The Students' Union is proud to announce that we have received a Bronze Award from the Student Union Evaluation Initiative (SUEI) in recognition of improved services and activities for you, our students. The assessment panel for SUEI, a national programme in partnership with NUS, said of UBU that it had brought about ‘transformational change’ within the organisation during 2010-12.

SUEI assesses Students’ Unions against a range of categories including representation, vision, participation, targets and impact. 

UBU’s elected President Paul Charlton said:
“Thanks to the hard work of everyone involved here at UBU, our students can look forward to seeing their Union, and the services that we provide, grow from strength to strength. We believe that Bristol students deserve a world class Union that facilitates a world class student experience. It is fantastic to hear that we are on track to become one of the very best!”

SUEI’s assessment panel on UBU’s achievement:
“The Sabbatical Officers, Chief Executive and staff are to be congratulated on turning around an organisation which was failing and in severe financial difficulties. They have used the SUEI matrix as a basis for transformational change and this is despite being in the middle of a very disruptive and long building refurbishment. The plans for the new building are exciting and will help enormously with the impact on the student experience. This high level of investment is a good sign that the University has confidence in the Union.”

UBU’s Chief Executive Samantha Budd was delighted by the result:
“This award represents a significant milestone on the road of improvement that UBU has been travelling along over the last 2 years. We are working extremely hard to develop the type of organisation and services that we know our members want and we believe that this, combined with the £30 million pound investment in refurbishing the building, will deliver a students' union that we can all be very proud of.”

The assessment included interviews with students who are and are not currently involved with UBU and with University and UBU staff. The accreditation panel was made up of senior staff from the HE sector and NUS. The SUEI framework was run in conjunction with UBU’s organisational development, business planning and target setting against which staff and officers have been working hard to achieve.

Well done to everyone at UBU for this fantastic achievement!