WHAT MAKES A GOOD STUDENT UNION?
University of Sheffield student's union ranked best in the country
They can go two ways, unions. Some are seen as the vibrant hub of student nightlife but unfortunately there are many that reflect a sad, abandoned shell.
The unions at Sheffield’s two universities are just a mile apart in distance… but in quality – the gap couldn’t be wider.
Beyond the depths of each university comes a popular hub for meetings, nights out and good grub or in some cases a bleak abandoned building which doesn’t seem to entice students in the city. These are the views of students on their unions, and in this particular segment it’s regarding the two universities in the steel city of Sheffield.
In last year’s rankings there was a huge 83 places between Sheffield Hallam University and national leaders University of Sheffield, which posed the question, what is the secret behind the success of a good student union? We, at the 9am Lecture visited both the unions to investigate.
If you walk in to the University of Sheffield’s student union, there’s a crush of people. Once inside, the sheer size and amount of facilities inside is quite remarkable. A fantastic modern building featuring cafes, shops, bars, an advice centre and an activities & sports zone where students can join over 300 sports clubs and societies. At ‘Uni of’ it appears that there’s something different happening in the SU every day; from club nights to film screenings, live music, theatrical performances and fascinating talks.
University of Sheffield's SU development officer Jack Wyse
We at the 9am Lecture spoke to the SU’s development officer Jack Wyse to find out the triumph behind the country’s number one union.
“The commercial side plays a huge part I think, compared to the university itself and the high street we have a lot of services to offer that are perhaps non-profitable however they are for the benefit of the students. For example, we’ll keep our coffee shops open later for people to have debates even though we probably won’t make any more money out of it and of course there’s our popular club nights where people can come and have a good time.”
The university’s prestigious club night “Tuesday Club” at The Foundry is seen as one of the gems behind the achievement of the SU with popular acts and DJ’s playing on a regular basis.
Jack Wyse believes that the broad range of services will be key to maintaining the success in years to come, “we’ve got to keep the club nights, the variety of outlets where students can eat and drink, each year people are still heavily involved as 10% of the 25,000 students are involved in leadership roles.”
Sheffield Hallam Student Union activities officer Sophie Amos
At the Sheffield Hallam University SU, more commonly known by students as the ‘Hubs’, the feeling inside on arrival is dreary and the whole building seems desolate. The union ranked at a record low last year at 83, we spoke to Hallam’s activities officer Sophie Amos who told us what was being done to improve this potentially prosperous SU.
“There’s obviously a number of areas we lack in, night time entertainment being the key one however we’ve just got a new commercial manager which we believe will be vital towards the union becoming more successful in the future.”
Sophie believes location plays a huge part too, “The thing with ‘Uni of’ is they have everything they could possibly want right there and with it being located slightly away from the city centre, unlike us, they don’t get the competition.”
Manchester Met Student Union
bartender Joe Travers
A student union that moved up an impressive 36 places in the rankings between 2013 and 2014 is Manchester Met University. The union recently moved location which has seen a huge rise in its popularity.
Union barman Joe Travers explains the change in fortune:
“The older one had a stigma of being bad as the bar was up on the 2nd floor whereas now it's on the ground floor. There’s a big screen in the new bar for all sports which does bring in an atmosphere! There are still a lot of tweaks needed to make it a great union but for now it’s a work in progress.”
Last week in my halls of residence there’s been next years’ fresher’s entering and one thing that was hot on the lips on these young students was, “Where’s the union? Is it any good?”
So it does seem that the union can play a massive part in choosing which university you go to, let’s face it who cares about what halls you’ll be in as long as the unions good right?!
I’ll let you guys decide on that one…..
Joe Glave
Here's what the students of Sheffield had to say about the two contrasting unions.