We’re offering more help for students

We are fully aware of the pressure being put on students by the current cost of living crisis, so we have been thinking hard about what more we as a University can do to support you.

As a result, we’re announcing extra targeted support this week to help to build on all the measures we’ve already put in place — which I hope you saw in a previous post.

We’re now investing close to £100,000 in new student jobs on our campuses to give you more opportunities to strengthen your CVs and also earn extra cash to meet the additional costs you might be facing.

This funding will mean we’ll be creating over 30 part-time student jobs from January to June 2023. We’ll be advertising the various roles very soon, so keep an eye on your emails for updates.

Making more jobs available on campus

We’re creating more part-time positions for students to support you if you are struggling, considering leaving your course, or thinking about returning home due to financial issues.

These new roles will be focused on improving the student experience further and helping the University bounce back from the impact of the pandemic. So, that means you will be taking on jobs which make a difference to your fellow students and the wider University community.

These will be real jobs which will help you develop skills and aid your future employability. And we’re committed to making sure your work is recognised properly and making a difference in your pocket, so the more than 7,500 hours of additional paid work we’re supporting with this new funding will be paid at an hourly rate in line with or higher than the national living wage.

Jobs will range from Digital Design Assistants creating engaging communications to help students get the most from their studies to Student Philanthropy Assistants supporting our award-winning CLICK crowdfunding platform to raise kick-start funding for student projects. And there will be Student Voice roles which will be helping to gather feedback from students and ensuring your views are heard at the highest level. That gives you a taste, but there will be many more roles, so do take a look to find one which fits your interests.

The other support on offer to you

The new roles are part of a suite of measures introduced to support students and staff. The University has already restricted the increase in rent for all University owned and managed accommodation to below the cost of inflation for this academic year — which will cost £1.3m.

We’ve made an additional £1.8m available to help students in hardship as a consequence of the cost of living crisis.

The University is also helping to bring down the cost of food by subsidising a daily hot meal for £2 in our on-campus food outlets. To help counteract rising supermarket costs, the Students’ Union is providing opportunities for students to buy a range of essential basics at significantly reduced prices.

We have worked closely with the Students’ Union in developing a whole range of proposals and support programmes to deal with the cost of living crisis. I am grateful to the SU President Nashwa and the SU leadership team for their ideas and support in making a difference for students.

Don’t forget our student support services and the SU’s services are available to offer you help and advice. The Careers team is also here to help you with looking and applying for jobs.

We’re going to keep listening to our students and doing all that we can to support you. You are never alone and we would always encourage you to reach out if you are facing issues.