Monday 21-08-2023 - 12:53

25 officers from 13 college students’ associations joined us on the banks of the River Clyde at City of Glasgow College for two days of training exploring the role of a student officer and giving officers an opportunity to network with each other. 

The content opened by exploring what students’ associations are, what they’ve achieved and how they’ve changed over the past century. The officers went onto think about what their role in their SA is and looked at some of the legislation which shapes this.  

For the rest of day one we went on to explore what values are and what values we hold as individuals before looking at effective communication which supported officers to go through a stakeholder mapping exercise. We rounded off the day with officers learning about boundaries & self-care. Our second- year officers spent part of day one preparing information on things they wish they’d known last year which they presented back to first years during this session. 

Day two kicked off with exploring the power of SAs, looking at collective action and campaigning in students’ associations and wider society. This gave officers an opportunity to explore some recent successful campaigns from across the UK. The first half of day two concluded with a session on NUS Scotland from President Ellie Gommersall before the officers participated in the immersive “starburst game” which saw them put into various roles within a high-pressure metaphor for the student movement. 

Feedback following the event found that all attendees either agreed or strongly agreed that College Lead & Change had broadened their network: 

“I loved having an opportunity to connect and network with other student officers and better understand how I can make change in my college” 

 73% of attendees said they felt more confident in their role as an officer, and 87% also said they better understood the purpose of students’ associations after the training. 

“The activities I participated in helped me to better understand the barriers different students in my college face and the importance of collective leadership in empowering these students”.