Glamorgan: Community and Citizenship Student Voice Representative

Key Words: Students, Voice, Impact, decision-making, Community, Citizenship, ESD/GC, equality, diversity, inclusivity

Was the initiative introduced: throughout the institution

Description/approach: The University has had many examples where individual students have taken the lead on non-course activities which have enriched the experiences of others. 

This has included organising charity events, supporting the local community, responding to the needs of disabled people and others with particular needs.

All of this has been done in a way which has helped develop social and team-building activities for students. The appointment of a Community and Citizenship SVR is to ensure this work is supported at an institutional level and co-ordinated for the best impact for all. 

The Community and Citizenship SVR will help ensure the University’s students are engaged in activities which support sustainable development and recognise the students as global citizens. 

The Community and Citizenship SVR’s role is to liaise with students, Course Reps and other SVRs to identify suitable activities for team building and socialising, bearing in mind the diversity of the student population at Glamorgan and the University’s strong reputation for providing inclusive opportunities for all its students.  Such activity may be arranged at faculty level or across the University 

The Community and Citizenship SVR will investigate existing and new charity or volunteering contacts which would benefit from and welcome student involvement.  

The Community and Citizenship SVR will promote students’ participation in such activities as part of the richness of student life. 

The Community and Citizenship SVR will attend relevant faculty or University groups in order to fulfil the tasks of the role and work with key individuals within the University to ensure the inclusivity, global citizenship and community engagement agendas inform the students’ extra-curricular activities. 

Anticipated outcomes:

• The enhancement of the profile of community engagement, sustainable development and global citizenship among the student body.
• Support engagement by all the institutions student body recognising and celebrating the diversity of that student body
• Provide students with the insight to recognise themselves as global citizens able to take a full part in local, national and international society
• Enable the University to build on its own interaction with the communities in which it is located by co-ordinating institutional and student-led initiatives in those communities. 

Evidence of actual outcomes: The Community and Citizenship SVR role was established at the start of the current academic year (11-12). To date the Community and Citizenship SVR has lead a series of institutional initiatives, but it is to early to provide an evaluation.

The Community and Citizenship SVR will be attending the Conference on the 26^th of April, so more detailed information about the challenges and successes to date will be available for presentation at the conference. 

Reflection/impact: The profile of citizenship and community engagement has already been raised by the appointment and activity of the Community and Citizenship SVR, an evaluative report will be undertaken at the end of the first year of the project.