What do we want from student groups?

The Students’ Union’s objectives which relate to student groups include commitments to:
- help students to feel they belong in our community;
- ensure students have opportunities to experience new things and to learn new skills.

We will do this by:
- delivering more events and activities across our campuses; and
- developing a programme which celebrates key dates and events relevant to our members such as

national days and cultural events.

We want to have lots of active and engaging student groups which provide a wide range of activities and events for students.

We expect student groups to organise activities and events which fit with our objectives above. If an activity or event is relevant to your group, we will help you to do it. We don’t expect you to do everything immediately, but we will help you plan for future events.

All student groups are led and run by students. The Students’ Union’s role is to help students to run these student groups well. Depending on what you’re planning, we might even fund it for you.

What’s different this year?

Previously, we have not provided enough support for student groups. This has meant we have left student groups to ‘do their own thing’. This year, we will provide additional support to help students to plan and organise their events. It’s in everybody’s interests for us to work together to have bigger and better student groups.

Why should student groups register with the Students’ Union?

It is compulsory for any student group which wants to use Students’ Union or University resources or rooms to be registered with the Students’ Union.

The main benefits of registering are:
- ability to book rooms on campus
- funding from the Students’ Union
- insurance cover
- support from Students’ Unions staff
- membership management, mailing and ticketing system
- stall at Students’ Union fair
- inclusion in Students’ Union and University advertising

What do you need to do to register as a student group?

Find three students to form a committee. This cannot only be some ‘names on a page’ to make up the numbers. The named students must be interested and active in running the student group. You can add more committee positions later, but you must have these three people when you apply.

Decide the purpose of your student group and what you hope to achieve. A good way to think about this is ‘in three sentences, how would you explain to a random person what your student group is and does?’ When you can answer this question, you have your purpose. Don’t try to write something in grand or complicated language; you should write it in simple English.

As part of your application, you’ll need to say what type of activities and events you intend to organise. We don’t expect a full plan at this stage, but we do expect you to undertake regular activities during term time This means organising events at least once per month from October to December and from February to April. Student groups can organise more regular events if they want.

If you only intend to organise just one or two events during the year, your application will not be accepted.

There are extra things that you need to do if you intend to invite an external person (i.e. not a student or staff member) to speak or present at any of your events. Ask us if you intend to do this.

Incentives

If you complete the following actions, we will give you £300 to spend on your group's activities this year:
- complete the student group registration form
- attend a registration/planning session on Monday 02 or Tuesday 03 October where we will help you to write a plan for the year
- provide text for your pages on our website explaining what your group does
- complete the booking form for the Students' Union fair
- attend the fair (for the whole time 12:00-18:00)
- complete committee training (new training available soon)
- run an introductory event by the end of teaching week two (Sunday 15 October)
- abide by the rules

We will also give each group £1 per member they recruit at the fair.

Who can join a student group?

All student groups are open to all students. Student groups can’t restrict membership to a particular set of students.

Alumni and non-students are not permitted to be part of student groups or to attend their events. Students’ Union and University staff are welcome to participate in student groups.

Students’ Union fair

After you complete the registration form, we will provisionally reserve a space for you at the Students’ Union fair on Wednesday 04 October.

The fair will be open to students from 12:00 to 18:00. Setup will be permitted between 11:00 and 11:30.

You must do certain things before you will be permitted to attend the fair:
- attend a registration/planning session on Monday 02 or Tuesday 03 October, where we will help you to write a (draft/rough) plan for the year
- provide text for your pages on our website explaining what your group does (after Monday)
- complete the booking form for the Students' Union fair (link to be provided after registration/planning session completed), including telling us what you’re going to do to entice new members.

At the fair, you will only be allowed to recruit new members through our website. You will not be permitted to recruit members through mailing lists, WhatsApp groups or any similar means. This is so we can demonstrate to our board of trustees that funding is being spent on active and engaging student groups.

Things which are not permitted

Student groups are not permitted to do the following:
- have staff, alumni or other non-students running, leading or otherwise involved in student groups (staff can attend events)
- accept funding or other resources from external sources without permission from the Students’ Union (including sponsorship)
- book rooms by any means other than through the Students’ Union
- book external facilities or events without permission from the Students’ Union

What you should do now

1. Find three students to form your committee.
2. Decide on the purpose of your student group.
3. Complete the registration form (link), including registering for one of the registration/planning events on Monday 02 and Tuesday 03 October.

More information

If you have any questions about this process, please email students.union@uel.ac.uk