Kamva Gcaza - SU President
The summer term is one of the busiest times of the year. There’s a lot of transition happening, from electing our new Sabbatical Officers to welcoming new sports and societies exec teams, so there’s never really a quiet moment.
One of my earliest memories of this summer term has to be the FIFA World Cup watch-alongs at the OTM Bar. We experienced the full rollercoaster of emotions from pure joy and celebrations to, sometimes, tears as students came together to support their respective nations in one of the world’s biggest competitions.
I was unfortunately one of those on the tears side of the emotional spectrum when South Africa bowed out to Canada in the Round of 32. It was particularly difficult given the number of Canadian students on campus, who all took great pleasure in reminding me about it afterwards.
Despite my heartbreak, the SU has cracked on with our promise to represent and engage students. Throughout the term, we’ve continued to sit on various University committees and meetings, making sure that student interests remain part of the conversation. This has included pushing for students to receive their exam timetables on time and ensuring that students who require reasonable adjustments are able to access them properly.
We’ve also continued to advocate for greater co-creation with students when developing and changing University policies. It’s been really encouraging to see positive changes come out of this, particularly within FMHS, where the faculty has introduced changes to its engagement and attendance policies. These changes better support teaching and learning while also taking student feedback into account.
Of course, it hasn’t all been meetings and policies.
We hosted a new and improved version of The Chancellor’s Cup, our inter-faculty sports competition, which saw FCLP take home the trophy, and I have to say it was well deserved! Congratulations to everyone who took part and represented their faculties.
We also hosted our annual Sports and Societies awards, which is always one of the highlights of the year. It’s our chance to celebrate the hard work, dedication and passion that students put into making the Buckingham experience unique and exciting. Whether you’ve been leading a society, representing a sports club, organising events or simply getting involved we want to say thank you for everything you contributed.
I hope you’ve all enjoyed the summer term as much as we have. It’s been busy, sometimes chaotic, occasionally emotional (looking at you, Canada) but ultimately a really enjoyable few months.
Now, we look forward to the gloomy, rainy days of autumn and the new faces on campus. See you around!
Maneeka Bhujun - VP Student Voice
Summer term was a blast! It started with the Sabbatical officers and network leads representing the students at the university’s strategic away days.
As per my role, I handled some student cases and managed the network of academic reps.
I finished the digital literacy and AI slides that I will be able to present for Welcome week and fulfill all my electoral promises.
I sat on many important meetings like this term's UALTC as students' representative and a Voice panel hosted by the Students’ Union of the University of Warwick.
Additionally, I hosted a lot of AGMs for our societies; the new membership year has started! Get your membership!
I also attended the Southern Union Summer Conference. We visited many topics such as Mental of students and the cost-of-living crisis affecting students as well as leadership skills. We are hoping to implement some ideas we got from the conference in the Autumn term.
Our team was successful in our fight to reinstate the continuing student discount. Students who choose to stay with us to complete their master's or PhDs will have the discount applied to them.
Lastly, the other Sabbs and I are doing LEPs visits to meet our Med students on placement in hospitals!
Lydia Offei - VP Student Communities
What a term! This one’s been jam-packed, with plenty going on across campus. Here’s a quick recap of just some of what I’ve been up to over the last few months!
Girls and Guys Nights in made a return this term. For Girls Night In, we spent an evening bedazzling glasses that served as the perfect accessory for our 70’s disco party. It was great to see what designs people came up with and to see you rock them with your party outfit! For Guys Night In, we hosted a board games night that got pretty competitive! A big thank you to Kamva for helping with this one!
I also had the opportunity to attend the Southern Unions Conference with the sabbs, attending sessions on topics such as the cost-of-living crisis, student rights, and building supportive communities for students, along with networking with fellow sabbatical officers. This left me with plenty of new ideas as to how we can better our Students' Union to make sure students are getting the best support possible.
The network leads have also been busy this term, each hosting either an event or competition for their groups.
- Mature network: Meg hosted a picnic for mature students, a chilled-out afternoon on what was a very sunny summer’s day!
- Inclusion network: Sam ran a competition this term, titled “What does Inclusion mean to you?”
- Women’s network: Christiana held a Women’s Network Roundtable event hearing from students the issues that they face across campus and what they’d like to see change.
- International network: Thisaga hosted a pop-up over at the Verney park campus, gathering student feedback.
- Sustainability network: Ahmad hosted a clothes donation event, encouraging students to bring in unwanted clothes that we then donated to local charity shops.
Somewhere between all of that, I was elected for a second term! Looking forward to another year in this role – a big thank you once again to everyone who voted for me!
As we head into the autumn term, I’ve got plenty of plans! From freshers events to weekly crafternoons, along with another Girls and Guys Nights In. We’ve also got British Black History Month and Movember to celebrate over the coming months. Keep an eye on the What’s On page and Instagram for more info!