An update from Kobby

Thursday 08-02-2018 - 13:50
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Hi Guys, I’m Kobby your Science and Technology Officer representing ELS, SOBE and CSE on behalf of the students Union. I must say it’s been a real privilege and a humbling moment serving in this capacity and I just wanted to bring you guys up to speed with what I have been working on for the past 7 months.

 

Plagiarism Awareness Week- Plagiarism has always been a big issue for Students and especially for International students who are mostly not familiar with the UK academic procedures. In view of this, I have been working together with the University of Salford Library to launch a ‘Plagiarism Awareness Campaign’ Starting from the week of 12th February. This will include a host of workshops to be run by the Library and your SU advice centre and a special event specifically for international students on the 13th of March. All in order to make sure students are getting on with their academic life with all the confidence needed.

 

Housing Accreditation Scheme- The sole aim of the need to providing a housing accreditation Scheme is to help students who are not able to get into halls also get a safe and affordable place to live. Work has already started after various consultations and discussions held with the University and Student Union Trustee Board. In view of this, a housing survey has been launched by the SU with support from the University’s ASKUS Team to help give some statistics and a broader idea of what the problems really are. We have been able to get close to 300 respondents and the last lap of the survey will be done within the week from the 12th of February in line with the National Student’s Money Week (NSM) being organised by the University’s Money Matters Team with a campaign dubbed ‘Where I live’ .

 

International Student Engagement - The level of engagement with international students dropped massively after the University scrapped International Cafe. I have been able to Lobby the Student’s Union to bring back International Cafe with support from my fellow Sabb Famous. The Café runs every Thursday from 6-8pm and we have different themes every week. It has also promoted an Atmosphere for good cultural diversity where students are able to talk to fellow students about their culture and way of life. The Café can now boast of 90 regular attendees with an average of 25 students turning up each week to get involved. Please attend to make it even more popular.

 

Black History Month- BHM was a great success which engaged over 400 students from diverse backgrounds. I had an amazing time leading on several events and I’m sure the students did too with great reflections. Some of the Events I lead on were;

  • BHM Diversity Games 
  • Movie Nights
  • BHM Reading Challenge in Collaboration with the Library
  • BHM Quiz Night

 

Library Development Committee- As a Union representative on the Library Development Team, I was able to feedback work being done on the Library Ground Floor and also made sure student views were taken on board in what turned out to be a very fast project delivery. I was also able to secure an advertisement wall to help get more involvement with SU events. Now the library is in full operation and students are loving it, but I have also heard the cry for the food & drink dispensers, and for those of you who come with your own food, talks are still ongoing with Salfood to allow students to warm and eat their packed food from a certain period. Will give an update on that in my next write up.

 

Societies & Sports - I have worked with Union Staff to amend some of our Bye Laws to ensure Societies understood the funding process and also received their funding in good time. I have also been able to lobby Atmosphere to bring back “Man of the Match Meal” and reduced pints from £2.6 to £2 on Wednesday to encourage our sports teams to come back in after games. We just love the Atmosphere when you are around. We are also working towards introducing an online voting system for all societies which we are currently piloting with an opt out option for societies and sports clubs with the mind-set of a good consultation process. This is to ensure a free and fair committee transition process. We have also been doing some great work in making sure your societies are fully involved in the planning of our yearly annual Ball. Is all about what you guys want!

Together we are making the change we want to see at Salford…..

Will keep you y’all posted and make sure you get involved in PLAGIARISM AWARENESS WEEK!

 

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