Vice-President Education & Representation

The Freshers are coming!

2010-08-12T03:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, i hope you are enjoying your summer holidays!This is a shout out to you all and anyone that you feel might be interested... It is that special time of the year again, and soon approaching is the start of the university academic year, and along with it comes a new group of students; The Freshers!

For the upcoming academic year starting on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th September (2010), we are looking for some enthusiastic, outgoing, approachable students willing to lend a hand to Freshers!Your role will be to help new and returning students with questions and queries about our university. Whether that’s directions, academic or just generally lending a hand moving into halls! Don’t panic, we will provide you with all that information if you don’t know it!

Not only is this a great way for you to help your Students' Union, it is also a great way to meet new people and make new friends!This also helps out the students who may not be into the partying all night side of university, and welcomes them to the University of Bolton. So if your interested, email me at suvpedu@bolton.ac.uk or alternatively visit our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=267154890098&ref=ts for more information.

Bring the noise!

Rob

Exam Timetable Update

2010-05-25T02:03:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

So its that time of the year again, the near impending exams are yet again upon us.
Due to the construction of Bolton One on Deane Campus i would like to inform students of timetables that have been revised since the start of the month which incorporates the reduction of any possible distraction through noise that this would have entailed.
G-Block (Calderwood Building) and M-Block (the Business Management Centre) are no longer to be used during the examination period. Please check your School Examination Timetable for these alterations. All changes are highlighted in red:

http://www.bolton.ac.uk/Students/MyDetails/ExamTimetable/Home.aspx

Otherwise good luck in your exams.

P.S. If any students are already having any worries of potentially underperforming or evening missing assignment deadlines or examinations due to unforeseen personal difficulties, then don’t forget to fill out a mitigating circumstances form.

For a fuller extent to what the university means with ‘circumstances’ please visit the link below or come into the Students Union to see how we can help.

http://www.bolton.ac.uk/Quality/QAEContents/APPR/Documents/pdf/MitigatingCircs2009-10(ExExamTaught).pdf

Ciao,

Rob

School Council's Approaching

2010-03-16T04:44:00.000-07:00

Just to inform all student that next week we have our first School councils. This event is open to all students, and is encouraged to all who want to learn and discuss relevant issues with regards to each respective School. Join the discussion and have your say in enabling the Students’ Union to help represent your voice more effectively.

School Council Timetable

Business and Creative Technologies
Wed 17th March 2010
12:30 - 1:30pm
D2-06

Built Environment and Engineering
Fri 19th March 2010
12:30 - 1:30pm
D2-28

Arts, Media and Education
Tues 23rd March 2010
12:30 - 1:30pm
D1-06

Arts, Media and Education
Wed 24th March 2010
12:30 - 1:30pm
T2-78

Health and Social Sciences
Thu 25th March 2010
12:30 - 1:30pm
T2-26

For more info click here: http://www.ubsu.org.uk/UBSU/StudentRepresentation/Home.aspx

See you there!

Rob

Jailbreak Success

2010-03-16T04:26:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

It is the night after our Jailbreak awards. I would just like to say thank you to all who took part in our fundraiser for Bolton Hospice, the general vibe and stories told was that it was a great success. There should be a video on youtube sometime soon thanks to team; Tartin and the Berets.

For those that took part awards were given as shown:

Most money Raised
Furthest Distance Travelled (as the crow fly’s)
Most alternative means of transport
The best blag
Best costume
And of course the wooden spoon award for the least distance travelled

The money is still coming in and being added up, though it would seem that between everyone that helped sponsor the teams and raise money for Bolton Hospice we have raised just over £1000.

A big thank you to everyone, bring on the next one!

Rob

Bolton Students Union Charity Jailbreak

2010-02-08T07:29:00.000-08:00

BOLTON JAILBREAK 2010

How far from Bolton do you think you can get in 36 hours...without any money!?!

On Saturday March 6th 09:00am teams will be 'released' from 'jail' at the University of Bolton, and will have 36 hours to get as far away from Bolton as possible, without spending any money on transport!

Sign up for the University of Bolton's first Jailbreak Charity Hitchhike Saturday March 6th 2010 at www.boltonjailbreak.com

Registration closes at midnight on 25th February 2010.

The event is in aid of raising money for Bolton Hospice.(http://www.boltonhospice.org.uk/)

The Concept
You will be released in your teams from the University of Bolton where you have just 36 hours to get as far away as possible, without spending a single penny. The concept is simple, using only your powers of persuasion, sharpened sweet talk, and improvisation, to charm your way onto cars, buses, trains, planes and whatever else you can manage. Run if you have to!

You could be finding yourselves beneath tropical palms, amongst ancient Pyramids or in a hazy Amsterdam coffee shop. With persuasion and persistence the possibilities are endless...

The winners will be the team who gets the furthest away within the 36 hour time period. All we ask to evidence your arrival in any location is a photo of you at a landmark in the city/town you reach with a local newspaper. People will be able to keep tabs on you with our online sms google maps tracking system. Make sure you blag yourselves a return trip, as once the time is up, it’s up to you to find your way back to Bolton.

The Prizes
The Team who travels the furthest distance

... who raises the most money

... who has the best team name/ or fancy dress costume

... who travels by the most alternative means of transport

... who tells their best blag

Need more information?
If you have any questions or want some more information we are holding an Information Day on Tuesday 16th Feb 2010 at 7pm in the Loft Bar (before poker).

Alternatively, you can pop into the Students' Union at any time and speak to me; Rob Church. There is also a facebook group - just search for 'Bolton Jailbreak'.

Vice President Jan 2010 Report

2010-02-08T06:35:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, here is an update and an insight into a few things i have been up to over the last month.

If you have any issues, concerns or words of praise then feel free to comment below. You should be expecting to see one of these everyone month.

Have your say, and comment on my ongoings. I’ll gladly expand on anything if need be.

Alternatively come and find me in the Students Union, or email me.

Ciao,

Rob

NSS 2010

2010-01-18T02:55:00.000-08:00

Hello Readers,

As of the 1st February the National Student Survey (NSS) is up and running again for another year, and we are looking for your views! The NSS is a means for final year* undergraduate students to leave anonymous comments about your learning experiences as a whole at the University of Bolton.

Students who complete the survey ONLINE at WWW.THESTUDENTSURVEY.COM from the 1st February to 28th February 2010 will be entered into a prize draw to win one of the following prizes:

1 x laptop worth £400.00
1 x ipod touch worth £150.00
4 x Amazon Vouchesr worth £50.00 each

You must be a final year* undergraduate student to enter the survey.

To any final year student reading this who hasn’t been enticed by the incentives above, you may be swayed by the fact that the Students’ Union relies heavily on the data from the NSS to help inform and direct its campaigns and lobbying on behalf of students, we really value your opinion and your help at this time.

In 2008, students reported that they were unhappy about the level of feedback they received on their work. The Students' Union worked hard to lobby this issue with the University and believe that by doing this we encouraged the University to do something about it.

In the summer of 2009, the University held their annual staff conference which focused on feedback and assessment. The University has also developed a feedback and assessment action plan for the academic Schools. Hopefully, student satisfaction with feedback and assessment should begin to change with University developments in this area.

Also if you want to find out what the University has and are doing in each school about the results and issues raised from last year’s NSS, then click here.

* Students on more flexible part-time programmes (whose final year cannot be easily predicted) will be surveyed during their fourth year of study. Students who were due to be in their final year in 2010, but have withdrawn or are repeating their penultimate year, will be included in the survey.

Ciao,

Rob
-

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

2009-07-29T07:10:00.000-07:00

Hello all, and welcome to my space on the information superhighway. My name is Rob Church, and i am the successor to the unmissably tall (6’8”) ginger beast of a man machine that was Dan Yeandle.

It’s been an awesome first month at the Students Union where I have been riding shotgun with Ash and Kelly, the other two Sabbatical Officers, as we settled in and got to know each other and the current staff a bit better.

But if I’m honest, Uni is dead. There are no Students walking our halls, no loud noises to put me of doing my work and no glimpses of what was those exceptional student ‘athletes’ who would go into the Loft bar at 09:00 on a Monday morning and order a pint as some kind of equivalent to a well nutritional breakfast in order to get them going for the day. All I get to experience is the odd flash back of the days before Student Summer Holidays, and the odd bit of tumble weed that I keep glimpsing rolling along Chancellors Mall (Eagle Mall).

O.k. so I’m exaggerating a little. It’s really not that bad here at the moment. In fact, we are all getting rather excited. Fresher week should be a treat, with an array of events that have been lined up and are in the inaugural stages.

So all I am left to say now is that I am looking forward to the start of the academic year commencing Sunday 20th September where we set things off on a roll with the Meet and Greet at the Loft Bar.

It’ll be a great year and i look forward to meeting you all,

Funk Out!

Ciao,

Rob
- Blue. It’s not just for jeans any more

May, bleak month! but happy days!

2009-05-18T03:24:00.000-07:00

Hello all, i realise i have been lax with this blogging, but surely that's a good thing and shows that i am busy?!

Any way, our elections have (finally!) finished, and i want to say congratulations to our new Sab/non-Sab team. I especially want to say congratulations to Rob Church, Vice-President of Education & Representation Elect. I think we have got ourselves a fantastic VP here, who can really give this sector of the Union the creative spark and initiative it needs.

Now onto updates! The Zimbabwe Awareness Week was a massive sucess, with over 700 people signing up to make our local MP act! We also have sold a large amount of the wristband and pin badges for ACTSA (ACTION for Southern Africa), which is a massive success. The next step is for us to go to our local MP and make some noise! we have an appointment booked for near the end of the month, but if anyone would like to send words of support or anything you feel we should bring up that would be brilliant (suvpedu@bolton.ac.uk).

On a final note, i wanted to wish you all well in your exams and assessments at the moment, get swotting up!

Yeandle x

Zimbabwe, among other things...

2009-01-28T02:39:00.000-08:00

This blog seems to have lacking input recently, so i thought i would keep all you keen readers up to date as too what has been going on within your Union!

Currently, in partnership with other bodies, we are about to start an awareness campaign about the situation in Zimbabwe. If you have ever read our senate papers you will see that we passed a motion which now means we are now in support of the activities which are attempting to sort out the atrocities in Zimbabwe.

If you have been effected by these issues, then we want to hear from you and get you involved, email me at suvpedu@bolton.ac.uk

Another issue which appears to be taking up my time is student complaints, and quite frankly, i love them. Any problems you are having, the students' union is here to help.

Run By Students, For Students.

Yeandle x

Carnage, and other things....

2008-11-05T01:32:00.000-08:00

Hello to anyone who reads these! right then, firstly apoligises for the last post, the wording of it was incorrect so scratch that. i have swolen tonsils at the minute, so i thought i would speak through the magic of "blogging".

Currently, the Students Union is focused on CarnageUK (for anyone that doesn't know of it, google it), and attempting to warn students along with others about the dangers that come with it. We are here at the end of the day to facilitate what the Students want, and to offer them a safe environment.

The Students' Union is also putting on a dyslexia awareness week in December, which should be eye-catching and fun.

Anyway, any issues which you may have, feel free to book an appointment, as long as you don't mind catching tonsilitus!

Yeandle x

First Blog!

2008-10-27T10:17:00.001-07:00

Hiya, my first blog on this new system we have decided to start. Firstly, my name is Dan Yeandle, Vice-President of Education & Representation of the Students Union. I will be in office til 1st July 2009, so ill be here for the whole academic year.

There have been some issues which have been put too me and there is really no current system of getting this information back to you, so i thought i would just put it to you on here temporarily.

Cash Machines - Some students have complained about the lack of this, according to the University this is being delt with and we will see some movement within the next few weeks.

Parking - This is a big issue for the Students Union as well as the University. We have been bringing up this issue at the correct committees and boards, and again, this is a work in progress. We have not forgotten your issues.

Bar Food - A number of students have asked me about the change in the menu in comparison to last years. Unfortunatly, it is not as simple as just putting more food on the menu. Again, discussions are ongoing.

I know this blog appears to be just telling you of discussions I have been having, but it is important that you understand the processes at University of making changes.

I would also like draw your attention to a new object in Eagle 365, the Chalkboard. This has been set up as an informal way of recieving feedback from you students about certain issues which are being discussed within the Students Union. Currently, I have asked Students to discuss Carnage UK. Please feel free to write up questions/queries.

Yeandle x