KENT UNION: If Kent Union were a person, and you had to describe their personality, what human characteristics would you give them?

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2 KENT UNION: If Kent Union were a person, and you had to describe their personality, what human characteristics would you give them? SECOND YEAR STUDENT: Friendly, helpful, approachable.

3 CONTENTS. Introduction The History of Kent Union Development Process How It All Works Context Approach Belief, Purpose & Values Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3 Theme 4

4 INTRODUCTION. A Better Future, our plan for the period , sets out Kent Union s strategic direction for the next three years. It has been designed to inspire our people, demonstrate our charitable purpose and highlight our ambitions to our members and funders. It is the product of an extensive consultation exercise, spanning fifteen months and involving all our stakeholder groups. By following a robust, evidence-based approach, we have created a new direction for our organisation, which will see us empowering our members in everything we do. This plan outlines our main areas of activity, major goals and the impact we wish to have by 2017; it is supported by detailed annual operating plans, which will contain the specific objectives for each year of the plan. A Better Future builds upon the success of From Good to Great, our plan for , and represents a change in emphasis as well as a chance for us to embrace the original purpose of Kent Union which was established in 1965 as the representative body for students at Kent and operated entirely by student volunteers. As we enter a difficult period for Higher Education, which is likely to see student numbers and funding fall or at best stand still, our plan highlights how we will become a more focused, leaner organisation to cope with the challenges ahead. An essential part of strategic planning is deciding what to start, what to stop and what to continue doing and the consultation and planning process we have undergone over the last fifteen months has done exactly that. Our plan is shorter, clearer and, most importantly, more focused. We have evaluated our activity, ensuring it supports our new charitable purpose and adds value for our members. As a result, we will shrink slightly for the first time in a decade, reducing the span of our activity and realigning our remaining services to focus on our new aims. Along with the University of Kent, the period will see us celebrate our 50th Anniversary. We have seen significant change within our organisation since 1965, when Kent Union was run entirely by student volunteers. Now a registered charity, running a wide range of activities and services for our 20,000 members, our people encompass over 500 staff and hundreds of student volunteers who are integral to the delivery of our charitable purpose. Our plan brings together all our 2,000 people, paid and voluntary, united behind our new charitable purpose and achieving more through their combined effort. Bold and exciting, but also more focused, at the heart of our organisation is our new charitable purpose - to empower the 20,000 students of the University of Kent. This plan will ensure we empower our members to lead our organisation, but also to get the most from University, have a voice in society and fulfil their potential in life. Tammy Naidoo President and Chair of the Board Jim Gardner Chief Executive

5 1971 Our first retail outlet opened, generating sales of 7,000. This retail provision has grown significantly over the years and now annually employs around 180 of our members as well as helping to fund activities such as volunteering, sports and societies. The 1980s Throughout the 1980s our members were heavily involved in a range of high profile social campaigns including the Anti-Apartheid Movement. We also supported a bursary scheme for black South Africans to study at the University of Kent This was our year of major transformation. We opened The Venue nightclub, as well as our campus shop and the Activities Centre. This meant many more staff joined our organisation we went from 50 to and we saw a greater level of engagement from our members. 2000s We focused on improving the 1966 September 1965 experience of our members at Kent Union was established and Our student radio station begun the Medway campus by opening broadcasting, making it the run completely by volunteers. our campus shop and also oldest student radio station in Coopers Bar. We also launched the country! Universities at Medway Students Association in 2005, a unique Now operating as CSRfm, in and ground breaking 1993 partnership with Canterbury Late 1970s partnership between Kent Christ Church Students Union, We opened our Student Advice We opened our first licensed premises, Woodys Bar, located Union, Canterbury Christ Church our station was the first student Centre with one dedicated Students Union and Students in Parkwood. Woodys has radio station to secure an FM student adviser. Nowadays, the developed significantly over the Union University of Greenwich. community licence. Advice Centre is one of our core Coopers is still going strong and years and now works closely December 1965 services, supporting thousands provides our members with with our sports teams to sponsor The first edition of our of our members each year their activities and promote their great entertainment and social student newspaper, incant, was Early 1970s with issues concerning finance, space on the campus. fixtures. published. Our members have We moved into the Mandela academic appeals and Building, which was originally published hundreds of accommodation. two family homes for College newspaper editions over the years and now produce InQuire Masters. The building has been which includes worldwide and refurbished many times over on campus news, events features the years and still houses many of our staff including our Advice and sports fixtures. team and internal departments such as Finance and Marketing.

6 2013 Responding to feedback from our members, in 2013 we created our state of the art Student Media Centre. The centre was officially opened by Charlotte Green, BBC Broadcaster and Kent alumna. We now have over 250 members operating out of this space, helping run one of our three groups; inquire, CSRfm and KTV This was a busy year. We took over The Oaks Nursery, with an aim to improving the service for University and Union parents as well as making it easier for students with dependants to use the nursery. The Oaks continues to thrive and just recently we moved into a fantastic new facility enabling us to care for even more children Kent Union was included in the Sunday Times Best 100 Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For, We have since been included in the list four more times, rising to 17th place in Through an extensive 15 month process with our members, staff and stakeholders we developed our new charitable purpose. This new purpose focuses our organisation on empowering our members through all our services and democratic structures We became a registered charity and our Board of Trustees was formed. Since 2011 To better support our members at Medway, we launched a new partnership; Greenwich and Kent Students Unions Together. This partnership enables us to provide sports, societies and volunteering activities for our Medway To support all our members we members. developed our Toolkit, which allows our members to record the skills and experience they gain through paid employment and Kent Union volunteering opportunities. We are currently working with the University to transfer data from our Toolkit into students Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR) To support our new strategy, we moved Jobshop, one of our most frequently used services, to a new central campus location. This will enable the service to be used more regularly by our members looking to supplement their income through part time work whilst they study. Present day With 20,000 students studying at the University of Kent, 2014 has seen the scale of Kent Union grow. We now have 600 employees, over 2,000 volunteers, 320 sports clubs and societies and 9,000 students who actively participate in Union Life. Our services and outlets include the Venue Nightclub, Woodys Bar, Advice@Kent and the launch of our purpose built Student Media Centre and newly built Oaks Nursery. KENT UNION, A CHARITY THAT EMPOWERS STUDENTS.

7 THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS. A Better Future has been developed following a robust fifteen month process, starting in February It encompassed a wide research methodology, which sought the views of the full range of our stakeholders. Because of the breadth and depth of our development phase, we are confident in the new charitable purpose that we have created, in the aims we have set ourselves and in our new impact measures. Key elements of our consultation exercise were: Planning sessions with our Board of Trustees Desktop research Discussion group with Union Council Focus groups with Year 10 pupils Survey of current students Focus groups with current students Discussions with Student Representatives and College Committees Consultation with Team Kent Executive, Societies Federation and Volunteering Committee Virtual blackboard for capturing anecdotal feedback from our members Interviews with the University of Kent s Executive Group Interviews with the University of Kent s Senior Management Team Interviews with external stakeholders, including Canterbury City Council and other students unions Senior Management Team away days The Big Event with our career staff Focus groups with our Student Supervisors Focus groups to guide development of our brand redesign Brand testing with our members Presentation of draft strategy to the University s Executive Group Presentation of draft strategy to Union Council Testing of impact measures through our annual Student Satisfaction Survey Presentation of draft strategy to our membership Approval of new purpose and plan by the Board of Trustees in May 2014.

8 CONTEXT. Over the period of this strategic plan, we predict that student numbers at Kent will remain fairly static. We expect to see an increase in students taking part in non-traditional programmes of study, meaning that we will have to adapt how and where we provide our services. We also expect the trend of increasing diversity within our student population to continue, with growing numbers of overseas students and those studying postgraduate courses. We believe that expectations from students of their Higher Education experience, and the University of Kent as our major funder, will continue to rise. We believe students priorities for Kent Union are: Improved value for money across our services; Greater diversity of activities and events; Increased emphasis on academic representation and welfare support; Improved space for social use, entertainment and activities; Clearer, more accessible and more powerful democratic structures; Increased opportunities to enhance employability. Our relationship with the University of Kent Our relationship with the University of Kent is a complex one; part of our primary purpose is to represent our members to the University, but the University is also our main funder and one of our regulators. We rely on the University for the buildings we occupy, capital expenditure for major projects and also for on-going funding for our operations. Similarly, the University relies on Kent Union for academic representation and feedback, to enhance the student experience, to support student recruitment and retention and to enhance students employment prospects. The relationship is therefore one of mutual support and benefit, and one that is reliant upon cooperation and partnership working. Greenwich and Kent Students Unions Together Our operations on the Medway campus are delivered through a strategic partnership with Students Union University of Greenwich. This body is known as Greenwich and Kent Students Unions Together or GK Unions. Through this partnership we provide a range of services for Kent and Greenwich students in Medway, including sports, societies and advice services. We encourage Kent students to build communities with their Greenwich counterparts so that they can fully embrace the opportunities available to them in Medway. GK Unions is a non-legal entity, overseen by a Board that includes representation at manager, trustee and student level from both Students Unions and their respective Universities. The Board has responsibility for setting the direction of GK Unions, ensuring both Universities students are represented and for the continued improvement of the student experience in Medway. For the period of this plan, the Board will play a key role in negotiations over the creation of a new students union building for the Medway campus.

9 A one-page summary of our plan. Kent Union - A charity that empowers students at Kent to: HAVE A VOICE FULFIL THEIR POTENTIAL GET THE MOST FROM UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL - We have a professional management team, professional staff and we are an outstanding employer; we create a positive working environment in which our staff enjoy work and are passionate about what they do. 1. Empowering students to have a voice; 2. Empowering students to fulfil their potential; 3. Empowering students to get the most from University; 4. An empowered and effective charity with a clear sense of purpose. RESPONSIBLE - We are an open, transparent and responsible organisation; we have strong and effective governance arrangements; we implement best ethical and environmental practice and are committed to the principle of volunteerism. INCLUSIVE - We have a deep belief in the principle of equality of opportunity and take positive action to promote diversity; we campaign on behalf of discriminated-against groups and have an inclusive culture. DEMOCRATIC - We are student led through strong democratic structures; we believe in the principle and power of democracy; our members play an active role in our democracy and in society. EXCEPTIONAL - We know that our stakeholders expect a lot from us, so we endeavour to excel at everything we do representing students and providing high quality services.

10 OUR APPROACH. The development phase of this plan identified various priorities and areas of focus for Kent Union for the period Collectively these form the approach we will take to delivering this strategy and the way in which we intend to improve the student experience for our members. We will: Represent our members needs, expectations and future goals Campaigning and representation will be organisational priorities, held at the heart of all we do. Through our democracy review we will improve our democratic structures and embed them within our operations. Improve the student experience in Medway Through GK Unions, we will improve the student experience in Medway, working collaboratively to provide more activities, events and support and campaigning to secure a new students union building. Lead a programme of culture change In collaboration with our people, we will embed a new culture in Kent Union, supporting our people to empower students across all areas of activity. Embrace new technologies In order for our people to be able to empower students, we must invest in technology, unifying students digital experience at Kent and empowering our members through improved systems and processes. Work collaboratively with our strategic partners We will embrace partnerships with University departments and academic schools, community groups and other students unions, working effectively to deliver joint aims and recognising that we can achieve more to support our members by working in partnership with others. Embrace student choice Through the power of democracy and also through informal opportunities for students to have a say in what we do and how we do it, we will empower our members to guide our strategy and operations. Strive to provide better value for money By identifying new income streams and efficiencies in the ways we work, we will provide better value for money for students across our activities, and campaign to ensure the University does the same. Encourage our members to participate in society Our members make up a complex academic community; by building their skills and knowledge and encouraging debate on world issues, we will help them become active learners in their University experience and go on to become change makers within their communities and wider society.

11 THEME 1 EMPOWERING STUDENTS TO HAVE A VOICE. SUPPORTING OUR MEMBERS TO HAVE THEIR OPINIONS HEARD, ON CAMPUS, IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY AND IN SOCIETY AS A WHOLE. OUR ACTIVITY. We will train and support a highly effective network of student academic reps, who will empower students to make positive changes to their programmes of study. By supporting our liberation officers, we will run effective and highly visible campaigns focused on empowering individuals who have traditionally suffered from oppression and discrimination. We will train and support a proactive network of student representatives, ensuring they represent the needs of students at a grass roots level. Through outstanding training, guidance and support, we will empower a team of full-time student leaders to represent all University of Kent students to the local community and to the University. SOME OF OUR GOALS. By July 2017: 1. 85% of our members will agree that their Course Rep provides them with effective representation ; 2. Each Liberation Campaign will have run at least one high profile campaign over the course of each year of the plan; 3. 85% of students will agree that Kent Union is campaigning on the issues that matter to me ; 4. 85% students will agree that Kent Union s full-time student leaders are delivering on their manifesto pledges. OUR IMPACT. BY JULY 2017, 80% OF STUDENTS WILL AGREE Kent Union has helped me have a voice whilst at University.

12 THEME 2 EMPOWERING STUDENTS TO FULFIL THEIR POTENTIAL. PROVIDING ADVICE, GUIDANCE AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR MEMBERS SO THEY CAN GET WHERE THEY WANT TO IN LIFE. OUR ACTIVITY. We will run a highly effective advice service, which helps students complete their programmes of study and cope with life s challenges. Through the services we operate for students and through our Jobshop, we will offer a diverse range of employment opportunities which support students to earn money to fund their studies and develop skills and experience that help with their future careers. We will work with a variety of external organisations to identify exciting voluntary opportunities for students, as well as providing hundreds of ways they can volunteer with Kent Union. All the opportunities we provide or endorse will focus on maximising skill development and experiential learning for our members. SOME OF OUR GOALS. By July 2017 we will: 1. Have implemented the changes arising from the strategic review of our advice service; 2. Have introduced new and varied employment opportunities for students, employ more students and be paying over 1million per annum to our student staff; 3. Have increased the number of students volunteering to 3,000 and increased the number of students volunteering in the community; 4. Have increased the number of students graduating each year with our Employability Transcript to 3,000. OUR IMPACT. BY JULY 2017, 80% OF STUDENTS WILL AGREE Kent Union has helped me fulfil my potential.

13 THEME 3 EMPOWERING STUDENTS TO GET THE MOST FROM UNIVERSITY. HELPING OUR MEMBERS RUN THEIR OWN ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS, PROVIDING A SAFE ENVIRONMENT SO THEY ENJOY THEIR TIME WHILST STUDYING AT KENT. OUR ACTIVITY. We will provide a broad range of exciting, value-for-money and student-led activities that complement University provision, helping build communities of students who have fun whilst at University. We will put on an entertainments programme offering a range of events targeted to our diverse membership, always focused on providing excellent value for money. Through our network of sports clubs, societies and student groups we will provide opportunities for students to socialise and establish their own communities. We will welcome all new students to the University of Kent, ensuring that their first few days and weeks at University are exciting, welcoming and fun, helping them settle into their new life. SOME OF OUR GOALS. By July 2017: 1. The proportion of students who agree that Kent Union offers good value for money across its range of services will have increased each year; 2. Over 12,000 students will be actively participating in Union Life (sports clubs, societies, student-led groups or student volunteers); 3. 85% of students will agree that Kent Union provides an exciting Events and Entertainment programme ; 4. We will have achieved a placing in the top 10% of UK students unions as measured by the National Student Survey. OUR IMPACT. BY JULY 2017, 80% OF STUDENTS WILL AGREE Kent Union has helped me get the most from University.

14 THEME 4 AN EMPOWERED AND EFFECTIVE CHARITY WITH A CLEAR SENSE OF PURPOSE. RUNNING OUR ORGANISATION BASED ON STRONG PRINCIPLES AND ETHICAL VALUES, CARING FOR OUR STAFF AND SUPPORTING OUR MEMBERS WHILST ENSURING OUR FUTURE SUSTAINABILITY. OUR ACTIVITY. Our values-led charity will be an inclusive, diverse place to work where we provide continual support, mentoring and opportunities for progression for our staff and volunteers. Regardless of whether they are a volunteer or staff member, we will coach and support our people so they are able to fulfil their potential. Through robust financial planning and management, we will generate a surplus each year, stabilise our balance sheet and ensure the sustainability of our charity. We will run our organisation on sound democratic principles with strong democratic structures, which enable our members to make real change within Kent Union and hold us to account. Our governance structures will provide a sound framework for the effective running of our complex charity. We will operate a children s nursery, providing practical support for our staff, employment opportunities for students, support for student parents and a financial return. SOME OF OUR GOALS. By July 2017, we will: 1. Have achieved a top 10 placing in the Sunday Times 100 Best Not-for-Profit Organisations to Work For; 2. Have generated a modest surplus each year over the life of the plan and strengthened our balance sheet; 3. Have completed and implemented our democracy review and increased the proportion of our members who have participated in our democracy each year over the life of the plan; 4. Have secured new Union facilities in both Canterbury and Medway.

15 KENT UNION: How has Kent Union helped you fulfil your potential? SECOND YEAR STUDENT: Through the volunteering opportunities provided, Kent Union has changed me and made me a better person.

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