This years Highlights

2024 Highlights

By Amy Pile

 

  1. We achieved an all-time high of 91% when we asked the membership of, they were satisfied with the Students’ Union during this year’s annual survey. 

  1. 91% of FTUG have recorded participation with Union run events, activities, and services. 

  1. 95% of FTUG students with known disabilities have recorded participation with Union run events, activities, and services. 

  1. 98% of FTUG students from IMD quintiles 1 and 2 have recorded participation with Union run events, activities, and services. 

  1. 96% of FTUG students from our LGBTQIA+ community have recorded participation with Union run events, activities, and services. 

  1. 91% of Global Majority FTUG students have recorded participation with Union run events, activities, and services. 

  1. Through our social spaces we have served over 7,000 free, hot meals to help students in the cost-of-living crisis.  

  1. Our work around sustainability, Fairtrade and the environment with students has earned us ‘Excellent’ in the Green Impact accreditation. 

  1. Our social spaces have received a special recognition award in the Best Bar None accreditation for corporate social responsibility and customer care, and alongside this we now bare the ‘Safe Place’ kite mark with staff undergoing further training to look after our guest's safety and welfare. 

  1. Over 360 members actively participating in the annual Strive Employability Festival.  

  1. We doubled the cohort size for our Leadership Academy (currently supporting 65 students). 

  1. Our Venue and Events team, nearly exclusively BNU (Buckinghamshire New University) students and graduates, supported well over 300 events and activities building belonging, fostering connections, and making our campuses more vibrant. 

  1. We are now a ‘Disability Confident Committed Employer.’ 

  1. We are now also a ‘Mindful Employer’ and signed up to the Mental Health at Work commitment. 

  1. Our members have raised over £18,000 for charity so far this year. 

  1. We hosted and won this year’s Varsity against the University of Roehampton.  

  1. We had a turnout of 1,189 unique students vote in the March elections, set against a figure of 6,930 students, giving us a percentage of 17.2%. 

  1. For the first time, the Union designed and delivered two credit bearing modules as part of Curriculum 23. These both ran twice during the academic year with healthy cohorts and good feedback, six Union staff members completed the TSLHE course to support our students learning. 

  1. Supported additional on-boarding, orientation and welcome week activities throughout the Christmas period, January, and Easter intakes. 

  1. In our annual employee survey, overall engagement was recorded at 85%, which is 5% higher than the SU peer group and 9% higher than the third sector. 

  1. We now have Mental Health First Aiders in all student-facing departments. 

  1. All staff have completed all mandatory training. 

  1. Five employees have completed/are in the process of a Level 3 Team Leader apprenticeship as part of our succession planning strategy. 

  1. A successful student staff recruitment day has resulted in 80% of our student staff team for next year already appointed and able to start their training programmes over the summer. 

  1. Society engagement has risen significantly this year with 841 unique students recording formal participation across 32 different societies.  

  1. A greater number of students than ever before have engaged with employability and skill programmes with nearly, 1,000 individual members benefiting so far, this academic year. 

  1. Our Recreational Activities programme has seen participation increase by over 20% to date with nearly, 1,200 unique members participating. 

  1. 7,131 hours of training has been taken up by 835 students with opportunities ranging from First Aid to Leadership and Anti-Bullying Training to Mandarin. 

  1. Over the 2023-24 academic year, the Advice Centre has helped and supported over 550 individual students through booked appointments, in-person, telephone, or Microsoft Teams, and dealt with over 3,000 initial enquiries. 96% of students who responded to our feedback surveys said that they would recommend our service to friends. 

  1. Once again, we achieved the Advice Quality Standard from the Advice Services Alliance. 

  1. Introduced platinum rep recognition award, with nine students going even further to dedicate time to raising the student's voice and engaging in other elements of the Union’s offer. 

  1. We have seen a growth of 20% in attendance at our regular Union Councils, showing a greater number of students than ever before supporting the governance of their Union. 

  1. Within competitive sport at the Students’ Union, we have facilitated 176 competitive fixtures across Leagues and Knockout competitions. Additionally, students have participated in 5 National competitions and 5 regional competitions. Culminating in over 420 individual students representing BNU, from 9 University schools, 44 different national regions and 15 different ethnic backgrounds. 

  1. In recreational sports (and associated active, well-being opportunities) we have seen a 33% increase in participation with over 30 different opportunities and varied activities running right throughout the academic year. 

  1. Introduced on-site repair cafes which will continue next year. 

  1. An astonishing 18,000 volunteer hours will be achievable by the end of June with the current standing at 17,664 hours currently logged. 

  1. A total of 646 individual students have formally engaged with volunteering so far, this academic year, a significant uplift from the previous year.