Thursday 09-06-2022 - 09:04

What a year it's been here at Manchester Met — from incredible awards events to a £650,000 investment into the Prayer Space on campus — there's so many amazing things to celebrate. We've put together a recap of everything you might have missed over the past twelve months.

 

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Advice

 

The Advice Centre had another amazing year supporting students at Manchester Met – providing free, confidential advice from trained professionals.

 

+ Advice has helped 2,175 students (so far) with 8442 academic, finance and housing issues since September 2021

+ The Advice Centre achieved £258,224 back for students since September 2021. This was reached by correcting errors with student finance decisions, appealing student finance verdicts, and supporting university hardship fund applications

+ The team have also been involved in helping 1,258 academic cases including supporting students with exceptional factors claims, plagiarism and disciplinary panels

 

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Sustainability

 

We’re big on sustainability at The Union and we know you are too. So, this year we showed you how serious we are with our sustainability campaign, ReThink Waste.

The project was put in place to give students the resources to be more sustainable, as well as inspiring you to submit any ideas you have so we can enhance our sustainability.

 

+ Over 200 reusable coffee cups were taken by students from The Union during Go Green Week

+ Almost 50 students attended sustainability events during Go Green Week

+ Over 60 items were donated to the Don8 It project and given out to other students

+ At The Union, the 10% discount was applied to 349 different food menu transactions during Go Green Week

+ At The Salutation, the 10% discount was applied to 90 different food menu transactions during Go Green Week

 

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Awards

 

At The Union, we’re big on celebrating your success – that’s why, each year, our awards season spotlights the students (and staff) who've gone above and beyond at Manchester Met.

We kicked off the week with the Societies Awards, crowning 6 award winners including Event of the Year and Society of the Year, as well as a Society Honours list that included the names of 6 individuals that we felt needed some recognition for their hard work.

Next up was the Teaching Awards. After 596 nominations by Manchester Met students, a shortlist of 52 became 10 winners in categories including: Teacher of the Year, Course of the Year, and Outstanding Commitment to Inclusive Teaching.

Last – but certainly not least – was the Volunteer Awards. A celebration designed to recognise the amazing students who volunteer on and off campus, which saw 4 main awards given out to outstanding individuals. As well as a further 11 ‘highly commended’ awards to students for their outstanding contributions.

 

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Elections

 

Every student at Manchester Met is automatically a member of The Union and every year you get to vote for the five students that will lead The Union's political direction, run campaigns on your behalf and hold the University to account on decisions that affect students.

After 7 days of campaigning and almost 3,800 votes, the elections came to an end this year on March 17.

Your new elected student officer team will come into post in July and will start working for you immediately. The team are:

 

+ Letitia Jones - President

+ Pheobe Savannah Blakely-Crewe - Sports Officer

+ Stella Ebalehita Ibifunmilola - Education Officer

+ Shazeaa Islam - Societies and Development Officer

+ Iqra Iftikhar - Wellbeing Officer

 

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Feel Good Friday

 

Speaking of Officers, Friday 20 May saw the last Feel Good Friday event ran by your current Wellbeing Officer, Zoe Sutton.

The campaign was created to focus on education, creating conversations, and raising awareness for Manchester Met students around important topics, in a fun and enjoyable way.

The events typically included free activities, food and drink, and centred around a different theme each time, including: World Mental Health Day and Movember.

And our campaigns didn’t stop there, your Officers have been working on projects including Sexual Misconduct, Trans Visibility and Black History Month.

 

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Societies

 

Societies are a huge part of the student experience, and at The Union, we pride ourselves on the success of our societies and their activities.

In the last year:

+ There’s been 4,472 society memberships

+ 100 new societies

+ 372 committee members

+ Over £6,500 given to societies for funding

+ Over £4,500 raised by societies for charity, through student-led events like Spingo Bingo

 

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Prayer Space

 

The University have been developing a brand-new prayer space for more than 18 months.

More than £650,000 has been invested into the new area by the University and is expected to be welcoming students in September 2022.

Students have been at the forefront of the planning process, with their thoughts and ideas being incorporated into the final decision, after being invited to view the plans and add their comments.

The new plans are also on display in the current Prayer Rooms on campus.

 

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Volunteering

 

Volunteering is at the heart of The Union, and we’re constantly working with fantastic local and national charities to give you as many opportunities as possible.

With 780 new volunteers registered on our volunteering portal, and 8,848 hours logged, students have done an amazing job making a difference in their local community.

 

+ We’ve had over 1,100 new Course Reps

+ Loads of one-off volunteering days such as, litter picks, Christmas hamper packing, and our Care and Share event with Leonard Cheshire and Depaul Nightstop

+ Multiple events have been put on to support children and young people such as Play Day and the Schools Project – with over 90 children and 35 students getting involved

+ We’ve had over 200 students participating in our student led events such as Don8 it!, Swap It!, and Hope for the Planet

+ Over £1,600 raised for multiple charities including Ronald McDonald House, Manchester Children’s Hospital and British Ukrainian Aid

 

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International Students

 

Manchester Met is home to students from all over the world, and the community is growing every year.

This year, international student support at The Union has:

 

+ Delivered over 30 activities for students to engage with this last academic year, focussing on creating a safe space and a friendly community, including the final Culture Day.

+ Organised 5 day trips to other cities and locations to give international students the chance to experience other parts of the UK. Trips include Liverpool and the Lake District

+ Created a new International Students Facebook group to extend the safe space online, which also has over 1,000 members already

+ Appointed eight volunteers who work to represent the international student voice at Manchester Met

+ Supported and engaged with over 1,500 students face to face