Thursday 08-08-2019 - 11:07

2018-19 has been a year of big change, and the Officers have been making a lot of big changes for you.

 

August sees us say a fond farewell to Kamal Mohamed (Penrhyn Road and Academic Affairs Officer) and Elliot Spiers (Knights Park and Activities Officer), two Officers that have had some big successes for students over the past year, and the last 2 campus-focused Officers!

 

 

Elliot has overseen one of the biggest campaigns run for students on Hidden Course Costs, aiming to expose the additional costs that students face, particularly in Arts Courses, which has resulted in a University Working-Group to tackle this issue over the next few months. He has also delivered:

• Lowering the prices of food and increasing the number of vegan and healthy options in various catering outlets 
• Better discounts for re-using your coffee cup
• A refurbishment for the prayer room at Knights Park
• Increasing the number of taps to refill your water bottles 
• Feeding into the redesign of the Union’s merch range, including the introduction of a desert sand hoodie range (one of the most popular) 
• Branding for Cougar Chaos events, Refreshers, Society Showcase and Lynda.com 
• A Night Bus during the Freshers period 

 

Kamal has overseen the introduction of a recorded lectures trial, which aims to work towards all students benefiting from having the ability to access recordings of their lectures to aid their revision. He has also delivered:

• A successful Islamophobia Awareness Month and supporting Black History Month events
• Regular Open Mic Nights and Speed Friending events 
• Securing Officers a place to speak at Graduation Ceremonies
• Lobbying and winning on the introduction of a Mental Health Working Group
• Delivering positive changes to University Regulations through his committee seats
• Supporting the University’s Curriculum Consultants program which aims to decrease the BME Attainment Gap and represented the Union at multiple conferences on this
• Becoming a published co-author on Curriculum Co-creation at Compass: Journal of Learning and Teaching (you can read this here!) 

 

The Sabbatical Team also oversaw the saving and promotion of Lynda.com, reviewing the Guest Speaker Policy, a Democracy Review to introduce new positions to represent students and the implementation of a new strategy to ensure that the Union provides as many opportunities to students as possible to succeed at Kingston and beyond. Behind the scenes, they have all regularly represented students at University Committees and Panels of all levels.

 

While these short summaries do not even begin to cover all of their achievements, it’s just a flavour of the things they have achieved for students at Kingston. It’s been an immensely busy year for them both and we wish them well on their return to their studies.

 

If you want to learn more about the successes of your Officers - you can read their Council Reports here and their reports to the Big Student Meeting here.