1. Durham Students’ Union Societies Forum 9th February 2017

2. Agenda Activities Officer Updates – priorities
Development Officer Updates – training
General updates for Student Groups
Workshop – Quality Recognition Scheme
Students’ Union Strategy
Active Citizenship feedback

3. Activities Officer Updates
Update on:
1. I will... show how participation in student activities benefits and improves students’ experience at Durham, because this research will enable students, employers and wider society to understand the importance of our work.
 2. I will ... make Durham SU processes easier for student groups, because our most dedicated volunteers deserve our best efforts to make their work hassle-free, and rewarding.

4. Development Officer Updates
Training Review
Online Resources
What training (skills/processes) would be useful for your group/you?

5. General Updates Activity planning:
Updated risk assessments form on the website
‘how to plan an event’ on the website from tomorrow
AGM & handover:
Let us know what positions you have and who wants to run and the election can be done on our website
Constitution template is being designed and will be ready in time for re-registration
Instagram takeover – any events/campaigns
etc. if you let us know then you can use the
durhamsu Instagram account to promote
yourselves.

6. Workshop: Quality Recognition Scheme
Kara’s #3 objective: I will make sure Durham SU supports all student groups to provide outstanding experiences for their members, because we need to assure basic standards and celebrate outstanding achievements in one, simple, process.
TASK: There are 6 tables with other SU’s schemes on them, you will have a few minutes at each table to write down your thoughts and suggestions

7. The Durham SU Plan
February 2017

8. Durham SU now We’re required to have a published strategy.
This describes how we’re going to use our resources to work towards the objectives laid out in our constitution.
Our current strategy expired in 2015.
It described:
Our Mission (or purpose).
Our Vision (or the way we see the future).
Our Values (or the beliefs and behaviours we think are fundamental to the way we are).

9. Durham SU now Our Mission is:
“We will be an enabling students’ union which develops and supports our students as they strive to create a lasting, positive impact in society and in their own lives through their university experience.”
Our Vision is:
“Students working together to create a lasting, positive impact.”
Our Values are:
Fun, Student-led, Engaging, Helpful, Dynamic, Sustainable.

10. Durham SU now
Our Vision, Mission and Values are generic, stale, and do not accurately reflect our role at Durham.
We recruited a new Chief Executive to help us refresh our thinking about what it meant to be an excellent students’ union, particularly in Durham’s context.
We workshopped ideas at our last Board meeting, and have some proposals that we’d like your feedback on.
These are IN ABSOLUTELY NO WAY final; they’ll return to Assembly throughout the year, as we develop our strategy.

11. Durham Students’ Union is the champion of every Durham student.
Our Mission
Durham Students’ Union is the champion of every Durham student.

12. Our Vision
We, as Durham students, come together in Durham Students’ Union, to decide what’s important to us and what we want to do about it.
We care about our University, and Durham Students’ Union is our champion in making it even better for every one of us.

13. Our Values Durham SU champions students:
We know students are the best people to make decisions about the things that affect them.
We bring students together, because collective action is the best way to make real progress.

14. Our Values Durham SU is proud of Durham:
We’re passionate about students’ contribution to our Union, our University, and our City; we seek new ways for students to make a difference.
We cherish our collegiate University; our heritage is a foundation for better things.

15. Our Values Durham SU creates a better future: We transform students.
We make change for students, and with students, in their interest.

16. Next steps
We’d love any and all feedback that you or your students have:
We’re taking this to other student bodies in the next few weeks (Pres Comms, Societies Forum, Academic Forum etc).
The next steps will be to develop plans of work against our Vision, Mission and Values; we’ll be sharing more thoughts on this with student leaders over Easter holiday, at a residential event, and with Assembly again in Easter term.

17. Active Citizenship Feedback
Creating our own model for active citizenship
We recognise that active citizenship means different things to different people and groups. Therefore we need to create our own active citizenship model that is relevant to our students.
Initially this means coming up with a definition for what active citizenship means at Durham. This will then be the starting point for creating a framework.
Some key considerations when creating this definition are around:
The language we use
The different types of activity that will be part of our model
Not duplicating the great work already being done by other areas of the University, such as SCA

18. Active Citizenship Feedback
Background
Active Citizenship Feedback
We are currently developing our new strategy and a key part of this will be active citizenship.
This will bring together the amazing work already being done by students and create new opportunities, within a supportive and enabling environment.
Active citizens may be people who:
Vote in local and national elections
Are politically literate
Challenge the status quo
Campaign on issues they care about
Have intercultural awareness
Volunteer
Work towards environmental sustainability
Work collaboratively with the local community
Think globally
What is active citizenship?
Active citizens are defined as “a person who participates fully in community life. Active citizens volunteer. They contribute to their local community in positive ways.” (GuildHE).

19. Active Citizenship Feedback
What will it look like?
We’ve researched active citizenship and identified five areas which are natural crossovers with work already being done by students within the Union structure:
Internal volunteering: students who volunteer within the Union e.g. academic reps, student group exec members, committee members, students who fundraise, Assembly members and Union reps.
Democratic citizenship: students being able to effect change by participating in democratic processes internally within the University and on a local and national level.
Activist citizenship: students campaigning or lobbying for change outside of traditional channels in a more radical way e.g. protest.
Community engagement: working within the community (outside of Durham University) in a range of volunteer based roles, through existing community groups, networks and organisations. This could be done individually, with a group of friends or as part of a Union student group.
Environmental citizenship: acting responsibly and positively towards our environment. This will include leading by example, campaigning, education and volunteering opportunities.

20. Active Citizenship Feedback
What will it look like?
What are your thoughts on Active Citizenship, the areas or work and our inclusion of this in the strategy?
Let us know what you think of:
The term ‘active citizenship’
Whether you think any other work streams should be included
Whether we’ve missed anything
What do you think about this being an area of focus for the Students’ Union
Task: discuss in groups for five minutes

21. Active Citizenship Feedback
Internal volunteering
Overview:
These are students who already give up their time to enhance the University community. They are internally focussed volunteers who are viewed as leaders. These include:
Academic representatives
Student group exec members
Association exec members
Student media volunteers
Committee members
Assembly members
Union representatives
Students who fundraise (DUCK volunteers)
Are there any other Union volunteers you would add to this list?

22. Active Citizenship Feedback
Internal volunteering
What should we call this header/category?
We want the header/category title to be reflective of the work but also something which is easily understandable as to what these people are:
Student leaders
Union volunteers
Internal volunteers
Other (we welcome your thoughts/suggestions)
Think about how you think of yourself in your role? Think about the other students who fit into this category.
What would you like this category to be called?

23. Active Citizenship Feedback
Internal volunteering
Draft definition:
We want to create a summary definition which clearly encompasses the work of these people. Please let us know if you have any suggested changes or additions.
“Our student leaders volunteer their time to develop the Durham University community. They run student groups which bring like-minded students together to enjoy recreational, developmental and campaign-based opportunities. They fundraise for external charities. They represent students to enhance the student experience at Durham University and beyond by being academic representatives, Union representatives, student group executives, sitting on committees and being members of Assembly.”
What do you like about this definition? What don’t you like? What would you change? What would you add/remove?
Task: discuss in groups for five minutes

24. Any Other Business Anything else you Anything else you want to ask?
want to discuss?

25. Keep up to date with Durham Students’ Union
/DurhamSU
@DurhamSU
@Durham.SU
DurhamSU