MMUnion

MMUnion

Institution	Manchester Metropolitan University
Location	Oxford Road, Manchester, England
Established	1970 (as Manchester Polytechnic Students' Union)
President	Rob Croll
Trustees	Sabbatical officers plus 4 external trustees
Members	c. 33,500[1]
Affiliations	NUS, NUSSL, AMSU
Website	mmunion.co.uk

MMUnion is the students' union of Manchester Metropolitan University, an institution of higher education and research in North West England. Named Manchester Metropolitan Students' Union (MMSU), until July 2005; and Manchester Polytechnic Students' Union (MPSU) before the institution gained its university status in 1992. Its current president is Rob Croll.

MMUnion has buildings on the All Saints campus in Manchester and also the Alsager and Crewe campuses in Cheshire.

MMUnion is affiliated to the National Union of Students (NUS).

MMUnion has an independent advice centre available for all students at the University as well as an activities centre for the sports clubs and societies at MMU.

Governance

MMUnion's building at 99 Oxford Road, Manchester

MMUnion is controlled by the Union Officers Group formed of 7 current students and graduates of the university, elected by the students to control the Union on their behalf.

Structure pre 2008 Governance Review

Prior to the 2008 review of the Union's governance structures, there were 17 Executive Officers each with their own areas of responsibility in addition to acting in the interests of the Union as a whole.

Seven of the officers were sabbaticals. Two sabbaticals based in MMU Cheshire and the other five in Manchester. The ten remaining officers were based across both campuses, were non-sabbaticals and studied during their term in office receiving no payment.

The Union's sovereign body was Student Council, to which all committees, representatives and officers, either directly or indirectly, were answerable. The Student Council, chaired by an independent non-executive student, was composed of the Executive Committee and students elected from each faculty of the university. The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Athletic Unions, and one representative of each Societies Union were ex officio members of the council.

Structure from 2009

Board Of Trustees

From the start of 2009, the highest level of governance has been the Board of Trustees, composed of the sabbatical officers and up to 3 external trustees, and 1 co-opted trustee.^[2]; The Trustee Board has the ability to call binding referendums on issues and motions as it sees fit, referendums may also be called by students directly by secure petition.

Union Officers Group

Policy decisions are made by the Union Officers Group, which meets fortnightly. The Union Officers Group consists of seven sabbatical officers, and no non-sabbaticals, as of the 2009/10 academic year. The Union Officers Group is held accountable to and must prepare a report to Student Forums.^[2];

The Union Officers Group is structured as^[3];

• President: Rob Croll
• Vice President (Cheshire): Rhiannon Sears
• Vice President (Education): Liz Marsh
• Vice President (Welfare):Removed 2010
• Vice President (Community): Alex Fountain
• Vice President (Student Activities Manchester): Tunde Adekoya
• Vice President (Student Activities Cheshire): Sam Hunt

Student Forums

Student Forums are open to all students, held 5 times a year to discuss any pertinent topic relating to the student experience or Union provision in order to receive feedback and shape the Union’s work in that area. Student Forums receive and discuss reports from the Board of Trustees and the Union Officers Group of their decisions and actions. The forum has the ability to question the Union Officers on their activity.^[2];

Sub Groups

Liberation Campaigns and other areas of union policy and activiy are given autonomy and authority to commit the union to policy and actions as a sub group of the Board of Trustees, composed of volunteer members of the student body, entirely independent of the Union Officers Group.^[2];

Sports and societies

MMUnion supports current students to manage and run all the official sports clubs and societies at the University. With separate clubs and societies run at Manchester and Cheshire campuses. There are a range of societies on offer, ranging from LGBT to Sci-fi.

Media, Pulp Magazine

The official magazine of MMUnion is Pulp magazine. Pulp is a free monthly magazine (printed on the 15th of each month). It is edited by a student intern on a yearly appointment. As of November 2009, the editor is Jonathan Barlow.

Pulp is distributed across MMU campus sites in Manchester and Cheshire. It also available in electronic format online.^[4] PULP has won several Guardian Student Media awards for content and design, most recently in 2003, and - in 2009 - came runner up in the best website category for the 2008/09 site.

MMUnion also supports the student radio station, MMU Radio.

Campaigns

In recent years the students' union have successfully campaigned against Business School exams being held in a tent^[5][6], and supported Shane Ward on his way to winning The X Factor^[7]. It also started a scheme of co-operative housing for students in Manchester^[8].

The union also successfully lobbied for access privileges to be reinstated, for students of MMU, at the John Rylands University Library of the University of Manchester^[9][10].

The union is currently campaigning on the £2.7 million of bursaries that the university predicted to, but hasn't, paid out to its students in the last year.^[11]. This is part of a wider campaign on education funding and the union is supporting and promoting the National Union of Students' Broke & Broken campaign^[12].

The union won a campaign in 2008 to extend the library hours until midnight and is currently working on to make 24 hour computer drop-in-centre available for students.

The union, together with the MMU LGBT society and the National Union of Students^[13], are running the Please Give Blood Because I Can't campaign, lobbying and demonstrating against the National Blood Services lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men from giving blood. They are running a series of demonstrations in Manchester city centre to raise awareness and encourage people to give blood on behalf of a healthy gay man who cannot^[14], in which the President of the union and Chair of Student Council gave blood. Debates are also being held on the issue.

Late Campaign

In autumn 2008 MMUnion launched the Late Campaign^{[15][16][17][18][19][20][21]} after consultation with Course Reps, who expressed concern that students were suffering because of late and cancelled lectures that were never rearranged - The Late Campaign was organised to find out how many students across MMU were finding this to be the case.

The University Student Agreement (the statement that the University agreed would be the principles of an MMU education) says that “staff will give reasonable notice of changes to the teaching timetable and will arrange for classes to be re-scheduled or for alternative delivery of the content, or will explain why this is not possible”.

The Students' Union have stated they "think that this is the best way to test whether that's actually happening and to help identify where there are problem areas."

"This is a variation on traditional course rep activity, collecting information in a way that is easier for modern students. We fully understand that lectures may need to be cancelled and re-arranged for legitimate reasons and believe that it is crucial to establish a means of measuring the impact of cancelled lectures. We have faith that the results will demonstrate the professional approach adopted by the majority of staff" Nicola Lee, President

Union Buildings

The Union has a presence and buildings on the three main MMU campuses

Manchester

The Union originally occupied the Righton Building on the corner of Cavendish Street and Lower Ormond Street. It moved in 1982 to a purpose built building at 99 Oxford Road. The new building was opened by Bobby Charlton and in 1984 it was named the Mandela Building after Winnie Mandela, during the ANC Year of the Woman. Following the death of Stompie Moeketsi in 1989, an event with which Winnie Mandela was linked, moves were made to change the name to something less controversial and for a time it was named the Bruce Forsyth building after the popular entertainer. The name was dropped shortly after.

A Barclays Bank mini-branch was opened in the building shortly after the bank had cut its links with apartheid South Africa, following an NUS lead campaign.

The Union's facilities are arranged over 4 floors and include:

• Ground Floor; Reception, enquiries and tickets desk, coMMUni (MMU Student Volunteering), Barclays ATM and the Union Shop.
• First Floor; "The met" union bar and club, opened in September 2009, formerly K2 nightclub.
• Second Floor; Student Activities Centre, the VP Student Activities office and a campaigns, societies and students open space.
• Third Floor; Student Advice Centre, accredited as a Community Legal Service. The President and Vice Presidents offices, Union Administration, Finance Office, Committee Meeting Rooms and Conference Facilities.

Cheshire

The Cheshire faculty is split across two sites Crewe and Alsager, the union has buildings and presence on both. With the University in 2008 announcing a move to Crewe and a consolidation of the two campuses, the Students' Union secured an expansion of the Union's facilities on the Crewe site.^[22]

Crewe

The Union Building was greatly expanded in 2009 using large studio space given by the University to the Students' Union.^[23] The New union building now has a prominent position at the centre of the Crewe campus. The new Union Building has a large retail area, a new Student Advice Centre office, accredited as a Community Legal Service, Student Activities centre, Finance Office, Committee Meeting Rooms, Internet Cafe and the Offices of the Vice President (Cheshire) and Vice President (Student Activities Cheshire).

Alsager

The Alsager Site Students Union will remain open until the closure of the Alsager site, a date for which is yet to be announced. The site has social space, retail space,Student officers offices, a part time Advice Centre, Student Activities Centre and world class sports facilities

External links

• MMUnion

References

1. ^ "Table 0a - All students by institution, mode of study, level of study, gender and domicile 2006/07" (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet). Higher Education Statistics Agency. http://www.hesa.ac.uk/dox/dataTables/studentsAndQualifiers/download/institution0607.xls. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "MMUnion Constitunion Articles Of Covernance". MMUnion. 2009-02-23. http://www.mmunion.co.uk/pageassets/yourunion/constitution/MMUnion-articles-18.11.08.pdf. Retrieved 2009-09-06. 
3. ^ "MMUnion Executive". MMUnion. 2009-02-23. http://www.mmunion.co.uk/yourunion/elections/positions/. Retrieved 2009-02-26. 
4. ^ "Pulp Magazine". MMUnion. 2009-01-17. http://www.mmunion.co.uk/pulp/. Retrieved 2009-01-17. 
5. ^ "Student fury over tent exams". Manchester Evening News. 2007-04-28. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/education/s/1005/1005693_student_fury_over_tent_exams.html. Retrieved 2008-11-07. 
6. ^ "Students take final exams in tent". BBC News Online. 2007-04-29. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6605257.stm. Retrieved 2008-11-07. 
7. ^ "X Factor: Shayne's got the student vote". Manchester Evening News. 2005-11-11. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/film_and_tv/s/181/181527_x_factor_shaynes_got_the_student_vote.html. Retrieved 2008-11-07. 
8. ^ "Housing co-op plans for students". BBC News Online. 2004-03-03. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/3528445.stm. Retrieved 2008-11-07. 
9. ^ "MMU Student use of the John Rylands Library Reinstated!". MMUnion. 2007-05-10. http://www.mmunion.co.uk/Articles/79018/MMUnion/News/Union_News/MMU_Student_use.aspx. Retrieved 2008-11-09. ^{[dead link]}
10. ^ "Students banned from university library". Manchester Evening News. 2007-05-15. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1006/1006993_students_banned_from_university_library.html. Retrieved 2008-11-07. 
11. ^ Curtis, Polly (2008-01-24). "12,000 students miss chance of bursaries worth up to £12m". London: Education Guardian. http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2245654,00.html. Retrieved 2008-11-07. 
12. ^ "Broke & Broken". National Union of Students. http://www.nus.org.uk/en/Campaigns/Broke-and-Broken/. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
13. ^ "Donation not discrimination". National Union of Students. http://www.nus.org.uk/en/Campaigns/LGBT/Donation-not-discrimination1/. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
14. ^ "Who can't give blood". The National Blood Service. https://secure.blood.co.uk/c11_cant.asp. Retrieved 2008-11-07. 
15. ^ "Late". MMUnion. http://www.mmunion.co.uk/talktous/campaigns/late/. Retrieved 2009-03-24. 
16. ^ "Students can 'snitch' on teachers". BBC News Online. 2009-04-14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7997901.stm. Retrieved 2009-07-30. 
17. ^ Qureshi, Huma (2009-05-16). "Snitch on a tutor? It's your call". London: Guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/may/15/students-texting-lateness. Retrieved 2009-07-30. 
18. ^ "Students' union accused of snooping on lecturers". Times Higher Education. 2009-04-30. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=406368. Retrieved 2009-07-30. 
19. ^ "Lecturer Late? Send The Union A Text". Student Direct. 2009-04-12. http://year2008-2009.student-direct.co.uk/2009/04/lecturer-late-send-the-union-a-text/. Retrieved 2009-07-30. 
20. ^ Sugden, Joanna (2009-04-30). "Students 'spying' on lecturers who turn up late". London: Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/student/article6200344.ece. Retrieved 2009-07-30. 
21. ^ "Texting highlights teaching delays". Financial Times. 2009-08-03. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e0000894-7fc3-11de-85dc-00144feabdc0.html. Retrieved 2009-08-14. 
22. ^ http://mmu.ukmsl.com/cheshire/movetocrewe/studentsunionthefuture/
23. ^ http://mmu.ukmsl.com/pageassets/cheshire/movetocrewe/studentsunionthefuture/move_to_crewe.pdf