UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Sport and Wellness – Dual Assurance Meeting
Friday 12th June 2015 in the Training Room, Sports Park
Present:
Apologies:
Minutes:
1.
Phil Attwell (interim Chair) (PA)
Nicholas Bull (NB)
Alison Davidson (AD)
Andy Higham (AH)
Roger Auster (RA)
Jack Bristow (JB)
Rob Gofton ( RG)
Amanda Chetwind -Cowieson
Rachael Cameron
Welcome and introductions
With Geoff’s retirement, Jacqui Marshall as interim COO has asked that Phil Attwell
lead the Sport and Wellness Dual Assurance on her behalf until the new
Registrar/COO is appointed.
Jack Bristow, incoming AU President, was welcomed to the meeting. Apologies
were noted from Amanda Chetwind-Cowieson, the incoming FXU President
Student Experience 2015/16.
2.
Notes of Dual Engagement Meeting 27th February 2015
The notes of the meeting were agreed as accurate record.
3.
Matters Arising
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Staff usage of Sports Park gym
Staff membership levels of around have remained static at 443 but their usage has
increased from 10000 to 13000 visits.
The Wellbeing ambassador Sally Gunnell is coming to the forthcoming staff
festival. The Wellbeing action plan has been recently launched. Work is to be done
to get more staff active and not necessarily solely within sports park/gym. The
recent Wellbeing summit looked at barriers and challenges across all departments
of the institution and the Guild. It was agreed to compare data with other institutions
such as Surrey, Durham, Bristol and Bath who would provide a reasonable cross
section. Action: AD
•
4.
AD is attending the Alumni Network Group meeting on 04 July.
Report from the Athletic Union President
AH expanded on his report highlighting the current (and not final) BUCS position of
6th, nine points before 4th.
A new Memorandum of Understanding has been agreed between the AU and the
Student Guild.
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AH explained the considerable work undertaken to train club captains and social
secretaries. This followed on from previous anti-social behaviour problems which
all parties were keen to address. An organisation called Good Lad had been
brought in to deliver training with male and female groups around alcohol coercion
and anti-social behaviour. Although not all incoming committee members or social
secretaries had attended there would be further training opportunities in
September. JB will be working with AD and Charlotte Raymont on this. PA
suggested that only those who have attended training be eligible to be committee
members. However it was felt that there can be some turnover during the year and
training can also ‘rub off’ on peers. The training is compulsory for some of the
bigger clubs.
The AU Colours and Awards event was very successful. However as it was held
during the day this had restricted attendance so will be held in the evening next
year.
AH was thanked for his report and for his valued input and leadership during his
term of office.
5.
Report from the President Student Experience
RA highlighted items from his report that had been circulated.
RA tabled plans of the sports centre together with an artist’s impression of the
exterior. This will be a joint build with the new childcare facility. This is due to be
handed over in July 2016 and be ready for opening Sept 2016.
RA highlighted the need for sports pitches as currently this necessitated transport
to reach hired pitches. He advised that 11 clubs would benefit from a university
owned site.
RA was pleased to report that antisocial behaviour was not an issue but the matter
would be included at the Committee Conference the day before Fresher’s Fayre.
The conference would include talks from the police community support officer. AD
explained how effective joint working had been this year across the campuses
driven by AH and RA. For example, Cornwall colleagues had travelled to Exeter for
committee training with lots of cross working over the past 12 months driven by AH
and RA, supported by AD and Hanna Royle.
The BUCS position is 108 and with the ambition to finish in top 100 next year.
At Penryn, the uptake for team photographs was poor. NB is keen to see team
photographs on display in the new sports facility.
Merchandise will be available in the new FXU shop.
RA was thanked for his report and for his valued input and leadership during his
term of office.
6.
Report from the Director of Sport
AD reported that sport is forecast to deliver on its targets and that the 5 year
plans have been approved. The Voluntary Severance scheme and restructure
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had led to a reallocation of resources. This had been a significant period of
change but staff now settling down.
Membership numbers are exceeding targets with 50 clubs now.
Regarding alumni support, AD is looking to formalise targets and measuring
numbers of known alumni giving via DARO. It is felt that only 2000 alumni are
giving regularly but if their allegiance and passion is harnessed this could lead to
maintaining engagement and regular giving. An intern is being brought in to work
on improving the website.
It was noted that Cornwall has weaker links with their Alumni. The CSM match
alternates between London and Cornwall each year and would be a great
opportunity to engage with London based alumni.
The meeting discussed Global 100 and where Sport can contribute to that agenda
e.g. Wellbeing and employability skills, and how the contribution can be
evidenced. It was felt there is a need to pitch sport more centrally including with
PGT student recruitment and working with academic colleagues to use research
projects to drive the sports agenda. It was suggested that looking at non-US top
100 institutions and how they manage wellbeing and high performance would be
worthwhile.
The process for finalising scholarships was discussed; this is undertaken once
students have secured and accepted their place at the university. Currently
scholarships are based on the recommendations of coaches and although
working with admissions team it was felt that there is potential to soften offers at
an earlier stage whilst maintaining a degree of scrutiny. It was agreed this would
be explored further to secure talent at an early stage in the admissions cycle.
Action: PA and AD.
7.
Alcohol and behaviour
There had been some issues at the start of the academic year and several
sessions had been held on student conduct to reflect and learn from past events.
In Exeter, all AU disciplinary processes have been reviewed and will now follow the
University disciplinary procedures. All student clubs must meet with the AU and
register any formal social event (mainly Christmas, first three weeks of term, end of
season events). The meetings are documented and clubs receive those notes to
avoid any ambiguity.
Regarding last year’s problems referred to in the AU Presidents report above, it
was noted that some perpetrators had been subject to minor disciplinary
procedures via central university. One club was subject to a major disciplinary and
one resulting action was compulsory attendance on the Goodlad training. Other
sanctions included fines and written apologies. The sanctions had not been
publicised but if the subject of a major disciplinary, then certain key individuals are
notified including tutors.
The meeting was pleased to learn that the implications of any antisocial behaviour
had been made very clear at the recent committee training and potential sanctions
could include withdrawal from BUCS. The matter of anti-social behaviour was
being proactively managed. Such behaviour is not isolated to Exeter and had also
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been widely discussed at AU Presidents meetings and BUCS SMT. It was felt that
much had been done to avoid any reoccurrence in the autumn term.
The Goodlad training had been tailored to the specific needs in Exeter. The group
discussed whether addressing antisocial behaviour could be undertaken at
secondary schools before arrival at University.
RA had provided two papers on the subject and reported little antisocial behaviour
with no major incidents this academic year. NB queried whether procedures are
observed such a logging those travelling. It was confirmed that clubs are audited
throughout the year. RG cited the strong level of trust between the staff team and
clubs with clubs even granting access to their Facebook sites which enables
horizon scanning. It was noted this may not work elsewhere and could divert clubs
to other media. The intimate campus at Penryn enabled regular face to face
discussions which may not be workable due to numbers of clubs elsewhere.
The culture appears different in Cornwall with an off campus community where any
inappropriate behaviour would be common knowledge locally very quickly and this
seems to act as a deterrent.
8.
AOB
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Future requirements were discussed:
The potential to extend the Topsham pavilion via alumni funding is being explored
with the drawings already drafted. It was felt that two additional 3G pitches are
required; one Topsham and ideally in Cornwall. The Russell Seal centre is not at
capacity. The Athlete Development centre has capacity for overspill.
If family centre at Streatham relocates it would be expensive to develop that
particular site due to slope.
The indoor sports hall space is operating at capacity. Some teams currently train
elsewhere. The sports hall floor has required remedial work and there are ongoing
concerns about its longevity.
The University is trying to secure access for clubs to the proposed Exeter 8 lane
swimming pool with moveable floor. The completion date is anticipated for 2018. It
was noted the other pools across the city are likely to close so the overall capacity
of the city will reduce. The St Luke’s pool will require capital spending.
A rolling 3 year review with robust criteria of all sports has been established. This
had led to the withdrawal of badminton, rugby league and cycling and leaves 9 high
performance sports. The focus will be on the return on resource and supporting
limited numbers well rather than diversifying too much.
9.
Date of next meeting
Friday 2nd October 2015, 1500 to 1630 at the Sports Park, Streatham campus.
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