A number of distressed students have been contacting me over the last few days because they have received letters from the university informing them that their bursaries are being cancelled.
This is absolutely disgraceful.
For many students the bursaries are a vital source of money that allows them to study at Reading.
Your students' union will be taking action on this.
As the university is closed until the 5th January I am unable to find out any more details. Once we know more we will let you know what we plan to do.
In the meantime please join the facebook group and invite all your Reading friends to join too.
If you have been affected by this please don't panic, we have a team of expert independent advisors who will be able to help you. They will be back at RUSU from Monday, you can come into the union to talk to them, ring up for a chat, or send them an email and they will get back to you. Find our more here - Student Advice
I will be keeping you updated on what's happening via this blog and the facebook group.
The students' union is here to ensure that you are represented - we will make your opinions known to the university, but we will need your help.
If you have any questions, and suggestions or simply want to rant please email me or contact me on facebook.
Shivam x
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Cancelled Bursaries
Library
In week 8 we'll be launching our library campaign.
For many years now students have been demanding a better library, one that is open when they need it, one that has the book that they need and one that has enough space for them to work in.
This year we are determined to make sure that the university fully address the short comings of the library.
If you have something to say about the library then please leave a comment at the end of this blog - your voice will help us win this campaign!
Shivam X
The story so far...
WOW, it's been an amazing term - I didn't know that one person could have so much to do!
Hopefully you'll agree (although I'm sure a few of you wont) that we've had quite a good term.
Freshers week started the term off with a bang - more students sign up to clubs and societies than the previous year! We had a great RAG week, we developed our fantastic Give it a Go scheme which saw about 200 students try out a new sport.
We've made the library a top priority for the university. It will be open until midnight on weekdays from the summer term (and then for all the other terms too). There will be additional study space made avaliable around the university during the exam period. But we're still not happy with weekend library hours - and will be piling the pressure on the university next term to do something about it!
We've brought a farmers marke to campus, we've lobbied the university about social space in the new hall developments and we've given housing talks to over 1000 freshers.
We had 120 people come to our AGM - a bit of a record! It was great to see so many people who care about the direction of RUSU, who want to know what we're doing and how they can get involved in it all.
But next term is going to be even better! We're revamping our democracy meetings, producing some amazing video's so that you can better understand how we work and, of course, we'll be running loads more campaigns, putting on tonnes of great events and continuing to provide you with great services, advice and opportunities to get the most out of your time at Reading.
If you have any comments or questions please leave a comment on my blog, or email me
Enjoy the holidays
Shivam x
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Elections
As most of you will probably know this week is voting week in the RUSU elections. Make sure you check out our Meet the Candidates minisite to find out more about the people running.
We'll be announcing the result in Mojo's on Friday from 7pm - everyone is welcome.
The elections are really important - the people you vote for will run RUSU next year. Their manifesto priorities will become RUSU's priorities - so make sure you vote!
This week I'll also be;
- meeting with students from Health and Social Care department to discuss the closure of their department
- Meeting with the University to talk about the library
- Going to the University Board for Teaching and Learning
- Attending the Catering Management Committee
- Starting work on a best practice guide for JCR's
- advertising Student Feedback Forum
- all the usual things like replying to emails, talking to students and supporting the other Student Officers
If you have something to say about the Union, the University or even life in general please get in touch.
Take care,
Shivam xx
Malayasian Night
Last Friday I went to Malaysain Night, an event hosted by the Malaysian, Singaporian and Brunei Society. It was fantastic! I had such a good time. It also reminded me why I love my job so much - it is so inspiring to see students put so much effort and enthusiasm into a project like this. Everything about the event was done by students.
The event started with some AMAZING food. We were then treated to some dancing and then a play that was written, directed and acted by students. Not only was it great drama but it gave me a fantastic insight into Malaysian culture - I left with a much greater understanding of Malaysia.
It was also brilliant to see so many students there - I believe that there were over 200 people there. More societies should put on events like this, events that reach out to as many different people as possible. We have students from all over the world here at Reading (over 1/3 of our studens are from outside the UK). University is the perfect time to learn more about different countries and cultures.
Shivam x
Live from Cafe Mondial
I've set up a twitter account so that you can find out more about how I spend my days (at work) one of the questions that we get asked all the time is 'What do you do all day?'.
This week we are trying to find out how we can better communicate with you - so please tell me. Leave a comment on my blog, one comment will be drwan at random and they will win two tickets to the union or comedy night.
Take care,
Your President
Shivam x
End of the Week
We're really keen to know how you would like us to communicate with you - what works, what doesn't. Would you like us to use facebook, emails or flyering? We know that communication is an area that we really need to improve on - so let us know what you think.
We've also unveiled the 'Wall of Change'. This is the large board on wheels in RUSU, we'll be posting difference questions on it and we want you to post your response (using post-it notes) you can answer the question, or just post a general comment.
Other things I have done this week;
- Went to the Halls Management Committee meeting
- Met with JCR committee's to talk about the new JCR committee training programme
- Went to Wolveerhampton and voted to reform the NUS (http://stage.officeronline.co.uk//news/276019.aspx
- Met with Jennifer Ghandhi (Director of Student Services) to talk about all sorts of student things
- finanlised campaign training for the candidates in the RUSU elections
- talked to loads of people about running in the RUSU elections
- listened to 'Single Ladies' by Beyonce a few too many times - it's my new favourtie song!
lots of love,
Your President
Shivam xx