Your Big Ideas

Your Big Ideas

Do you have an Idea about how to make the Students’ Union, University or the wider community better for students?

Your Big Ideas are a great way to make meaningful change on campus. Submit your Idea online and share with your friends and course mates. If your Big Idea achieves 50 or more votes in favour after 28 days, it will be taken forward; either to an appropriate meeting such as Students’ Council or by meeting with the appropriate person(s) to help make your idea a reality. If a Big Idea gets approval at Students’ Council, it will become Students’ Union policy and we will work with you on making it happen!

To submit an Idea or vote on any of the current Big Ideas below, you must be logged in using your UCLan student login. Once logged in, the option to submit will appear and to vote, just click the thumbs up or down button - depending on your opinion! 

Previous Big Ideas-turned reality have included free period provisions on campus, an extension to the academic calendar and free disability screening.

Anyone can submit a Big Idea. It’s an easy way to change the lives of students!

Big Ideas Top Tips

  1. Identify the issue you want to solve.
  2. Do your research and talk to others. Staff and Elected Officers can help you prepare to launch or promote your Big Idea.
  3. Plan what you think should be done to solve the issue and decide how you'll know when it’s fixed.
  4. Submit a Big Idea! Go change Students’ lives.

 

Need some help submitting Your Big Idea? Follow the steps on our how-to video here

Got a question? Get in touch at yourunion@uclan.ac.uk.

Back to list
  • 49 score
    51 Voters

    Stop Making Us Ask

    Submitted 3 years ago by Melanie Kennedy-Diver
    Expired
      5comments
      Democracy is something which should be able to be accessed by all members of a society – and this applies to democracy on all levels, including university student union elections. We, just as you, have a right to access materials to choose candidates who we believe will represent our interests. We are not only disabled people or people with disabilities, but we are also women, men, BAME, LGBTQ+, we are as intersectional as you, and we deserve to be able to vote for the people who best represent us. Several disabled students have come forward to say that they have had to campaign for candidates to make their material accessible during student elections. It has been brought to our attention that candidates do not have complusory inclusivity training before they campaign, and this is a failure the union and university needs to address. Our Big Idea proposes the following: - When applying to be a candidate for student elections, people should be signed up to a small module about creating inclusive materials. - The candidate will need to complete a small quiz to prove that they have accessed all the materials. - Workshops (potentially working in collaboration with the Disabled Students’ Society) about how to make materials accessible. Democracy should represent everyone equally – and until these issues are addressed, the student union will not be a representation of the true diversity of student voices.
    Dean Kamitsis
    3:42pm on 7 Apr 21 For the folks coming here after seeing this big idea - make sure you click the tiny thumbs up icon next to the current number of votes on the left hand side of the idea.
    Hajerah Isap
    11:07pm on 8 Apr 21 You have my unconditional support??
    Alana-Jade Cooper
    2pm on 13 Apr 21 Previously, the technology to be able to provide a transcription/captioning service for candidates to be able to make their materials accessible was not available without a hefty pricetag being attached to it, or it taking hours of manual labour to caption a 2 minute video. Now, with the arrival of Adobes Speech to Text Automated transcription/captioning plug-in, I can help ensure that candidates are either trained on how to use the software (allow them access to a computer that has the software at Pulse TV) or I can transcribe and caption the materials myself if the candidate has difficulty in doing so themselves. It was never that the SU were not trying to be diverse and inclusive, it was that the technology was not readily available to anyone until this last few weeks.
    Melanie Kennedy-Diver
    4:02pm on 13 Apr 21 It's great to hear that the technology is now available, so we're happy you're supporting our request. Thank you for your support!
    Carter Pullan
    9:22pm on 14 Apr 21 This is really an amazing idea, voting should always be accessible to everyone

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