One of the main things I worked on this month is the Movember campaign; mo-bros grow moustaches and mo-sistas promote and help with fundraising. I co-ordinated the SRUC & SRUCSA Movember team which ran across SRUC and has involved many staff and students. All of the SRUCSA exec got behind Movember and promoted it on their campuses, all the males in the exec grew moustaches – some (including myself) to varying success! Movember is all about increasing awareness and raising money for men’s health issues and we raised an amazing £859! This is the 3rd year it’s been done and I feel it’s been a great opportunity to get many people at SRUC together for a great cause, I hope it will be done again in 2015.

At the end of the first week in November, I was delighted to be invited as a guest at the SRUC HN Graduation at the University of Glasgow. After I did the speech in July, this time I could just relax and enjoy the ceremony. It was the turn of Briony to represent SRUCSA and deliver the vote of thanks – she did very well! I was given my gown and hood and was allowed to be part of the Academic Procession which was really cool.

The following week Briony & I met with Sonia Filby (Student Experience Manager), David McKenzie (Vice Principal of Education) and Janet Swadling (acting Chief Executive & Principal). It was an opportunity to update the SRUC Senior Management team with what SRUCSA have been working on and also to discuss major developments such as the forthcoming Edinburgh Strategic Alignment.
In the same week there was a SRUC Careers Fayre held at the Oatridge Campus. SRUCSA had a stand at the event which we used to promote Movember, SRUC clothing and opportunities that will be available in next years’ SRUCSA elections. I felt the stall was a success and generally helped raise awareness of SRUCSA. With such a range of courses at SRUC it’s challenging to keep all students happy, but overall the careers fayre seemed to go well.

In November, details suddenly emerged about the future of SRUC online. It was a sensitive situation as SRUCSA had to act on behalf of students but we had to ensure we didn’t react to the situation irresponsibly. Shortly after, Briony worked with SRUC communications to produce a student-friendly-worded document on the future of SRUC, plus we’re currently producing a survey. These two actions will hopefully ensure that communication and engagement with students can be improved.

The following week I travelled to Glasgow to attend a Quality Assurance Agency Scotland meeting to discuss and plan the theme of Student Transitions with other student officers. It was an interesting afternoon and we agreed on two projects to work on this year; they are based around supporting non-traditional students and Post-Graduate Taught/Research students. I was happy with these two aspects as I feel these are areas that SRUC & SRUCSA have previously recognised as requiring more attention.

I was in Edinburgh and Midlothian for the rest of the week. Briony & I finished a draft Student Partnership Agreement Part-B, which we’ll be keeping students informed on. We also travelled to the Roslin Institute to attend the last Education Board meeting and catch up with our Post-Graduate officer (Alex Brown).

On the 28th we had our November exec meeting in Edinburgh. We reviewed funding/affiliation requests and also planned ahead for the new calendar year. I’m looking forward to working with the SRUCSA team and SRUC students in the New Year; we’ve got some great things planned. As part of the meeting we also met several members of staff to update them on SRUCSA’s work and to discuss the new SRUC Alumni scheme.

Many students will be finishing for Christmas next week but Briony & I will continue representing students at meetings and working on SRUCSA tasks right up until a few days before Christmas. I hope everyone enjoys the winter break and I look forward to continuing engagement with students in the New Year!

Alex Robb