Salford Students' Union Sabbatical Team 2012/13

Welcome to the official blog of the Sabb Team for Salford Students' Union. Meet the team! Mishal Saeed - President Alex Thorp - VP Science & Technology Jasmine Pokuaa - VP Health & Social Care Todd Hewitt - VP Arts & Social Sciences The Students' Union is a charity led by students for the benefit of students. We exist to enhance students' lives. The Students' Union seeks to enhance students' lives, providing the support and services you need to get the most out of your time at Salford. Founded 1967 Location University House The Crescent M5 4WT City of Salford

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An update from President CK - Success stories galore!

  So it’s been a while since we wrote a blog and I thought I should update eveyone on a few things that are happening around the Students’ Union! I will try to be brief but of course that never happens as I have so much to tell you all about!!

The University of Salford Students’ Union is writing a plan of action for the next five years. To come up with a plan that makes a difference, we want to find out what Salford students know about us, and what they need from us. An independent research agency called Alterline is conducting the research on our behalf, so all of your answers will remain anonymous. The questionnaire will take around 10 minutes to complete. Everyone completing the survey will be entered into a prize draw where you could win one of 50 cash prizes! You could win anything from £5 to £75!

Please click on the link below to fill out the survey and make sure you have a say in shaping your Union!!

http://www.snapsurveys.com/swh/surveylogin.asp?k=136355228396

Two Cities Boat Race

The Students’ Union are thrilled that our rowing club, Salford University Boat Club (SUBC) won the Two Cities Boat race against the University of Manchester for the second time in 41 years this weekend!! The club won 4 of the 7 individual races and proudly took home the overall trophy. Andy Pass, President of Salford University Boat Club, said: "It was a fantastic atmosphere throughout the day with a buzz in the air from the off. Everyone put in an amazing effort to ensure that Salford brought home the trophy for the first time in 13 years”. I thought it was a fantastic day and thankfully the sun was shining for the event which was also covered live by our student-led radio station Shock Radio.

Full Results

Men's Single Scull - Win for University of Manchester Women's Single Scull - Win for University of Salford Alumni VIII - Win for University of Salford Women's Novice VIII - Win for University of Salford Men's Novice VIII - Win for University of Salford Women's Senior VIII - Win for University of Manchester Men's Senior VIII - Win for University of Manchester Manchester v Manchester Alumni Men - Win for University of Salford Manchester v Manchester Alumni Women - Win for University of Salford

Rugby League Varsity

Salford will be competing with local rivals University of Manchester again on Monday 29th April at Salford City Reds Stadium so we hope to be celebrating another Varsity victory soon! Tickets are on sale for £5 from the Students’ Union Finance Office and it would be great to see lots of Salford students there to support the team! After success at last year’s varsity match there’s no pressure lads!!

Elections

Since the last blog we have held the annual Students' Union Elections during which students elected Mishal Saeed to be your next Students' Union President alongside Alex Thorpe, Jasmine Pokuaa and Todd Hewitt as the Vice Presidents and they will all take up office as of 1st July 2013. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate them on their successful elections as well as the Student Council members who were also elected at the same time. Also a huge well done to all of the candidates who stood!

NUS National Conference

So at the beginning of April the University of Salford Students' Union sent 5 delegates to the NUS National Conference in Sheffield to debate national policy and elect the new NUS President and Vice Presidents for next year. For the first time ever Conference elected a Further Education President, Toni Pearce. Conference voted not to hold another National Demonstration given that there was no political hook or decision being made in Parliament that could be swayed by a demonstration. It was agreed that marching the streets of London can be beneficial and worthwhile but only at the right time as demonstrations begin to lose their clout if they happen all the time. Delegates also voted against fighting for a return of EMA in Further Education Colleges, in favour of fighting for a much more robust and fair system and that the fight for free education is not a fight we can win over the next year given the country's financial state so we should focus on an NUS with more realistic than idealistic ideals and campaigns. Perhaps the most controversial of motions debated at National Conference was one on gender balancing which, if passed, would have seen every Students' Union across the country having to send a 50% female delegation. Personally I am glad this policy fell and was not accepted as NUS policy going forward as I feel gender equality is not an issue in every Students' Union given that here in Salford we elected our third female President in a row in March. Salford currently have six delegate positions and this year four of the six were female. I personally found this motion insulting and patronising as well as quite backwards thinking. If we had four male delegates elected I would not feel comfortable telling one they can't attend Conference based on their gender regardless of the fact they were democratically elected by their peers. This motion, although claiming to give more women opportunity to attend Conference, actually takes away a woman's right to democratically elect who they feel should represent them based on their manifesto rather than their gender. This is my personal opinion and I'm aware there will be some of our students who will disagree with it but I feel I was entirely justified in voting against this motion in the interest of both our male and female students.

QAA Institutional Review

We have now submitted our Student Written Submission for the Quality Assurance Institutional Review and will be meeting with the Review team in May and June over two visits to discuss the submission alongside the University's Self- Evaluation Document. The theme of the Review is "Student Engagement In Quality Assurance" and the review team will wish to speak to groups of students in June. If you are interested in being a part of the review meeting please email me on [email protected] so I can put you on the list.

Students’ Union Annual Awards

Tomorrow we will be celebrating student achievement at our Students’ Union Annual Awards which promises to be a fantastic evening at Sacha’s in Manchester with 350 tickets sold out! Students have nominated their peers for the following awards:

Best New Student

Best Activity Group

Best Sports Group

Student Journalist of the Year

Sports Personality of the Year

Activity Group Personality of the Year

Students’ Union Personality of the Year

Student-led Teaching Awards

The Students' Union second annual Student-led Teaching Awards have received lots of nominations and we can now announce the shortlist for each of the categories as follows:

Best Teacher

Blanca Gonzalez Valencia - Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences

Jenna Condie - Health Sciences

Tim Marangon - Law

  Best Personal Tutor

Neil Withnell - Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work

Lisa Cullen - Arts and Media

Lee Griffiths - Computing, Science and Engineering

  Best Postgraduate Supervisor

Maria Kutar - Business

Gordon Fletcher - Business

Lars Berger - Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences

  Best Student Rep

Emma Ogden - Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work

Todd Hewitt - Business

Katharine Jackson - Business

  Best Academic Support Staff

Hannah Gibson - Arts and Media

Craig Tattershall & Steve Oliver - Arts and Media

John Boothe - Arts and Media

Steve Jones - Arts and Media

The awards ceremony will take place on 1st May where we will be announcing the winners. As well as nominees we will be inviting all student reps who have achieved their level 3 in Rep Academy this year to attend and receive their certificates.

  There is much much more happening around the Students' Union at the moment so if you want to get involved in any way make sure you remember to check for updates on the website at www.salfordstudents.com or don't hesitate to get in touch!! Good luck to those of you with deadlines and exams coming up!! I feel your pain as I attempt to juggle the job and my MA!

Peace out

Christina

x

[ussu-sabbteam]

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the Students Union!

Greetings Salford students!

I hope the New Year is treating you all well and that the exam period isn’t too harsh on you guys! Here are some updates from me – I’ll try to keep them as brief as possible but do skim through in case you find something useful. January hasn’t been as quite as I was expecting it to be with the NHS bursary situation going into shambles and impacting 98 students who transferred from a diploma to an ordinary degree Level 6 after having been told by their School (unknowingly) that their bursary scheme would remain non means-tested regardless of the transfer. 5 months into their course, they are being told that they have to be on a means-tested scheme and depending on the outcome, pay back the due amount; or shift back to the diploma if they wish to stay on the same bursary scheme. Apparently there was a misinterpretation of the instructions by the College which the Health authorities agreed were a bit unclear. However nobody wants to accept responsibility and everybody seems to reiterate that it has to be down to the individual students’ responsibility. This attitude is quite frankly disappointing. We are trying all we can to make the University pay for the difference or convince the bursary unit to allow this cohort of students to stay on the same scheme. They only shifted on to an ordinary degree so that they could be better qualified to serve the NHS. At the end of the day they were on the ordinary degree, doing more work for less money. Many will decide to step back on the diploma (less work and same bursary scheme) and some might decide to take student loans. It is unfortunate that the people responsible are unable to see beyond the black and white of the situation and chose to incur the same amount of cost but cause more hassle for the affected students.

Have a go through the student experience reports here to see how the last semester was for all the Colleges: (http://www.salfordstudents.com/voice/content/804533)

One issue worth mentioning is the turmoil in Syria which has been impacting Syrian students in the UK, as the government is unable to continue to sponsor Syrian students abroad. Those with pro-freedom or pro-revolution political affiliations are particularly in danger. More information here: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/01/14/syrian-students-face-deportation-death-torture-tuition-fees_n_2472639.html?1358187809

This is quite similar to what happened with the Libyan students last year. We will be discussing this at the Student Council but please sign this petition to show your support: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_UK_universities_from_expelling_Syrian_students/?pv=11

We have recommended the university to accommodate the Syrian students by giving them access to hardship funds and not expel them from their studies but maybe withhold graduation until the situation in Syria improves and until they are able to pay their tuition fees.

There is quite a lot to get involved in in the next couple of weeks. End of exams party, 18 January: http://salfordstudents.com/events/index.php?page=event&event_id=871093 Comedy Night. 29th January http://salfordstudents.com/events/index.php?page=event&event_id=859033

And of course elections: http://www.salfordstudents.com/elections

Do have a think about the upcoming student union elections. Your union needs competent students to take the lead in enhancing students’ lives. It is a brilliant opportunity to have a massive impact on students. Feel free to pop in to university house to have a chat or ask any questions you might have about the roles and if you’re thinking of standing.

Last week I met many lecturers in Allerton to keep them better acquainted with the Students Union services so that they could keep students well informed. In February we will be running an ‘I love my union’ campaign to raise awareness about the Union and make sure it is well-funded by the University. We will be speaking to as many of you as possible so keep an eye out for that.

All the videos of TEDxSalford 2.0 have now been released and can be watched here: http://www.tedxsalford.com/videos

Well that’s about it from me. I wish you all the best for the rest of your exams. Don’t let the winter blues get to you!

Mishal x

[ussu-sabbteam]

Merry Christmas from the Students' Union

Hi Salford students. I have realised that we haven't written a blog for a while so I wanted to give you all an update on what we have been up to here at the Students' Union!

The same week as the Demo the Students' Union held a Rules and Regulations Awareness campaign (RARA) where we had a roadshow around campus telling students about changes to the University's academic regulations including changes to PMC procedures and the late submission policy. We ran a quiz throughout the week giving students the chance to win a new Kindle Fire and the winner has been announced so make sure you check your email as it could be you!!

This week and next week we are holding The Big Ask where staff and Sabbatical Officers from the Students' Union will be asking you about how satisfied you are with the SU here at Salford. We want your honest opinions so that we know wh we can improve on in order to make things better for our students! As well as having your say you could also win £50 cash, £20 in shopping vouchers or one of five NUS Extra cards in return for your five minute chat! Keep an eye out next week for our beuatifully named Win-zebo for a chance to get involved!!

I would also like to take this opportunity to say congratulations to the four students you have elected to represent your views at NUS National Conference in April so a big well done to Emma Ogden, Muftau Akintoye, Zoe Swindells and Tom Doyle (whoever he is). 

We held our Student Rep Conference on 28th Novemeber with guest speaker John Amaechi who was very inspirational in his speech about leadership with over 150 student reps in attendance. Since I last wrote we have trained 250 student reps and I would just like to say a big thankyou and congratulations to all of the student reps, School Reps and PGR College Reps for all of your support and for all of the wins you have achieved for students this semester!

Better Forums are a great opportunity for our students to tell us what they would like to see improved in the Students' Union, the University and the city of Salford and there will be another opportunity in second semester to attend the second lot of forums. We received some really useful information from students which has helped us to achieve change and wins on campus as a result of the three forums as well as our two Student Council meetings from this semester. Remeber though that you don't have to wait until a forum to get in touch about anything you would liek to see changed. You can contact me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ckennedy.ussu, Twitter on www.twitter.com/SalfordPres or by emailing me at [email protected]

We will have loads more exciting things coming up in second semester with Sabbatical Officer elections, Student Council elections, Student-led Teaching Awards Nominations and much more! For now I hope everyone is meeting their dealines okay without too much stress and I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas from the Students' Union and a well deserved break!

  All the best,

Christina

[ussu-sabbteam]

Be the change - words of wisdom from President CK

So it's been a while since my last blog. I've been on holiday to Canada since then, which was amazing, except for my very poor French skills, and been on one of my best friends' hen do!

Since being back in Salford I have chaired my first Trustee Board meeting where we discuss the Students' Union's finances and governance, called into our School Reps training session, enjoyed meeting hundreds of new students over Welcome Week, and questioned the University about reading lists, lack of access to Blackboard and of course the fiasco that has been the timetabling situation. I am aware that that the University are doing all they can to rectify the situation but for those students who have had to miss shifts at work or potentially miss classes due to childcare commitments etc it still isn't good enough. After a meeting with University Senior Management yesterday we have been told that students should be able to access a reliable personalised timetable in the next couple of weeks.

Since my last blogpost I have also submitted a recommendation to the University for a fairer, more accessible payment scheme for Postgraduate tuition feess which would allow students to pay their fees over a ten month period rather than the current five month arrangement, and am waiting for an official response to this paper. I know how much I stuggled myself last year to pay my tuition fees as a part time postgrad on the lower fee arrangement so I can't imagine how difficult it could be for a full time or International student on higher fees!

The morning after I returned from Canada I had a trip to London for a conference to teach me how to be an effective student governor as I have the priviledge of representing students at the top table on University Council, the institution's highest decision making body. We also celebrated the 45th anniversary of the Students' Union by holding a reunion of Sabbatical Officers dating back 15 years at which I couldn't resist mentioning how I was actually still in Primary School in 1997 with no idea what a Students' Union even was!

Some of you may know that the National Union of Students (NUS) were mandated back in April to hold another National Demonstration in the first semester this year. The date has been decided as 21.11.12 with the tagline shown above of "Educate, Employ, Empower". The message of the demonstration is to fight for our future. At a time when students will pay £9k fees for an education that no longer promises them a brighter future or that well paid job they dreamt of, unemployment levels are forever on the rise, the government is threatening to take away housing benefit for under 25s, and to top it all off we no longer have the pension safety net to rely on. Postgraduate education is seeming even more of a longshot for many students with no restriction on the cost and fees once more on the rise. I hope to see as many Salford students as possible in London on 21.11.12 fighting for their future and for this government to see the public good of education. Not only are students being hit as students but public sector cuts will affect our career opportunities and those of our friends and families. Education should be a right, not a priviledge. When you, the students at the University of Salford elected me as your Students' Union President I promised to fight for a more accessible route to Postgraduate study and I will not go back on that promise.

This year Salford went through an Academic Realignment Project and the University's Transformation Project Phase 2 which seen staffing changes across the institution. Although the changes cannot all be blamed on the government, there was some outside pressure on the University due to things such as Student Number Control, which seen Salfrod lose over 400 student places and forcing the institution to rethink its staffing structures. The University is not entirely blameless and we held a 'Carnival Against the Cuts' back in May to voice student concerns about staff and department cuts as well as compiling a report containing recommendations which the Vice Chancellor responded to point by point. So why am I telling you all this? I am telling you this to reinforce the importance of the National Demonstation this Autumn. There may not be a parliamentary decision being made, however, it's about time that students started setting the agenda for the 2015 General Election as the attack continues on the public sector and education. We will continue to face local cuts if the government continues this attack so it is time for us to unite with students, young people and communities across the country to say that we will not stand for this ideologically driven austerity anymore.

During my year as Vice President last year NUS constantly drove home the message to Sabbatical Officers and students to "Be the Change" and on my trip to Quebec I saw this graffiti on a wall and was almost convinced that someone form NUS had followed me there to continue to ingrain that message in my brain. Now I am going to say to each and every one of our students here at Salford that you should take every opportunity you can to be the change! Here is a little saying I really like so thought I would share it.

Although I love my job and I love achieving change for students we want to encourage as many students here at Salford to actively get involved in making things happen around University to improve everyone's experience whilst they are here! We have an election comign up in Novemeber where we will be electing four NUS delegates to attend the NUS National Conference in April for three days. At this conference you have the opportunity to represent Salford students on a national scale as well as voting to set the agenda on campaigns you believe the NUS should be running for the upcoming year. This is a very exciting opportunity and anyone can run in the elections as long as you are a registered student. If you want to know anymore about the election process please don't hesitate to get in touch on [email protected] 

If there is something that you would like to see change for the benefit of Salford students then remember you can come along to our Better Union Forum on 9th October to pitch your idea and discuss it with other students. If people are interested in your idea you could even run it as a referenda question for students to vote on alongside the elections! Why not take this opportunity to have a voice and challenge your Sabbatical Officers to run a campaign voted for by students?

This blog has now ended up beingmuch longer than I had anticipated so congratulations if you made it all the way to the end! I would just like to take this chance to again say Welcome to all of our new students and a welcome back to all of our returning students. The Sabbatical Officers were running around last week in fetching yellow tshirts, going between induction talks and events to introduce ourselves to as many of you as possible! I hope you are all settling in now and making lots of friends! I remember my first few weeks of Uni, moving to a new country from Northern Ireland. I was really excited but absolutely terrified at the same time. I was moving from a tiny village where everyone knows everyone, to a city with not a friend in the world, but I soon realised that there were many others in the same boat! Uni has been one of the best experiences of my life so all I can say is throw yourself in with two feet and enjoy it!!!!

Peace out,

Christina

P.S. After some feedback from a student I felt I should include this picture! Here you are Danny Bradley, this one's for you!

[ussu-sabbteam]

Long time no see and BIG WELCOME to our international students arriving next week

I now remember myself being in the same boat and coming to Salford 2 years ago. Mixed emotions, lots of excitement, many questions is not enough to describe how I felt.  Please do not forget: there will be always positive people willing to help you and give you the so important first directions.

Every single student is automatically a member of the Students` Union. Your journey starts here. Make the most of it! : )

There are a variety of events for you all to attend: http://www.salfordstudents.com/welcome

And don`t forget to get your party wristbands giving you free access to some of the hardest venues in Manchester: http://www.welcomeweekevents.com/university-of-salford/

To keep ourselves busy in the last couple of weeks me and the other Sabbatical Officers have been attending meetings to prepare, understand and contribute to your student experience.

NOW is coming the FUN and the most important part of it: Meeting you all!

Look forward to see you soon! 

Lots of sunshine,

Elisaveta Prodromova

  P.S. For all postgraduate students: You can now extend your contract of accommodation for a period shorter than 3 months (as it was previously). Get in touch if you experience problems writing your dissertations and having no place to stay at until the end of your studies.

[ussu-sabbteam]

Sport and Activities, NUS training, Welcome 2012 and much more!

Hello to all you lovely folks out there who’re reading our blog! As it was Christina’s turn to write a blog and she’s not here (as she is away in Canada - having a well deserved break!) Mishal & Tom have taken over (So for the benefits of you readers, perhaps you’d want to read this in a Northern Irish accent;))!

The Countdown to Welcome Week has officially begun! Whether you are a new or a returning student, just know that university time will undoubtedly be the most exciting time of your life – so make sure you make the most of your time here! We are very excited to bring you the best that Salford has to offer in terms of events, socials, parties, trips, tours, networking opportunities and advice/support with settling in. If you haven’t already done so, do press attending on our official facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/381607268561110/and share the excitement with everyone!

  Now is the perfect time to browse through the sports and activity groups and make a mental mind map of which ones you’d like to get involved with. You can also sign up online and be sure to keep an eye out for the Freshers’ Fair where these groups will have the chance to show-case what they do. You’ll have the opportunity to meet all of them in one place for these two days – do check them out: http://salfordstudents.com/minisites/?cat_id=3613

All preparations are still going on behind closed doors. Have a look and make sure you don’t miss out on anything! http://www.salfordstudents.com/welcome

So over the weeks since she last wrote she’s been to NUS training which Mishal and Eli have told you all about; special second year training which is just as exciting as it sounds. Other than that she’s been going to her presidential type meetings which more than likely contain several options of fruity teas and a fine selection of biscuits (they’re definitely the ones who steal the double chocolate chip ones!). No doubt these meetings take place in offices with comfy leather seats and come accompanied with pineapple deserts and a walk in wardrobe perhaps to store the jacket (I know what makes status! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19333159).

  On a more serious note there’s been meetings to discuss the impending Institutional review which is an independent review of the University focusing this year on students involvement in quality assurance. She’s also been at meetings regarding internationalisation, The Manchester College and PgT fees, all of which I’m sure you’ll be updated on in her next blog!

  Jsut to anony Chirinsta I’ve diceedd to put in a snetcnee taht deons’t mkae too mcuh snsee, the perfect way to keep those obsessed with grammar happy on their blogs!! Didn’t mess with apostrophe’s though as they’re not for messing with!

Tom & Mishal 

[ussu-sabbteam]

And now officially HELLO :)

I am Eli and I am your Vice President for the College of Arts and Social Sciences. It`s been a few weeks already since I started my new adventure at the Students` Union.

As it is my first blog and quite some time has already passed, I will try to give you a flavour of what I have been up to so far.

First two weeks were handover period, having the privilege to work closely with the previous Sabbatical team and learn my first lesson, which actually is the mission statement of our unique organisation: “Enhancing Student Lives”. Everything we do is towards achieving this goal and making your student experience unforgettable and worth it.

The structure of the Students` Union is complex, but getting to know the fantastic staff from the different departments who will help us throughout the year, I can firmly say that it will be valuable experience!

Soon after starting and settling, we went to Scarborough for our team residential, where after open discussions, interactive games and many teambuilding exercises we came up with our Sabbatical Plan for the year ahead.I will try to find out what really matters for your student experience and together we can make a positive change!

On 16 July we went to UCLAN (University of Central Lancashire) for the event Meet Your Neighbours, which was organised by the NUS (National Union of Students), meant to gather together student leaders from our geographical region.

A collaborative project between the Students` Union and the university about Internationalisation will shortly start. It aims to increase the opportunities for home and international students to engage with each other and to incorporate a global perspective in all areas of Students` Union activity.

Last week I and Tom went to Lancaster and Christina and Mishal went to Bristol for NUS LEAD and CHANGE. All the courses were developed with vision that every student will play an active role in their Students Unions and the NUS.This training brought together national officers, NUS staff as well as officers and staff of students` unions. 

I will leave you with a final quotation from Lead and Change:

“To put the world in order we must first put the nation in order.

To put the nation in order we must put the family in order.

To put the family in order we must cultivate our personal life.

And to cultivate our personal life we must first set our hearts right.”

- Eli Prodromova

[ussu-sabbteam]

My first post - Mishal Saeed

Greetings Salfordians!

I am absolutely thrilled to be leading your student union for this exciting year. The last couple of weeks have been very busy in terms of the hand-over, settling in and being prepared for the times ahead, but very enjoyable and insightful, nevertheless.

In Scarborough, the team and I developed our strategy which we will be working on in our time here. We will be talking more about it in the coming weeks but just to give you an overview. I will be leading two of those points, briefly – developing at least three policy stances of the student union as a result of direct feedback & evidence from students and championing the achievements of student activities more effectively. So I shall be speaking to a lot of you in the time to come to ensure that students make the most of their experience and the opportunities in front of them. There are a wide range of sports and activities that you can be involved with, do check them out! If you haven’t already signed up for activities, you can do so now at http://www.salfordstudents.com/minisites/?cat_id=3613

I will be sitting on two important committees – Time-tabling & Blackboard. There have been various issues and concerns regarding time-tabling, including over laps, last minute cancellations etc – but we will try our best to make sure that time tables are as coherent as possible and that any changes are communicated effectively. A lot of you may know that blackboard has been upgraded for this year – I will make sure that any issues with the new blackboard get resolved asap. If you have any concerns to raise regarding time-tabling or the new blackboard, please email them to me at [email protected]

I will also be sitting on the Disciplinary Committee – I hope I don’t get to see any of you there! Please make sure that you are aware of the rules & regulations that apply to you. Many times they are not being followed at the administration’s end and students are unaware of that because they haven’t read them properly. One thing we will be working on in the coming year is the RARA campaign – rules & regulations awareness campaign – to ensure that any changes to policy are being communicated effectively. If, God forbid you do end up in a dire situation, remember there are always options to help you. We have an Advice Centre specifically dedicated to guiding students in these scenarios http://salfordstudents.com/advice/ Remember you don’t need to be in trouble to get in contact with us – you can come anytime to have an informal chat or to find out more information about things.

If you are in your second or third year, looking for placements – here is a useful link from a fellow Sabb recommending companies which are still hiring http://blogs.susu.org/sabbs/2012/07/30/let-the-2013-job-hunt-begin/#content If you are an international student and need advice/guidance on visas, please feel free get in touch with me anytime! Did you know that your union is developing an iphone app? Do tell us your views if there is anything in particular that you would like to see on the app?

Last week I attended the NUS ‘Lead & Change’ event in Bristol which brought together sabbs from across the country. The highlight of the week was definitely ‘Fibchester’ – (or Hellchester!). Fibchester was the worst university you could be in, where literally everything was going wrong! It was a session that was designed to make us fail and break apart. We had to devise solutions to very complex and seemingly unresolvable problems and we were being constantly overloaded with work and deadlines. It was an excellent exercise to prepare for the real world and made me feel lucky to be at Salford! Made us realize we have to be on our toes at all times with all these changes taking place.

Following the success of the first TEDx event at MediaCityUK (highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8csw56lzxvE&feature=player_embedded), tickets are now available for TEDxSalford 2.0 – an inspirational conference dedicated to share ideas worth spreading, bringing together some of the world’s leading luminaries, thinkers, doers, performers under one roof – in Salford! - A project that I am proud to be leading with many other students. We are pleased to offer concessionary rates for students – available here: http://www.tedxsalford.com/event/registration - they get sold out very quickly so make sure you get them at the early bird discount before they run out! If you would like to recommend a speaker or a performer, you may email us at [email protected]. This time we are aiming to be one of the largest TEDx events in the world and the largest one in UK, so please do get the word out as much as you can and help achieve this in Salford (the current largest TEDx event in UK is TEDxLondon). It will be held on the 21 October – a great event to inspire you even after the Olympics and the Welcome.

Excited for the fun times ahead? I most certainly am!

Mishal

[ussu-sabbteam]

Tom's Olympic Blog

Afternoon,

What an exciting week to blog on, the Olympics are finally here! We've had our little flags in the office since the jubilee and now finally I won't have to explain why they're there! It also means that if you were to head in to the office over the next week I'll inevitably be cheering to some obscure sport which we've all just found out that we're quite good at (equestrian as I type). Thought I'd include a photo below from fairly decent seats in Old Trafford where Team GB kindly posed for a photo for me.

We still have the regular meetings with staff members of the University to discuss student issues, an example this week being mine and Christina's meeting with IT. We then had an afternoon looking back at the first year of MediaCity:UK campus, the highlights of which were most definitely the students' work and in particular a student who's doing work to improve the way we watch football.

There's an unfortunate amount of Academic Misconduct Panels at the minute (panels to discuss cases of plagiarism et al. #lightreading http://www.governance.salford.ac.uk/cms/resources/uploads/File/AQA/Academic_Misconduct_Procedure.pdf ) you really don't want to end up at these meetings so get your referencing done!!

On a happier note and perhaps the most important thing we'll be working on is to get ready for next year. Other than the basics of getting to know the new team and how we'll work together we've made a beautiful plan which we'll be showing off throughout Welcome. A years experience of this role tells me that once the madness starts in September it's easy to forget about these plans and get snowed under with all the other things which come up so it's important to get as much of it as possible done before then.

But what will we actually be doing in Welcome? #shamelessadvertising  http://salfordstudents.com/welcome. If there's anything you think we've missed then be sure to get in touch and tell us we should be doing it.

Much of the sabbatical officer role throughout Welcome is increasing our profile so that as many students as possible know why we're here and what we do. We had one of our Engagement meetings to discuss how we should do it.

The easiest way to get to alot of students face to face is to do plenty of lecture shouts so many lucky students will get to hear my quality humour as we weave through our Prezzi presentation. We'll be trying to get to more than just new students so some who saw it last year may get to see this years updated version. We'll then be jumping in and out of various events throughout the week so clearly I'll run in to you at some point.

So that's summer,

Tom

[ussu-sabbteam]

Hi there, it's Christina! @salfordpres

So I just wanted to say hi as your new Students' Union President and let you all know what I have been up to in the past week. The absolute highlight of the week had to be getting the absolute priviledge to be the mace bearer at graduation on Thursday. Each of last year's Sabbatical team had a day each of having that proud mummy feeling as we sat on stage sharing that proud moment with hundreds of our students. I also had the priviledge of meeting Jonny Marr (if you don't know who he is tut tut, google him right this second!) and getting him to sign my programme like a little school girl!

The past week I've been feeling really excited as we have talked about our officer plans for the year and the organising of a fantastic Welcome in September, as well as feeling more than a little stressed at times with over 700 emails to sort through but I got there in the end so it's all good now, panic over!

I have a jam packed week of meetings this week and am very excited for NUS Lead and Change summer training next week in Bristol. On an ending note I would just like to say, you know you've made it when you have a life size cardboard cut out of yourself!!

Peace out,

Christina