We have had an incredible start to the year! Read on to find out what your Students' Union team has been up to.

Democracy  

• Over 70 students attended our first Student Members’ Meetings of the year to pass policy covering sustainability, student experience and academic matters. You can see more of what happened by clicking here.

• Our Democracy Review was approved at the second Student Members’ Meeting and in the next election period, you’ll be able to elect a new assembly structure as well as an additional full-time sabbatical officer - that means having a total of four.

Campus activity is back!

• The new Officer Hub launched this January with a Time to Talk event that encouraged all City Students to come and have a chat with the Sabbatical Officers! You can visit them in their new space near the Courtyard Café in Tait Building, Northampton Square campus.

• Since our last academic impact, we have ran two Study Well campaigns, in December and January. In that time we held over 70 Study Well events with some in collaboration with CitySports, the Academic Skills Team and more. Events included breakfast clubs, pottery painting workshops and Bathbomb labs. Keep an eye out on our socials and the events page to find out when we'll be running more of these activities next month!

• We’ve welcomed new and returning students back for the new year and term by hosting an SU Welcome Back/Refreshers Day. Our stall welcomed lots of visiting students and initiated the the start of LGBTQ+ History Month! From workshops to socials, during the month of February, the Union is recognising the LGBTQI+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex) community's history and promoting diversity and equality in society. See more here.

• As a result of over 70 students voting on the Big Ideas platform, we have worked together with the School of Health Sciences to offer 50 places for students at City, University of London to learn British Sign Language free of charge. If you would like to learn British Sign Language this term, please email studentrep@city.ac.uk.

Check in Wins

• We’ve been busy making your student life at City better! We listened to your key concerns from our autumn round of Welcome Check-In calls and have been working with the University to improve things. From giving the student hub search function a little boost to improve results, to making sure you have more academic confidence by providing information about the services on offer from the Academic Skills team on your Moodle. To see a complete list of what we're doing to make life better for you at City, you can click here.

Societies  

• Since December, student groups have continued to grow on campus despite significant challenges. We currently have over 100 societies, 31 of which are academic societies.

• Last term we saw external speakers, zoom events and arts and crafts sessions taking place since the end of the Christmas break. Society activity has already returned to campus for Term 2, with over 25 events already taking place since the start of term.

• City SU have also recently approved a new set of student groups regulations and established the Societies Board to oversee and apply these regulations. They will be responsible for reviewing new society applications and applications to our Development Fund.

Employability

• Our Employability launch on our website will be up and running in collaboration with our Careers Service. This section of the website will be home to a host of new events that we will be bringing across City, as well as an upcoming Jobs Board!

• We’re happy to announce that all our 21 Micro-Placements went out to candidates over the December holidays, and in an incredible turnout, every single Micro-Placement opportunity has received expressions of interest!

School links catch up 

• Our termly School Links meetings with all 5 Schools has taken place across Term 1. These catch ups present an opportunity to discuss student feedback and key updates with the Deans of the schools, Associate Deans and other University colleagues as well as members of the SU and Officers.

Advice

• Union Advice conducted an Extenuating Circumstances workshop during the January assessment period to further support students who may have been experiencing difficulties.
• In December Union Advice sent out their Annual Survey for the academic year 2020/21 and 93% of students who responded said they would recommend the service to a fellow student.
• Union Advice has been leading on the planning for National Student Money Week which will be taking place n February 21^st 2022. The theme this year is Sustainable Spending. We have a great selection of interesting and fun events for students to take part in whilst receiving valuable financial knowledge. There will also be lots of freebies available and prizes to win. More details to follow so keep an eye outon our socials!