Intro from President

Hi folks, I’m Grace your UUSU President, welcome to our impact report 2023.

It has a moment of huge change and transition as our members adjust to student life post COVID. Through representations and lobbying and raising student voice, UUSU has strived to represent support and connect you and help you jump right back into university life.

Our main campaigns this year have focused on building back that sense of community and belonging back on campus, tackling effects of the cost of living crisis and continuing to invest in our student union spaces.

We continue to work tirelessly for positive change for all our students and create spaces for our students to engage and get involved, so let me just give a snapshot view of what our students’ union has been up to this year.

Our Mental Health Campaign (U Belong) focused on tackling loneliness and creating a sense of belonging within our membership. Our ongoing student mental health and wellbeing campaign is guided by our Mental Health Action Plan which ensures student mental health is at the forefront of everything we do. We’ve had over 1,500 students complete our Sense of Belonging Survey recently, the results of which we will use to plan our activities for the forthcoming year. As part of our’ U OK? We’re here for you’ campaign, we’ve hosted events to increase students’ sense of belonging at Ulster and improve their mental health.

Students are facing financial pressures in like no year ever before, the ongoing cost of living crisis has impacted students from all backgrounds and throughout the course of this academic year, your Union has secured upwards of £1,956,500 of support through this Cost-of-Living emergency. Some of the mitigations we secured include free student meals, hidden course costs, free graduations, and discussions around reducing fees for team sport. We have continued to campaign for a cost-of-living payment and have supported our national Union NUS-USI in their call for a cost-of-living payment, Free public transport and a student renters bill.

Social spaces are so important to connect our members and foster new friendships, we have lobbied for increased investment in our Student Union Spaces undergoing a major renovation of our Coleraine Student Union Bar as well as cosmetic investment in our Magee Bar, we have continued to engage with our membership to ensure that their voice is heard in the social spaces our members want!

Additionally, we successfully lobbied the university to provide financial compensation for the students who were affected by the relocation of the Health Sciences courses from Jordanstown to Magee campus. This was a result of UUSU’s advocacy for the students’ rights as they faced additional travel costs and inconvenience due to the move. This was a significant win for UUSU and the students involved, as it demonstrated the power of student voice and representation.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank our membership for the continue support in creating community, belonging, and advocating for all that important change to make your university experience the best that it can be.

It’s been an honour to serve over the years as your Course Rep, Faculty Rep, VP and finally your UUSU President