Events

2010 marks a significant milestone in the history of The University of Leicester Students’ Union. As ratified by the membership at the AGM held in October 2009, the Union will divide itself into two separate companies. The first, a Company Limited by Guarantee, will contain all of the Union’s charitable activities and will be the body that receives the annual block grant from the University. This company will be what the vast majority of the membership will know as “The Students’ Union”, and will perform all the traditional activities of a Union, such as the Education Unit as well as societies and associations etc. The second will be a wholly-owned subsidiary, a Company Limited by Shares, which will contain all of the Union’s trading activity and will rent the building. The profits from the trading company, less an allowance for investment in future developments, will be gifted to “The Union”. This may seem unnecessary, but has tremendous tax benefits. In addition, the Union will be registering as a charity and will have to adhere to the guidelines set by the Charities Commission. As a result, the Union’s mission statement has had to be rewritten to conform to charity law.
The legal mission of the Union is the “advancement of education of Students at the University of Leicester”. Accordingly it is logical that the Union Council, the governing body of the Union, reflects and epitomises this mission. This White Paper intends to lay out necessary reforms to bring Council to become fully representative. We propose to introduce a new system of governance, which will replace the current system, making student electives more relevant, representative and democratic.
And we propose to introduce a new system that will enable us to take decisions on Union policy and support for student groups and communities in a way that timely, efficient and predictable. These reforms will also improve accountability as part of the new system by strengthening the role Student Officers have in setting strategy both fairly and transparently. This White Paper also sets out proposals for improving and extending student engagement in the system. The fundamental way that Union Council currently operates was established in the around the 1950s and, with the exception of the disillusion of standing committees, in 2006-07, little has changed since. However, what has changed is the make up of our student body.
Back in the origins of what we would now recognise as a fully functional Students’ Union, some sixty years ago, the University’s population was made up of a few thousand undergraduates and a sprinkling of postgraduates, who could all fit into the Percy Gee Building at one time. Student representation was a much easier task; all students were of a similar demographic and studied on
5 campus, allowing the Union’s activities to be clearly focused towards the needs and wants of the membership. As a result, engagement was high and hence, students were willing to attend councils and the various standing committees. In 2010 we see a much different picture. The University’s population has exponentially increased to a figure of over 20,000 (set to rise by another three thousand by 2013, through the expansion of distance learners), with half of this number made up of distance learners (DLs) and 40% postgraduate students. The traditional idea of a student, 18-21 year-old undergraduate, does not make up the majority of the membership and yet little has been done to reform Council to take heed of these changes. This White Paper intends to raise some important questions of student representation at the University of Leicester and outline clear reforms needed to address these issues.