ORGANISATION

University of Bath Students’ Union (BUSU)

IiV HOST ORGANISATION

üVOLUNTEERING ENGLAND

? VOLUNTEER DEVELOPMENT SCOTLAND

? WCVA

? VOLUNTEER DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (N Ireland)

ASSESSOR

Janet Lewis-Jones

NAME OF LEAD ASSESSOR

Maggie Piazza

ASSESSMENT DATE(S)

26^th, 28^th & 30^th November 2007

1^ST ASSESSMENT/RE- NEWAL

1^st Assessment

ASSESSMENT OUTCOME

Met

CONDITIONS IF ANY

N/A

DATE CONDITIONS MET

N/A

ORGANISATION SUMMARY

The University of Bath Students’ Union (BUSU) is student led, run by a mixture of full time sabbatical officers - Sabbs (i.e. students who have taken a year out, are elected to their positions and receive a cost of living allowance for the year); the Union Council - made up of elected student representatives who hold the sabbatical team to account and determine policy for all students; and paid staff. The SU Executive (Sabbs officers) meets weekly and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the SU and for developing strategy.

UBSU encompasses a broad range of student volunteering opportunities; roles available can be divided into the following broad areas:

o Club & society committee membership (and executive committee membership) – there are 83 societies and 49 sports clubs, each with it’s own committee made up of volunteers, these then come under the umbrella of a series of executive committees such as the Arts Executive, Sports Executive etc, again each with it’s own committee made up of volunteers;

o Student councillors who sit on the Union Council;

o Academic representatives who represent students on their particular courses;

o RAG volunteers who organise and engage in fundraising activities;

o Student Community Action (SCA) volunteers who are involved in a variety of student led initiatives such as providing children’s Christmas parties and volunteering in Romanian orphanages;

o Mentors and tutors – the former working in a local boys school, the latter in local primary schools;

o Duke of Edinburgh Award – has it’s own committee made up of students to lead the award within the University

o Trainers who provide soft skills courses for students and who work with student enterprise projects;

o SIFE/Banter volunteers – who are involved with both business and social enterprise projects

o AWARE volunteers - who provide welfare advice and information and run campaigns such as healthy eating and sexual health;

o Volunteer drivers and Midas minibus driver assessors;

o Fresher’s’ week crews.

All volunteer activity is overseen by the relevant Sabbs and staff within the area and supported by the Volunteer Centre within BUSU and the SU Activities Co-ordinator. The Volunteer Centre employs 4 paid staff – the Centre Manager/Volunteer Co-ordinator, who line manages - the Volunteer Support Worker; the RAG Administrator; and the Junction 49 Co-ordinator (new project). The Centre Manager is line managed by the Membership Services Manager who reports directly to the General Manager of the Union.

There are around 1000 student volunteers engaged in volunteering – almost all of these carry out multiple roles.

SAMPLING RATIONALE

Assessment dates and times were agreed, then all student volunteers were emailed to ascertain who would be available for interview. From the replies, a list of 47 student volunteers was compiled which included representatives from all roles, both genders and 1^st to 7^th year students. 45 student volunteers attended interviews which were conducted in small groups.

Student volunteers who were not invited to interview were sent the IiV assessment questionnaire to complete.

Staff and Sabbs were selected for interview covering a range of responsibilities in relation to managing/overseeing volunteering:

· Volunteer Centre Manager

· Volunteer Support Worker

· SU Activities Co-ordinator

· Student Enterprise Co-ordinator

· Membership Services Manager

· AWARE Centre Co-ordinator

· Sabb for Activities and Development

· Sabb for Sports

A number of student councillors were also interviewed.

NUMBER OF SITES, BRANCHES, LOCATIONS:

1

NUMBER INCLUDED IN INTERVIEW SAMPLE:

1

NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS:

Approx. 1000

NUMBER INTERVIEWED:

45 + 32 questionnaires

NUMBER AS % OF TOTAL:

7.7%

NUMBER OF VOLUNTEER ROLES:

Approx. 11 main roles

NUMBER OF ROLES SAMPLED BY INTERVIEW:

11

NUMBER AS % OF TOTAL:

100%

NUMBER OF STAFF:

55

NUMBER INTERVIEWED:

8 (inc. Sabbs)

WERE TRUSTEES INTERVIEWED? YES ü NO ? Student Councillors

WRITTEN EVIDENCE

Volunteer Policy; Induction Checklist; Sports Associations Members Handbook; selection of risk assessments; selection of operating plans; Volunteer Centre Evaluation Report 2006/07 (including wide range of statistics and student volunteer feedback); website.

INDICATOR 1

There is an expressed commitment to the involvement of volunteers, and recognition throughout the organisation that volunteering is a two-way process which benefits volunteers and the organisation.

SUMMARY OF PRACTICE

Volunteers and staff expressed a deep commitment to volunteering – “The Union couldn’t operate without volunteers, it’s student run and student led – so it simply has to be”; “We rely on volunteering to provide services for students, without volunteers we could provide very little”; “At first you do it to make things better for yourself, but of course in doing so, you make things better for everyone else too”. The Union is committed to “producing more ‘rounded’ individuals – not just academically qualified people, but people with real life skills – that is what volunteering here is all about”; “I’ve learnt a lot more from my volunteering than I have on my course – important things like leadership and working with others”.

BUSU has a very comprehensive volunteer policy which clearly details how volunteers can become involved and what they can expect, as well as all pertinent polices such as health & safety, grievance and complaints, harassment, diversity, confidentiality and insurance.

A volunteer project group meets every two months to keep policy and procedure under constant review, and a newly formed Volunteer Executive Committee which, like all other committees, is student led will become key to this process.

Volunteering within BUSU has a high profile and achievements and opportunities are routinely and creatively publicised. Everyone interviewed, without exception, was able to talk at length about the benefits of volunteering to themselves (the volunteers), to the University and to the wider community.

INDICATOR 2

The organisation commits appropriate resources to working with volunteers, such as money, management, staff time and materials.

SUMMARY OF PRACTICE

Responsibility for volunteering matters is clearly delegated to and defined within the roles of Sabbs, and within the roles of relevant paid staff. Volunteering issues are routinely discussed within a multitude of fora across UBSU as they are intrinsic to the running of projects, clubs and societies. The Volunteer Centre within UBSU exists to support all volunteering activity across the Union.

Planning is a formalised process – each year ‘focus targets’ are set by the Sabbatical Officer with student input and these are cascaded both through the Membership Services Manager, to the Volunteer Centre; and also through the Sabbs and Line Managers, to individual projects, clubs and societies – these include areas such as student involvement, student engagement and diversity – each project, club and society must consider how they will implement these focus targets and include them in the activity plan for the year. Activity plans are submitted together with budget proposals (and updated risk assessments) for approval.

Volunteers confirmed that they are never ‘out of pocket’ in relation to their volunteering and that the claiming process was simple and quick – “If it’s under £20 you get it there and then, in cash”; “You fill in a yellow form – after a RAG raid there’s like hundreds of yellow forms flying around – but you still get it back with a couple of days”; “They do a cheque run, twice a week I think, so you don’t have to wait”; “As long as you include what you need in your budget, they’ll pay for anything, well almost”.

INDICATOR 3

The organisation is open to involving volunteers who reflect the diversity of the local community, in accordance with the organisation’s stated aims, and operates procedures to facilitate this.

SUMMARY OF PRACTICE

Opportunities to volunteer are advertised widely – during the Fresher’s’ Fair, at the Societies Fair, in bedroom packs, on notice boards, on websites, in relevant communiqués – volunteers interviewed confirmed that they had found out about volunteering through a very wide variety of sources.

A range of statistics are collected and collated and compared to overall university data, then used to inform targeting and planning. This includes careful consideration of minority/special needs groups peculiar to the University environment such as under 18’s and postgraduates. The student population has a very broad demographic profile this is reflected within the volunteer pool and within images of volunteering used in promotional literature etc. The assessment sample also reflected the diversity of the student population.

Specific targets exist relating to diversity and inclusion, and staff are committed to implementing these – “Basically anyone can volunteer – there are no barriers and we work hard to encourage everyone to get involved”; “There are loads of clubs and societies that you can get involved with, then put yourself forward to be on the committee – so all sorts of minority groups and interests are represented, and if one doesn’t already exist – then you can create one, like the Lithuanian Society – that’s new this year”.

INDICATOR 4

The organisation develops appropriate roles for volunteers in line with its aims and objectives, and which are of value to the volunteers and create an environment where they can develop.

SUMMARY OF PRACTICE

A task description exists for each and every role from committee member (including chair or treasurer) to volunteer driver to student trainer. These are posted on the website and include any prerequisite skills or experience required along with the ‘application’ process. There are a wide range of roles, and in effect the majority of student volunteers take on more than one role – many of those in the assessment sample had up to 5 or 6 roles. Volunteers explained how one role led to another and how they felt they had developed skills throughout “Well I started as just a member, then I put myself forward as vice chair, the next year I was chair and then I joined the Exec.”; “I did an audition for a production, which I was rubbish at, so I joined ‘Backstage’ to do technical stuff, I also trained with ‘Nightline’, then I joined the Backstage committee, I was treasurer the first year, then the vice chair, then I co-produced a musical, and this year I’m producing one – finally feel confident enough to do it. I had to give up nightline though – I didn’t have enough time to study as well!”

There is a great deal of flexibility in accommodating particular needs and interest especially in relation to student workloads, timetables and holidays – “they are really easy going if you say, I really need to get this course work done, so can I swap my shift”. There were examples of how roles had been adapted to suit people with special needs – such as sending out training handouts by email in advance so that a student with sight problems could have her computer ‘read them to her’, and accommodating a student with hearing problems, who didn’t want the group to know, by ensuring he was able to sit at the front. In considering volunteering venues and transport, consideration is given to accessibility to meet individual needs. “I’ve always been into volunteering, but never had it so accessible”; “The number of things you can do as a volunteer here is just awesome!”

INDICATOR 5

The organisation is committed to ensuring that, as far as possible, volunteers are protected from physical, financial and emotional harm arising from volunteering.

SUMMARY OF PRACTICE

“Students frequently come up to me and ask ‘do I need to do a new risk assessment for this?’” (Sabb) – all of the volunteers in the sample were able to explain the risks associated with their role and how to manage those risks, as well as how risk assessments were conducted and the results disseminated. “The minibus caught fire on the M5 this weekend, we knew exactly what to do having done the risk assessment just the week before”; “They did this mobile café thing and got young offenders to staff it, apart for the offenders actually running off, every thing else identified on the risk assessment happened! It was cool though, they knew how to handle it”. They were also clear that they were covered by appropriate insurances – “We organised a celebration meal for Diwali, the original caterer we chose was unable to provide evidence of the appropriate products and liabilities insurance so we chose another supplier”; “As long as you do the risk assessment and work within it, you’ll be covered”

All volunteers in the sample confirmed that expenses were reimbursed and that the claim process was easy and payment prompt.

Records of volunteers personal details are held within the relevant area’s office at the volunteer centre – electronic copies are password protected and paper copies kept in locked facilities. “When I’m arranging to do a minibus driver assessment, they ask the driver if it’s OK for them to pass on his or her email address, then they give it to me and I contact them directly to set up times for us to meet up”

A number of staff The SU Activities Co-ordinator provide support and advice in relation to organising activities and events, and the RAG Administrator helps with securing relevant permits and permissions.

INDICATOR 6

The organisation is committed to using fair, efficient and consistent recruitment procedures for all potential volunteers.

SUMMARY OF PRACTICE

Selection procedures vary depending on what ‘strand’ of volunteering the student is pursuing, but are consistent within that strand. Volunteers who wish to join a committee go through an election process whereby they put forward a manifesto which is then followed by a vote; volunteers looking to work in AWARE or as a tutor/mentor make a formal application and have an interview (plus a CRB check for roles working with children or vulnerable adults). The particular process that the volunteer will go through is clearly stated alongside the role description for each role, including whether any training is required. All volunteers confirmed that it was quick and easy to get involved and that processes were consistently applied. Most became involved in volunteering as a result of attending the Fresher’s Fair, Societies Fair or Sports Fair where they ‘signed up’ and then received an email the following week moving them on to the next step. There is ample opportunity to find out more about roles through talking to people already in the role – “A lot of what you get involved in is word of mouth really, like a housemate will say ‘you should do that it’s really fun’”; “They say to you ‘why don’t you have a go, I think you’d be really good’”.

Potential volunteers who are considered unsuitable for a particular role (a very rare occurrence) are helped to take on other roles – “If we felt someone wasn’t going to be quite right for us, we’d call them in for a chat and explain why, then help them find something else”.

All volunteers are either given a copy of the volunteer policy or a summary of it, this clearly states rights and responsibilities – “If you get involved in a few things you get a copy at each of them – I’m getting quite a collection at home!”; “I see the little green book (volunteer policy) in my sleep… it’s everywhere”

INDICATOR 7

The organisation takes a considered approach to taking up references and official checks which is consistent and equitable for all volunteers, bearing in mind the nature of the work.

SUMMARY OF PRACTICE

The approach to taking up references and conducting CRB checks is consistent within each strand of volunteering, for RAG volunteers neither is pursued, for volunteers working with children or vulnerable adults both are pursued – the approach is determined by the nature of the role and is kept under constant review.

There is a clear procedure for dealing with potential volunteers with previous criminal convictions – these are dealt with by the University’s CRB Committee on a case by case basis, and all potential volunteers are made aware of this. A couple of examples were given of this working in practice which indicate that the Committee has a positive approach to accepting volunteers with prior convictions.

INDICATOR 8

Clear procedures are put into action for introducing new volunteers to the organisation, its work, policies, practices and relevant personnel.

SUMMARY OF PRACTICE

All volunteers in the sample praised the level of introductory training and support that was available to them. “There is training for all committee positions – how to chair a meeting, how to do risk assessments, how to be a treasurer, that sort of thing”; “You get a handover pack from the outgoing chair with the combined knowledge of all previous post holders”; “We had 3 days training on mentoring and child protection”. All volunteers had seen copies of risk assessments associated with their role or with a particular activity, or had been briefed as to their contents – “We’re doing this sleep out and part of the sign up is having all that explained to you, and then getting a copy of some guidance stuff”; “The marshals for the fire works gala were fully briefed on the risk assessment and management”. All volunteers receive copies of all policies that pertain to them within the Volunteer Policy booklet – this includes information on health and safety, insurance, complaints, equality of opportunity etc. There are clear role descriptions which detail the extent and boundaries of the role and where volunteers can go for support and advice.

Volunteers wanting to set up new clubs or societies are given full support “There are guidelines for setting up something new, and the Exec Committee and Sabbs help you all the way, from writing your manifesto right through to setting up the committee”

INDICATOR 9

Everybody in the organisation is aware of the need to give volunteers recognition.

SUMMARY OF PRACTICE

The contribution of volunteers is recognised and acknowledged in a variety of ways –“We get free food, free clothes, awards, accreditation, parties, free training – tons of stuff!”; “We got to go to a formal reception at the Vice Chancellors house – very posh” There is an annual volunteers ‘thank you’ party; volunteers are able to have their hours counted towards Duke of Edinburgh or V (Previously MV) programmes; some strands offer certificates; there is an annual societies awards event – all volunteers in the sample confirmed that they felt appreciated and were regularly thanked and praised for their efforts.

BUSU is student led therefore the opportunity for student volunteers to make their views known is intrinsic to the structure of the Union. Additionally volunteers in the sample reported how they felt able to just drop in or email if they had something to say. “Advice is freely available and freely given, they are always keen to hear what you have to say”.

The whole ethos behind volunteering at BUSU is about development and this is evident in the way volunteering is designed and managed “You just get so much out of it, you start small, maybe by just joining a club or something, then as you get more confident you move on, I remember the president saying during Fresher’s week – you could be sitting here in a year or two – really made me think”.

Volunteers are able to use various people within BUSU as referees.

As part of the planning cycle (see indicator 2) – clubs, societies and projects are required to report against the focus targets. Additionally the Volunteer Centre produces a comprehensive evaluation report incorporating qualitative feedback from volunteers gathered using an annual volunteer evaluation questionnaire.

INDICATOR 10

The organisation takes account of the varying support needs of volunteers.

SUMMARY OF PRACTICE

All volunteers in the sample were able to say who and where they would go for support, and welcomed the fact that that support was available from more than one source – staff, Sabbs, Councillors, AWARE. The nature of more ‘formal’ support and supervision available varies according to the particular strand of volunteering that the volunteer is involved in, but is consistent within that strand. In any event there are very regular meetings and volunteering tends to take place in groups with peer support constantly available. None of the roles were seen by volunteers in the sample as being especially emotionally demanding, but all said they would talk to staff at the Volunteer Centre or go to AWARE if they did feel stressed or distressed.

Staff involved in supporting volunteering receive regular supervision and have the opportunity to attend a plethora of training courses and personal development events – the Volunteer Centre Manager is a member of and attends meetings of WISCV (Workers in Student Community Volunteering); attends STADIA – 3 days annual training around societies and committees, and benefits from the Horizons in house training programme –“The Union has an excellent track record in attending to the personal development of staff”

All volunteers in the sample felt very well informed and received regular emails and communiqués keeping them up to date with developments and opportunities “Communication is very good here, even when you are being ‘dormant’ they keep you in the loop, never forget you exist”; “Going through the IiV process has really put the Volunteer Centre at the centre of everything – raised it’s importance and profile. Before committee volunteers didn’t really see themselves as volunteers, now they very definitely do. The Volunteer Centre has a complete overview of everything now, so can really make sure that the volunteer policy is being carried through” (Last year’s Union President).