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The University of Birmingham Guild of Students is the officially recognised body which represents over 25,000 students. In theory and practice, the Guild has almost complete autonomy in the running and management of its own affairs and premises. This includes the ability to employ staff, enter into contracts, hold investments and indeed form Limited Companies, as well as the running and management of their own facilities and the generation of income through sources other than the Block Grant.
The Institution had its first foundations in the Old Mason College in the City of Birmingham around 1876. The University itself formally received its Royal Charter in 1900. As a consequence both the Guild and the University officially celebrated their centenaries in the year 2000. The Guild possesses archives which go back to the First World War, clearly establishing a very long tradition of what we would refer to as "modern Students' Unionism". BUGS was a founding member of the National Union of Students.
The University has remained relatively untouched from the incorporation of Colleges in the 1980s and the more recent changes of Polytechnics into Universities, though over the last few years student numbers have more than doubled to the present level. The University is mostly a very large Campus to the south of the City in Edgbaston, with satellite sites including Selly Oak Campus in Selly Oak and the Dental School located in the City Centre close to the University of Aston.
The Guild of Students occupies the Union Building (often referred to as the Guild itself), situated at the edge of campus by the East Gate, for a peppercorn rent from the University. The building itself dates back to the 1920s and has been added to and amended, most significantly in the 1950s adding a south wing and again in the 1960s building a much larger west wing. At 10,000 square metres is one of the largest Student Union buildings in the UK.
The Guild - the same as a student union - is known differently because in the 1920s it was first to define itself as an organisation and not merely a student representative council (SRC). At the time, Guilds of skilled people and professionals were commonplace, while trades unions were generally for low paid workers. The University therefore decided to call it a Guild because of this and because it had less socialist connotations, which the upper class founders wished to discourage, instead choosing to reinforce a hierarchical system.
The Vision
The Guild's vision is:
- To lead the student experience and be at the heart of student life;
- To work within the student movement to create positive change in the student community;
- We will act with and for our students in all that we do.
The Core Message is: The University of Birmingham Guild of Students (Bugs) is the recognised students' union for over 28,000 students. Bugs represents and involves all students, under or postgraduate, home or international, on all campuses. Bugs brings students together on issues they care about to create positive change and achieve equality for and within its membership, through taking collective action.
Executive Officers
The Guild is run by an Executive Committee of sixteen, whose membership currently includes eight Sabbatical Officers. An executive review process which lasted for four years, which examined how the organisation is run and how the system could be changed for the better, was approved by Guild Council in January. It reduced the number of Executive Sabbatical and Executive Non-Sabbatical Officers to seven each and introduced an extra four non-sabbatical officers (known as Liberation Officers) who will not be trustees of the organisation. 16 of these officers were elected in March along with the new Warden.
The current executive officers are:
Hibatallah Allazawie was a Non-Portfolio Officer until she resigned in October, and was later replaced by Laura Sadler.
On the 11th of March the Returning Officer of the Guild of Students declared the results for the 2006/07 Executive Committee. The new Executive Officers, to take office on 1st August, will be:
- President - Gary Hughes
- Vice President (Academic Quality and Access)- Peter Mason
- Vice President (Finance and Services) - Sabrina Francis
- Vice President (Housing and Community) - Sally Hinchley
- Vice President (Sport) - Hannah Poulton
- Vice President (Student Activities and Development) - Ruth Wadsworth
- Vice President (Welfare) - Irene Michael
- Anti-Racism Anti-Fascism Officer - Philip Peters
- Community Action Officer - Ryan Giddings
- Ethical and Environmental Officer - Nick Bryer
- Home Students Officer - Laura Sadler
- International Students Officer - Oluwatomi Ashiru-Balogun
- Satellite Sites Officer - Hayden Cohen
The Liberation Officers will be:
- Black and Minority Ethnic Students Officer - Jennifer Larbie
- Disabled Students Officer - James Bowes
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Students Officer - Simon Howard
- Women's Officer - Naushabah Khan
The current Warden of the Guild is Michelle Alston. The newly elected Warden who will take up her post on 16th July is Ruth Holdaway.
Union Council
The Guild's sovereign body and Union Council is Guild Council, made up of elected councillors representing academic, student group and residence constituencies. Guild Council is facilitated by a team of Independent Chairs who are independent of the Executive, and also fulfil a number of functions which could be described as judicial. The Guild is a students' union for the purposes of the Education Act 1994.
The incumbent Independent Chairs are:
- Lucie Young
- Richard Charlton
- Jon Welch
During the first Joint Meeting of Guild Council on the 11th of May, the Independent Chairs for the academic year 2006/2007 were elected, they are:
- Richard Charlton
- Tom Hyner
- Laura Morris
Other information
The Guild of Students publishes a weekly newspaper called Redbrick, which is run independently of the executive committee. In 2006 a group of students established an alternative student newspaper and online discussion forum, The Radish. The Guild's radio station, BURN FM, broadcasts on 87.7FM twice-yearly and all year round on the Internet. GTV is the Guild's television production group. The major weekly student night is 'Fab N Fresh' every Saturday. Other popular events include Very Important Thursdays (VIT), society-themed evenings such as Society Sensation, those run by student groups such as RockSoc and irregular gigs and comedy evenings.
The Guild provides representation to all students at the University and campaigns to create on issues affecting students at a local and national level. This is achieved through regular meetings with University Senior Officers and representing individual students at academic appeals and discipline cases, as well as through lobbying Birmingham City Council, the Government and other bodies.
The Advice and Representation Centre (ARC) is a free service which provides or can direct students to impartial advice on all student welfare issues.
Commercially-run services include the Job Zone, a supermarket, a University-branded clothing outlet and three bars, which can hold events for up to 1860 people. The Guild also supports around 160 student groups and societies, actively promoting student involvement, volunteering and social participation.
During an annual reburbishment, two committee rooms will be renovated and dedicated to Rosa Parks and Baroness Amos, the first Black woman in the Government and a University of Birmingham Alumus.
The name "BUGS" originally came from the Birmingham University Guild of Students. The University then moved to a policy of insisting that the university must only be called "The University of Birmingham". Myth has it that Birmingham University, Alabama, USA had launched a lawsuit against the university, when it was a simple marketing decision. Still, the acronym of BUGS has remained.
Affiliations
- Aldwych Group
- British Universities Sports Association
- National Postgraduate Committee
- National Union of Students (NUS)
- West Midlands Area National Union of Students (WMANUS)
External links
"University of Birmingham Guild of Students"