SU=US Manifesto

8/7/2019 SU=US Manifesto

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TRANSPARENCY. INTEGRATION. COMMUNICATION

STUDENT UNION 2011-2012

Su=uSCause we do it better.

Manifesto


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Mission Statement

RCSI is a unique college encompassing a plethora of students from different backgrounds,

religions and cultures and representing over 60 countries in its student body. While as

students, our main goal is to excel in our academic programs it is also important to have a

fulfilling and robust experience as students.

As such, the students of RCSI need representation that is equally diverse as the student body

and who understand their needs in all aspects of student life and SU=US plan to do just this.

We have a developed a basic three point plan which will serve as the foundation of our

representation of the students of RCSI: Transparency, Integration and Communication. (T.I.C)

The first aspect of this plan, Transparency, represents our openness and willingness to allowing

students to observe and be a part of all matters concerning the Student Union. We plan ondelivering a quarterly budget to students outlining all Student Union matters including

expenditure, revenue and future business. Followed by this we will hold a Q&A session where

students will be allowed to discuss the budget and other concerns they may have.

Integration, the second aspect of our plan, serves to highlight our eagerness to bring together

students from different backgrounds via societies, social events, or school related matters to

allow students to learn about one another and experience different cultures and ideas. As RSCI

is an extremely diverse college, we the students can only benefit from learning from one

another and experiencing different traditions.

Communication, our final point, represents our desire to inform the students of RCSI of all

matters which relate to them. We will use a variety of social media devices including Facebook

and Twitter to constantly update students on our whereabouts, our doings and our plans for

the future. We, SU=US feel it is important to keep our finger on the pulse of students concerns

and interests and will do all we can to ensure that the Student Union of 2011-2012 give the

students of RSCI their best year yet.


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WHAT WE HAVE PLANNED FOR YOU!

If elected we plan on introducing Deals of the Week/Deals of the Month. These are basically

student deals for all RCSI Students upon presentation of an RCSI Student Card. The deals we

have for you so far are:

Food: present RCSI Student Card before ordering!

Captain Americas (Monday Friday) 2 for 1 Main course

Wagamamas (Monday Friday) 15% off

Boticelli (Temple Bar) (Monday Sunday) 20% off ala carte menu.

Siam Thai (St. Andrew St) (Sunday Tuesday) Early bird menu all night.

Zaika (Everyday) 5 Euro Meal Deals all day.

Mooz Shakes & Sweets (3rd

April) 2 for 1 Milk Shakes.

Stores: (With RCSI Student Card)Abu Haider (Ethnic Store) - 10% discount on all products

Off License: (With RCSI Student Card)

Delaney's Off Licence(Aungier St) - 5% discount for all students. (Thurs- Sun)

Clubs: (With RCSI Student Card)

NVs/ Rios - Free in Fridays, 2 for 1 drink deals (20 & above)

- Free in Saturdays (20 & above)

Sin Night Club -Free in Friday before 0030hrs, 50% off cocktails, 3Euro selected shots- 50% off entry Saturday, 2 for 1 cocktails until midnight

21s -Monday free entry. 2 for 1 drinks.

-Friday free in before 0030hrs.

- Saturday free in before 2330hrs.

D2 - Thursday, 5 entry.

- Friday, 5 entry, 3 for 10 Jager bombs.

- Saturday, 5 entry, 3 for 10 Jager bombs.

Krystle Nightclub - Friday, Free entry before 0030 hrs.

- Saturday, Free entry before 0030hrs.- Drinks 4 Fridays and Saturdays

Thursday (31st

) - FREE BBQ at Club NV/Rios: free entry and food.

Wednesday (30th

) - FREE massages.

Look out for more news and details on Facebook and during campaign week!


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Manifesto

President: Omar Alasffar, 3rd

Medicine

As Student Union President, my role first and foremost will be

to represent the best interests of the student body. If elected

I will:

Be the primary spokesperson of the Students' Unionand the student body and to work with the Student

Union Executive to implement Transparency,

Integration and Communication (TIC) and ensure a

high quality of representation for students service to

all students.

Where necessary, to assist and represent individualstudents on RCSI matters and at hearings.

Take the lead in gathering effective and reliable feedback from the student body andcommunicate this to the student body and RCSI management

To be visible, approachable and professional at all times and to encourage students tovoice their opinions.

Be responsible for the Students' Union's strategic planning, including research andcoordination, giving consideration to the longer term success of the Student Union

beyond individual terms of office.

Submit a weekly newsletter to all students which will include new developmentssocially and academically at RCSI including new up to date sporting reports from the

colleges many teams that represent us from week to week.

Organize Q&A sessions for students to voice their concerns, opinion and suggestimprovements to Student Union matters on an open and judgment free platform.

These sessions will ensure that the Student Union is continuously striving to work to the

best of their abilities for the students of RCSI.


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Develop Student Union subcommittees for large events including College Ball andFreshers week to promote student involvement in such events.

Addressing student related issues including increasing the number RCSI societies,lowering transportation costs to external rotations, providing more sponsored events

and discounts to various nightclubs/restaurants/stores to RCSI students. Ensuring

upkeep of college buildings and investigating the feasibility of installing ceiling fans in

the St. Stephens Green Campus gym and increase the amount of water fountains found

throughout the campus.


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Vice President/Culture: Praveena Mahadevan, 2nd

Medicine

In the year 2011-2012, we plan on making RCSI amore culturally aware college, and to ensure that

there are events to accommodate everyone and that

these events will foster learning and understanding

amongst RCSI students.

We intend to:

Work closely together with all cultural andreligious societies in RCSI, and providing

support and assistance, I.e. with the

promotion of events, planning of events,

facilitate and improve communication between RCSI administration and societies.

Organise a Cultural Awareness Month, which will be a month for learning and bridgingthe gap by organising talks, movie screenings, quizzes, debates and a variety of other

activities, in conjunction with International Night and International Food Night.

Collaborate with respective societies in organising events for the entire student body inconjunction with major celebrations with respective societies such as an Eid celebration,

Thanksgiving, St. Paddys Day, Christmas, Diwali etc.

Have a diverse range of events which are culturally sensitive, and a wider variety ofevents which are alcohol free: BBQs, music nights, movie screenings/movie nights out,

day trips (Paintball, go karting, bowling) and more daytime events.

Organise day trips with Events Officer and Welfare Officer, for students to learn moreabout Ireland.

Promote the cultural events currently taking place in Ireland.


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Events: Osama Kandalaft, 2nd

Medicine

Events are considered to be an integral part of theRCSI community, as it is the platform for integration

of our diverse student body. As Events officer, I will

ensure that Events will cater to everyone in our

student body, so every student in RCSI gets to

participate and fully benefit from the RCSI experience.

Focus resources for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic events and level them at

equilibrium. There should be an equal

number of alcoholic and non-alcoholic events

to further unify the RCSI student body.

Initiation ofoutdoor events, not secluded solely to Dublin. Events will include climbing,hiking and extreme sport events, which have been organized through organizations

willing to communicate and initiate offers.

Student deals are being investigated and will continue to be investigated to provide thebest possible deals for our student body.

Alcoholic events are to be discussed before hand with night club and bar owners toacquire deals, offers and to improve communication between club security to ensure

smoother entry. We will aim to further establish long term commitments between night

clubs and bars with the Student Union and RCSI to ensure long lasting deals and

entertainment for our students whenever they so choose, on any night of the week.

The immediate initiation of sub-committees to take hold of some responsibilitiesinvolving ticket sales, directing and informing the student body. This will improve

efficiency of the Student Union's actions in planning, organization and performance in

providing enjoyable and exciting nights out.

All events will be based on the likes and dislikes of the student body. Through studentrepresentatives, students will be able to pass on information concerning events they

would like to be planned. As a Student Union, our aim is to provide services to students,

by students. However, we would like the ideas to be those of students, including original

ideas from our own Student Union.


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Increase the number of ballad sessions or an open mic night. Bring down the cost of College Ball tickets. Implement tours for students around Dublin during Freshers week.


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Welfare: Aislinn Kilian, 1st

Physiotherapy

To help ensure that students enjoy and are successful during

their time at RCSI, a strong student support system is needed. As

your welfare officer I will work to develop the support network

we already have in place in coordination with our three point

plan: transparency, integration and communication.

The issue ofIT fees has been brought up frequently. We will try

and lobby for lower fees but we do not want to make empty

promises. As part of our Transparency campaign we will publish

what the breakdown of what your IT fees are spent on.

More integration between the faculties of medicine, pharmacy

and physiotherapy through mutual events will help students develop a wider friend base.

Open communication is essential to welfare. We want to do more to encourage feedback, we

plan on doing this through quarterly open floor sessions where students can put questions to

the Student Union and raise their problems. In addition to this as health care students I feel it is

important to have more health awareness events, my proposals include:

Health Awareness Week which will include a smoking cessation workshop, how to dealwith stress etc.

SHAG week additions which will include free screening for STIs, guest lecturers onsexual health, awareness projects, free condoms

Cancer awareness day Raise awareness and organize events/ talks for International Womens Day Revamp exam De-Stress Nights. Further investigate good Student Deals for the student body. Facilitate more GEP involvement, and host mixer between GEPS and 4th med class. Introduce more volunteering options for students, by organizing talks and information

session by different volunteer organizations.

Further to our three point plan I would like to:

Put in a water cooler outside O Flanagan Theatre Negotiate compensationon travel for students on rotations/placements outside of

Dublin.


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Start a sports facility sharing scheme with Trinity College as is done for the swimmingteam whereby teams can chose to pay Trinity a small amount out of their budgets in

order to use Trinitys facilities instead of Dardistown.

Try and further improve gym conditions based on needs of RCSI students.


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Looking into extending the time for Paediatric and Obstetrics and Gynecology rotationsin SC1.

Use oftext message system to update class schedules and changes More information sessions for careers in various countries. Strong focus on communication between class representatives, the student body and

our team to better facilitate all needs

Organise a mid-semester course survey instead of just at the end of semester, to getfeedback on courses.

More talks about medical innovations and the future of medicine USMLE:

o Expanding the personal tutors so students who have completed Step1 areassigned to IC3 students to help and assist them with any concerns they may

have throughout their preparation for Step1.

o Implementing tutorials for Step 1 in IC1 instead of IC3.o More talks given by students who have completed USMLE testing.o Scheduling the diagnostic test earlier in the school year to allow adequate time

for all forms to process Research:

o Having a list available ofRCSI contacts with international institutions.o More talks focused on Junior and Intermediate cycle to better direct students to

conduct research.

Electives:o RCSI offered electives are currently based on student results from IC3 final

OSCEs. We would like to reconsider this evaluation as the only measure of rank

and instead offer electives based on full history of academic achievements and

not only one evaluation.o Guide to electives in various countries

Internshipo More current talks on the internship jobs for those wanting to pursue a medical

career in Ireland.


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Information Technology/Communications: Delong Zeng,

1st

Medicine

A major factor contributing to a schools success is

communication and this is where the IT and

Communication aspect of the student union presents itself.

We, SU=US, believe there should be more of a unity within

all communities of RCSI. This includes different faculties as

well as students within all years of their courses. Using the

student unions website, Facebook and twitter, we can

integrate the entire school into a more social community

where the students can interact with us or amongst

themselves to hopefully make their academic and personal

life easier and more informative. As IT and communications

officer my duties will include:

More interaction and integration within RCSI. Using all forms of social media forcommunication including, a student union website, Facebook and twitter. So whichever

form of media that students feel most comfortable with, they are always able to receive

the latest update from student union.

Student Website Updates: The student union website is a fine tool to get numerousinformation across in a short amount of time. However, the website was little known tothe student body and it is not regularly updated. Our goal is to try and promote the

Student Union website as the main source of communication to students. We will

update the website with the latest event information or conferences and try to set up a

forum with different topics so students can interact with each other regarding their

academic life or personal life.

SU=US on Facebook and Twitter: Our Facebook group will be dedicated to the studentunion as well as a Twitter account. In contrast to the website, these sources allow us to

give constant updates to the student body through statuses or videos in which they canfind more details on the website.


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Secretary/Treasurer: Shane Cullen, 2nd

Pharmacy

As Secretary/Treasurer, I will be adhering closely to our

three point plan of Transparency, Integration and

Communication. Students will be more informed about

and involved in the Student Union and we will be listening

to your views on how we can maximize communication

between different societies in RCSI, the faculty,

administration and also on Student union expenditure.

As treasurer my role would be:

Publish a quarterly budget review that will beavailable to all through the SU website. Any

questions about the budget will be answered

during a Q&A sesion sortly after its publication.

This will provide transperency, so you can see exactly where the STUDENT UNION is

spending our funding.

Provide a monthly expenditure statment so that we can identify areas to save money. Provide a budget that best utilises the funding allocated to the Student Union. Keep all the accounts in order and up to date.

As secretary I would aim to:

Take the minutes at all Student Union meetings and make the student body aware ofany relevent details.

Help improve communications between the Student Union and socities, faculty and thestudents, by having more polls, and increasing correspondance between students,

societies and faculties.

Documents

SU=US Manifesto