Union Senate (27th November 2024)

Plan & Report delivered as attached.

Questions asked:

• Why do you think people don’t open e-mails? It’s about quantity but also timing of e-mails – all students will pick their own priorities, likely to prioritise their degree, any part-time work, no way around this. Looking to reach students who want to engage but don’t know how to, putting content they are interested in at the top of the emails
• How can you judge how much of an e-mail students have read? Lengthy e-mails might get opened but not read in their entirety – good question, not really possible to do this, but putting content students care most about at the top means they will be informed on issues that matter to them

Plan & Report delivered as attached.

Questions asked:

• Is there a plan for involvement at other campuses e.g. Winchester School of Art? At the moment lack of facilities prevent a lot of activities taking place on other campuses (some equipment-lite activities are taking place at other campuses) – working with Southampton-based clubs to align their timings with availability of Winchester students

Plan & Report delivered as attached.

Questions asked:

• Would weekly society highlights work better? Societies have events spread across the month, getting a good response from them requires a bit more time
• Widening Participation – more detail on your involvement please? Point is to meet prospective students before they even come to Open Day – focus on wider student life beyond just your studies. Which schools? Southampton & Eastleigh based but also looking wider in future.

Plan & Report delivered as attached.

Questions asked:

• Active Bystander training is mandatory, what are consequences of not completing it? This is something that SUSU Activities Team will manage with club/society committees
• How long will 'Outduction' support graduates? Difficult to say at this stage in planning but idea is to work alongside & support existing alumni services 

Plan & Report delivered as attached.

Questions asked:

• Benefits from Housing Strategy? Increase in supply, hopefully reduce pressure on prices, landlords have more incentive to improve
• Feedback on Housing Strategy? Could include in rate your crib/end of year surveys
• Why did Student-Council Helpline change tack? Lack of appetite from Southampton City Council, digital capacity within SUSU also stretched
• SUSU involvement with maintenance loan rise – admittedly this happened without much input from Southampton, hope is to work with networks eg Russel Group SUs & Southern Unions to build momentum for a national campaigns – next target is a year-on-year increase level with inflation
• Maintenance increases have been to maximum loan tier, what about the other tiers? Would need to include this as part of a broader campaign
• Why have multiple IG Accounts, wouldn't engagement be higher with a single SUSU account? More specific accounts lead to better quality engagement, numbers might be lower but more meaningful interactions
• What would cost of Digital ID be? Costs may be prohibitive across all campuses, but library to begin with would be a big improvement
• Further functionality of SUSU App – may be possible to get voting on there. Won’t be linked to MySouthampton as it’s built on a different platform. Why can’t it be joined up? SUSU & UoS are two different organisations with different finances and different priorities
• What’s the deal with soft recycling bins? SUSU pays to do this, can’t be offered to people’s households. Future changes in national legislation to standardise what can be recycled
• How proactive can you be with your goals? A lot of reliance on external factors. President’s remit is very broad and based a lot around external issues. Looking for small wins that can be achieved without waiting for University to make decisions, such as outreach to students re. advice centre help.

VP Education & Democracy: 9 Approve, 1 Abstain, 1 Reject (Approved)
VP Sports: 9 Approve, 1 Abstain, 0 Reject (Approved)
VP Activities: 10 Approve, 1 Abstain, 0 Reject (Approved)
VP Welfare & Communities: 10 Approve, 1 Abstain, 0 Reject (Approved)
Union President: 7 Approve, 3 Abstain, 1 Reject (Approved)

VP Education & Democracy provided an update on work to review Sabbatical Officer roles and responsibilities. A full consultation is being held on 03/12/24 with a vote to approve the new roles the following week.