Union Council

When is Union Council? 

 The dates for Council this year

 are:

Autumn Semester

18 October

1 November

22 November

6 December (Annual General Meeting which reviews the Budget)

 Spring Semester

24 January

14 February

28 February

14 March

 What is Union Council?

Union Council is the heartbeat of the Union - an opportunity for representatives of students from across the University community to come together and decide where we go next.

The Union of UEA Students is a multi-million pound organisation, run by students for students. The more students

who get involved in the running of the Union, the more powerful and effective the Union is. Together we are strong.

Who is a member of Council?

Union Councillors are there to represent those who study at UEA. Not every student can make it to the meetings, so a network of elected representatives makes up Union Council to ensure that all students’ voices are heard:

- Each of the Union’s sports clubs, societies and peer support groups has one representative
- Five representatives from each School represent their course mates
- The Faculty Convenors - one for each of the four Faculties
- The 17 members of the Student Officer Committee
- INTO (where English language is taught to International Students) has one student representative

Can other students come to meetings?

Any member of the Union is welcome to attend Union Council and can speak with permission of the Chair but cannot vote.

What Council did in 2011-12

Here  are all the policies passed in 11-2, we’ve broken them down into the separate areas of the Union’s activities:

UNION SPORTS CLUBS AND SOCIETIES

Approved 28 new Clubs or Societies

Adopted a Focus Societies Programme with £500 of funding

Agreed to allow societies at UEA London to start with a minimum of 10 members and to not take overlap with societies in Norwich into account when deciding on approval of London societies’ constitutions.

Passed resolution to lobby the University to allow UUEAS to use the UEA crest on Societies’ clothing

Approved a Constitutional Amendment to allow some Societies to restrict attendance at events for legal reasons

COMMUNITY AND CITIZENSHIP

Opposed public sector cuts which affect service

delivery for students passed.

Support the lecturers’ union, the UCU, in its

industrial action in defence of pensions

Police only to be allowed into Union House by

explicit invitation or appointment. Norfolk Constabulary

to be asked to not visit individual students to question

them about Union policy or events.

Supported Occupy Norwich as part of a global

movement for change based on consensus democracy

Approved affiliation to the Coalition of Resistance against Cuts and Privatisation

Approved resolution to Defend the Right to Protest and

affiliation to DRP campaign

HEALTH, SAFETY and GENDER

Adopted a Zero Tolerance Policy to campaign and for use at all Union events

Made UUEAS premises breast-feeding friendly

CAMPUS AND ENVIRONMENT

Use of domestic UK air flights for Union business banned.

Called for the University to make UEA’s car parking policy more fair and equal

Condemned the changes to the 21/22 bus route

 Introduced double-sided printing at UUEAS and lobbied

the University to do the same

Agreed to the implementation of the Union’s Initial Environmental Review

REPRESENTATION

Opposed reversal of the decision to cut student representation

on disciplinary panels and advocated widening representation

to include panels where at present there is no student representation

Made it easier for students on placement to make it easier to retain Council membership

Lobbied University to increase the number of student reps on University Committees and to open up to student representation high level University Committees from which student reps are currently excluded

Gave Time Sensitive motions priority during Council meetings

ACADEMIC/UNIVERSITY

Opposedclosure of the Music School and sought

legal advice on the University’s report process

Opposed the University charging for compulsory

course materials such as reading packs

Asked the University to give students receipts for

course work and support any students whose work had been lost.

Lobbied the University to publish and to reduce Hidden Course Costs

Opposed Attendance Monitoring of students

WORKING WITH THE UNIVERSITY

A great deal of time was devoted to campaigning against

the closure of the School of Music.

Prof Edward Acton, the Vice-Chancellor, once again, kindly came to Council and outlined the current thinking of the Executive Team and took questions which were dominated by the closure of the Music School.

So how do I sign up to become a Councillor?

Contact us at the Union: