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| Institution | University of East Anglia |
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| Location | Union House, University of East Anglia |
| Established | 1969 |
| Members | c. 15,000 |
| Affiliations | National Union of Students |
| Website | http://www.ueastudent.com |
The Union of UEA Students is the students' union of the University of East Anglia. All students of the university and some INTO UEA students automatically become members of the Union, but do have the right to opt out of membership. Membership confers the ability to take part in the Union's activities such as Clubs and Societies, and being involved in the democratic processes of the Union. The Union is a democratic organisation run by its members via an elected student officer committee and student council. It is affiliated to the National Union of Students.
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The Union Council, whose members are elected student representatives from each school of the University and the clubs and societies of the Union, in addition to the student officer committee, meets a minimum of eight times a year and sets the policy of the Union and confirms the actions of the Student Officer Committee. The decisions of the Union Council may only be overturned by a ballot of all members of the Union, or by the Union's trustee board in the case of certain decisions, normally where the legal implications are more serious.
The decisions of the Union Council may only be overturned by a ballot of all members of the union. A policy ballot may be called by the Student Officer Committee, by the Union Council or by 500 members (1/30 of the membership). The question is balanced and every student may vote. A straightforward majority will win and set new policy for the union.
The members of the Union elect annually a Student Officer Committee of four full time sabbatical officers and thirteen non-sabbatical officers. The Union does not currently have a post of "President" on the Student Officer Committee.
Student Officer Committee 2011/12:
The full time officers meet all year round in a Management Committee to decide on day to day operational matters relating to the Union and its subsidiary companies (these officers also serving as four of the six directors of those companies). The Student Officer Committee meets during the university semesters and is responsible for ensuring the policy of the Union (as defined by the Union Council or policy ballot) is adhered to. It also controls the campaigns budget of the Union, which in 2010/11 was in excess of 17,000.
The Union campaigns on a wide range of issues, as directed by the democratic processes. Recent campaigns have included actions on free education for all, transport and a change to the graduation venue.
The Union has four autonomous liberations campaigns, black and ethnic minorities, disabled , LGBT and women's. These are each led by a campaign convenor who is elected by self defining students.
In October 2010, the Student Officer Committee will be holding a campus wide ballot for students to decide what the Union's priority campaigns should be, and those that are chosen will form the basis of the campaigning work for the 2010/11 year.
In December 2010, the Union Council decided that The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail and would now only be sold under the counter in Union owned shops in response to their name and shame campaign of seemingly random students at the Millbank Student Protests. The Daily Express was added to the list by accident.
The Union provides a professional advice centre, and funding for clubs and societies. In addition to this, a key function of the Union is to be an independent expert voice of students, and as such provides and supports representation of its members on University Committees.
Led by the academic officer, the Union supports 399 student representatives (2010/11) to help represent their course mates to the University on issues relating to education and the student experience. The four full time officers act as a champion for each of the Universities four faculties as laid out below:
Faculty of Social Sciences: Megan Evans, Academic Officer Faculty of Health Faculty of Humanities Faculty of Science: Rob Bloomer, Finance Officer
The officers are supported in this task by faculty convenors. There is one convenor for each faculty who is recruited and appointed by the Union, and is responsible to the Union, but gains a bursary from the University for their service, and to ensure that anyone who wants to run isn't dis-incentivised by the amount of time they would have to invest in the role.
The Union provides a professional advice centre that is available for all UEA students free of charge. The advice workers can provide help and support in many areas of student life. They often deal with academic appeals, financial problems, welfare issues such as accommodation on campus, a housing bureau which includes a tenancy agreement checking service, and personal issues.
The Union runs around 60 Sports clubs. over 350,000 is spent on sport by the Union every year and this is supplemented by around 100,000 a year from the fee that a student pays for Sports Association Membership. this membership is a once per year membership of 30 which entitles the member access to any of the Unions' Clubs, who will then charge a membership fee starting from 5, and pays for things like training, coaching, affiliation to BUCS and insurance for the member. The University Sportspark provides facilities for UEA Sports Clubs in line with its Community Usage agreement.
The Unions clubs include:
American Football (UEA Pirates) , Athletics Club , Badminton , Baseball and Softball , Basketball - Men's , Basketball - Women's , Boat Club] , Capoeira , Cheerleaders , Cricket Club , Dance Sport , Duke of Edinburgh's Award Club , Fell Club , Fencing Club , Football - Men's , Football - Women's , Futsal , Golf , Hockey Club , Horse Riding , Ice Skating & Hockey , Karate Club , Kayaking , Kayaking Club , Korfball , Lacrosse , Mountain Biking , Netball , Pool , Rockclimbing Club , Rugby - Men's , Rugby - Women's , Sailing , Ski & Snowboard , Skydiving Society , Snooker , Squash Club , Sub Aqua , Surf , Swimming , Table Tennis , Tae Kwon Do Club , Ten Pin Bowling , Tennis , Trampolining Club , Triathlon , Ultimate Frisbee , Volleyball Club , Wakeboard and Waterski Club , Windsurfing , Yoga
The Union runs and supports over 110 societies on a huge range of issues, hobbies and interests. access to societies is currently free, but societies charge an individual membership fee starting from 3 per academic year.
African Students Society , Afro-Caribbean Society , Amnesty International , Anarchist Students , Asian Pop Entertainment Society , Art of Living , Art Society , Asian Society , Ballroom and Latin American Dancing Society , Biology Society , Buddhist Society , Cheerleading (UEA Angels) , Circus Skills Society , Cocktail Society , Conservation and Wildlife Society , Conservatives , Contemporary Music Society , Creative Writing Society , Deviant , Drama , Duke of Edinburgh , Entrepreneurs Society , ENV Soc , Football Supporters , French Soc , GamesSoc , Green Party , GeoSoc , Hellenic Society , Headlights (Comedy Troupe) Society , History Soc , Hong Kong Society (Dan Tse) , International Student Society , IRrational , Japan Soc , Labour Society , Latin Soc , Law Society , Liberal Democrats , Literature Society , Livewire , Malaysian Student Society , Management Social Society , Math Soc , Mature Students Society , Medsin , Medsoc , Mexican Society , Middle Eastern Soc , Music Society , Nexus , Nightline , Paintball , Permaculture Soc , PhotoSoc , PokerSoc , The Project Newspapers , Politics Society , Pub Crawl Society , RAG , Sailing , SEED , Speak , STAR (student action for Refugees) , Streetjazz , Table Football , The Islamic Society at UEA , UEA Canaries , UEA Debating Society , UEA LINKS , UEA Music Society , UEA People and Planet , UEA Revelation Rock-Gospel Choir , UEA Saint Phillip Mental Institution Society , UEA Horror Society
The Union welcomes new clubs and societies when they fulfil a need for students, and are not replicating what is already provided by an existing club or society. All clubs and Societies are run by elected students, and have a committee that will at least consist of a president, secretary, treasurer and Union Council Representative. There are also Sports and Societies Councils where the Union delegates a great deal of power over spending of the relevant budgets to the presidents of those clubs and societies.
This year the Union set up and successfully ran the first year of Union Volunteers, and accredited 80 volunteers. The scheme is a programme to try and reward all the volunteers who already work in the Union. With over 1500 club and society committee members, 399 student reps, an average of about 75 Union Councillors, part time student officers and currently unknown amount of other volunteering, the Union hopes to develop this hugely in 11/12.
The Union operates many of the services open to all members of the university community and the general public on the university campus in Norwich including:
The Union of UEA Students is "Not for profit, just for students" and as such all profit which is gained from these commercial venues goes straight back into the Union for use on services and activities such as Clubs and socs or the advice centre.
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