The University of Manchester Students' Union is the representative body of students at the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
, England, and is the UK's largest students' union. It was formed out of the merger between UMIST Students' Association (USA) and University of Manchester Union (UMU) when the parent organisations (
UMIST
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...
and the
Victoria University of Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...
) merged on 1 October 2004.
It does not have a president, but is instead run by an 8-member executive team who share joint responsibility.
Governance and decision making
Executive Team
The current University of Manchester Students' Union Exec Team contains eight full-time
sabbatical officers
In the United Kingdom a sabbatical officer is a full-time officer elected by the members of a students' union (or similar body such as students' association, students' representative council or guild of students), commonly at a higher education es ...
. All have their own areas of responsibility, but share joint responsibility as trustees of the Students' Union. Any student can stand to be an elected member of the Exec Team in the student elections that take place in March. All students are eligible to vote in these elections on-line. The current roles are as follows:
* Activities and Development
* Liberation and Access
* Welfare and Community
* Postgraduate
* Education
* General Secretary
* International
* Women's
Facilities
Steve Biko Building
The Steve Biko Building (often referred to simply as the Biko Building, or Students' Union) is the Union's primary building and the home of its administrative offices. The building went under major redevelopment in 2012 which included a renovation of the foyer and meeting rooms, the addition of the new Café and the introduction of a new store and sandwich shop. The building also contains a hairdressers and a print shop. The building is named after anti-
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
activist
Steve Biko
Bantu Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known ...
.
In October 2012, the university announced that it would be awarding £4 million to the Students' Union in order to make further building improvements. This is likely to involve the construction of another floor on the Steve Biko building and should be completed by 2018.
Barnes Wallis Building
The Barnes Wallis Building, named after
Barnes Wallis
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (26 September 1887 – 30 October 1979) was an English engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise (the "Dambusters" raid) to attack ...
, is situated on the former
UMIST
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...
Campus (now North Campus). It originally contained the offices for the UMIST Students'Association. Unlike in the Biko building, the Students' Union does not occupy the whole building but has facilities on the ground floor. In 2013, the Union withdrew from these premises as part of the University of Manchester's Campus Masterplan.
Manchester Academy
Manchester Academy refers to the University of Manchester Students' Union's four concert venues. They are situated on Oxford Road both within and adjacent to the Biko building. "Manchester Academy" was originally the name of the largest of these venues (see picture), but became an umbrella term for both itself and the Union's other venues in 2003. It has hosted such big names as Ian Brown, Muse, Prince, Kylie Minogue, The Stranglers, Super Furry Animals, Deftones, Pink Floyd, The Cure, The Coral, Blur, Oasis, George Clinton, Nirvana, Manic Street Preachers, The Libertines, The Ramones, Billy Talent, Fightstar, Lost Prophets, Babyshambles, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Supergrass, It Bites and Death Cab for Cutie.
Student activities
There are many student-run activities which involve thousands of students in various roles including media, community volunteering fundraising for charity and over 250 societies.
Pangaea Festival
University of Manchester Students' Union is notable for regularly organising and hosting what is reportedly the largest student-led festival in Europe. This is a triannual event where approximately 6000 students are invited to the Students' Union to enjoy a multi-venue music and arts night utilising rooms throughout the Steve Biko Building and the adjacent Manchester Academy 1 building, to mark the end of most University of Manchester undergraduate exams and a special "Freshers" edition in September.
The Mancunion
''The Mancunion'' is the University of Manchester's Students' Union's newspaper. It is distributed across the city and has a readership of 20,000. The current Editor-in-chief is Charlie Spargo, the Deputy Editor-in-chief is Marcus Johns, and it has an Editorial Team of around 30 volunteers. The paper has widespread circulation within the Greater Manchester student community and it is believed to have the largest circulation of a student paper in the United Kingdom.
Student Action
Student Action is a community volunteering project that sends student volunteers out to work in the local community. In 2010, there were over 2500 active volunteers working anything from 20 to 300 hours over the year.
Manchester RAG
Manchester RAG is the official fundraising arm of the University of Manchester Students' Union. It is responsible for helping facilitate the fundraising activities of all students in Manchester, and in doing so promoting the personal development of students. Last year Manchester RAG helped University of Manchester students raise £190,000 for a variety of charities, ranging from small community based charities in the North West, to large international development organisations. The vast majority of funds raised come from the many events that Manchester RAG organise throughout the year. Popular events include Jailbreak, a sponsored hitch where participants have to get as far away from Manchester without spending a penny in 30 hours, Bogle, a 55-mile walk around greater Manchester, and Beerfest, a three-day student run beer festival which attracts over 1500 students annually. RAG also runs many "challenge" events such as sponsored expeditions to Mt Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp and the Great Wall of China. All fundraising is conducted by hundreds of student volunteers, and the organisation of RAG is run primarily by a committee of students who volunteer their time in addition to their studies.
Fuse FM
Fuse FM
Fuse FM is a student radio station covering the campuses of the University of Manchester, England, UK, broadcasting throughout the university term online via the station's website from the University of Manchester Students' Union.
Like most stude ...
is University of Manchester Students' Union radio station. The Student Union Executive accepted the a proposal to create the station in July 2000 and work began on creating a base for the station, which was originally called MintFM. Space in the Union basement was originally converted into a fully functioning broadcast studio and production suite. Fuse FM went on air for the first time on 15 February 2001 at 06:00, broadcasting on 106.2 FM as well as via internet streaming. Since 2003, Fuse FM has broadcast for four weeks in each academic semester. Fuse Fm was briefly denied its Spring 2008 licence to broadcast, due to the startup of community radio station RockTalk. However RockTalk collapsed in late 2007 and Ofcom granted a licence for FuseFM's 16th Broadcast.
In September 2011, Fuse FM went online only broadcasting throughout the university term time. And on 29 April 2012 began broadcasting from new state of the art studios on the first floor of the Steve Biko building after generous funding from the Manchester Learning Enrichment Fund and donation of equipment from the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
.
Fuse has a history of high quality student broadcasting and its DJs have won awards in the past three
National Student Radio Awards. In 2007 Becca Day-Preston won the Bronze Prize for Female Presenter of the Year, Andrew Jackson won Male Presenter of the Year in 2006, while Minnie Stephenson claimed the Female Presenter of the Year award in 2005.
Societies
There are many clubs and societies operating within the Union and the university. Common areas include sports, hobbies, politics and religion. Sports societies are not operated by the Union but rather by the university itself through the
Athletics Union
An athletic union or athletics union (AU) usually refers to the group of student sports clubs within a university or other institute of higher education, in the United Kingdom.
General information
Sports clubs affiliate to their athletic union fo ...
. There are several fairs during the freshers period in which various clubs and societies promote themselves.
There are a wide range of religious societies and places of worship within the university. A religions fair is held too, where information is distributed about the different societies. There are large
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
,
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
,
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
ish,
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
,
Sikh
Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
,
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and
Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
societies, which hold regular events and meetings.
Most of the large subjects have their own society, which generally represents the interests of students in that subject as well as offering advice and support to students and arranging socials. Examples include the BA Econ Society, the History Society and Faculty of Life Sciences Society.
The university also has a strong Drama tradition and former students include
Meera Syal
Meera Syal FRSL (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is a English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, ...
,
Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series ''The Young Ones (TV s ...
,
Rik Mayall
Richard Michael Mayall (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English actor, stand-up comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Ade Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University and was a pioneer of alternative ...
and
Ben Elton
Benjamin Charles Elton (born 3 May 1959) is an English comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. He was a part of London's alternative comedy movement of the 1980s and became a writer on the sitcoms '' The Young Ones'' and ''Bla ...
. The Drama Society holds a yearly drama festival, involving 13 plays in five theatres and over 120 students, as well as coordinating several independent student-run productions. The Fringe Society in 2006 took twelve plays and over 70 students to the Edinburgh Fringe festival under the company name "Johnny Miller Presents". The company was awarded a ThreeWeeks Editors' Award, which honours the most talked about and exciting people and companies at the festival.
Other academic societies combine leisure and learning to create events and to build a community of members interested in particular areas or subjects. These are the Molecular Networks Society, the UKSEDS Society, the Consulting Society, or th
Astrobiology Society to mention a few. In February 2021, the latter put together a panel of experts in Astrobiology for the event "Universal Dialogues", one of the biggest online events in the history of the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
, with over 700 attendees from all over the world.
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...
,
Didier Queloz
Didier Patrick Queloz (; born 23 February 1966) is a Swiss astronomer. He is the Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, where he is also a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, as well as a professor at the ...
,
Carol Cleland
Carol Edith Cleland (born 1948) is an American philosopher of science known for her work on the definition of life and the shadow biosphere, on the classification of minerals by their geological history, on the distinction between historical and ...
, David Duner,
Philip Ball
Philip Ball (born 1962) is a British science writer. For over twenty years he has been an editor of the journal ''Nature'' for which he continues to write regularly. He now writes a regular column in '' Chemistry World''. He has contributed to ...
and
Richard J. Roberts
Sir Richard John Roberts (born 6 September 1943) is a British biochemist and molecular biology, molecular biologist. He was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Phillip Allen Sharp for the discovery of introns in eukaryo ...
discussed together topics such as the definition and meaning of life, whether we are alone in the universe or not, or the social and cultural implications of encountering an extraterrestrial civilisation. The Astrobiology Society, founded just in August 2020, received in June 2021 the 'Society of the Year 2021 Award' from the UoM Students' Union, acknowledging all the work donde by its
committee members and the achievements made over the year.
Notable campaigns and issues
Twinning with a Palestinian University
University of Manchester Students' Union is twinned with
An Najah University, Nablus, Palestine. A motion to enact the twinning was passed in a General Meeting in March 2007. The meeting was attended by over 600 students and the motion was passed by a majority of over 50 votes
In November 2007 a motion was proposed in the general meeting. It resolved to freeze the University of Manchester students' Union's association with Al Najah University whilst awaiting a statement "denouncing terror and disassociating it from all terrorist organisations".
An-Najah responded to the motion with a full statement written by the Right to Education campaign. An-Najah rejected the motion and all the accusations: "Neither the University nor its Student Council is a terrorist organisation, and the implication that they are is insulting." They added that the motion is: "defamatory because it repeatedly implies that ANU and its Student Council promotes, facilitates or has links with terrorism."
An amendment was put forward by the "protect our twinning campaign". The amendment resolved to accept the invitation made by An-Najah University for an olive tree from the university to be planted on campus at Manchester as a gesture of peace and as a symbol of life, rather than requiring An Najah to accept the statement denouncing terrorism.
This amendment passed with almost a two-thirds majority of the attendance of over 1100 students.
The twinning would have ended in March 2010, in accordance with University of Manchester Students' Union Bye-Laws; however the sign was renewed by a decision of the executive team and remained. In October 2014, a motion was brought to the Students' Union to renew the sign and the twinning motion for an additional 3 years, and the idea went to referendum. Votes were 693 in favor and 204 against. However, a legal challenge was brought to the Students' Union about the nature of the twinning motion and the sign itself, and the Students' Union responded by removing the large sign in March 2015.
History
A students' union and refectory building existed at Owens College on the site afterwards used for the Christie Library (1898). A larger union and refectory building was built in 1909 on Burlington Street. Both these buildings were adjoined by a gymnasium. The union and refectory building was enlarged in 1936 but the union moved to the new union building built at 242–256 Oxford Road by J. S. Beaumont from 1953 to 1956. In 1960-65 the same architect was responsible for a new refectory and staff house on the Burlington Street site (a building which included the Moberly Tower hall of residence).
[Hartwell, Clare (2001) ''Manchester''. London: Penguin Books; pp. 118 & 119]
Famous former officers
*
Daniel Brennan, Baron Brennan
Daniel Joseph Brennan, Baron Brennan, (born 19 March 1942) is a British life peer and barrister.
Early life and background
Brennan was educated at St. Bede's Grammar School, Bradford, and graduated with a Bachelor of Law degree from Manch ...
(President 1964–65)
*
Anna Ford
Anna Ford (born 2 October 1943) is an English former journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She first worked as a researcher, news reporter and later newsreader for Granada Television, ITN, and the BBC. Ford helped launch the British ...
(President 1966–67) - Anna Ford was the first female President of UMU in 1966-67 and, on recommendation of the Students' Union became Chancellor of The
Victoria University of Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...
on 16 December 2001. Upon the merger with
UMIST
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...
she became the co-chancellor of the new
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
.
*
Liam Byrne
Liam Dominic Byrne (born 2 October 1970) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Hodge Hill since 2004. A member of the Labour Party, he served in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Cabinet from 2008 to 20 ...
(Communications Officer 1992–93) - (former Chief Secretary to the Treasury)
*
Jeff Smith MP (Entertainments Officer 1984–85) - (Member of Parliament)
References
Further reading
*"Reports from the men's union, the women's union and the College of Technology union"; by N. C., E. D. & I. B. in: ''The Journal of the University of Manchester''. 1 (3) 1939: 77–79.
External links
University of Manchester Students' Union websiteManchester Debating Union
{{DEFAULTSORT:University Of Manchester Students' Union
Manchester University Students' Union
University of Manchester