Emma Brown, Union President
University of Southampton Travel Survey – I need your help!
We need as many people as possible to complete the University’s travel survey. I’ve been working loads on buses this year – there’s a real chance we can make important changes to the buses before September, but we need the evidence to do so. Share the survey with your friends and add as much detail as you can. Real changes could happen; new routes, better frequency, price changes, and other transport improvements. But none of that happens if we can’t show there’s a problem.
Wessex Lane Take and Donate – Drop off your stuff before you move out of halls!
Got extra food, clothes, or working electronics cluttering your room? Don’t bin them – take them to the Take and Donate containers at Wessex Lane. You can also drop off your non-perishable food at any of our campus sites’ receptions, which will help those in need, including fellow students on campus. For clothes and electrical items, head to the big donation points in the main waste areas on your halls sites.
Wessex Lane Take and Donate containers are open Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00.
They can accept clothing, kitchen items, food, electrical items, duvets, bedding, books, and DVDs. They can’t take dirty/soiled items, broken items, kitchen knives or open/perishable food.
Joshie Christian, VP Education
This fortnight I’ve been working on making more letters and documents easier for students to read, and we finished our You Are More Than tour with freebies at NOCS, Boldrewood, Hartley Library, and Southampton General Hospital!
We’ve begun monthly meetings with a group of staff I have collect to write and implement assessment brief templates in time for the next academic year! Thank you again to all the reps who gave us feedback about this during training sessions, it’s so useful and we’re able to spot so many weird niche assessments and make sure they’re covered! One of the weirdest cases is if you backtracked a module that is dual coded (e.g. Someone in Y3 taking the Y2 version of a module that is available to both Y1 and Y2!).
Announcing the Winners! SUSU Summer Elections Update:
Thank you for another exceptional and record-breaking turnout – with several hundred more voters in the 2026 Summer Elections than in 2025! We have elected the Department Presidents, School Presidents, and Faculty Officers who will take over in September and lead your Course Reps for the next year! You also chose your new Councillors and elected a Chair of Council to hold the Sabbatical Officer Team to account! Finally, four new Student Trustees will be joining our board with oversight of the running of SUSU as a charity!
First week down – good luck everyone!
First week of exams is over, well done everyone! If you’ve still got more grind to go, good luck from everyone at SUSU! Here’s a quick reminder of the Exam season drop-ins from the Advice Centre if you need to talk Exams, Extensions, Special Cons, or anything else!
Advice Centre Exam Drop Ins: Wednesday 27 May, Wednesday 03 June, and Friday 05 June, all 13:30 – 16:30 in the Advice Centre, in B40 above The Stags.
We apologise for the following joke:
The rubber duck on my desk asked me: “How do Pirates make sure they pass their exams? They aim for seven C’s!”
All the very best from me,
Joshie Christian – VP Education
Ge 'Sparkle' Gao, VP Communities
Hi everyone! I wanted to share a few updates from the past few weeks.
Firstly, I’m really happy that my anti-scam video has finally been published on @sususocs and across SUSU’s platforms. I hope you enjoy it, but more importantly, I hope it helps students stay alert and protect themselves from scams. If you have any thoughts, experiences, or suggestions around scam awareness, please feel free to get in touch with me.
I personally receive scam calls almost every day, so I really hope you don’t have the same “experience” as me! But please do stay cautious and look out for each other.
Secondly, as exam season and graduation season are approaching, many students, especially international students, may be moving out, returning home, or wondering what to do with clothes, household items, and other things they no longer need. I recently tried the donation option recommended through SUSU’s Moving Out page myself. After sorting out my unwanted but still usable items, the charity collection team came by car to collect them directly from my place, which was very convenient.
I think this is a really meaningful option: it helps people who may need those items, reduces waste, and saves you the trouble of dealing with everything yourself. If you are moving out or clearing your room soon, you can find more information here:
Our society promotion project has also been going really well. A huge thank you to Theatre Group, Cyber Security Society, and Wildlife Society for supporting this project. Sadly, all of this year’s filming and promotion activities have now come to an end, but we would love to hear from societies who may want to take part next year.
Inclusion Update
This fortnight, your inclusion update is being written by Joshie, your VP Education.
Students have had feedback about the recent redesign of many of the University of Southampton’s webpages. I’ve been working with the Digital Accessibility team to highlight the accessibility issues that the redesign has posed, including the heavy use of serif fonts, poor contrast, and issues with screen readers. If you have any comments or feedback, please contribute to the conversation and help me out in our efforts to have these issues addressed. Email me via vpeducation@soton.ac.uk!
Travis Arthur, VP Sports
With the support of Southampton Sport, I have secured Sponsorship for this year’s Team Southampton Sports Awards. This contribution has enabled the ticket cost to be reduced significantly for all clubs and teams to just £18 per person, helping ensure the event remains accessible and inclusive for as many students as possible. The Team Southampton Sports Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of individuals, teams, and clubs across Team Southampton over the past year. The awards ceremony takes place on Friday 01 of May at St Mary’s Stadium. All nominations will be reviewed by myself (VP Sports), the Sports Executive Committee, and the Sports Coordinators, with priority consideration given to graduating students to ensure their contributions are recognised before leaving the University. The evening will include a two-course meal, two complimentary drink tokens, photo opportunities within the stadium, and a DJ to round off the celebrations after the awards ceremony. Let’s make this year’s awards bigger and better than ever – secure your tickets and get ready for an unforgettable night of celebrating Team Southampton’s successes.
Varsity tickets are now on sale via the Box Office, and preparations are well underway for another exciting week of competition and Team Southampton spirit. This year, there are two ticket options available: a standard Varsity ticket (Without the after party) for £20, and a Varsity ticket including the After Party for £26. Both options include a Varsity T-shirt as well as transport to and from fixtures during the main Varsity week, helping ensure players and supporters can travel together and fully take part in the experience. Varsity T-shirts will be available for collection from SUSU Reception from 20 April, with sizes ranging from Small to 2XL. Shirt sizes will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, and ticket confirmation from the Box Office will be required for collection. We look forward to bringing the Team Southampton community together once again for an unforgettable Varsity week and encourage everyone to secure their tickets and get involved.
The Varsity After Party ticket includes a Fishies wristband, providing entry until 23:20 to the official Varsity After Party hosted at Circuit on Sunday 10 May. Entry after 23:20 is not guaranteed, and further details on wristband collection will be shared soon. While entry may be available on the door, this will depend on venue capacity and cannot be guaranteed.
You can also reach me anytime via the @team_soton Instagram, on Teams or by email at vpsports@soton.ac.uk. Alternatively, you can book in a meeting with me via my bookings page.
You Make Change Updates
You Make Change update: Thank you as always for your ideas and queries. We look forward to receiving more submissions in the next two weeks!
