Nomination

1. How has the union ensured that it meets the needs of its members?

The past year has marked a giant stride in EUSA’s campaign to rehabilitate and revitalise itself. Due to the hard work of officers and staff, we have begun to work ourselves out of a perilous financial position, delivering a surplus in the past year on a tight budget, while continuing to extend the services we offer to our members.
In spring 2014, we conducted a major consultation with our members about the future of EUSA, gaining 3500 responses to a survey and involving hundreds of students in structured focus groups about what our members want us to be. Our officers and staff have worked tirelessly alongside their other duties to develop a Strategic Plan for the next four years which accurately reflects the wishes of our members, and will seek to make us a vibrant organisation which sits at the heart of students’ lives. Each department within the organisation is developing a Change Plan, detailing how we intend to meet our strategic objectives over the next four years.
We have now started the process of communicating the vision within our Strategic Plan to our members, and to our partners within the University, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

2. How have the activities of the union resulted in a positive impact for students and the community?

In the past year, our students have benefited from a major student arts festival, new academic courses in which students create their own learning objectives, a pilot cycle hire scheme, a campus-wide campaign against sexual harassment, and much more.
We have also added significant value to our core services. Our Advice Place dealt with over 15000 enquiries last year, and in 2014 gained Matrix accreditation. Our Volunteering service added 1000 new volunteers and over 100 new organisations to its database, with students completing thousands of hours of community volunteering. Our Societies team provides support and development to 250 student societies.
Our commercial services have developed a range of products and events tailored to the needs of a diverse student body, with new initiatives including a bar targeted at postgraduate students, a Gin Festival, and new shops carrying products requested by students. Our Pleasance Sessions music festival, now in its third year, has gained a broad following among students and local community members alike.
We have also continued to develop long-term projects, which deliver major benefits to students. Our Peer Support project, now in its third year, trained an army of 500 exceptional student leaders, who in turn delivered support to over 7000 students in the past year. Our School Councils project has been working with students and staff around the University to develop local representation structures tailored to the needs of students within their Schools, ensuring their voices are heard and providing a platform for new and exciting projects.

3. What steps has the union taken over the last year to ensure that the democratic processes that are used to make decisions are open and inclusive?

We have sought to make our democratic processes more open and inclusive, allowing candidates for election to nominate themselves online for the first time, leading to us having an unprecedented 96 candidates in our October 2014 By Election. We are also in the process of delivering a reimagined set of events and materials designed to support candidates through the lifecycle of our General Election, from the point where they are considering nominating themselves, through to when the dust has settled after the count; our aim is to encourage a spirit of camaraderie in an effort to defuse past tensions between candidates.
We have also delivered a new online proposal and discussion platform, eusay, which allows students to put forward ideas, upvote and discuss them, in an informal environment. The platform was designed by two of our members as part of a competition, and we were able to secure funding in order to pay them to complete their work on the project. We are already seeing this bear fruit in delivering more meaningful motions for Student Council, from previously disengaged quarters of the student body.

4. How is the union perceived by its members, stakeholders, officers and staff, and what is it doing to improve its perception?

Throughout the process of researching and developing our Strategic Plan, we have had to face some harsh realities about how a large number of our members perceive us, but have responded positively with a strong, shared desire to prove ourselves relevant to students at the University of Edinburgh. This year, our sabbatical officers have developed a vibrant video in collaboration with students from Edinburgh College of Art, promoting and explaining what we as an organisation do. They have also launched a comprehensive outreach campaign, running surgeries each week all over the University campus, encouraging more face-to-face communication with our members.
We have also sought to develop tailored communications for postgraduate students, delivering a revamped Postgrad Guide with direct input from PG students, as well as a new Postgrad Events Guide, with a programme of events specifically targeted at this group. We are also conducting a survey of students studying online at a distance, in order to find out more about what they want from their Students’ Association.
As we unveil our Strategic Plan more widely, we are keen to demonstrate to our members that we are listening to them, and that we are changing. Staff within the organisation are excited that we have a clear set of goals, and that we can have confidence that these goals fit precisely with what our members want from us; this has had a revitalising effect on the organisation as a whole.