In 2024-25 we carried out a review of the visiting and associate membership programme, with a view to:
- Evaluate the programme’s overall value to the Students’ Union and the student community
- Address potential health and safety, insurance and safeguarding related concerns and
- Consider the programme’s alignment with the Union’s charitable objectives – in particular that in no circumstances does a visiting and associate member take away an opportunity from a UCL student.
The review consisted of:
- Legal advice: guidance on the appropriate procedures for investigating complaints and disciplinary matters involving visiting/associate members.
- Sector research: review of comparable Students’ Unions with similar external membership programmes to understand the broader market offering.
- Staff feedback: feedback from departments such as Sport & Physical Activity and Arts to gather insights on the programme and current operational processes.
- Student survey: feedback from clubs and societies with the highest proportion of visiting/associate members.
- Consultation at Activities Zone: presentation of draft proposals to student representatives to gather feedback.
While there are clear benefits of the programme, the wellbeing of our members is the Union’s top priority, as is ensuring that all our charitable resources are deployed in the best interests of UCL students.
Based on our review, we have implemented two key changes:
Sports Clubs
Due to updated insurance requirements, visiting/associate members will need to purchase personal accident insurance before they are able to purchase membership of some sports clubs.
Once an individual has had their visiting/associate membership application approved, they will then need to submit their personal accident insurance to us through our online waiver form: https://studentsunionucl.org/webform/visiting-associate-waiver. Once this has been reviewed and approved by a member of Union staff, the individual will be able to purchase membership as normal!
If you have questions about this process, please email [email protected].
Arts Societies
As part of our review, some arts societies were identified as high-risk, and as a result cannot accept visiting/associate members.
If an individual would like to join an arts society that has been categorised as high-risk, they can submit our online waiver form: https://studentsunionucl.org/webform/visiting-associate-waiver. Individuals will need to submit a supporting statement from the president or treasurer of the relevant society to explain why they should be able to join, and what benefits they would bring to the group. This request will then be reviewed by a member of Union staff, and may be approved or rejected.
As the welfare of current UCL students is our main priority, we may not always be able to grant a waiver where the team identifies any concerns. That said, we hope that this new process will offer high-risk groups more flexibility and nuance in being able to accept visiting/associate members.
If you have questions about this process, please email [email protected].
If a club or society does not appear on this list, visiting and associate members can join as normal!
Please note, these changes do not apply to affiliate students (students at UCL on a year or term abroad from another university) – affiliate students can join clubs and societies as normal once their visiting/associate membership application form has been approved.
As a reminder – separately to the changes outlined above, clubs and societies have the option to opt-out of visiting/associate membership if they do not have capacity to take on additional members.
Visiting and associate members can see which clubs and societies they are able to join on the Union website: https://studentsunionucl.org/clubs-societies/associate-visiting-members-allowed.