| Description | Minutes of a committee established to consider the future development of the Guild of Students in the light of the changing demography and requirements of students. It is not certain whether the meeting on 13 December 1999 was the first, though the minutes of this meeting set out the aims of the Committee and identify problems for consideration, which suggests that the Committee may have been recently established.
Membership consisted of the Registrar and Secretary; Director of Finance; Academic Registrar; President, Guild of Students; Guild General Manager; the Dean of Arts and Social Science; and a Pro-Vice-Chancellor
Minutes of the meeting held on 13 December 1999 identify problems, including the declining income from traditional Guild commercial activities such as bars, partly due to increased local off-campus social facilities and other on-campus provision for catering; changing spending habits of students following the introduction of tuition fees and loans; and low use of the Guild by some groups of students who were inadequately catered for, including part-time, mature, postgraduate, distance learning, and ethnic minority students. The minutes also record that the decline in income put other Guild services at risk, and suggest that discussion focus on ways to reduce costs or to share costs with the University, without having an impact on Guild autonomy, and the possible refurbishment or relocation of the Guild building, which was assessed as inflexible, and inconvenient due to its location on the edge of the campus.
It was agreed to identify student services needed and to determine how to develop an income stream to provide them; to look at accommodation; and to clarify the nature of the partnership between the Guild and the University to demonstrate that Guild autonomy was not being threatened. There are reference in the minutes to the partnership with the University Foundation for Sport and developing arrangements over Guild participation in the Residence 'hubs' which demonstrate ways in which the Guild and the University were working together
Minutes of the meeting held on 11 December 2000 discuss discussion of Non-Academic Accreditation, and the Guild's hope to be included in discussions on the University response to government initiatives to grant formal recognition to non-academic activities. These minutes also contain information about the Partnerships for Progression, Department for Education and Employment funded project, working through the NUS and student unions and aimed principally at Russell Group Universities to encourage widening participation through student involvement in peer-led mentoring and wide student collaboration in links between universities and schools and FE colleges, and Gateways to Students, a Guild system whereby external bodies which sought to contact students were required to do so through the Guild
Minutes contain information about the review of student residences and catering and the provision of IT facilities in residences. Minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2000 refer to a survey of perceptions and use of the Guild by an external company commissioned, and there is also discussion of the Guild Block Grant Bid, a copy of which is included
Minutes of the meeting held on 5 June 2000 discuss improvements to the Guild building and the Physical Development Plan for the Guild. There is further discussion of the Guild Development Plan in minutes of the meeting held on 12 March 2001, including consideration of possible locations where student services might be drawn together. Minutes of the meeting held on 19 June 2001 include a copy of the Architects Design Partnership report which considered different options for the provision of student services as part of Student Service Strategy, looking at the redevelopment of the Guild, Aston Webb C Block, Staff House, University Centre, and the Vale. Further discussion of the Student Service Strategy is recorded in minutes of the meeting held on 19 September 2001, as well as the Guild strategy for the Westhill Campus
No minutes after 19 September 2001 have been transferred to the University Archives. It is not clear whether the Committee continued to meet after this date |