Year in Review 2023

Your Students' Union exists to support student success. Here's a summary of everything we achieved in 2023 to support this mission.

2023 marked the launch of our strategic plan to achieve our mission of supporting student success. A year where…

We elected a new officer team to lead the SU, with over 16,000 votes cast across our spring and autumn elections (an increase of over 7000 votes compared to 2022) ensuring everything we do is guided by the students we represent.

  • Supporting over 2,000 student representatives across all campus locations
  • Raising 1,567 feedback items with 79% receiving a satisfactory response from the university
  • Supporting 1,436 students to attend their course conversation events in Coventry
  • And holding 39 student voice meetings across London and Scarborough

  • 1784 students joining a society or student group and 1107 joining a sports club
  • 10 new societies created and 42 adopted
  • And new student communities created with 5 community engagement leads recruited in paid roles to champion students and lead campaigns

  • 957 students attending skills workshops
  • 1,892 digital badges awarded
  • 9 awards ceremonies held with 79 awards presented to students
  • 169 placements supported
  • 2700 volunteering hours completed on our volunteering module and over 1000 students registered to volunteer with the local community
  • 42 training modules delivered
  • And 299 students learning British Sign Language

  • 4341 enquiries responded to by the Advice Service
  • 1052 advice cases opened where students were directly supported
  • £231,894 of financial gains achieved for students
  • 425 students facing food hardship supported to access a secure source of food
  • And 100% of 62 students who accessed the service saying their caseworker was welcoming and friendly

  • Launching a new HR platform designed with student staff in mind
  • Paying over £100,000 to student staff across 14 different job roles
  • Increasing engagement in our staff surveys, with 90% of staff saying the SU is a good place to work
  • Consulting students in 23 user experience sessions to make improvements to our website
  • and working with a specialist agency to undertake an inclusivity audit, ahead of developing an EDI roadmap for 2024

  • Opening Union Streat Café, our first catering outlet in Coventry, run by students offering ethically sourced, high-quality food and drinks at a lower price point to other outlets on campus and building on the success of our existing Union Streat Kitchen in Dagenham
  • Hosting a digital conference which brought together 333 attendees from 61 Students’ Unions to share knowledge and best practice
  • And finally, acquiring Priory Visitor Centre in Coventry as a bookable space for student groups and local organisations, strengthening ties between students and the wider community

Summary

In 2024, we’ll continue to build on these achievements as we strive to improve the student experience of our members. We’ll provide support, develop skills, create communities, and remain committed to helping all students across the Coventry University Group fulfil their potential.

There will be new opportunities and new challenges, but we’ll face them head on whilst keeping our values of being inclusive, helpful and ethical at the core of everything we do. Our mission is simply to support student success and we’re excited to have you on the journey with us throughout 2024 and beyond.

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