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Student team help 果冻影院 score double whammy
11 July 2019
果冻影院 Accommodation took home two CUBO awards, from the ceremony that took place at Swansea University on 4 of July, as part of the annual CUBO conference.
The awards were presented to the Accommodation team for the Best Marketing Campaign, and Innovation in Student Experience categories.
果冻影院 Accommodation has been working with a team of students to make sure that the student voice remains at the core of all their initiatives 鈥� and the success of the winning initiatives was due to this approach, and the involvement of students in the decision making process.
Today we're talking to Pippa Vanderplank, who has just finished her final year studying Psychology at 果冻影院, about her experience of working with the 果冻影院 Accommodation team.
What's your role in 果冻影院 Accommodation?
Since August 2018, I've been the Marketing and Communications Officer in the Student Experience team. I am responsible for 果冻影院 Accommodation鈥檚 social media channels, support our Communications Manager in day to day communications work, and contribute to a range of larger individual projects.
How does the student team work alongside the 果冻影院 team?
Whenever student input would benefit decision making, be it financial or operational, the accommodation leadership team consults us. We also gather opinion and input from the wider student population, by running focus groups and surveys, to make sure a whole range of perspectives are taken into account.
What kind of projects have you been involved in?
Personally I鈥檝e been involved in the interior design of Astor College, our newly refurbished residence. I am also responsible for our social media channels, edit and write content for our website, and am currently planning a series of webinars.
However, our student team is formed of four students and each of us is heavily involved in different big projects. My other student colleagues have been leading the initiatives that won us the awards last Thursday; they created the website which offers advice to first year residents leaving 果冻影院 Halls, and led the complete rebranding of 21 Halls. There has been a great deal of positive change in terms of the听student听experience in 果冻影院 Halls from听when I lived in halls two years ago to where we are now.
What have you gained from working for 果冻影院 Accommodation?
I鈥檝e gained a lot of confidence from this role 鈥� from communicating with 果冻影院 senior management to public speaking. I鈥檝e been given a lot of responsibility and accountability, and a lot of support to succeed as well. Although I鈥檝e been lucky to have flexible working hours, this work has helped me with time management and multi-tasking 鈥� often I have 10 different tasks on the go.听 I鈥檝e also got to develop a wide network, both internally at 果冻影院, and externally from working with agencies and other stakeholders. Getting recognition for the Student Experience team's work in winning these awards is a great bonus, too!