Hello everyone! Samuel Dedman here, your returning VP Education for 2018/19. I wrote a blog post a few months ago about the new managed print service coming to the University of Southampton, and left it with a promise of a later update about pricing. I’m pleased to say that this is that update, and it is all good news!

I firmly believe that the cost of student printing at Southampton has been too high in previous years, putting increased pressure on the finances of many of our students. This is particularly true of our students at Winchester School … Read the rest

We are thrilled to announce our Freshers’ 2018 line-up – it’s set to be our biggest and best Freshers yet!

Freshers’ Week kicks off with our Welcome Festivals (Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 September, £12 per night), featuring Chris Stark from BBC Radio 1 Adrian Murphy and Retrojam. This is the perfect chance to party with your new flatmates and say one HUGE hello to thousands of Freshers’!

Then every night from Monday 24 to Friday 28 September our Union will transform into the only place to be this Freshers’. Tickets are ONLY £5 per night and give you access … Read the rest

We’re very excited to announce that Southampton has risen from 42nd to 29th in the ‘THE Student Experience Survey 2018’, with particularly good results for “societal experience”.

Societal experience is the metric that measures our impact as a Students’ Union on the student experience.

We provide outstanding opportunities to round out the academic experience and to have jumped twelve places from 33^rd (2017) to 21^st nationally in this category shows we are moving in the right direction in delivering high level social life opportunities, a real community atmosphere, compelling extracurricular activities/societies and a positive environment on campus/around … Read the rest

Earlier this month at Refreshers’ Fayre we said hello to the Union’s Human Powered Aircraft Society (SUHPA) – you may have spotted them in the Old Sports Hall pedaling on an exercise bike alongside some aircraft wings! We met with Euan (Society Vice-President) and Tatjana (Society Secretary and Outreach) to find out more about the society.

SUHPA has been recently re-affiliated, but the society has an impressive history and claim to fame…back to 1961 the society manufactured and flew the world’s first official human powered aircraft! Many members of the society are Engineering or Aerospace students, but anyone with plenty of … Read the rest

The Union has recently invested in new equipment for some of our water sports teams, in collaboration with the University of Southampton. We have purchased new kayaks for the Canoe Polo Club and worked alongside the University in their purchase of new starting blocks for Jubilee swimming pool.

Our Athletic Union invested in a fleet of ten new kayaks for the Canoe Polo Club. As the sport is played 5-a-side, this means the club can now train together with new kayaks suitable for indoor use.

The Jubilee Swimming Pool will soon have new swimming start blocks thanks to investment from … Read the rest

At the recent extraordinary meeting of our Education Zone on Thursday 08 February, we voted to support the industrial action by the University and Colleges Union (UCU), standing in solidarity with academic staff not only from Southampton but across the UK also who are taking what is a last-resort action to protect their pensions.
The presentation which was shown at the Education Zone meeting can be found here, and goes through the context of the strike in more detail.

We will be sending representatives to meet with the local UCU branch to discuss ways in which we can … Read the rest

The second round of Sports Clubs Grant decisions have been released to close out 2017.

We allocated £22,000 to our sports clubs this round to help in continuing the delivery of opportunities to students to stay active and healthy, whilst representing Team Southampton and the University of Southampton both in the UK and internationally.

The good news to come out of this round is that the applications submitted by clubs have been more competitive than ever before. I can say that on the whole, the information submitted has been comprehensive and well-reasoned and the high majority of applications received were … Read the rest

Alex Teuten, a member of the University of Southampton Students’ Union Athletics and Cross-Country Club and PhD Chemistry student, recently placed second in the European Cross Country Trials and has therefore qualified to join Team GB! We met with Alex to find out more about his fantastic achievement and what the future holds.

First up we congratulated Alex and asked him how the Cross Country Trials went: “It was the race of my life really, and it went fantastically well.” Alex represented England during the trials and raced against world-class athletes to achieve his qualification to Team GB.

Alex has … Read the rest

Hello there! My name is Evie Reilly – the Vice-President Democracy & Creative Industries for 2017/18. The end of term may be fast approaching, but we at the Students’ Union have today launched our first All Student Vote of the year.

The University is entering a period of restructure led by the Vice-Chancellor. As part of this, a 7% reduction in staff costs has been announced, with 50 to 75 academic staff posts at risk from across six departments. The University have claimed this restructure will not negatively impact student experience. A shortened version of the report given to Union … Read the rest

The festive season is well and truly underway and we have an early Christmas present for you…. act announcements for Freshers’ Christmas Ball 2017!

We are excited to reveal that we will be joined by Patrick Nazemi, Drop Division and Radio 1’s Scott Mills for a fantastic night of live music in The Cube, along with plenty of seasonal entertainment around the Union, including:

• Silent Disco in The North Pole Bridge
• Mulled wine and cider in the forests of Building 42 Bavaria
• BBQ and surf simulator in the tropics of Hawaii Bar 2
• Photo ops galore in Hollywood