As you know the University of Essex Students' Union doesn’t do things just because other SU’s do it, we only do things that we believe are in the interest of our students. We are aiming to become the most student centred organisation in the world. And to do that we need to ensure we know what matters to our students. We, like other SU’s, elect 7 sabbatical officers  to make sure that our students are represented at every step of our decision making process but those 7 used to be on the basis of manifestos that they put together.

We turned that on its head and created the Big Plan. The big plan gives members the opportunity to say not only what areas they would like to see the SU devoting its time and money on but also rank these issues in terms of priority.

These issues are what our sabbatical officers then commit to fixing during the course of the year.

Recent successes that have come from the Big Plan include free printing, a library that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, more free e-books available, secured more housing for our International students and created the SU saver card.

This year we are working with First bus on ensuring the bus services are more reliable, looking at course deadlines and looking at ways of reducing single use plastic throughout the SU and the University. For more information and progress updates please visit https://www.essexstudent.com/bigplan/

So  Term 2 is decision term we need you to tell us what your concerns are, prioritise them and then select who you think is the best person to lead this. Welcome to Decision term!