ContentsPage 3

Welcome

Page 4 - 5

We’re an award winning Union...

Page 6 - 9

Theme 1: Creating change for the better

Page 10- 11

Theme 2:Working with students

Page 12- 17

Theme 3:An active student community

Page 18- 19

Theme 4:Supporting employability

Page 20 - 25

Theme 5:Support on the student journey

Page 26 - 27

Theme 6:A responsive Union

Page 28 - 29

Theme 7:The Union in the community

Page 30 - 31

Theme 8:A Union for the future

‘This has been a very challenging year for the higher education sector with the introduction of £9k fees. The drops in student and applicant numbers have made for a less stable and predictable life for everybody concerned.

However, during all of this, UCLan Students' Union (the Union) has achieved a Silver Award in the Students' Union Evaluation Initiative, making us a top ten Union. At the same time we were rated the best Union in the north west as measured by a great 75% satisfaction score in the independent National Student Survey (NSS) completed by final year students. All of this together really shows that we are a great Union and make a positive impact. I hope that this report will not only show what we do now but demonstrate that we are striving to get better.

We do this for students, our membership. Students direct what we do and students are the reason we always try to make sure that what we do is the best it can be. Everything we provide is to ‘make life better for students.’

Edd Graham-Hyde, President 2012/13

Welcome

‘Thank you for taking the time to read our Impact Report and a massive thank

you to all staff and elected officers who contributed to the contents.’

Over the past two years we’ve been taking part in a process called the Students’ Union Evaluation Initiative (SUEi). The SUEi process of reflection, planning, action and evaluation makes sure that we are focussed on making a positive impact on the life of students at the University and we are really pleased to say we are an award winning Union.

We achieved the SUEi award at silver level in July 2102 and received our award at a reception in the House of Commons in February 2013.

For the first time this year students completing the National Student Survey (NSS) were asked about the Union. The key finding for us is that the Union is the best performing in the North West with satisfaction score of 75%.

‘Only 10 Unions have received a silver award and this puts us firmly in the premier league of

Union’s nationally.’Pete Shilton Godwin, Chief Executive

Accepting our SUEi Silver Award.

Our SUEi Silver award

We’re an award winning Union...

As well as obtaining the SUEi Silver award, the Union has achieved several other awards in recent years:

Investors in People (IiP)

IiP is a nationally recognised framework that helps organisations to improve their performance and realise their objectives through the effective management and development of their people.

Investing in Volunteers (IiV)

IiV is the UK quality standard for all organisations which involve volunteers in their work. To achieve the standard each organisation has to demonstrate its commitment to volunteering best practice, an organisational culture that values volunteers and their contribution.

Green Impact Award

The Green Impact Award is an accreditation programme with an awards element designed specifically for Students’ Unions to improve their environmental impact. UCLan won Gold in 2008 and has retained the award at Bronze and Silver in subsequent years.

Best Bar None

A national award scheme supported by the Home Office and aimed at promoting responsible management and operation of alcohol licensed premises.

The Union also recruited a record number of School Representatives. School Reps liaise with school management to promote positive change and champion projects such as the National Student Survey and Teaching Awards.

The Course Rep Academy was nominated for the National Union of Students’ Innovative Student Engagement Award and was subsequently showcased by NUS at best practice events across the country.

We are really proud of our elected officers and Student Voice team as our work with course representatives has made real progress in the last 12 months. We have, for the first time taken full responsibility for the election, training and recognition of Course Reps and the Course Rep System.

In Autumn 2012 we recruited 1200 + Course Reps ensuring that nearly 90% of the positions were filled and that 83 of University courses had representation. Our initial training to over 650 course reps was described as either good or excellent by 94% of reps.

The Union also re-launched the Course Rep Academy in 2012. Available to Course Reps as an optional add on to current training we have delivered 8 short skills training sessions to 190 students.

ThemeOne

Creating change for the better

Our brand new Livesey Award enables students gain recognition of their work as a Course Rep and the development they achieve through the Course Rep Academy.

In November 2012 we launched our first Course Rep Conference attended by over 150 reps. Question time allowed Course Reps to question University Senior Management Team and reps attended workshops supported by lecturers, NUS speakers and expert Union employees.

We continued to support reps through an updated website as well as regular opportunities to engage with the Union and University to shape policy.

Course Reps

‘My role as Course Rep has increased my confidence a lot,especially once students were feeding back issues to me. Staff in

liaison meetings were actually listening to me and changes were made – such as the way we submit our work – it’s a great feeling knowing

I have helped make a change for the better of students.’Year 1 Course Rep

Academy Training Session 2013.

Based upon feedback from the Course Reps in the School of Health, the School has reviewed and produced new guidance to improve consistency in module supervision; set a standardised format across the school for the use of blackboard; and increased access to Study Smarter Sessions.

Students studying Child Nursing in the School of Health requested more overlap between year groups on placement particularly to share and develop experiences. As result the course has ensured this is in their placement.

In the School of Social Work, students on the Community and Social Care, Policy and Practice (CSC) course reported being a poor relation to the Social Work course. As a result teaching staff and course reps have come together to organise a conference for all CSC students involving local companies, charities and service users with an aim of highlighting the degree and its benefits to the sector.

Course Rep results

‘Being a Course Rep has given me the opportunity to make my course better for both me and my fellow students. It may only seem a small role but we were

able to get the feedback we received for our work more detailed and constructive and I am proud to have helped

make this change which will benefit future students.’Year 2 Course Rep

It has been a busy year for the Union with a number of campaigns and representation work taking place. 

Nationally the Union has played a prominent role in taking 100 students to the demonstrations in London in November 2012 as part of the NUS ‘Demo 2012’.

The media reported that around 10,000 students attended the demonstrations, this meant approximately 1% of students were from UCLan.

Numerous activities and presentations across campus acted as a precursor to the events in London which generated national media attention. Several UCLan students made it onto the national news discussing the march. The Student Affairs Committee also met with MP’s who represent UCLan students to discuss the current issues facing students in Higher Education.

Campaigns and representation

National recognition was also given to the LGBT Society who won the ‘Campaign of the Year Award’ for a campaign around gender neutral toilets and a former elected officer at UCLan was elected on to the National Executive Committee of NUS.

All Students’ Council positions were filled by election in October 2012 and members received induction training and sign up to the Livesey Award as part of the Union’s commitment to support for its volunteers. Policy from the Council has since been submitted to national student conferences for consideration.

• £3000 was raised for testicular cancer charities in ‘Movember’.

• MP Mark Hendricks attended a Black History Month event.

• Lobbying by the Education Officer led to the Academic appeal deadline being altered.

• Funding was secured from the local Primary Care Trust for a sexual health campaign.

• 2,735 students participated in deciding the campaigning priority in ‘The Big Vote’. This led to the SAC entering negotiations with the University about reinstating a bursary system for existing UCLan students going on to Postgraduate courses.

Locally campaigns and representation included:

‘Demo 2012’, National Union of Students.

2012 brought the challenge of involving students in the creation of the University Student Charter. After several focus groups and much consultation led by then Union President, Reni Eddo-Lodge the new Charter had a large number of recommendations from the student body.

‘Big Vote’

The first ‘Big Vote’ took place in Fresher’s Week and gave students the opportunity to prioritise the most important campaigns for the Union to run in 2012/13. Over three days a remarkable 2,735 votes were cast and the Union has been working on the top priority – scholarships for PG students and lobbying the University into bringing back the Gilbertson scholarship.

ThemeTwo

Working with students

Promoting excellence in teaching

Creating the Student Charter

The student-led Teaching Awards go from strength to strength. Nominations from students seeking recognition for the work of their tutors tripled in 2012 with 570 nominations received in just two months. Over 150 attended the final awards evening in April last year which saw staff from across the institution and our partnership institutions recognised for excellence in teaching.

In November the Union re-launched these awards under a new brand to build on their previous success.

The ‘We Heart U’ awards are to recognise individual moments of excellence whilst the ‘Golden Roses’ is the annual awards evening. The Union has presented 14 We Heart U Awards across the institution and received over 500 nominations achieving our target of doubling last year nominations.

The Union undertook a comprehensive research project on student’s views of the Union in 2012. The ‘I Love UCLan SU’ survey gave real insight into the student perspective of their Union and whilst students told us they were largely satisfied with the Union they wanted more support for activities, more opportunities to get involved, better value for money from Union services and help getting a job to become a key priority. These ideas have been reflected in our plans for the future in ‘The Union Plan’.

I Love UCLan SU

Presenting a ‘We Heart U’ award to Liz Hough.(From left) Jean Taylor - Associate Head of School, Nigel Harrison - Dean & Head of School (Acting), Liz Hough, Edd

Graham-Hyde - Union President, Janette Grey - Associate Head Quality & Student Experience, Carolyn Gibbon - Principal Lecturer for Learning and Teaching.

‘It’s excellent UCLan SU recognises exceptional members of staff. Reward through a student-led scheme serves multiple purposes: letting staff know students appreciate their dedication and letting students know their voices

are being heard by the University. It boosts the morale of both students and staff. As a Course Rep I enjoy the process of informing the cohort of

the award scheme, collecting votes and finally handing over the award to one of our outstanding lecturers in front of the class.’

Dorine Aileen De-haan

Give it a Go! (GIAG) continued to offer great value trips and a variety of activity throughout the year.

Students added to the variety of the programme providing numerous taster activities in sport and other activities, while students came forward to put on individual events. Highlights included: a big casino evening in aid of the Union’s Raise and Give (RAG) charities, trips to Ben Nevis and Alton Towers, a spa-day, Christmas carol concert and a raft building workshop on the canal.

Over 800 people joined student led societies in the past year - a 50% increase on the previous year.

A new online sign-up system made it easier to join a society than ever before and we saw the highest number for 5 years of new societies including; Japanese society, International Students Association, Amnesty International and the Indian society.

Highlights from the year included a week-long celebration of faith and culture called Faith Awareness Week, and Drama society taking a performance of Romeo and Juliet up to Edinburgh Fringe - receiving great reviews and large audiences.

ThemeThree

An active student community

Give it a Go! Societies

The Opportunities Centre was launched in September 2012 to bring part time jobs, volunteering opportunities, student-led societies, training and Give it a Go activity together into one area.

Opportunities Centre

‘I find the short courses that the Opportunity Centre run to be one of the most useful aspects. I have participated in the First Aid course this year

and would definitely recommend it. I really enjoyed participating in the course and it is a great

addition to my CV!’

‘I have been on two trips and met some great people on the way. I have even met up with the people outside of GIAG. I

came looking for something to do and have left with friends’

The Opportunities Centre.

‘It’s a great space; the staff are friendly and helpful, I

often just use the computers in there to catch up on my

emails and look for jobs. I’ve attended the Jobs Club which has helped me while looking

for a part-time job’

ThemeThree

In August 2012, Team UCLan became the new home for all sport related activity in the Union and for the first time in many years all sports clubs had a unified sports kit to strengthen the identity ‘ of Team UCLan’.

In late 2011, the Games and Guild Sports Day, held at Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre, demonstrated that students of all abilities can be involved in sport. The event was so successful that the British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) now have it on their website as a model of good practice for all Universities.

Participation is a priority and the Students’ Union Leagues (SUL)grew with over 360 students playing recreational football each week, in addition to over 1000 students participating in clubs. The success of the SUL Football leagues was noted by the FA who allocated funding to promote the growth of the SUL and as a result we have added a 5 a side league to the opportunities for students.

Team UCLan

In September 2012, Team UCLan applied to be as a pilot for the new Club Mark initiative, which encourages sports clubs to work closely with their governing bodies and in turn promote their clubs. We were successful in this bid.

Working with the School of Sport Tourism & the Outdoors and Facilities Management, Team UCLan highlighted seven target sports for the current year which were allocated extra training time and more experienced coaches who are targeted on performance. This project is on-going and with the current success of our Women’s Football squad we are already reaping the rewards of this more professional approach to sport.

‘The afternoon was great. I didn’t realise how hard some disability sports were to play

but everyone who tried them out thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We discovered how awesome

Wheelchair Basketball is!’Jack Banks, Activities &

Participation Officer2011/12

Women’s Football.

‘I didn’t have the confidence to try out for the Football squad, so I joined a team in SUL, where I play with my mates. I really enjoy it and might even

try out for the Football team next year!’

RAG is a body of students dedicated to supporting local charities by putting on a wide variety of events throughout the year. The ten-strong committee work together to produce fun and innovative ways for students to get involved and raise funds for great causes.

UCLan RAG supports these fantastic Lancashire-based charities: The Preston Space Centre, Cash for Kids (Rock FM’s charity), The Preston Foxton Centre, Wargrave House School, and the Harris Bursary Fund and supports one-off campaigns such as Children in Need and Comic Relief.

Children in Need events this year included a Pyjama Party in Source and a comedy night hosted by our very own media volunteers. The events together raised in excess of £1,500! RAG also supported a casino night event in the Atrium, which involved some mock casino games, a fashion show, and plenty of glamour. The event raised nearly £400 for our Cash for Kids charity.

ThemeThree

Jack Banks, fundraising for ‘RAG’ 2012

Societies also access support from RAG to build on their own fantastic work. The best example being the Islamic Society who raised an amazing £6,000 for their Gaza appeal in just one week!

RAG in March will include a game-show night, a scavenger hunt and a ‘Rat Race’ event where students battle it out to raise as much money as far away from Preston as possible by the fastest means available to them!

Raising and Giving (RAG)

Pluto is the main provider of student news in Preston. This year we have kept up the same quality of news, using the skills of our volunteer reporters to uncover some great stories and report on the most up-to-date news in and around campus.

Pluto has maintained its independence and have covered all the relevant and important stories at UCLan.

Pluto

Students in the news

This academic year has seen a brand new station up and running. A successful launch party held in October in Source has led to the weekly schedule filling up with more than 35 shows. Whatever your music taste, you can listen to Frequency at www.frequency.co.uk

PSTV

PSTV has been busier than ever this year, so much so there is an editing backlog!

PSTV have a team of 6 managers and have a vast amount of events being planned for the upcoming months with live broadcasting of the 2013 Students’ Union Elections and ‘Take me Out’ event. PSTV has gained campus recognition this year resulting in lots more demand for the team to go out and produce quality videos.

PR1

PR1 has carried as a monthly, glossy lifestyle magazine. In between issues, PR1 posts current news and articles on www.pr1-online.co.uk

We have had some amazing coverage from big names such as Director Tim Burton and The Dollyrots.

Frequency

‘Working for Pluto has given me a taste of real world

journalism. Working towards a deadline and working as a team has allowed me to experience the industry in a professional

manner.’Anastasia Bates, First year

Journalism

‘Working for PR1 has been a great experience. I’ve had the

opportunity to use high quality media equipment in professional

circumstances, as well as working with other aspiring

writers and journalists.’Chris Copestake, Second

Year Communications

The Bridge is now operating solely as a recruitment agency. Run by the Union on behalf of UCLan students and working closely with the Opportunities Centre. We place students in part-time jobs around campus and in the local area, in catering, administration, customer services and student support roles.

In the past year, we have provided over £192,000 worth of paid employment opportunities for students – almost double that of the previous year – in the form of over 800 hours per week of part-time work. We have directly employed over 300 students as agency workers and helped many more find work alongside their studies.

‘I’ve secured my first part-time job in University thanks to The Bridge a year ago, and have been working as student staff since

then. The opportunity was excellent for me as the job shifts are always flexible and give me time to concentrate on my demanding

degree while helping me gain some pocket money!’Chandi, 2nd Year LLB Hons

ThemeFour

Supporting employability

Work whilst at University

The Opportunities Centre has advertised hundreds of student job opportunities since opening.

In November and working with Futures we held a hugely successful Graduate Careers Fair with over 60 different companies and charities attending. Well over 2000 students came along to speak to the stall holders and make contacts. Working with employers is vital and in December, the Post Office spent a day in the Opportunities Centre interviewing for over 80 jobs roles.

Job search

The Olympics, Paralympics and Preston Guild featured strongly in our 2012 volunteering calendar. Students took part in NUS’s ‘Be a Champion’ project and put on a number of Olympic-themed voluntary events winning a NUS ‘Be a Champion’ silver award for their work.

Livesey Award – recognition and reward

All our volunteers deserve recognition for their great work and achievements and we have launched the Livesey Awards to record and recognise their achievements. The award accredits volunteering time and will feature on a student’s Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR) and will enable employers to see how students have built on their skills and by volunteering.

Alongside the awards we work to enhance students CVs. We’ve worked with the British Red Cross to run basic First Aid training courses through to helping with those vital extra qualifications.

Volunteering

Personal development is just as important to us as helping students to support themselves financially. Although unemployment levels in the UK are slowly dropping, the job market is as competitive as ever. We have been encouraging students to think about the skills they are developing while working for us and how they can apply these when they graduate to ensure that they stand head and shoulders above the competition.

Every two weeks, we attend the Opportunities Centre’s Job Club to offer advice on CV writing, application forms, interview techniques and more.

Employability ‘I applied for a job through

The Bridge to compliment the course I was studying, which

allowed me to learn and develop new skills whilst building upon old ones. My time at the Union

enabled me to develop both professionally and personally, and helped me gain invaluable experience. The flexibility and support from the Union was

second to none.’Jennifer Colley, MSc

Oxfam Fair Trade Event

‘The Advice Centre was really helpful and assured me on things that I had problems with. The advisers were really friendly,

non-judgemental, very factual and knowledgeable. I feel that I have gained the correct support and I wouldn't have been able

to do so with any other organisation.’

ThemeFive

Support on the student journey

Fresher’s

Over the course of the first week of term the Union had many successful daytime events. The Jobs & Volunteering Fair was bigger and better than ever before with more potential employers and companies from the volunteering sector attending. The annual Fresher’s Fair was as busy as ever with students queuing for their freebies and the Sports & Societies Fair led to more student signs up than the previous year.

Clued Up was a new event based around the Cluedo board game, with students being encouraged to interact with

characters over a two week period in a variety of locations and activities.

The premise was that this should increase awareness of the support services available and create a focus for friendship groups during the induction period. The project was to culminate in a murder mystery event in the second week.

57% of participants stated that it had enhanced their induction to and knowledge of the University and Union.

A great success overall.

During the year the Advice Centre dealt with 3789 enquiries and helped students to receive financial gains of £337,268.

Now accredited by National Homelessness Advisory Service (NHAS), this confirms that the housing advice given within the Advice Centre is of high quality as this award can only be given to organisations that can demonstrate that they are offering independent advice.

The centre has been designated as a Third Party Hate Crime Reporting Centre, which means that anyone who wants to report a hate crime or incident has a designated point of contact on campus.

Advice Centre

This year the Union brought a fresh look at the risks involving sexual health and alcohol. In partnership with the Local Primary Care trust and the University we have worked to ensure there are services for students on campus. Over 1000 students completed a survey promoted solely via social media to understand student attitudes and behaviours and highlight services.

Sexual health and alcohol

2011 saw the launch of Preston Students Offers (PSO), an online discount directory that aims to enhance the value of the NUS Extra card by offering local and Union discounts as well as great national offers already associated with the card.

Phase one of the project was to develop good quality discounts popular with students. Most successful was our student bar Source offering over 10,000 discounts during the course of the last year.

By the end of the year we had increased by 800 the number of NUS Extra cards bought.Total sales of 4,894 ranked us 5th in the NUS ‘league table’ of number of cards sold.

We launched the PSO Facebook page and we have been working hard with the aim of getting extra offers on board each month.

Discounts for students Grub Club

Grub Club got started early in 2012 when a few students wanted to share their interest in cooking with other students. They met up to share cooking skills, recipes and tips on saving money.

Grub Club is developing a partnership with the Healthy University and staff from Atrium, Source and Essentials. The Union has boosted Grub Club by providing monthly cooking demo’s during this academic year including tips about preparing and freezing food, health and safety and tasting the food that’s been cooked.

Grub Club choose recipes that are easy, quick and a reasonable price with all the ingredients available from Essentials shop in the Union.

The Grub Club currently has two students on placement from the Healthy University initiative to help promote and develop the club.   

It’s still early days for the club which will ideally become a Union society and is currently offering events such as ‘Come Dine With Me’.

Grub Club.

ThemeFive

‘The graduate programme involves assisting the

Management Team to ensure the effective operation of the

bars within the Union. The scheme has provided me with the experience of opening and closing the bar, managing a

team of over fifty bar staff and helping to develop a customer focused culture, skills which I hope will continue to develop throughout the rest of the

programme and into my future career.’

Mark Pearson – Graduate Bar Supervisor

Source Bar remains a popular campus bar offering a friendly place to be, great value food and drinks and brilliant entertainments. Our now famous ‘Survival’ events allow students to celebrate together at key times of the year have continued to grow with record attendances.

The £100k investment in the refurbishment of the bar has been well received and trading continues to perform well in a challenging and uncertain environment. The number of student led events based in Source continue to grow. In addition to established charity events planned and run by events management students Source has also hosted the American Football team’ ‘Movember ‘Tache-Off’, The Poker societys’ annual alumni poker day, a casino night in aid of RAG and a Children in Need ‘Pyjama Party’.

September 2012 saw the commencement of the ‘Union Academy’ pilot, this saw two recent graduates take up 1 year posts to support the management of the bars. Whilst gaining hands on experience of management in a hospitality and events environment, the graduates also undertook modules from the Union’s Management Development Programme.

‘Source bar were a great help from the start, they responded

to our emails instantly. The staff inside Source were also

very friendly and quick to help when we needed it. I would

highly recommend using Source Bar in the future. They are

always contactable and offer suggestions and help for events

being put on.’Hannah Almond, RAG event

organiser.

Source

Eating, drinking & shopping

Essentials is our campus convenience store supplied by the Co-operative Group providing great value and service to 7000 customers each week.

Essentials provide employment for 30 students and this year is taking part in a scheme to give a UCLan graduate some retail management experience straight from their course.

The Harris Bursary Fund continues to benefit from the sales by the Union of UCLan branded clothing and this year so far we have donated £2178 from 01/08/12 -28/02/13.

Essentials

Newly refurbished bar, Source.

‘Working at Essentials for the last four years has been brilliant. The management have been incredibly supportive

throughout my studies, helping to build and improve both my confidence and transferable skills. I always felt like part of the Essentials family and I leave with some wonderful

memories of a fantastic place to work.’James Deane

ThemeFive

The Atrium.

With a reputation for reasonably priced, healthy and Fairtrade food and drinks and daily specials made on site from the best local produce the Atrium has gone from strength to strength.

The Atrium has received recognition with a 5 star food hygiene rating, and the Preston eco-excellence award and all take away packaging and cutlery is biodegradable.

Atrium

Entertainment and socialising remain an important part of the student experience and 53 Degrees is a unique and exciting asset for students, the University and the city.

The past 18 previous months have been a period of retrenchment in response to the recession but in June 2012 the Union decided a different approach was needed and the Union ‘re-launched’ the venue in September 2012 with a plan to increase the number of events, deliver new events to meet student demand and focus on developing a quality customer experience.

Market conditions remain very challenging for 53 Degrees reflecting the experience of Students’ Union entertainments and live music activities more generally. Changes in the live music industry have meant that the overwhelming majority of Unions has exited the live music market completely.

The Union has, since November 2012 undertaken a fundamental review of the business of 53 Degrees and the venue will change significantly in the years ahead reflecting trends in the market.

Rizzle Kicks performing at 53 Degrees.

53 Degrees

As part of our continuous improvement, the Union is committed to receiving and delivering feedback to our members. The marketing department run a feedback scheme with feedback boxes and comment cards available across Union departments.

The process is kept simple to ensure the scheme is easy to run. Comments & feedback are transparent and presented back both on and off-line via under our ‘You Said We Did’ campaign to ensure we are not only asking for comments but to explain how we are using those comments to improve the Union. In addition to the feedback scheme, the Union ensures that we share ‘Good News Stories’ via our website and social media outlets.

Feedback scheme

ThemeSix

A responsive Union

The Union built upon the success of the previous 3 years to achieve a record turnout in this year’s elections. Over 2800 votes were cast for a total of 49 candidates making this the biggest number of candidates as well as votes. It was also pleasing that for the first time in 2 years there were no appeals against the conduct of the election.

We are now focused on the 2013 target of 3500 votes which will be three times the level recorded in 2008.

We continue to strive to see more people making decisions on your behalf. We now have School Reps in 14 of the 16 schools, have recruited a RAG committee to oversee our charity fundraising and have started to develop a system of Halls Reps.

Elections

Three new recurring student open meetings known as zones have also been set up called Better Community, Better Union and Better University. The zones give students the chance to discuss and exchange ideas with the elected officers. Zone meetings take place in the Opportunities Centre with the elected officers and students ensuring lots of interesting debate and discussion.

Zones

Annual Members Meeting 2012.

The Annual Members’ Meeting (AMM) took place in November with one of the largest attendances in recent Union history with 182 students attending and nine motions put forward which subsequently were approved by Students’ Council. NUS Vice President Higher Education, Rachel Wenstone also attended to share her opinions of the national picture for students in higher education.

Annual Members Meeting

‘The AMM was the most successful AMM that we’ve organised in a long time. Not only was it a great chance to see students debate issues but it showed that they cared.’

Edd Graham-Hyde, President 2012/13

We decided this year that we wanted to do more with the local community to offer help and to provide students more opportunities to grow as individuals. So we launched projects around primary school volunteering and environmental volunteering, called the Green City Projects.

Community volunteering

ThemeSeven

The Union in the community

The Food Co-op launched in partnership with Lancashire Wildlife Trust and Community Gateway (a local social landlord) to offer good quality, seasonal fruit and vegetables at an affordable price. Within 3 weeks of starting we had over 30 people sign up for weekly deliveries. We’re hoping that as the scheme develops and more volunteers come on-board that we can offer it out to the local community, too.

Green City Projects:SU Food Co-op

Primary school project

Fifteen students have taken up roles within Frenchwood Community Primary School helping within the classroom, listening to children read and delivering lunchtime and after-school sports, drama and craft sessions with the children. Volunteers have also gone in to help with an international week and talk about the cultures of Greece, France and Spain.

In April, we’ll be helping to create a community allotment at St. Maria Goretti’s Primary School in Brookfield, and helping Acorns Primary School in Deepdale maintain their allotment and wildflower areas.

‘I’d say the school volunteering was one of the best things I’d ever done, being part of the school and making

a difference to the children by helping them feels good and I’m definitely glad I applied to do it, plus it gives me vital

experience that I can use later in life.’Amy Porter, Reading Volunteer

‘At I first tried to please all the children which is very difficult to do. I learnt that you’ve got to do things that some children might not like but it

is for the good of the group and the coach.’ Joe Husbands

SU Food Co-op.

Transform Preston Project

In January we started the Transform Preston project, bringing together students and staff with an interest in grassroots urban renewal to help identify areas around us which we needed some TLC, tidying up grot spots, cheering up tired buildings and generally making Preston a nicer place to be. We’re beginning with a tidy up of a town centre flower bed in early April then moving on to tackle some other places and working with Preston Environmental Forum, Preston City Council and the Wildlife Trust to increase the impact of our work.

Fall in Love with Volunteering Fair

In February, we held a Volunteering Recruitment Fair in collaboration with the Centre for Volunteers and Futures in 53 Degrees which had over 30 volunteer-involving organisations promoting their voluntary opportunities. It was a great way of finding out more about the roles and helped to make good links with local and national charities.

The Union also took part in Preston Guild, a once-every-twenty-years’ event in the City featuring parades and events. The Union entered a walking float in the Communities Processions and students create all the banners and flags which were carried around the route.

The Guild 2012

In June 2012 we adopted our ‘Union Plan’ following extensive discussion and consultation with students, stakeholders and our own staff. The plan called ‘We are changing the way we work with students’ reflects the themes that dominate our work: creating change, supporting and responding to students and creating opportunities and community on campus.

Our Union Plan sets out how we will achieve our mission to ‘make life better for students’ and our vision to become an ‘outstanding Union with a reputation for excellence. The plan reflects our ambition to be a sector leading Union achieving a SUEi Gold award or Students’ Union of the Year within three years.

ThemeEight

A Union for the future

The Union Plan

• Develop our student representatives, officers and employees as effective advocates to ensure the student voice is heard and acted upon.

• Ensure that the Union by use of innovative means of engagement is in touch with students.

• Offer a wide range of flexible opportunities to volunteer in the Union, on campus and in community organisations.

• Through skills training to support, empower students as activist and organisers to create change in your communities.

• To increase the level of support and resources to nurture the development of student led activities.

• Provide a range of pathways for students to gain accreditation and

recognition of learning gained from employment, leadership and volunteering roles.

• Provide a wide range of opportunities for student to make friends and have fun.

• Develop and implement a community engagement and communication strategy.

We also developed an Annual Operating Plan with the following as our priority objectives in 2012/13:

In the course of the year we will also undertake a governance review to ensure we meet the standards set in the NUS Good Governance Code of practice, develop a longer term financial plan to support the achievement of the Union Plan objectives.

Governance

The recession, pressure on student’s incomes and local competition all provided the Union with challenges in the last year. Despite this our total income grew slightly and income from all sources, including help in kind of £587k was £4.92 million. We continue to be grateful to the Board of the University for their support of the union.

Expenditure on all our charitable activities was £4.65 million and once governance costs were taken into account the activities of the Union generated a modest surplus of £106K. This added to our reserves carried forward and at the year end the Union had reserves of £180k.

Not for profit

Because we want every UCLan student to have a great experience at University every penny we make gets ploughed back into the Union to improve our services. In summer 2012 we invested £250k in the Opportunities Centre, Source Bar, Frequency (our student radio station) and 53 Degrees.

The Union Plan.

Financial position

Thank You!

Thank you for taking the time to read our Impact Report and a massive thank you to all staff and elected officers who contributed to the contents.

www.uclansu.co.ukAn electronic copy of this document and the Unions financial statements are available to download at:

Registered Charity No. 1142616 | Company No. 7623917

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