
Franci,
Your SU President.