Posted By Ricky
Dear All,
There have been questions about why one year we were fighting to save the Pav and the year after the choice was made to close it for good.
What happened last year?
This time last year the University told the Union that the Pav had to be closed at the end of last year.
This then sparked the “save our Pav” campaign that was spearheaded by last year’s team which I was also involved in. The motivation behind the campaign was the view that the University’s request was quite simply an attack on the independence of the Students' Union particularly when the trading figures projected that although trade had decreased, the Pav was still a commercially viable venue at that point.
And now?
The easiest way to explain the change in thinking is to look at the figures. Below are the figures for the net financial contribution of the Pavilion to the Union since 2005 (calculated by taking the surplus generated by the bar and subtracting the net cost of putting on entertainments)
2005 ₤56,416
2006 ₤66,131
2007 ₤95,457
2008 ₤61,676
2009 ₤28,462
2010 ₤565 (projected)
2011 ₤(3,000) (projected)
As a result of trade falling a further 30% this year, the Pav will just about break even. Next year the Pav is estimated to make a ₤3000 loss. This loss would have to come from cutbacks in other areas of the Union. Also, from 1 June the Union will have to register as a charity. The Charity Commission takes a negative view of charities that run loss making trading activities that are not connected to the primary reasons for the charity’s existence. The Trustee Board took this into account in its decision making process too.
The new venue??
This time last year, the University promised not to close The Pavilion until a replacement venue was available on campus. Since those discussions took place, substantial cuts in higher education funding have meant that the University has had to reconsider its investment options. The development of a new venue got as far as costing out initial drawings. However, those schemes came back costing around the ₤1 million mark. In addition, the venue would only have held 200 people and would have had to operate at absolute capacity from day one to generate a very small financial return. The University’s view was that the level of investment was not justifiable to impact on a small sample of the University population, nor when it would generate such a small financial return.
The Future??
The loss of the Pav is sad, however as a Students' Union we will move on and it gives us a real opportunity to look at the offerings of entertainment on campus.
Next year we will be having a Freshers Ball and we are looking at tie ins with clubs in town.
This however is your opportunity to have you feedback please join the group The Pav is closing... what entertainment do you want next year? http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122573974434875#!/group.php?gid=122573974434875&v=info
and if you are not on facebook please get in touch by email VPHSC-USSU@salford.ac.uk
The Full Press Release from the Union can be found at http://salfordstudents.com/files/PAV_FULL.pdf
Ricky
Vice President Health and Social Care
(President Elect 2010/2011)
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Monday 3 May 2010
Fees Review Leak
Posted by Ricky
Yesterday the Sunday Times published the following article, in which it details of some of the outcomes of Lord Browne review which is due to to report in Autumn.
John Pert who is a member of NUS's Executive Council has provided some good insight and analysis on his blog.
What does that mean for Salford Students and what will the Students Union be doing?
The leaked outcome of Lord Browne's review suggests various methods of raising fees, one of those suggested is to double the level of fees and then start adding an extra £1000 a year until we see a 'true market'.
This is an absolute disgrace, students across the country have not seen any benefit of the current system in where students pay fees by taking a loan to pay fees upfront, further more the Times article suggests that 'the subsidised interest rate on student loans would go'. This would be a massive blow for students and what is the fee level that achieves a 'true market' £20000? £30000??
This is issue is not just limited to home students, you can guarantee that Universities across the country will use this as an opportunity to raise fees for international students as well.
We must remember that currently none of the proposals reported in the Times are confirmed, however as students at Salford and nationally we should be ready for what is likely to be the outcome.
The National Union of Students (NUS), agreed at conference that we would be holding a National Demonstration on this very topic and we will be making sure as many Salford Students go to it to ensure the voice of students is heard by the MP's that run our country.
Locally we will be continuing to lobby MP's in the local area to ensure that when this comes to the house of commons, we ensure that they have heard both sides of the argument.
We will also be lobbying our Vice Chancellor Martin Hall, to ask him the very questions I have posed in this blog. Can he show to the student body any benefit they have seen since the introduction of top up fees? Does he support a 'true market' for fees that will price out so many students from Higher Education?
What can you do?
As I am sure you aware on Thursday the country will take to the polls and this is your opportunity to have your voice and use your vote.
Over the last week we have been working with NUS on the Vote for Students' Campaign. The campaign is very simple to ask MP's and prospective MP's to sign up to the following pledge
“I pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament and to pressure the government to introduce a fairer alternative”
The results of all the people that have signed the pledge is available online http://nus.org.uk/Global/FULLVOTEFORSTUDENTSLIST280410.xls and I urge you that when you cast your vote this week you consider who has and who has not signed the pledge.
Politically the next year is going to be a huge challenge not just in the area of tution fees, but also some of the proposed public sector cuts we may see. You will be seeing the Students' Union doing a lot of work over the upcoming weeks and months.
If you have a keen interest in the subject of this blog post send me an email at vphsc-ussu@salford.ac.uk and I can keep you upto date in all the union is doing.
Ricky Chotai
Vice President Health and Social Care
Tel: 0161 351 5424 | Mobile: 07540222310
Web: www.salfordstudents.com | Twitter: www.twitter.com/SalfordVPHSC
NB Thankyou for John Pert from the NUS NEC for alerting me to the link.
Yesterday the Sunday Times published the following article, in which it details of some of the outcomes of Lord Browne review which is due to to report in Autumn.
John Pert who is a member of NUS's Executive Council has provided some good insight and analysis on his blog.
What does that mean for Salford Students and what will the Students Union be doing?
The leaked outcome of Lord Browne's review suggests various methods of raising fees, one of those suggested is to double the level of fees and then start adding an extra £1000 a year until we see a 'true market'.
This is an absolute disgrace, students across the country have not seen any benefit of the current system in where students pay fees by taking a loan to pay fees upfront, further more the Times article suggests that 'the subsidised interest rate on student loans would go'. This would be a massive blow for students and what is the fee level that achieves a 'true market' £20000? £30000??
This is issue is not just limited to home students, you can guarantee that Universities across the country will use this as an opportunity to raise fees for international students as well.
We must remember that currently none of the proposals reported in the Times are confirmed, however as students at Salford and nationally we should be ready for what is likely to be the outcome.
The National Union of Students (NUS), agreed at conference that we would be holding a National Demonstration on this very topic and we will be making sure as many Salford Students go to it to ensure the voice of students is heard by the MP's that run our country.
Locally we will be continuing to lobby MP's in the local area to ensure that when this comes to the house of commons, we ensure that they have heard both sides of the argument.
We will also be lobbying our Vice Chancellor Martin Hall, to ask him the very questions I have posed in this blog. Can he show to the student body any benefit they have seen since the introduction of top up fees? Does he support a 'true market' for fees that will price out so many students from Higher Education?
What can you do?
As I am sure you aware on Thursday the country will take to the polls and this is your opportunity to have your voice and use your vote.
Over the last week we have been working with NUS on the Vote for Students' Campaign. The campaign is very simple to ask MP's and prospective MP's to sign up to the following pledge
“I pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament and to pressure the government to introduce a fairer alternative”
The results of all the people that have signed the pledge is available online http://nus.org.uk/Global/FULLVOTEFORSTUDENTSLIST280410.xls and I urge you that when you cast your vote this week you consider who has and who has not signed the pledge.
Politically the next year is going to be a huge challenge not just in the area of tution fees, but also some of the proposed public sector cuts we may see. You will be seeing the Students' Union doing a lot of work over the upcoming weeks and months.
If you have a keen interest in the subject of this blog post send me an email at vphsc-ussu@salford.ac.uk and I can keep you upto date in all the union is doing.
Ricky Chotai
Vice President Health and Social Care
Tel: 0161 351 5424 | Mobile: 07540222310
Web: www.salfordstudents.com | Twitter: www.twitter.com/SalfordVPHSC
NB Thankyou for John Pert from the NUS NEC for alerting me to the link.
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