: 20132014Trinity College Students’ Union

Our Year

Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report2

:WelcomeWhat we do Our mission

Our vision

Impact report

The Students’ Union is run by students, for students. With a membership of over 17, 000 students we aim to improve the student experience and serve the interests of our members. This is fundamental to how we operate and is at the core of the decisions we make as an organisation.

As the college continues to grow, we have adapted to provide the infrastructure needed to support students in every aspect of their college life. Our eff orts in protecting student services and maintaining high quality of education are central to our purpose. Not only that, we are always the helping hand for any student that fi nds themselves in diffi culty so they can achieve their full potential. Whether it’s through services, campaigns or the work we do on commi� ees, we are always trying to enable a rich and varied university experience and provide students the opportunity to get involved in college outside of their academic studies.

This report has been done to show how Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) make a positive contribution in how college is run and in student life. It serves as a mid-term review of what we have done and acts as a benchmark for the issues we face in the future.

We strive to improve how we represent students, support them in their endeavours and enrich the student experience in Trinity. In order to do this we will need to think ahead if we are to continue to be a dynamic and fl exible organisation. This means we need to think strategically. To deal with the challenges that lie ahead we will be outlining where the Students’ Union wants to be in the future, how we are going to develop year-on-year and how our values will refl ect the change we want to be in Trinity.

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We will be outlining where the Students’ Union wants to be in the future, how we are going to develop year-on-year and how our values will refl ect the change we want to be in Trinity

Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report2 3

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We will be outlining where the Students’ Union wants to be in the future, how we are going to develop year-on-year and how our values will refl ect the change we want to be in Trinity

WHO ARE WE?

We are member-led

We represent you

We fi ght for your services

We’re here for you

We work for you

We aim to make sure you get the education you

expect

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Our eff orts in protecting student services and

maintaining high quality of education are central to our

purpose

Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report4

: How are we doing?

CLASS REPS

407__

Record No.

92%

76%

77%

Percentage of students that feel the Students’ Union contributes positively

to their student experience

Students who use our commercial

services

Felt supported by SU pastoral

supportWhen asked in the “Big SUrvey”, 89.54% of students said they know who their class rep is. 62.52% of students surveyed also found their class rep to be either “eff ective” or “ very eff ective”.

TOPTHREEISSUES

Campaign Awareness

Union Communication

Accessibility

46.17% consider themselves to be unaware of campaign stances of the SU.

72.33% of students believe it would be diffi cult to change something in the SU.

Problems identifi ed were the SU website and lack of awareness about the day-to-day running of the union.

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“ ““You need more interaction with the students who a� end most of their lectures out in the Trinity Health Sciences building at St James’s hospital as sometimes we can feel isolated from the activities etc taking place on the main campus.”

“Having seen the way it functions over last 3 years, I feel this year’s sabbat team doing a great job. seem to know the reps and make council enjoyable”

“Have a lot more direct information given out to people who are not class reps. Instead of relying on class reps to feed some of that information back just make it all available so anyone can get involved.”

“Would be nice if they could do something about being able to bring people home a� er a night out on campus.”

President’s

Note

Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report4 5

: Student Services

Number of emails sent back and forth

helping students fi nd accommodation

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All of this translates into just some of the achievements this year but there are many more,. We are not complacent. We realise there is signifi cant work to be done this term if we are going to call this a successful year. There are new projects on the horizon that we are commi� ed to work on. It’s up to you to enjoy.

housing for Trinity students through our Accommodation Advisory Service. We were able to meet the demands of our growing international population through the Meet & Greet Service with double the people using the service from last year. We now also have the most class reps ever at over 400 so we can be� er represent you and your needs.

Despite investing in capital projects the Students’ Union is maintaining a solid fi nancial position to meet the challenges. It has been a hectic year. We were the only eff ective body in college that dealt with the accommodation crisis in Dublin and helped many families look for

MANDELA HOUSE

Refurbishments

Rebranding

House 6 has been renamed Mandela House and has been refurbished to make it a more vibrant hub for students to interact with the services we provide.

This year saw the creation of a new logo for the fi rst time over 20 years which came from instituting changes arising from our external review.

301Accommodation Advisory ServiceNumber of people who came in that we helped fi nd accommodation through the Accommodation Advisory Service

1380

304Meet &Greet Number of international students we collected from the airport this year.

x2Last year’s

fi gure

Student Services

1380

Last year’s Last year’s

President’s

Note

Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report6

: Student SupportHAVE RAISED

FOR THE STUDENT HARDSHIP FUND

€12,000

The Student Hardship Fund off ers fi nancial support to undergraduate students experiencing fi nancial hardship during their time in Trinity.

The fund is in high demand and o� en there is not enough money available to help students in need

FIGURES

4,000

€3,000

400+

10,000

The number of Fresher’s packs we manually packed and distributed

The amount of ents cards we have given out

The worth of free lunches we provided during Fresher’s Week

The amount of casework that came through the Education and Welfare offi ces in the past six months

The cost per euro for a student to come

into us with any problem

€012 campaign weeks

That’s 84 days of campaigning a year!

Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report6 7

:Our Vision

New This Year

Partnership with MyHome.ie.

Hired students to take international students to the Garda National Immigration Bureau to process student visas. 60 visas in total.

Partnership with AirCoach for the Meet & Greet Service.

212 pages in the SU diary to help you get through college.

Know Your Union Week with stands in the Hamilton, Arts Block and off -campus.

More welfare ambassadors

than ever before

Off -campus Welfare Drop-Ins every week

Mission # 1

To give you the help and support you need

We off er crèche subsidies which acted as bursaries to student

parents in need

Sucessfully negotiated with College security to obtain extra library space on the weekends.

in Regent House from 10 am to 11.30 pm on Saturdays and

Sundays

This year for the fi rst time we held a workshop on high-level

workplace skills

Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report8

MISSION #2

To give you the chance to enjoy

college

NIGHT MOVES

MOVEMBER PARTYJAMES VINCENT

MCMORROW

JACQUES RENAULT

Lovebirds and Bedlam DJS in support of focus Ireland

Play Tuesdays proceeds go to Cancer Soc Movember

fund

Held in the Trinity chapel in aid of Headstrong for

Mental Health Week 2014

Night Moves proceeds go to Cancer Soc Movember

fund

EVENTS @ THE

ACADEMY

FRESHERS BALL

HALLOWEEN BALL

Ben Pearce KlingandeLe Galaxie

SOLD OUTSurf Sail

Salmon

Play Tuesdays

NightMoves

Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report8 9

MISSION #3

• Board• University Council• Finance Commi� ee• Estates Commi� ee• Human Resources Commi� ee• Library and Information Policy Commi� ee• Student Life Commi� ee• International Commi� ee• Undergraduate Studies Commi� ee• Coiste Na Gaeilge• Equality Commi� ee• Quality Commi� ee• College Safety Commi� ee• TAP Steering Commi� ee • Capitations Commi� ee• Bioresources Commi� ee• Financial Assistance Commi� ee• CLCS Language Learning Facilities and Resources Management Commi� ee

• Information Systems Services Users’ Commi� ee• Library and College Archives Users’ Commi� ee• Web Management Commi� ee• Arts, Humanities • 24 School Executive Commi� ees• GENesis Project Board• VLE Project Board• Academic Year Restructuring Group• Parlour Management Group• Information Systems Service Users Group• Trinity Ball Commi� ee• Dean of Students Roll of Honour Commi� ee• Provost Teaching Awards Group• Student Conduct & Capacity Commi� ee• Trinity Global Graduate Forum• Launchbox Steering Group

To represent you

Most of the work we do is unseen. It happens in commi� ee meetings where we represent the interest of the students. We spend an inordinate amount of time a� ending these meetings, but they are incredibly important in bringing forward the student voice. If it is an internet issue, registration issue or timetabling issues we make our voices heard.

President’s

Note

WE SIT ON...

Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report10

MISSION #4 To provide good value

FreeSandwiches During Freshers’ Week, the SU Café promoted the café with free sandwich vouchers for incoming students as the place to meet up and relax with friends

Our survey says...

Over 80% of

students happy

with SU Commercial

Services

New This Year

Click.ie

Bike Scheme

Online Book Exchange

Recognising the absence of a facility to fi x laptops in the college we brought this new venture in with the refurbishments of Mandela House. They also fi x other electronic devices including smartphones as well.

In a joint initiative between College Security and the Green Campus Commi� ee, we repaired and redistributed 17 abandoned bikes to worthy Trinity students at a fraction of the cost.

An online platform where students put up ads for books to sell in private transactions.

€3,000

Saving YouDeal of the Week

Ents Cards

Freshers’ Packs

10,000No. of Ents Cards

distributed this year

Trinity College Students’ Union Impact Report10 11

: The Future

We have progressed to a level where we can no longer think short-term given the challenges we face. Through the student surveys we have conducted and through the External Review, we have identifi ed the barriers to success. Students want the same things every year and in order to cater for them we need year-on-year plans as to how we are going to achieve our goals. By implementing a structure to allow that to happen we are confi dent we will meet our targets and achieve the things students want us to achieve.

STRATEGIC PLANNINGWe can only monitor progress through

regular feedback. The process for review is becoming embedded

in the working of the Students’ Union and we are now successfully tackling

the issue of the lack of institutional memory. Our union has a lot of history

and will continue to play a part in improving college life to make sure

students enjoy their time here from the fi rst moment they

walk in.

The Big SUrvey

External Review

Constitutional Review

MONITORING

This is the fi rst ever annual

review!

WHAT PART WILL YOU PLAY?

With 6 months le� ...

WE WORK FOR YOU