Monday 17-04-2023 - 10:00

 

Mental Health Training Sessions

I am happy to announce that I am now a Mental Health First Aider after completing a two-day course with Mental Health First Aid England. This knowledge allows me to be there for my colleagues, family and fellow students in times of stress and anxiety and gives me the ability to support them adequately.

 

TASO Student Panel Meeting

TASO is an independent charity currently working on creating a digital mental health toolkit that all universities can access. They aim to help Higher Education Providers identify and use effective practices to support student mental health, which means better mental health support at the University of Law and every University in the Country. I sit on their Student Advisory Panel and represent all students in the Country to make sure the toolkit is easily accessible, comprehensive and accurate and that your voice is heard every step of the way.

 

Mock University Challenge

I hosted the Mock University Challenge quizzes to find the team to represent the University of Law on TV. The team will be chosen in early December by the SU team, and I want to wish them the best of luck! The questions were hard, but the quality of the answers provided by the candidates and their excellent teamwork blew me away.

 

BCU Cost of Living Creative Dinner

Birmingham City University (BCU) hosted a creative dinner for influential members of the Birmingham community. I got the chance to meet with local councillors, lecturers and heads of charities. All of us came together to discuss the Cost of Living, its impacts on the city and some suggestions on what needs to be done. A topic brought up was food waste; local stores and shops waste insane amounts of food every day. I want to examine how much food our University cafes waste and what steps can be taken to mitigate that. 

 

In this event, I also found out that the city council can sponsor International students, so if you are an international student and are looking for a job to get to stay in the UK, have a look at your local council website.

 

Improving Governance in the Smallest Student Unions Roundtable

The University of Law Students' Union held a roundtable discussion bringing in staff and sabbatical officers from small Students' Unions all over the Country. It was a fantastic event where Emma Beenham and I learned about what problems other small SUs are facing and what they have done to solve them. Moreover, we got to see draft documents that will be sent to these small Students' Unions. They include; information about the structure of trustee meetings, risk register, the different roles in SU governance and their role description. These documents will make it much easier for new SU staff and sabbatical officers to understand how the SU operates and how it should operate, which means a smoother handover process and a more efficient and effective Students' Union.

 

Wonkhe Monthly Catch-Up

I met with a staff member working at Wonkhe. This organisation brings the sector together through expert analysis, debate and insight. They are incredibly knowledgeable about everything happening in Students' Unions all over the Country, so their expertise and network allow our SU to keep up to date with sector best practices and create long-lasting partnerships with other Students' Unions, which means more opportunities, initiatives and events for you!

 

Independence Presentation to the Executive Committee

Emma Barlow and I presented the steps for independence to the Executive committee of the University. We got a lot of positive feedback from the University about our professionalism. The next step is for the SU now to create some documents to send to the Exec committee for their next meeting; we must get the University on board on this so that we can have a smooth transition towards independence and maintain our positive relationship with the University so we can get more done!

 

TEDx University of Manchester

Our University and Students' Union sponsored a TEDx conference in Manchester! This has been one of the most fun projects I have been working on. I met up with their organising team and got a great look at what occurs behind the scenes to make such an inspiring event come to life! The speakers were terrific; one made a beautiful art piece right before our eyes, and one talked about how they dealt with imposter syndrome in their journey towards creating a multi-million dollar business. One spoke to us about releasing anxiety and stress through movement and dance! We even got to dance freely to music during the TEDx! This event was exciting, eye-opening and well-organised. I had a lot of fun, and special thanks to Shola, a student at the ULaw Manchester campus who was always there to support and work with me, and the TEDx UoM team as their Finance manager (in the middle of the picture below), to make this all happen!

 

Accountability panel

We held our first-ever accountability panel this month, where Emma Barlow and I gave monthly verbal updates on what we have been doing over the past few months. Reps can scrutinise the performance of the presidents during these panels. Fortunately, this panel went well, and the representatives were satisfied with the performance of the two presidents. I am thankful to them for taking time off their busy schedules to listen to us. 

 

First Student Parliament Meeting

Seeing all the reps at our first student parliament meeting was beautiful. This Parliament is where our student representatives come together to discuss and vote on crucial policy and SU decisions. We elected a new chair for the Parliament from our reps and provided reports from the accountability panel.

 

Cost of Living Campaign Weekender

I spent my weekends in a small conference hall in the Midlands with other SU sabbatical officers from Universities all over the UK. We discussed ways to pressure our Universities and other organisations to collaborate and work with the SUs to address the high costs students are experiencing. From meeting with the executives, lobbying the government to reaching out to university alumni, we made action plans on transportation, accommodation and tuition fees costs and helped shape the NUS (National Union of Students) strategy. It was a wonderful weekend and we made many great friendships with other Students' Unions. I came back with even more enthusiasm and motivation, which I will need when working and negotiating with the University.

 

Drop in Session Birmingham Campus

The Birmingham Campus VP Sadiq and I went to the campus and held an in-person drop-in session where we spoke to students about how they are finding the University and their course and what we could do to improve it. The feedback we received included the following:

● More accommodation support

● Financial help

● Clarity about the resources available to students

● Quicker communication from the University

 

Attending Graduation

Seeing and meeting graduates in the graduation ceremonies was amazing. I had the privilege to sit on the graduation platform throughout the graduation and see all your smiling faces come up the stage to accept your awards and officially graduate from the University of Law. 

 

I was privileged enough to give a speech to graduates as their representative on the 7th of November Morning ceremony. I wanted my address to be about Love, Perseverance, Family and Ambition. I wanted it to represent all the Students at the University of Law: the mother who is doing a law degree and taking care of her child, the student who is working full-time but still has to make time for their evening workshops, the International students who came from a place far far away with the hope that he can have that British dream and that skinny brown kid from Iran, making a speech next to people much more qualified than him, who wants to find his place in the world too.

 

You can watch the speech on Youtube through this link at the 1-hour 48-minute mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJPmLA8HGic

 

Visiting Newman SU

We visited Newman University, liaised with their Sabbatical officers, and had a tour of their University. It was fascinating to learn about the challenges they are going through as a SU, many of which are similar to ours and how they have dealt with them. We must develop such relationships with other Students' Unions, as collaborating with them would mean more opportunities for our students.

 

SU Conference with the Reps

For the first time in our SU history, we conducted an in-person training session for our elected reps. We invited them to Birmingham for two days of teambuilding, brainstorming and discussing important issues facing our Student Union, such as independence, for which Emma Barlow and I gave a presentation to our reps.

The reps and I enjoyed a cheeky Nandos after a hard day of work!

 

Co-President Drop-in session

Emma Barlow and I have monthly online drop-in sessions for all students to come to us and tell us about any of the issues or concerns they have and voice their feelings, opinions, and suggestions. If you would like to meet and speak to us, please come to these drop-in sessions; they usually occur after 5 pm on weekdays. 

 

Thank you for tuning in to my update for November. Many projects are happening, and every single one is to make your student's life more enjoyable. As always, if you want to contact me, send me an email at Pedram.Bani-asadi@law.ac.uk

 

Your Issues, Your Concerns, Your Voice,

Pedram