Over the past three years we’ve rapidly transformed as an organisation. We’ve waved goodbye to our old brand, reshaping the way we engage with you. We’ve reinvigorated the way we represent you during your studies. And we’ve grown our services, launching the Union Shop, The Packhorse and our Give It A Go programme.

Now we’re transforming the core tenants of our existence, reviewing our democratic structures and the culture underpinning them, with a goal of ensuring you are at the heart of every decision we make. From the campaigns we run to the look and feel of Summer Ball, we’re planning on shaking up the status quo and giving you more of a say on more things than ever before.

Essentially it all boils down to one thing. The Students’ Union belongs to the students at Royal Holloway and we want to make sure that students make all the big calls.

So what’s the plan?

In August we appointed an independent, external consultant to conduct a full review and he’s now delivered his findings to the Union’s senior leadership team. These have been distilled down to five big ideas which we now need feedback on before the full suite of changes go out to a referendum in the Summer Term.

You can give us your thoughts by clicking on each idea below and completing the short survey or alternatively we’ll be out and about on campus between 18-20 March with a bunch of goodies. We’re also hosting an open meeting on Monday 18 March between 13:00-14:00 in Medicine where you can come down and ask us any questions you may have about the proposed changes.

Our Big Ideas.

Central to our manifesto for change are five big ideas that will radically change the way in which we function. Have a look at each idea, take the time to understand the impact it will have on the Students’ Union and then let us know what you think.

An Overview.

In May you’ll get to vote on the new arrangements, but in summary we are proposing:

1. Changing the full time Sabbatical Officer structure to a President and three Vice Presidents, spending slightly less on officers so we can spend more on direct support for students and student groups. More information on this below.
2. Replacing our current Councils with three Student Executives to look after Education; Wellbeing, Community and Diversity; and Clubs, Societies and Opportunities. These will help student leaders collaborate more effectively on key issues, and will make sure Officers directly engage with a wider range of students when planning their work.
3. Introducing the role of School Reps, making them key members of the new Education Executive, and supporting them to effectively lead activities in their School.
4. Abolish General Meetings, creating ‘Policy Inquires’ that will enable students to direct what the SU should do about a complex, or controversial issue. This will involve quality research, deliberation and consultation, and may well involve a referendum at the end.
5. Creating something called ‘Contemporary Resolution’ ballots, so when there’s an urgent, simple or clear cut issue, students get to vote on the SU’s approach. These will only be used where something may only be relevant for a limited time period.
6. Creating ‘Service Development Groups’ to steer our work in key commercial areas like our venues, entertainments programme and the shop. These will bring together recruited students, permanent staff, and student staff in partnership to shape what we provide and how we provide it.
7. Creating funded ‘Student Collectives’ for groups of underrepresented students with specific needs (i.e. postgraduates) to increase our engagement with these students.

And we’re proposing to change the way we support clubs and societies.

Right now we ask two elected Sabbatical Officers (who were students last year) to provide much of the administrative support to student clubs and societies. And we know from every Rate Your Union survey that the structure isn’t working. So we’re proposing to change that too:

1. Combining two of the Vice President roles into one – Vice President Sports & Societies, to lead integrated support for sports clubs, societies and other student opportunities.
2. Adding another new professional staff role to the team supporting clubs and societies, to increase our capacity for key administrative tasks (i.e. room bookings and financial payments), as well as bigger projects like event support and group development.
3. Designating the SU President the ‘Supervising Trustee’ for student media, making it more transparent and separate from the role we play supporting them in their work.
4. Replacing the old Student Opportunities Committee with a new Sports, Societies & Opportunities Executive with a wider remit, to increase transparency and give students more of a say over grant allocation for clubs and societies.