Volunteering = new skills
Last academic year, 99% of students who had volunteered said they had developed a new skill set as a result of volunteering. Skills include communicating professionally, collaborating with others, understanding others - to list a few.
Affiliating departmental societies
We're working with departmental societies to affiliate Departmental Societies. Departmental societies will now have to be open to all students but they can have restrictive activities within their society.
UCL divesting from fossil fuels
After years of campaigning, UCL will now completely divest from Fossil Fuels by the end of the year. It also won't be able to buy stocks from these companies in the future
Subtitles for Students with Hearing Impairments
We'll be making teaching more accessible by providing subtitling on all audiovisual material.
62,400 hours volunteered
Last academic year, we engaged 2,150 UCL students in volunteering projects across London. Together they volunteered 63,400 hours of their time - that’s equivalent to one person volunteering full-time for over 32 years!
Academic Reps for Postgraduate Research students
We're rethinking our academic representation system so it works for Postgraduate Research students.
Postgraduate conference attendance funding
We're lobbying UCL to make sure there is a more consistent and fair approach to funding Postgraduate students' access to conference attendance funding.
More space for you
In 2018 we had a new pizza place, a refurbished shop and the brand new Institute Bar. This year we've refurbished Phineas and the Advice Service.
Postgraduate Project Active sessions
We're organising even more Project Active sessions with these extra sessions aimed specifically at Postgrads and female students.
Welfare Officer positions to club and society committees
New Welfare Officer positions have been a feature of your clubs and society committees so activities are inclusive and welcoming to all, and there's someone who knows where you can get help, should you need it.
Putting a stop to food waste
Unsold food from our cafes is distributed among local projects for people in need. This means, not only that food is not going to waste, but it is being put to good use in our local community.
Reducing plastic waste
We have taken a number of steps to reduce our waste, including offering a discount for cafe customers that bring their own reusable mug and ditching plastic straws.
Your Union, your voice
We've changed the way decisions are made in the Union so that it's easier for you to interact and shape how your Union is run.
Being more sustainable - reducing our printing
During an Activities Zone Meeting, a policy was passed to reduce the amount of printing, especially during Freshers' since a lot of posters during Freshers' were binned. This policy was passed and we’ll be incentivising clubs and socs to go paperless and are providing training to presidents.
Decolonising UCL
Our Decolonise campaign has led to UCL launching a large scale inquiry into its historic links with eugenics. The inquiry has resulted in UCL acknowledging their ties with eugenics in a new introductory programme for students: Centre for the Study of Race and Racism, an interdisciplinary academic department researching and teaching about race and racism.
Food for thought
Student-led volunteering project Zero Food Waste will be collecting unsold food from our cafes and donating it to charity, reducing our environmental impact, and increase our social impact.
We're on our way to ending period poverty
We're on our way to ending period poverty on campus with free sanitary products available in all Union loos. Next stop: the wider UCL campus.
Saving you £££
For the academic year 2018-2019, our Advice Service saved you £92,795.16. They've been helping to sort out unreasonable charges from landlords and other unexpected financial difficulties, so if you're in need, contact our Advice Service.
We launched women's-only gym sessions
To attract more women to take part in physical activity, last year's Women's Officer, Abeni and Welfare and International Officer Rotha, launched Women's-Only gym sessions. In the first three months of the sessions, we had 548 people attending!
Fairer working conditions for Postgraduate Teaching Assistants
After three years of campaigning, we have been able to convince UCL to instil a new code of practice for PGTA's which ensures fairer working conditions for Postgraduate Teaching Assistants.
Postgraduate research in the local community
We're connecting Postgraduate dissertation projects with the local community and their research needs; giving your work real-world applications.