What is the SU doing?
You’ll have received communication from the university both centrally and from your academic discipline. The university is following Welsh Government guidelines for a safe return to learning and teaching. Support services are still available online for all students to access from Hwb, the Library, and Student Services. However a lot of teaching will be taking place online until at least 14 February. Due to this we want to keep you updated on what we’re up to.
There are several things we’re currently actively working on with the university:
🏠 The union has worked with the university to secure rent rebates for those students in university halls of residence for the first 5 weeks of term!
💬 Clear and regular communication centrally from the university on what is happening and what the next steps are (we appreciate these will change quickly)
🎓 Working with the university to create an additional “Safety Net” Policy which considers last year’s policy and has a safety net for students in relation to their degrees
💰 Asking the university to create additional funding available for students impacted by COVID
✍️ Writing to landlords and private halls to lobby them to significantly reduce or write off student rent, again supported by the university through pre-written letters.
We are also lobbying the Welsh Government to review tuition fees and refund student debt. We’ll be joining up with the NUS campaign #StudentDeserveBetter; follow the hashtag and add your name to the campaign through the NUS website. We’ll keep you updated on what we and NUS Wales are up to on this.
We’re here to make sure you’re supported throughout your time at university; over the next few weeks we will be:
🏃 Setting up ongoing activities, from book clubs to running clubs (online for the moment)
👋 Creating welcome events for those who join the university in January from our London and Birmingham cohorts
🌱 Getting your INSPIRE Internships up and running to keep sustainability going
🗳️ Ensuring you know about union democracy, in terms of campus councils and the Spring Elections
🤝 Recruiting a Health & Well-being Assistant (full-time staff member) who will work to create positive and healthy activities, as well as campaigns to enhance healthy behaviours of students
📣 Supporting Apprentices to have their voice heard through the external review of Apprenticeships in February / March
🏳️🌈 Further supporting your Liberation Groups!
🧠 Launching a campaign all-around student mental health and supporting you through any assessments
💸 New clubs and societies grant system which is easier for students to access and apply for so that your student activities can be even better
👍 Celebrating the Carmarthen SU team getting back up to full strength
We’ve explained all of the things we’re up to now, but it doesn’t begin to explain the work officers are doing on a daily basis in relation to their manifestos and supporting you. We’d love to hear about your experience of the mixed, online and in-person, learning environment through this survey. We’d also love to hear if there is anything else we can help with; get in touch with us through union@uwtsd.ac.uk - we know it’s a tough time, so please let us know how else we can help!
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