► You Said, We Did
Feedback and Action
Introduction
Below we have shown some of the feedback we received from the questionnaires that have recently been completed by Students at the University of Plymouth. In addition, we have then shown our response to these questions and what the Students' Union has done to address the concerns that have been raised.
Where are their baby changing facilities on campus?
The Students’ Union, after talking to new students, noted the lack of baby changing facilities on campus. We are now proud to say we have the only facilities of this sort on campus, which are based in the new toilets at the north of the building.
We want hot drinks in the U:Shop
“The Big One” survey 2009-10 found students wanted hot drinks available in the shop. As a response we have bought a brand new coffee machine which will serve fair trade coffee from September.
We want an outside area with umbrellas
Another issue raised by students in “The Big One” survey 2009-10. We have recently purchase new umbrellas for the outside area above the Students’ Union building, as well as refurbishing the benches that are out there.
Keep C103
More rumours were spreading that C103 would no longer going to be a partner nightclub this year. C103 was found to be the most popular nightclub in “The Big One” survey 2009-10 and naturally is being kept.
We don't know who our sabbatical officers are
This year we want our members to know who is representing them and who they can talk to. A new feature has been included on the website that is a one-stop-shop for who your sabbatical officers are and what they are up to. Expect to see video diaries from them throughout the year at http://www.upsu.com
We want a radio station with student led shows
UPSU Radio is set to launch the first week of November, streaming via our website. There will be a wide range of shows hosted by students and sabbatical officers. If you are interested in becoming involved email http://radio@upsu.com
Better toilet facilities
The older toilets at the North of the building have been completely redesigned allowing for a larger space and more importantly more toilets, meaning less queuing!
More free social events, stalls and markets as well as cultural activities
October will see the first ever farmers market held on Campus run by the Students' Union, allowing the opportunity to buy locally grown and produced products. Furthermore experience the new "OH" events. This stands for Overseas and Home students. Experience dishes from other countries, learn about the local area and experience festivities from another culture. "OH" events will be running throughout this academic year.
COMMENTS/ IDEAS/ SUGGESTIONS
Have you got something to say? If you think your comments can make a difference to UPSU then why not share them? Pick up a card around the Students' Union and post it back in one of the feedback boxes. Alternatively, click on the Feedback button - top right of the home page on upsu.com
Here are your comments so far....
Get a new cleaning machine for the night cleaners the ones they use are rubbish. - The new machines are expensive so there is a rolling programme to replace them over time. In the short term we are looking to refurbish the machines.
More money for sports clubs and socieities - especially Athletics club! - We are always looking to increase the funding we give to clubs & societies. One of the key ways we can do this is through our commercial activities. So we ask all clubs to try and support our shop, bars and snack shack plus our sports & socs night at C103 every Wednesday. As a not-for-profit organisation any surplus we make is re-invested back to our student services. Supporting us really does help to support you!
I work at the SU as a toilet attendant and every night without fail, a dozen people complain that the male bottom toilets do not have functioning sinks. This seems rather odd as the top toilets have TV whilst you pee. So can we have sinks that work please, it may save me having to apologise to many people whenever I work. - Believe me we totally share your frustrations. The toilets in the South end of the SU are riddled with defects as a result of their original design. We are tennants of the building, which is owned by the Unversity, so they are ultimately responsible for fixing them. We constantly report these defects to them. The only thing I can suggest is that you help us by lobbying the University to get them fixed. email estateshelp@plymouth.ac.uk with your concerns.
Cleaners need hoodies. It is cold! - Yes it was very cold just before Christmas. I have spoken to Uncle Pete and he will root around in his treasure chest and get you sorted :) PS To you and all the cleaners, keep us the good work, you play an important role in making UPSU the place it is - in fact so do all our student staff, we couldn't open without you :)
Cleaners & door staff should have hoodies so we look hot (not cold). Maybe socks too? - see above, socks may be a bit to far!
I like the students' union its very very good but make all the drinks slightly cheaper if at all possible. - Thanks, we constantly check our prices with other venues in Plymouth and with other SU's around the UK and our prices are always below the average. We are very keen to keep competitive as we strived to offer real value for money rather than cheap. Cheap does equate to inrresponsible retailing which we are against. Our promise is a safe environment at great value for money. We generally only put up prices as a result of Government increases in VAT and duty.
More theme nights like beaches in the bar and western nights with a bronco. - We agree, we'd love to do more nights like these. In fact we have already introduced some new nights like our first every Foam Party, Neg's Sports Challenge, Mr Methane, I love te 80's Brutus Gold and his love train. Drum & Bass & Dubstep with Benga, Skepta, Album launches with Nero. We hope to do loads more so keep coming in.
Alcohol Slush Puppies - interesting idea, let us see what we can do.
Have football team theme nights, Liverpool till I die! - We love every team so it wouldn't be fair to pcik just one! We will happily show any football match. Just ask a Venue Manager if it's not on one of the TV's
Tasteful Burlesque nights - A difficult request which would need to go to Union Council as we run a Safe Space policy inour venue and (even tasteful) burlesque nights might offend some students. Feel free to contact our President -president@upsu.com if you want to discuss this idea further.
Bring more chart acts to the Union and proper comedians. - Yes we do whatever we can to get 'big' names down to Plymouth. We are a little restricted by size and the Main Hall also has some issues. We often work with our partner clubs like Oceana, C103 and Karma to put on chart acts. Join the Ents forum on facebook upsuents group to have your say on who we should be booking. Often it will be down to costs, especially with comedians as generally we keep prices below £10 to keep your costs down. Because of this and the venue we are limited on who we can afford. Hopefully, one day you might see a comedian at UPSU and then a few years later they become massive...you can then say "I saw them live at UPSU for a fiver!"
Heaters behind the bar. Its freezing. - Yep, we agree and to help we hired some heaters over the cold period before Christmas. We need to be careful because of our commitment to the environment and this is a bad way to solve the problem. We have been is dicussion with heat exchanges that take the warm air from the plant and cellar rooms are re-circulates it behind the bar. A win-win for everyone, watch this space for more information.
Pussy - cat, dolls, you've lost a cat? Not sure if we can help with this one!
Working air conditioning / heating behind the bars - See our response above.
Pound a pint night - tried it and it wasn't popular! We offer value for money every night and retail our drinks responsibily. I'm sorry but Pound a pint won't be happening any time soon.
Alcoholic Slush Puppies – Are available from the garden bar during the summer term.
Sell Rattler Cornish Cyder – At present due to the restrictions on the bar with the Key Partners Programme and Nussl Purchasing Committee, we can only sell approved products over the bar. We will look into getting dispensation to be able to sell Rattler for the next academic year.
Have a better and more varied array of ales – at present we use three local breweries for our ales, Sharps, Skinners and Summerskills. We try to keep a variety of ales coming through the bar however as ale makes up less than 1% of all draught beer sales it can be difficult to keep momentum going especially towards the end of term. The Beer Festival held annually is a good chance for us to provide a large selection of ales and this years will be bigger and better than ever. We also stock bottled ales for those times when there is no cask ales available.
Get Baileys – Baileys was removed from the product portfolio of the bar over two years ago for two reasons. The first being the sales were so slow and small, there was no justification in keeping such a slow moving brand on the back bar. The second reason we decided to remove Baileys from our range was due to the fact the only sales we were making for a while was to sports team making “dirty pints” and in order to ensure we provide alcoholic drinks responsibly we choose to remove the temptation from the bar.
Staff look very unproductive at times – The bar staff are required to maintain a certain level of service at all times, this includes keeping the bar clean and tidy. Sometimes it may appears as if they are unproductive but on quiet days when all the cleaning has been done they don’t have a lot of choice but to wait for customers to arrive to provide them service.
Allow glass bottles to be given out during quiet weekdays – we have recently reverted back to allowing bottles and glass into the venue when it is quiet enough to do so. Exceptions to this include but are not limited to: live music events, weekends, sports nights and nights where there is a heavy presence for sports matches. This is to ensure we provide customer safety at all times.
Open snack shack more often – the snack shack is open during the core hours of the day, i.e. lunchtimes and evenings. Unfortunately as there is a small team in that department, that undergo intense training, if we have staff sickness there are times when we must keep it closed. It is also opened whenever we have large sporting fixtures or other events taking place in the su.
Make management more approachable – Going to be honest not sure how to answer this one, I think we are approachable, come and talk to us please....
