Our impact report gives you a look at what we’ve achieved and the difference we’ve made on an annual basis. It brings together the communities we’ve built, the causes we’ve championed, and the work we’ve delivered. It’s more than just facts and figures; it’s about people, with students at the heart of what we do.

In the 2025/26 academic year, UWTSD Students' Union continued to have a positive impact on the student experience, and we’ve been sector-leading in our delivery. This report highlights the impacts and outputs we've achieved by providing high-quality advice, running events, creating communities, and representing students' interests to governments and the University.

Award Winning Students' Union

We do what we do, not for the recognition, but because we're passionate about students and doing the right thing. That said, this year has been a big one for us. Below are awards and recognition we’ve received in 2025/26.

1. WhatUni Choice Awards – held our position of 3rd in Wales 
2. National Student Survey – 1st in Wales 84.2% agree the SU is effective at representing academic interests 
3. Winner of the NUS Wales Outstanding Campaign Award for the Big Breakfast Campaign 
4. Featured several times in Wonkhe for “what we’re watching” 
5. Scored 4.36 out of 5 for our overall satisfaction by students with the SU from research by the sabbatical officers 

Student Voice  

Our student voice team empowers our membership by facilitating student democracy and representation across UWTSD. Whether it be co-creating spaces for debate on policy and insight, gathering data on the student experience, or training student representative to be powerful advocates for their experience and that of their peers, the voice team has seen major successes across the year.

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Spring Elections

Our student elections are one of the core ways we facilitate student democracy at UWTSD, and our 2026 Spring Elections were one of our best yet. With 112 nominations from across all our campuses, 26 candidates progressing to the ballot, and one of our highest voter turnouts ever at 1,045 students.

• 122 Nominations
• 26 Candidates
• 1,045 voters

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Course Representative Recruitment and Training

• 4.83 / 5 Overall Satisfaction Score

We recruited 332 Course Reps from our Institutes of Inner City Learning and our Wales Institutes. Training completion currently stands at 60% in IICL and 65% across the combined Wales Institutes, with particularly strong completion in WISA at 76%. 

Across the three training formats, Course Representative and Student Voice Representative training achieved an average satisfaction score of 4.83 out of 5. 

Training	Rating
Moodle CR training	4.36 / 5
In-person Wales CR training	4.93 / 5
Online Wales CR training	4.86 / 5
SVR training	5 / 5
In-person London CR training, June 2026	4.95 / 5
Online London CR training, June 2026	4.91 / 5
In-person London CR training, January 2026	4.76 / 5
Online London CR training, January 2026	4.78 / 5
Online IICL Course Rep Bootcamp Brunch	4.92 / 5

Through the community-building aspects of the Student Voice team’s training, we’ve empowered Course Reps and they have this to say...

• "Understanding that we aren't expected to solve every problem and that there are people to help us too" 
• "Nice to know more about how much of an impact what we think has on our future time in the uni" 
• "The scenarios were really useful because they showed real situations a rep might deal with and how to handle them properly" 
• “The training was clear, engaging, and well delivered. I really enjoyed it and found it very helpful.” 

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Postgraduate Representation 

This year saw us work with the Doctoral College to help improve representation and visibility for postgraduate researchers. With brand new structures in place for PGRs to have their voice heard across the University. 

Student Advice 

Our Advice team works on both academic and non-academic cases and provides stellar guidance for students to navigate policies and procedures. Supporting students on the day of the release of their results to championing self-advocacy and developing resources for students has meant this team has enabled students to succeed during their time at University.    

• 930 Cases and Enquiries
• £67,171 Financial Gains

This year, they have supported 930 cases and enquiries, and helped students access £67,171 in financial gains. The financial gains and number of cases show how fantastic our advice service is, from their outputs. Their impact on student life is shown by the fact that 94% of students who have used the service say that we have helped them stay in University due to our support.

Month	Number of Cases and Enquiries		Financial Gains
September	129	£6,950
October	99	£4,800
November	68	£3,324
December	23	£1,400
January	94	£4,400
February	116	£12,917
March	77	£15,662
April	36	£14,035
May	79	£1,350
June	117	£2,333
July	92	-
End of Year	930	£67,171

• “They are very caring and friendly support service.”
• “I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Sophie Kitsell, whose encouragement and practical assistance during a time of deep helplessness, fear, and self-doubt were of immense support to me.”
• “Alice McGovern took on my case. I felt respected and supported throughout this stressful process. She sent me an email with the essential information that I would need to provide, this was very helpful as I was under high distress. Regarding my case I was given clarity as to how to proceed. Timely, professional consultations. The outcome was positive and this service is essential as a student I was unaware of some of the university's processes. I am very grateful.”

Student Opportunities  

Our Student Opportunities team help create community whilst helping students develop their skills. Whether it be supporting our sports team to win entire leagues in BUCS, hosting low-cost and low-commitment events for students to try new things, or putting on sessions to enhance their skills, the opportunities team makes time at University unforgettable. 

Employability & Skills 

• 61 Sessions
• 644 Attendees

Skills Week is our flagship upskilling programme that aims to help students get career-ready through bespoke sessions (such as CV development, LinkedIn, networking, public speaking and professional skills).

In 2025/26, Skills Week Cardiff was a runaway success for us as we delivered 21 sessions to 451 students - an increase of 2,227% year-on-year. We also saw engagement increase for both Skills Week Birmingham and London year-on-year.

Key to our success this year was working with university academic staff to incorporate our sessions with student studies. Sessions were developed from understanding the current curriculum and academics sharing where they believed the academic experience could be enhanced.  

Skills Week	Sessions	Attendees
Cardiff	21	451
Birmingham	23	74
London	17	119

• "Thank you for useful information 👍 I am planning to book an appointment with career services soon."

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BUCS

UppaSaints is the home of competitive sport at UWTSD, with our teams competing nationally against other universities and colleges in the official BUCS leagues and competitions (British Universities and Colleges Sport). The 2025/26 year has been one of our best ever!

• Men's Rubgy: Winners of  Rugby Men's Western Tier 3B (promoted to Tier 2) 
• Men's Football: Winners of Football Men's Western Tier 5B (promoted to Tier 4) 
• Men's Football: Football Men's Western Conference Trophy winners for the 2nd year in a row!  

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Events

• 4.82 / 5

Life outside lectures. Student life is about more than just what happens in the classroom. We want students to enjoy the fun, social side of university life, make new connections and create great memories with fellow students at our events.

Key highlights this year include:

• Receiving a 4.82 / 5 rating for our Give It a Go events in Term 2.
• 100% of students who attended an Opportunities-run event said they would attend another.
• Carmarthen Summer Ball sold out, with over 130 students attending.

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Student Groups

All our groups are student-led, and this academic year has seen 24 active student groups with over 260 student members and 80 student committee members.

• 24 Student Groups
• 80 Committee Members
• 260 Student Members

• "Was nice to do something different in uni never attend the free events but was nice and loved the final result" 
• "The show was amazing. We had awesome seats and the price was amazing, especially considering where we were sat." 
• "I loved going to see the musical as not only was it fun to watch it was also educational for my course" 

Design & Communications 

Storytelling over selling is the mantra of our Design and Comms team. Taking our students on a journey from before their first day with the University to making friends, learning about what the SU has to offer to support their studies, and finally to graduation. This team helps students celebrate their time at UWTSD and learn about what is happening on their campus whilst they're here.

Storytelling, not selling

Our Instagram communications strategy has focused on storytelling-led content over promotional messaging. Comparing Term 2 2025/26 with Term 2 2024/25, we've achieved:

• +140% Impressions (121K → 292K) 
• +69% Reach (39K → 66K)

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Growing on LinkedIn

At the start of the term, we launched an employee-generated content campaign on LinkedIn, showcasing the people and work behind the Students’ Union. With our LinkedIn Impressions increasing by +1,202% (comparing Term 2 2025/26 with Term 2 2024/25).

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Four years of growth

Back in Summer 2022, a brand-new comms team started at the SU. Since then, we have delivered sustained growth over the previous four-year period. 

• +295% Followers (+1.9K) 
• +3,808% Impressions: (1.58M total) 
• +1,678% Reach (358K total)