Thursday 03-02-2022 - 09:31

Chester Students' Union launch new society era!

Here at Chester Students’ Union, a whole new society era is about to be launched! From September 2019, we have decided to make all our of society memberships free of charge. As a Union, we feel now more than ever a sense of belonging is what really improves the student experience and we want to follow the research that suggest student groups are an influential factor which improve overall student wellbeing.

Prior to the 2019/20 year, society membership ranged between £2 and £30 depending on which society students joined. In terms of funding this change, the Union are launching a grant application scheme whereby societies can apply for funding through an application pack. We hope by doing an application process for funds will enable our committee members to really think about the necessities they need to run a society well and will prepare them with adequate budgeting and financial skills they can transfer into the working world. 

Making our societies available and affordable to all is eliminate participation barriers and will hopefully build on a relationship between the Union and societies even further. Newly elected VP Activities, Rio Hall stated “I can’t wait for the year ahead to be VP Activities at Chester Students’ Union. Societies are fantastic student networks and are a great way to make friends during University. We hope now society membership is free, we can build on our membership numbers and see more engagement from societies as a community. We want any University of Chester student to feel like they belong in a society and I think this is going to be the year we witness our societies flourish!”

From initially launching the news to students we’ve received amazing feedback and they are looking forward to hearing all about the changes how the changes can positively impact them at our Committee Training Programme prior to Freshers’ Week. We’re looking to see how the 2019/20 year goes!