Academic Community Project

You have consistently told us that as students of City University, you want to see more events related to your subjects and more opportunities to develop your CVs. Sounds interesting? Read on!  

We have some fantastic student societies which are here to run events and bring people together, so we wanted to use this great foundation to build something new! Empowering the groups to step up and become wider-reaching and more formalised groups working with the University. This project is something a bit different, very new and we are so excited to work with you on it!  

Academic Communities will be groups run by students, supported by the SU staff and partnering with the Academic Staff at City University. The aim is to pump these groups up to run some exciting and engaging events across this strange year. Each group will get £150 into their budgets and a set of pre-structured events to run for their members! These events will be related to your course or the industry you might hope to work in after University!  

There will be some groups formed out of existing societies, but we have some gaps to fill (see below). You will get support from the SU and University to host at least 1 event before the winter break and one in term 2. More events are great too!  

In a year where COVID-19 has ruined many of our plans, we felt we have nothing to lose and want to work with you as students to build these communities into strong and sustainable networks operating online and soon (fingers crossed) in person too! This is a pilot for this year which we will review before the start of next year to make sure it works for you!  

 

List of Academic Communities  

Pending!! Come Back soon!  

(We are in discussion with current societies about upgrading to become an academic community)  

If you are interested in starting an academic community please contact Nancy on Nancy.Turner@city.ac.uk.
 

We are looking to find students to start up Academic Communities in these areas: 

• Criminology 

• English 

• Journalism 

• Sociology 

• Media and Communication   

• Language and Communication 

• Nursing 

• Midwifery 

• Radiography 

• Engineering 

All you need is 3 people who would like to run the group, and to arrange a meeting with the SU to discuss any plans you have, how we can help you put on events and link you up with your staff support lead from the University.  

All of the Academic Communities will be given £150 to get them off the ground and will be selling membership for just £1 with a guaranteed 2 events minimum this year. 

  

OUR IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS: 

 It is important to note that we are trialling this project and welcome feedback from you throughout the work, we will hold forums and questionnaire later down the line.

2020/21:   

TERM ONE: 

• Launch pilot for Academic Communities. 
• SU will help existing academic societies transition to an Academic Community.  
• SU will identify courses currently missing an academic society and empower them to create an Academic community. 
• SU will identify a staff lead in each subject area and have these listed by the end of Winter Term. 
• SU will help to empower students to create virtual events and run training on how to run Zoom events for student leaders.   
• The SU will help all Academic Communities to run one event before the Winter Break. 

  

TERM TWO: 

• SU will help Academic Communities to run a second event. 
• SU will conduct feedback and review sessions on the pilot in February 2021 
• Identify student leaders to run newly created Academic Communities. 

TERM THREE: 

• Review the model and look to formalise the pilot by updating Bye-Laws, plan for sustainable funding models. 
• Build on the relationship between the department and Academic Communities. 
• Formalise a sponsorship agreement between the department and Academic Communities. 
• Conduct feedback and review sessions on pilot year in May. 

 2021/22:   

TERM ONE: 

• SU will implement any changes identified at the end of the pilot year review. 
• Membership pricing will change for September intake so it is free for students enrolled in the school to join their academic community (subject to sponsorship from University). 
• Each Academic Society will run at least one event before the Winter Break.

TERM TWO: 

• SU will run feedback and review sessions with each academic community. 
• Each Academic Society will run at least one event before the Spring Break.   

TERM THREE: 

• The two-year review will be organised and published to students. 

  

Proposed Membership Pricing Structure: 

Year One/Pilot Year 

New Members (Enrolled in any course): £1 

Existing members of the Society will transfer over to the new Academic Community.  

Year 2 and beyond: 

TBC