|
Hello everyone! I had my third meeting with the Board of ULIP this week. Unfortunately, worries about the coronavirus epidemic spreading to stage three prevented us from travelling to London but no crisis could stop us from Skyping the other Board members in Tim's office. Overall, it was a super positive meeting and I would like to take this opportunity to share my two reports with you. The first report is a general update of things the SU has been engaging in since the November Board meeting. Hopefully none of the information in there will come as a surprise to you! The second report is a report that the SU has never been asked to write before. It was requested by the Board in the June following conversations about the work Kameni Chaddha (SU President 2018-2019) and I were doing last year on student well-being and safety. The report focuses on the Equality and Diversity initiatives that the SU has been engaging in and the different ways we have supported the development of the ULIP community. Personally, I think it's great that the Board are looking at the SU's work on diversity, welfare, safety, inclusion etc. and I'm looking forward to seeing how next year's President engages with these topics. As always, if you have any questions, you know where I am ! Eleanor 
0 Comments
I have had two roles on the Students' Union's Executive Committee since I joined ULIP. I was Welfare Officer in BA2 and now that I'm in BA3, I was voted as President. While the SU has taken up a lot of my time and energy throughout my degree, I have really really loved it. It's forced me to tackle issues I never thought I would have to, to stand up and say things in rooms that I would previously have found intimidating and to balance my time at university more carefully.
I'm going to graduate this summer and, as is typical of an SU President, I would like to leave the SU in good hands when I go. I know the SU can seem intimidating, like a lot of hard work or even just a bit dull, here are some reasons why you should put yourself out there and run for a position on the SU Executive Committee or Student Council this semester. 1. Democracy! Our university is perhaps more political than most because pretty much everybody has the opportunity to have their voice heard if they so choose. Running for a position on the Students' Union means that you get to be at the heart of these democratic processes. Whether you're a Course Rep or on the Executive Committee, you'll meet frequently with members of staff and other SU members to see what improvements could be made to the way things are run. 2. Friendships Working on the Students' Union will give you more opportunities to interact with students. The team you're working with may be full of people you might otherwise have nothing to do with or perhaps you'll just be a more familiar face around uni. It's a really great way of getting to know people outside of your year group. 3. Control over student experience You might be surprised about the amount of control the Executive Committee has over the running of the SU - there's little to no input from any of the staff. As long as we stick to the Constitution, pretty much anything goes. If you're looking to influence how Freshers' is run, to change the way the SU communicates with other students, to make the Instagram (even more) beautiful, being on the SU is a sure-fire way to make a difference. 4. Support While we do have full control over the SU's activities, we do have some support. In previous years, those who held positions in the Students' Union were largely left to their own devices. But thanks to the work of the last two years, mentorship has been put in place for the President and Vice-President, the Course Reps are provided with a handbook and the Welfare Officer is able to have supervision with the ULIP Counsellor, if so required. If you're worried about stress or not knowing what to do in a certain situation, don't worry - you will be looked after! 5. Perks! Honestly these roles are just really great and I always think that if you haven't done something SU related in your time at ULIP, you've really missed a trick. You'll form some really great relationships with students and staff, be introduced to ULIP's important visitors and you'll be able to really throw yourself into something that you're passionate about. Even if you don't run for an 'SU' role, I encourage you to become a Head of Society, to write for Parlons, to go on Bike Ride or become an Officer. There's so many opportunities at ULIP, there has to be something that sparks your interest. Please do come and chat to me in my office hours or drop me a text if you'd like some more infortmation on elections or the SU more generally. I'm really looking forward to seeing all the campaigns and the ideas you have for the SU. Good luck!! After supporting Mind UK for 5 years, we have decided to raise money for a different charity this year. We all felt particularly passionate about the climate crisis, therefore we chose to do this year's bike ride in aid of WWF, formerly known as the world wildlife fund, now the world wide fund for nature and wildlife conservation.
The team this year is looking very strong. Last year, Alice Staniforth was the only female rider but this year we have four women and three men on the team! (Alice Staniforth, Jessica Martin, Billie Dibb, Stephanie Heath, Dani Collinson, Thom Haslam, Alex Waites.) We are very excited to be looked after by our support team, India Peart-Barr and Abby Doherty, who have already promised us baked goods on the first day of the ride. Fundraising has been a roaring success so far. We have done a couple of joint events with ULIP STAR charity: a Christmas even, and most recently the ULIP talent show which raised over 200 euros to be split between the two charities. Our contribution box in the SU has been doing an amazing job and we have a Just Giving page set up too! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated. The ride will commence on the 9th June 2020. We are going to be staying in Forges-Les-Aux, Seaford, Surrey, Banbury, Stafford and Manchester before finishing at Blackpool! Thank you in advance to all of our welcoming hosts, we are looking forward to your hospitality. We encourage people who live near by to visit/join/support us where they can throughout the ride. On the final night we all go out in Blackpool, so everyone is more than welcome to join us in celebrating that night too. With regards to training, we plan on doing a ride to Versailles soon, again if anyone would like to join please message Thom or Steph or anyone on the team for that matter. Don't forget to keep donating! https://www.justgiving.com/team/tower2tower Written by Steph Heath, co-head Tower to Tower bike ride 2019-20 Hello and welcome back to the ULIP SU blog! It's Eleanor here, recently returned from Scary Board Meeting #2. The Board of ULIP is essentially a collection of all the big cheeses involved in the running of ULIP - BNOCs from the University of London, Queen Mary, ULIP and (hilariously) me. The meetings are held to discuss the financial aspects of running ULIP, big projects for the future and some aspects of the student experience. They can be quite daunting as a student representative. It's a friendly atmosphere but everyone is very professional and very important and they all like to ask each other difficult questions. There's not a lot of jokes being thrown around. Scary Board Meeting#1 wasn't actually that scary. I was attending as a guest, sitting in to meet everybody and to see how the meetings were ran. I was there with the 2018-2019 SU President, Kameni Chaddha, so she took the lead, giving a report of the Union's activities throughout the year. This time around, I was sans Kameni and I was there to present the budget report for the previous year, our predicted income and expenditure for the 2019-2020 financial year and the changes to the Constitution that had been proposed at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in early October. In terms of the budget report, Geraint Davies (our wonderful SU Treasurer) did a really excellent job of calculating the SU's income and expenditure for the year 2018-2019 and also calculating the expected income and expenditure for this year (2019-2020) based on previous spending patterns. I also wrote a section of this report, which outlines the areas of spending that are significantly different or which are of particular interest to the Board. I have circulated the report for everybody to read but for those of you who won't have time to read it, the highlights are : - lots more money for welfare as the SU regularly receives feedback that students would like greater support - budget increase for STAR to enable them to hold an event with Actors for Human Rights - less money spent on marketing and trips to Queen Mary SU as our marketing is mostly social media based (i.e free) and I can Skype QMSU or coincide any visits to them with my visits home - two new societies : BAME and Anglo-Franco - each working incredibly hard on areas that ULIP students have expressed a strong desire for. For those of you who attended the AGM in October, you will already know about the Constitution changes. A lot of the changes were grammatical and while they may seem trivial, it is important to keep in mind that the Constitution is a legal document and so we must be precise in the way it is worded so as to avoid any loopholes or areas of confusion. Having said this, I have done some important work in terms of the splitting of the Executive Committee from the Student Council. This process was begun in the academic year 2017-2018 by the then SU President, Ellie Clutton, in order to make SU meetings more effective and relevant for those in attendance. These changes also bring ULIP SU in line with other Students' Unions across the country, who also operate in this way. In order to faciliate the split, I took advice from the lawyers at the University of London, who stated that the Executive Committee and Student Council needed to have their own separate sections so as to make the divide clearer. Now you can find the Executive Committee in Section 5 and the Student Council in Section 6. How sexy! We have also worked to further define the roles of the Student Council by differentiating them based on year of study. The role of a BA1 rep is slightly different to the role of a BA3 rep, for example. All the changes seem to have been approved in theory but I'm still waiting on the final approval. I will, of course, let you know when this comes through! I'm very proud of all the work the SU is doing at the moment and I'm looking forward to sharing this with the Board in my next few reports. In March, I will be presenting a report on our Equality and Diversity initiatives and in June, I will be sharing our activities throughout the 2019-2020 year. Exciting! Be sure to read the minutes of the Executive Committee meetings for more updates! Love always, Eleanor 
Originally, my thought about going to a summer school all about sustainable development was that, in truth, I didn’t have much of a clue what it was. Okay, I knew all about recycling, the straw versus turtle epidemic and that basically the world as we know is going to die any moment now. Quite the pessimistic view you could say.
From the first day at Paris Sciences et Lettres Summer School programme I really learned the importance of initiative and leadership in terms of being the next generation to help change our future for the better. What I hadn’t realised as a humanities student, more specifically an International Relations student was that our ability to sustain the environment we live in is not only down to man power and nature but the politics surrounding these areas. The difference between performing research on the sea bed and the sea water can lead to catastrophic problems in terms of legalities and crossing land boundaries without even being aware. It is no longer enough to stand by and wait for scientists, think tanks and governments alike to solve our problems for us. My own personal research and beliefs have led me to the understanding that the environment and the longevity of our life on earth can only be sustained when citizens and corporations come together to support each other in order to provide a healthy economy, healthy planet and healthy body. The European School of Positive Impact and Responsibility (ESPOIR) provided the students with a variety of learning styles, from lectures presented by the likes of Jeffrey Sachs, Alain Fuchs and Anne Varenne to creative and thought provoking workshops provided by ENACTUS and ENSAD as well as Paris excursions to the observatory, La Recyclerie and the PSL laboratory to put our learning to action. The enriching variety of subjects, activities and people I met and experienced during only two weeks provided me with enough information to make more conscious decisions surrounding my level of consumption and what changes I can make in my life to reduce this, it has encouraged me to participate more in the debate of ecology and include it as part of my ethics when pursuing politics in the future. I would recommend this summer school to students interested in the fields of philosophy, biology, chemistry, physics, sociology and politics. Regardless of your background, I guarantee that you will gain something from this programme for me it was a broader overview of the scientific analysis and research that has led us to have these negative opinions about our planet but how other research shows room for progress and that there is still an opportunity for humanity to seize in order to reverse our planet sized carbon footprint. Written by Chloe Limitsios (Vice President 2019-20) Hello lovely ULIPpers,
Today I am here with a blog post to tell you about my reading week visit to QMSU! First of all, if you didn’t know, Queen Mary University of London, and ULIP are in partnership; and so we aim to extend this partnership between the Unions too. As well as this, the LLM students are represented by QMSU, so they will be (hopefully) visiting ULIP to see how they can better represent those students, and how we can strengthen our partnership and work together effectively. My day at QM began with a tour of their campus with the Executive Committee who are sabbatical officers and work full-time, (they showed me a lovely view over London from the school of Business and Management). I then met with the Student engagement team who do a lot of work from working with societies as well as employability and volunteering. I met with the Students’ Union CEO who was interested in ULIPSU and the work that we do on this side of the pond. They have a Representation and Democracy Manager at the SU who I met to discuss an array of things such as researching SU changes, support for their executive committee and the yearly NSS survey. I ended the day with their Secretary and Government advisor who knows a lot about the complaints procedures and their constitution. Whilst QMSU is significantly bigger, we have a lot of things in common too, such our how hard we work, the love for what we do, and the sexiness of our exec committees ;). But we also have our differences, QMSU has an Education officer, currently Redwan Shahid, this is something that at ULIPSU we don’t have. In the statistics from the NSS, only 67% of you feel that ‘the Students’ Union (association or guild) effectively represents students’ academic interests’. So this year, I will be looking to introduce the role of an Education officer in the ULIPSU constitution in time for the SU next year. The education officer’s main roles will be working with SpLD, assessment and marking, the NSS survey and careers support post ULIP for BA3s. The education officer will sit on the Executive Committee as well as the Student Council to better liaise with your academic needs. With over 60% of their students being from BME backgrounds, they do some super interesting things at QMSU, for example they are currently holding an Islamophobia Awareness Month and later in the year they will be holding a British Asian Heritage month. I hope to see them all again soon and liaise with the work that QMSU engage in this year, Bisous, Kameni, your Union President 18-19 Welcome ULIP blog readers of 2018-2019!
Kameni (SU President) and Charles (SU Vice-President) here to kick off this year’s blog by giving you a run-down of what’s occurring currently and of some exciting plans on the horizon. We hope that you have all had splendid summer holidays and now that freshers’ is over, are ready to start the new academic year with a bang! Announcements:
There are some campaigns lined up for you this year, the week of 22nd of October will be ‘Mind your head’ week, the week will be based around Mental health and where you can find resources online and in Paris. The SU has teamed up with Christopher Butler, our counsellor who will be doing a mental health talk and holding counselling sessions that week. Continuing from last year’s successes of the Dites-Nous campaign, we will be holding this before the end of the first semester, so that the SU can work on implementing some positive changes over the Christmas holidays before and during your arrival in January. Finally, during the Second semester we will hold a campaign on Diversity and Inclusion. In addition to this, we are introducing a Diversity and Inclusion officer this year, something the SU felt appropriate with the changing dynamics of ULIP with the BA International Politics course. This officer will be getting involved in the campaign week as well as promoting awareness around the university on this topic. Opportunities: We’re on the look-out for a new blog writer! If you feel like you’d enjoy writing about your experiences in Paris for a monthly blog post then please contact su.vicepresident@ulip.lon.ac.uk . If you scroll down you can see examples from last year. There are also plenty of Officer roles up for grabs such as: Social Space, Environmental and Ethics, Technology and Diversity and Inclusion. More info about these will be revealed at the AGM and it’ll be made clear how to apply. That’s all for now but stay tuned to what’s happening by following us on twitter (@ULIPSU) and facebook! All the best, Kameni and Charles Originally, my thought about going to a summer school all about sustainable development was that, in truth, I didn’t have much of a clue what it was. Okay, I knew all about recycling, the straw versus turtle epidemic and that basically the world as we know is going to die any moment now. Quite the pessimistic view you could say.
From the first day at Paris Sciences et Lettres Summer School programme I really learned the importance of initiative and leadership in terms of being the next generation to help change our future for the better. What I hadn’t realised as a humanities student, more specifically an International Relations student was that our ability to sustain the environment we live in is not only down to man power and nature but the politics surrounding these areas. The difference between performing research on the sea bed and the sea water can lead to catastrophic problems in terms of legalities and crossing land boundaries without even being aware. It is no longer enough to stand by and wait for scientists, think tanks and governments alike to solve our problems for us. My own personal research and beliefs have led me to the understanding that the environment and the longevity of our life on earth can only be sustained when citizens and corporations come together to support each other in order to provide a healthy economy, healthy planet and healthy body. The European School of Positive Impact and Responsibility (ESPOIR) provided the students with a variety of learning styles, from lectures presented by the likes of Jeffrey Sachs, Alain Fuchs and Anne Varenne to creative and thought provoking workshops provided by ENACTUS and ENSAD as well as Paris excursions to the observatory, La Recyclerie and the PSL laboratory to put our learning to action. The enriching variety of subjects, activities and people I met and experienced during only two weeks provided me with enough information to make more conscious decisions surrounding my level of consumption and what changes I can make in my life to reduce this, it has encouraged me to participate more in the debate of ecology and include it as part of my ethics when pursuing politics in the future. I would recommend this summer school to students interested in the fields of philosophy, biology, chemistry, physics, sociology and politics. Regardless of your background, I guarantee that you will gain something from this programme for me it was a broader overview of the scientific analysis and research that has led us to have these negative opinions about our planet but how other research shows room for progress and that there is still an opportunity for humanity to seize in order to reverse our planet sized carbon footprint. Written by Chloe Limitsios (Vice President 2019-20) In light of the upcoming JDR, I thought I would share my own experience on what being a student at ULIP has been like for me, as an almost supplementary type of persuasion after JDR. Ultimately, the final decision will be up to you, however I would hope that my post can somehow influence you positively… [join us, join us].
Shall we start with a little context first? How did I become a student at the University of London Institute in Paris? Let us back track to results day; without going into too much detail, what was a life-changing day for some was utterly earth-shattering for me. The prospect of going to ULIP came at one of the lowest points of my [then] 18 years. I had heard of the University before, I had browsed the website, I had read the course description, and I was intrigued enough to surf their Facebook page and yet I never really considered it at all until after I received my A-level results. The idea of starting afresh in a totally new setting - a whole new country at that and developing a second language became a lot more palatable to me. I was never able to attend JDR, regrettably (the hors d’œuvres are definitely the ‘ones that got away): we often focus too much on the academic side of universities but the ‘feel’ of a faculty and the city in which it inhabits is just as important and I believe JDR definitely allows you to feel that sentiment. Make the most of it, this could be your deciding factor. My personal deciding factors were two things; the SU Blog and the efficiency of communication between me and Student Services. If you have not yet checked out the SU blog, I suggest you do immediately (I mean if you are reading this I guess you have but I’ll leave it in for decoration). Unlike the official ULIP website the SU blog is a reflection of a student’s take on ULIP student life; it’s filled with starter tips, recounts/testimonies and key information. I am someone who enjoys reading other people’s work as much as I enjoy writing myself, so for me www.ulipsu.eu was a haven to manifest this enjoyment. Just to see students give such useful advice in such a friendly way was extremely welcoming. Also, being in communication with Student Services was definitely helpful, I was able to learn a lot more about the courses, and I guess, the technicalities of ULIP’s dynamics. Had it not been for a phone call with them, I do not believe I would’ve found housing before September 2016. Claire Miller is indeed a star, before I joined ULIP and up until now, I kid you not, whatever questions you email her she will respond with laser-quick speed. It would be an understatement to say that the ULIP staff are some of the most efficient and loveliest people you will meet, it is always appreciative when the level of care you take in your academics/student life is reciprocated. I would be lying if I said that entering university for the first time, especially one that is abroad wasn’t daunting, but I really have to commend the older students for really trying to get us settled. [TIP: Interact with the current ULIPers; ask questions if you have a query, or just initiate a simple chat with them- they don’t bite! Who can tell you more about the University than the students themselves who are living the experience?] Freshers Week was a great experience, as someone who is not really nightlife enthused, I found the daytime activities lead by the BA3’s so fun. We met one day on the Esplanade in front of uni and played silly (yet bonding) games, like a peculiar take on your good ol’ traditional egg and spoon race, and it was just so warm and loving. The buddy system that is in place is also another great way that the current ULIP students were able to make us newbies feel much more at home. So how has uni-life been so far? It is having definitely been a journey. Having ULIP be so small was one of my worries, I feared that I would not get the full “experience” but I was so wrong. ULIP has the same facilities as other standard UK universities; they a varying expansive range of societies, a resourceful library and access to other learning centres, trips that are organised, interesting extra-curricular activities, meetings with Tutors, counselling meetings, study meetings… they have it all. What I find amazing is that I recognised our size as our strength rather than a weakness. I feel a lot more connected to the students, the lecturers, the staff. Whatever worries you may have with class or other things outside of the academics, send in a quick email to a tutor, or a Facebook message to an allocated group chat and you are able to arrange a consultation, or have your questions answered in no time. Living and studying in Paris, I feel like I do not miss a thing. As I’ve stated I’m not really a night-life girl but ULIP always has something going on each week to whet your thirst if you are the type who just needs to go out and let loose with a good group of friends. If you’re little bit more reserved like me, there is an abundance of museums, expositions, theatres and independent cinemas to visit in and around the city. I think that Paris was absolutely made for the young, it’s really great here. Just to remind you that every type of experience will be unique to you, you dictate the type of journey you have. Coming from someone who had a slightly rough first few weeks, I urge you to be willing, open and free. Try everything, do everything, meet as many people as you can and [of course] study (you can certainly apply this rhetoric during JDR and your stay, it can act almost like a starter for the crazy wonderful life that it being a student in Paris). There is no better way than learning a language and embracing a culture than living in the very thick of it. I have learnt so much about myself living in Paris, and being at ULIP, having this independence, feeling this warmth and togetherness that only a university of this size could give… frankly, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Make the most of your JDR guys, get a feel, breath in the smog, take in the view [of us beautiful students], ask questions about the courses, do it all… and I hope to see some of you in September. Happy JDR! Kind regards, Chelsea (your dearest second year) January 2018 marks one year since I moved to Paris and joined ULIP as part of my semester abroad. Until then I had been studying at King’s College London for a year and a half and at that point, I was definitely ready for the French adventure I had been anticipating for long before I started university. It was within the first two weeks here that I knew I preferred the ULIP life and not too long after this I decided to transfer as a full time student abroad. I still get asked from time to time what it was that made me leave behind the hustle and bustle of London and to be honest, the list of reasons is relatively exhaustive. The differences between student life in London and Paris are staggering, but also, of course, subjective. I decided to take some time to compile comparisons between the two from my personal experience, so bear this in mind as I take you through the some of my thoughts about student life in London versus student life in Paris.
It is worth mentioning that I’m not setting out to talk badly of King’s or London life in the slightest, merely organising my own thoughts and reasons behind moving to Paris. It is safe to say that after becoming a full-time ULIP student, I haven’t looked back and have been able to live out my dream of experiencing la vie parisienne and sometimes it is important to take a moment to be grateful for how things have turned out so far in life. To quote the blockbuster hit La Haine, ‘jusqu’ici, tout va bien’. by Annie Birchall |
Welcome to ULIP's blog! Please feel free to share your thoughts (and feelings) in the comments sections below the articles. Spam will be deleted, ULIP Eye is watching you. Beware.
Archives
March 2020
Categories
All
|
||||||||
RSS Feed
