► Campaigns

'Defending and extending' your rights as students is what your Students' Union is all about. One of the most important ways we do this is by running campaigns.

By running campaigns you have the ability to reach a vast number of people, to communicate an idea and to encourage change. Good campaigns are exciting, inspiring and challenging and at your Students' Union the best campaigns are run by you, and reflect what you care about.

The things that you can campaign about are endless. Share your social ideals, your morale objections challenge the establishment or question the decisions of the university.

Our priority campaigns at your Students' Union are the big three, they are coordinated by your sabbaticals and led by students on the big issues. Our zones are dynamic melting pots of ideas for new campaigns, made up of people interested in developing different areas of the Students' Union. Finally, our Liberation campaigns exist to challenge discrimination and to represent the most oppressed people in our society.

Getting involved in campaigns, fighting for what you believe in and seeing the results is unbelievably rewarding.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world - Ghandi

Priority Campaigns 2009/2010:

We have three priority campaigns this year:

'I love SU' Campaign

This year the University of Derby Students’ Union will be running a campaign to celebrate the successes your Students’ Union and its members have had over the past few years. The “I love SU” campaign should give you an idea of what your Students’ Union can actually do for you as well as inform you on issues, debates and fights we have won on. The campaign will span over the year to encourage more students to get actively involved within the Students’ Union, be it by joining a team/society, writing for “Dusted”, being involved in a Liberation Campaign or even running in the Elections.

The “I love SU” campaign will showcase a number of different activities, campaigns and events that your union has put on for you. The campaign will also be an opportunity to showcase the work and wins of its sports teams, societies, volunteers, full time Sabbatical and Part Time Officers.

If you don’t currently know what your Students’ Union can do for you then keep an eye out for the “I love SU” logo to give you a real insight into how your Students’ Union works and what it can offer you. If you are currently involved in your Students’ Union’s activities, campaigns or events and would like to shout about what we have done for you or what your union could do better, then please don’t hesitate to get involved. Just email your president at: president@udsu.co.uk

Healthy and Active Lifestyles Campaign

To continue from last year’s successes, your Students’ Union will be resuming a number of year long campaigns in order to fight for improvement and recognition in various areas. Healthy and Active Lifestyles Campaign is being jointly led by the Sports Zone and the Welfare and Student Rights Zone.  The overarching aim of this campaign will be to get students more active, looking at the lifestyle they are living and trying to make it healthier. The campaign will span over the year to encourage more students to get actively involved with it, be it by getting involved in physical activity, changing your diet or more radically inspiring you to run a marathon.

This campaign will also focus on your mental wellbeing -  making sure that is healthy and active too. This will highlight the links between mental health and healthy eating while lobbying the University for better food on campus.

We will also be taking away the stigma and issues that surround sexual health and discussing it in a proactive manner as well as looking at the impact stress has on your time at university.

The Healthy and Active Lifestyles campaign will showcase a number of different activities, campaigns and events that will get you more active and highlight what the Students’ Union already does and promote the ways in which you as a student can get involved.

If you would like to share your ideas or facilitate the campaign then come along to the Sports Zone meetings or the Welfare and Student Rights Zone and get involved. Failing that just keep an eye out for the campaign and stay healthy!

'OfCourse' Education Campaign

At the moment, it’s pretty hard to find yourself at a university in the United Kingdom that won’t feature hidden course charges, record levels of student debt or a cap on student numbers. Sometimes it’s equally tricky trying to get back from university after a late-finishing lecture, getting feedback on an assignment or even just tracking down your lecturer for a bit of a chat.

Against this bleak picture, ofCOURSE is the brand new umbrella campaign established by the Students’ Union’s Education Zone. It’s designed to be a proactive, responsive and all-encompassing education campaign that provides a platform for us to work alongside you to address the issues affecting your study whilst at the University of Derby.

Our focus is broad, and the issues that you bring to the table will affect the direction of the campaign. But we’ve identified a number of areas that we think are key to improving your experience as a student, so keep your eye out for:

Higher Education Funding Debate:

With the average graduate debt for this year’s new students predicted to be £23,000 it has never been more important to think about our courses are funded and the implications for us as students – and with the Higher Education funding review looming just over the horizon, students in the Uk have a real opportunity to have their opinions listened to. Watch out for the Students’ Union promoting NUS Education Funding campaigns on campus, as well as lobbying the University for an open dialogue about the future of fees at the University of Derby.

Campaign for Learning Resources:

Maybe you’re on a forensics course without reasonable access to a Liquid-Gas Chromatography System. You could be on an illustration course without access to a proper studio. Or perhaps your lecturer told you to check a book out from the library and there were only five copies, all of them already booked out for the next week by your classmates. Whatever you need, if the university haven’t got it available, we need to know about it and we need to be talking to them about why this is.

Deliver the Promises:

As a student at and a customer of the University of Derby, you’re guaranteed certain rights. Chief amongst these include one-to-one tuition with your lecturers, a no cancellation policy that ensures that teaching time can only be postponed or rescheduled and never waiting longer than three weeks to get feedback on an assignment. Often, however, this is not the case. The University of Derby Students’ Union is making a commitment to finding out why this happens, and changing the system so it need not happen again.
 

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