Summary
- Review of Term 1 Progress within University of Nottingham Student Union (UoNSU) and Nottingham Trent University Student Union (NTSU)
- Students not aware of the safety schemes that are available for them to use
- Reoccurrences of housing to be substandard
- 1 – 1’s and Nottingham Citizens provide useful networking opportunities
Representation and Democracy Fair
The SCO’s first stall was at a fair held at UoN in the Portland building. The overall aim was to begin spreading awareness of our presence within the student union, as well as a chance to grasp what students are currently unhappy within their local community. The reoccurring conversations that appeared was the unhappiness of accommodation not being up to a high enough standard. For example, being unclean when they first moved in, silverfish and constant leaking. First year students were unsure on who to contact concerning room issues, and although students in further years know to contact the landlord, they felt as if they were not compliant enough to fix these issues long term. In terms of student safety, a majority of current students are unaware of the student safety schemes that are available, such as the DG safe taxi scheme, and instead would prefer to use Uber as they know it is a safe service to use that they recognise. The stall did receive a lot of traction, as it was part of a collective, and using incentives of free chocolate, meant students were more willing to talk to the team. Having a stall at the fair was a useful method due to the popularity of the location, however, the team found that were a lot of quick conversations with students, with minimal follow up, even with business cards being handed out to those who seemed interested.
Safety Listening Week at University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University
Following on from the conversations, the team set up a safety listening week at the UoNSU and NTSU. The aim was to hand out leaflets with the current student safety schemes on campus, and to find out where the majority of students live off campus. The response from students was that they found the leaflets to be useful as they were unaware of the current schemes, however, they would be unlikely to use them as first port of call and would be more likely to ring a friend first. There was also concerns regarding the safety on trams, and the lack of security and police present especially late at night. The team also met with the NTSU’s Vice President of Community and Welfare, who is particularly interested in meeting with the team and to have a 1-1 regarding safety at in Term 2. Unfortunately, choosing to run the stall on a Wednesday meant that not enough students were on campus, as many have sport commitments, and this will be taken into consideration for future events.
1 – 1’s
The team conducted 1 – 1’s this term with students across both universities. The information gained from these is that one student is particularly concerned about the lack of pedestrian crossings on Derby Road and is unhappy about the council’s lack of due care regarding safety. Furthermore, a NTU student who conducted a safety project earlier this year, found that a majority of students take longer routes home, public transport or avoid later lessons when dark in concerns of their safety. The student is wanting to take this project further, however being a final year student, there is apprehension because of other academic commitments. The use of 1-1’s have been important as they allowed for useful discussions, and the chance to build further connections for future use.
Nottingham Citizens
Nottingham Citizens recently held a reconnected celebration event that bought lots of communities together to discuss what can be improved in Nottingham. It was an important event to not only promote the Nottingham Students’ Partnership, but also to connect with others who also want to make similar changes. A favoured topic was housing, and Citizens UK are wanting to start creating campaigns to tackle this issue. This could be of interest to the SCO’s as from previous conversations, housing is a topic that collectively affects students.