Posted on Fri 20 Feb 2026 at 11:32 by
Anthony Foster 21 ELECTION CANDIDATES
Nominations closed on 19th February for our three sabbatical posts. A staggering 21 students have nominated themselves. We are currently checking eligibility to stand and the names will be revealed next week. Then it will be up to the student body to decide who will represent them in 2026/27. More details over the coming weeks.
BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE BALL BLOG
Zsuzsanna Toth has written a blog about what happens behind the scenes at our sold out Societies and Sports Awards Ball. We started these blogs to show what goes on prior to an event being promoted and the discussions we have. We hope this helps students and sabbatical candidates understand the considerations made to make the student experience the best it can be. Have a read Events Blog - Behind the Scenes of the Awards Ball
PLANNING CYCLE
Alongside the work we are doing we are entering a quite intense planning cycle. We are currently reviewing our Vision/Mission/Values, preparing for our away day in early March, this work informs our Community Plan and proposed budget for 2026/27, we conduct appraisals and work plans in March / early April and the content for our Impact Report for the year 2025/26. This also means we can accommodate any proposals that may be coming from sabbatical candidates while we help current sabbaticals complete their projects. Evans and Chika will be leaving us this year. They have both done a remarkable job over the last two years and have big shoes to fill.
2026/27 starts now
That said, planning for 2026/27 has already started and we are looking for a Welcome Week Intern to support the introduction of all new and returning students to the University. The deadline for the role is Sunday. Details here Welcome Week Events Intern
KPIs
Each year we evidence our Key Performance Indicators to the University to help support and increase the grant they give us to improve the student experience. We hope to increase turnout in the elections by 1% (it was 17.2% last year). We have seen increases in sports, societies, class reps and students reps higher than our 1% target this year. There is also a question about the Students Association in the NSS and each year we want to see this increase – its above 70% at the moment. Details of how final year students can have their say in the NSS is here National Student Survey 2026