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Impact Report 2016/17

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Impact Report 2016/17 1 Oxford University Students’ Union Impact Report 2016-2017 Introduction The past year has in many ways been a transformational one for the Students’ Union. A new sabbatical team, a new CEO, eight new staff and an upcoming new Organisational Strategy have all meant that this year has had to have a focus on meaningful introspection. However, this has not held us back in our outward student engagement, and indeed has provided an opportunity to truly refocus, rebrand and reposition ourselves within the Oxford student and community landscape. In the last six months, the Students’ Union has engaged more students, in more ways and across more demographics, than ever before. Some of our achievements include: • Running a community festival with a footfall of ~2000 people • Our biggest ever Teaching Awards with 895 nominations and 25 award-winners • Elections with the highest turnout in three years (more than doubling graduate turnout), and • A sustained student wellbeing and stress relief programme reaching hundreds of students a week throughout Trinity Term. Our vision of an SU that is valued by every single student at Oxford is closer than ever, and we now have a plan to close that last gap. In addition to increased outreach and broader student engagement, OUSU retains a strong commitment to its core educational, representative, and campaigning mission. We have built on our heritage as a Union that empowers, enables, and channels student interests to improve our University through dedicated collaboration and constructive criticism. On education, a high-profile campaign against the Higher Education and Research Bill contributed to planned fee increases for on course students being dropped and over 70 members of the House of Lords being directly lobbied to amend the bill. In wellbeing, we launched another piece of robust research into the impact of academic structures on student stress and performance, and developed the staff and departmental links to position ourselves as a sector leader in research in this area for years to come. The National Union of Students (NUS) followed us when we successfully lobbied them 2 to roll out welfare surveys based on our own to every SU in the country building a rigorous source of benchmarked data to drive change targeted to where it is needed. Lastly, citizenship and ethics campaigns have gone from strength to strength and a new and much needed campaign on class- based issues has been launched with the highest uptake of any campaign in our history. The OUSU community grows and thrives. Our achievements this year speak volumes, and throughout this report you will see evidence of the meaningful impact we have had time and time again. As President, I have the privilege of looking at the overall picture and this is what fills me with the most pride. This year our approach has been to build student leaders throughout the University, from Common Rooms to campaigns, empowering our members to drive for change and for a happy, healthy and accessible university experience. I can safely say we are a Student Union of and for our members and the course has been set for us to take the position in students’ lives we can and should occupy in future years. I look forward to watching on as subsequent sabbatical teams take us there. - Jack Hampton, President 2016/17 OUSU’s purpose is to improve the student experience at Oxford and we do that by representing, supporting, empowering, informing, and bringing students together. This Impact Report outlines many of our successes this year across our new strategic themes of education, wellbeing, and community. 3 Education We believe that education is the foundation for the future. The better the education, the better the future for us all. Students tell us the quality of their academic experience is important and that’s why we work hard to improve this critical part of the student experience, as indicated in our Education Vision. The following are some of the highlights in this area. Student Representation • OUSU supported 565 Course Reps, of which 150 received face-to-face training. • We successfully recruited a full roster of eight student Divisional Board Representatives. • We helped secure substantial changes to the annual College Quality Assurance templates with a focus on undergraduate collections, provision for part-time and year abroad Students, and postgraduate College Advisers. • With our help, University policy has been strengthened in order to ensure that students are consulted on proposals for above-inflation fee increases for future cohorts. • OUSU represented students on over 30 academic-related committees, working groups, six departmental reviews, one review of a Permanent Private Hall, and one course review. Research • In Trinity Term 2017 OUSU launched an enquiry into the relationship between academic structures in undergraduate degrees, student stress and perceived academic performance. A survey is currently open to second year undergraduates, which after the first week has been completed by 15% of the cohort. This data collection exercise and its subsequent analysis will inform OUSU’s future lobbying priorities on course reform at undergraduate level. National Policy • OUSU was instrumental to the drafting of an open letter published in The Guardian raising concerns about the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), which received over 195 signatures from other SU Officers around the country. • By providing coach travel, resources and operational support, OUSU enabled almost 100 students to attend the NUS National Demo ‘United for Education’ alongside UCU Members. • Mobilised twenty student campaigners who wrote to 70 members of the House of Lords to make a case for amendments to the Higher Education and Research Bill. Key amendments later passed by the Lords included the cutting of a link between TEF and fees, students in migration numbers, protection for students. • Submitted response to Government Consultations on doctoral loans and part-time maintenance loans. 4 Empowering Students • Produced information booklet for suspended status students in conjunction with SusCam (Suspended Status Students Campaign) and OUSU’s Student Advice Service. • Updated and produced new resources to help students make the case for accessible lectures in their departments. • Launched Class Act Campaign – a campaign for working class, first generation, state comp educated, and low income students. The campaign was established unanimously by OUSU Council, and during its first week had 500 likes on Facebook, 200 sign-ups to the mailing list, and attracted over 200 attendees to the launch event including students, academics, and senior University figures. There were 55 nominations for committee elections with 150 self- identifying voters – all unprecedented in the history of OUSU Campaigns. • Ran our first year abroad event, attended by over 50 students, to equip students to plan their career and educational opportunities on their year abroad, with representatives from the Careers Service, Erasmus, Student Advice Service, and international student groups. • Ran two undergraduate and two graduate Exam Preparation sessions, attended by over 160 students. Access and Admissions • Conducted survey of lead student helpers over the admissions period, and subsequently brought report and recommendations based on findings to the Admissions Executive and Admissions Committee to improve safety and wellbeing of both current students and applicants. • Ran BAME Access and Admissions focus group with 20 students and 70 registering interest for future work. • We had significant input to AdEx’s Access Targets Working Group Report and the University’s forthcoming Access Strategy. • Trained, supported, and surveyed JCR access officers from around 80% of colleges. • Our student-led access and outreach programme Target Schools has run 12 shadowing days, reaching over 200 sixth form and college students over the course of the year, and provided safeguarding training and leadership opportunities for many undergraduate students. Academic Quality • Teaching Awards received a record 895 nominations, a 37% increase on 2016, with 107 individuals shortlisted and 25 winners across 7 categories. We also introduced a new category of ‘Best Postgraduate Teacher’ to celebrate the work of graduate students who undertake teaching, which received 63 nominations. • In Trinity Term 2017, we presented OUSU’s Annual Quality Report to Quality Assurance Subcommittee, following up on recommendations contained in the Student Written Submission last year. This piece of work will feed into a report to be considered by University Council in Michaelmas Term 2017. 5 Other Achievements • After years of campaigning from students, the University committed to charging a single combined fee for graduate students (for university tuition and college fees). • Contributed to saving Oxford students £1.2 million of unexpected debt from proposed on- course tuition fee hikes. • Following manifesto pledges and recommendations from the Higher Education Review stemming from last year’s Student Written Submission, we contributed to new guidance surrounding student workload. Wellbeing OUSU is committed to empowering, supporting and defending students. We know from student feedback that students need to feel more supported with their health and general wellbeing at Oxford, and that’s why we’ve continued to increase our focus on this vital area of the student experience. The following gives some highlights of our efforts on improving student
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