Welcome Week 09

Posted By Ricky Chotai

Welcome Week 09




Photo of Students at the Welcome 2009 Barbecue.

Welcome Week has come to a close and I can honestly say that it has been best ever. The week ended with huge success of the Students’ Union Activity and Trade Fair. We saw about 5000 students come through the Marquee and come and have a look at all the SU Activity Groups.
Don’t panic if you did not manage to come down, if you are still interested in joining an activity group then get in contact with our Student Activities Coordinator Stephanie Pratt on 0161351400 or email her on Studentactivities-ussu@salford.ac.uk

As well as all the festivities that have been going on during this week, all the officers have been giving Induction Talks to all the new students. Below is a copy of the slides I used for the Frederick Road Campus.

Presenation2009

View more presentations from Ricky Chotai.

If you do have any questions about what the students union does or want to get in touch with one of your elected officers check out www.salfordstudents.com for our contact details.

Next week is a much quieter week, however I do have some interesting things coming up. These include interviewing for our Advice Centre Volunteers and a meeting of University Council*.
*University's supreme governing body. The Council is responsible for the management and administration of the revenue and property of the University and for the conduct of the affairs of the University.

As ever if you have any more questions please do not hesitate to get in touch;
Ricky
Vice President Health and Social Care
Tel: 0161 351 5424
Web: www.salfordstudents.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/SalfordVPHSC
MSN / Email: VPHSC-USSU@salford.ac.uk

Student Loans - the current situation

Posted by Matt

At present there are some pressing issues with the Students Loans situation for all students. I am working closely with the University to try and resolve these issue as best as possible for all other students.

I wanted to share with you however some facts that were sent to myself by the NUS (National Union of Students.)

The NUS wrote:

"Current situation

As of the end of last week, the SLC advises us that:

• There are currently 1,040,000 applications in the system, of which 830,000 have been processed

• They are still receiving 5,000 applications per day – a higher than expected volume for this time in the year

• Earlier in the summer, there were significant delays in processing evidence for those who were applying for the full, means-tested loan. Moreover, more students have applied this year for student finance in general, and a greater proportion of applicants have asked for means-tested support compared with last year

• All students who applied by the deadlines will receive the non means-tested loan (which accounts for at least 72% of their entitlement) when they start term and will receive any outstanding amount around 4 weeks later. SLC continues to take this approach for later applications so that students have at least the majority of their cash as soon as possible

• Many students have applied late in the cycle, after clearing

• The phone lines are unable to cope with the volume of calls. The call centre is set up to deal with 25,000 calls per day but is currently receiving 100,000 per day. Applicants should check the status of their applications using the online tracking system first, or if they do wish to call they should do so after 6pm when lines tend to be quieter."



My own view is it's unnaceptable to treat students in such a way and if and when the current situation is resolved there are going to have to be serious questions asked of the Students Loan Company and whether this is going to be a recurring problem.

I will update as and when any new information comes to light.

Late night at the office

Posted by Matt

So I’m at work in the evening which is a rarity at least over summer as the building where we work (University House) has been closing at 6.30pm every week night and has been closed at weekends.

But for one night only –until Yours Bar is open till 11pm and in turn so is the building on the 14th of September- I can work at work rather than home.

There’s a function going on in Yours Bar tonight so the five sabbs our here working away. We got objectives for the year to write, emails to send and blogs to create. The trick of working after 5pm is that the phone isn’t ringing all the time. You can listen to Chemical Brothers whilst concentrating on a project without having to press the pause button.

So I should try and tell you what I’ve been doing. I’ve been on holiday for a week of sunshine and beer, an NUS conference, too many meetings and the fun one – planning events for Welcome Week 09. We’ll have a barbeque, a market, an activities fair, a treasure hunt, several club nights and plenty more going on – more info on that at salfordstudents.com

I’ve also been in interviews for an Anglican Chaplain, been discussing plans for the year with the Senior Management of the University, helping students find Accommodation, campaign planning and working out how I can contribute to hopefully a very successful year for students at Salford!

I also found something pretty cool today. A series of trophies that students have won from as long ago as 1975. Incidentally we also won four trophies last year. So what the other sabbs and I have decided is that we’re going to put a trophy cabinet in Yours Bar with all the trophies on show. Hopefully next summer they’ll be a few more to add!

But I shall keep the blog short for now. All I’ll say is I cannot wait for loads of other students to return/start uni – hope to see you soon!

1st blog

Posted by Emily

After 2 months of officially being in this new role as Faculty Vice President, it feels very natural to me. Last year I was doing very different work as Vice President Activities, but I definitely feel now that I am representing students at a higher level. I have spent the summer working together with the other sabbatical officers, the Students Union staff as well as my faculty staff in order to cement this role, and really get it rolling. I think this change has needed to come for many years and in the future I’m sure we will see other Students’ Unions around the country following in our footsteps.
September is finally here now, and I can’t wait to really get stuck into this role as well as Welcome Week kicking off and the thousands of students arriving, which I am eagerly awaiting!!