August 24, 2023, by Aisia Lea

Your Guide to the Student Union

You may have heard a bit about the student union before you come to university, but you might not have a great understanding of what they are or what they do. This blog post serves to give you some information about the University of Nottingham’s Student Union and how it can support you during your time at Nottingham.

What is the Student Union?

The Student Union is a student-led organisation that represents you! You don’t need to join the Student Union when you come to Nottingham, you’re a member automatically. The Student Union supports students through a variety of ways during your time at the university and puts on a number of different events, and there’s lots of ways that you can get involved.

What does the Student Union Do?

One of the main things that the Student Union is responsible for is societies and sports clubs at the university. The Student Union website is where you can find a complete list of all of the societies and sports clubs at the university, and through its website is where you can purchase your society memberships. You also purchase any products or event tickets that are sold by your societies via the Student Union, too. There are over 200 societies and 70 sports clubs at the university – so there’s lots to choose from and you’ll definitely find something that interests you!

The Student Union is also responsible for a number of different student networks, where likeminded individuals can come together. Examples include the BME network, LGBT+ network, and the mature student’s network.

Impact Magazine is a student-led and created magazine at the university, and you can have a read of it here. It also falls under the responsibility of the Student Union. Other media entities associated with the Student Union are NSTV (Nottingham Student’s Televsion) and URN (University Radio Nottingham).

Student-led organisations under the Student Union include Karnival, the student-led fundraising organisation, Nottingham Nightline, the university’s listening service, the Nottingham New Theatre, a student-led theatre, and more.

Who are the Student Union Officers?

The Student Union officers are elected by students every year. To do this, they must submit a manifesto outlining why they are suitable for the role and things that they would like to achieve in their role in the next academic year. You can put yourself forward to be a Student Union officer, too! The officers can work full or part-time at the University. The officers are as follows:

• Activities Officer
• Community Officer
• Education Officer
• Liberation Officer
• Sports Officer
• Union Development Officer
• BME Student’s Officer
• Disabled Student’s Officer
• Environmental & Social Justice Officer
• International Students’ Officer
• LGBT+ Officer
• Mature Students’ Officer
• Women*’s Officer

You can reach out to the relevant officer if you’re having problems at the university or want to discuss something with them. The officers have regular meetings to discuss life at the University, and you can access the meeting minutes on the Student Union website to see what was discussed.

How do I Create a Society?

If one of the 200 societies present already at the University aren’t to your liking, you can apply to the Student Union to create a new one! You cannot just create a society, there is an application process. You will have to find other interested students and create a constitution outlining your society’s aims and values. You submit an application form which will be sent to the Staff Affiliation Panel for consideration, and you will be informed if your application was successful or unsuccessful. If it is successful, a member of the Student Union will get in contact with you to let you know what to do next, and if it is unsuccessful, the Student Union will support you in your next round of applications. Find out more here.

I hope that this guide has been helpful in outlining what the Student Union is and how it benefits you as a student. You can have a look at the Student Union website at https://su.nottingham.ac.uk/.

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