University isn’t just about classes and hard work. You can get so much more out of your university experience if you’re a member of clubs and societies. Although you may not be able to meet up in large groups at the moment, you can still join in and get to know people online. We caught up with Students Association Harry Walters to tell us more about his role with clubs societies and communications at ULaw.
By Cara Fielder. Published 21 September 2020. Last updated 21 September 2020.
I’m passionate about working with students and helping them enjoy their time at university outside of the classroom, which to me is just as important as in the classroom. I was previously an elected officer at my university’s students’ union. I worked very closely with the clubs and societies there to put on events, grow their membership and find ways of working with one another. I enjoyed that experience and wanted to continue working with students when my term in office ended.
University is the time in people’s lives where they can carve out their independence. It can be a tough time and I would like to be there for our students to make that experience a better one.
A normal day for me doesn’t really exist in my role at ULaw as every day is different. Often, I’m travelling to one of our campuses to meet with students and staff to understand what’s going on at that campus and ensuring that the student experience is as good as it can be.
I’m regularly communicating with our clubs and societies about their activities or new ones being set-up. We encourage students to create clubs and societies all year round. We see a lot of students coming to us with new ideas for these student-led groups.
We have several ways to represent students at The University of Law. We have our network of student representatives known as our campus vice-presidents. In this role, we have one student for each campus to be the main conduit to gather feedback from students on campus and report back to us in our student parliament meetings. Parliament is where all our reps come together and share feedback to solve any problems on campus and to share best practice.
We also have our liberation representatives. These are our BAME, LGBT+, Students with Disabilities and Women’s officers. They represent each of these groups that our students fall in to. Same as the campus vice-president roles, they gather feedback and talk to students in these groups to ensure that their voices are heard and their needs are met on campus.
In my role, I support all of our clubs and societies alongside each student services team on campus. Together we help our student-led groups put on events, reach out to new members and offer exciting opportunities for our students on campus.
Clubs and societies offer students the opportunity for leadership if they want to start a group and also by being on the committee of a club or society. They have the freedom to create events for them and their members. They can learn all sorts of skills in these leadership roles such as, communication, team working, leadership, identifying the strengths of your teammates and knowing where best to use their skills.
Students who join our clubs and societies have the opportunity to meet new students outside of the classroom. To me, this is critical in forming friendships, relieving stress and feeling part of the university community. These groups are entirely student-led, which is an excellent opportunity for students to work together to leave their mark on The University of Law.
If any student wants to know more about clubs and societies on their campus and doesn’t know where to go, their first port of call should be the Student Association website https://studentassociation.law.ac.uk/
You can use this to see what clubs and societies are on your campus and how to get in contact with them and be able to join up right there and then. If you’re feeling more ambitious and have the next amazing club or society in mind, you can create your own via the website too. You’ll need to have at least two other students on-board to set the society up and once you have completed the simple process to get started, you will be able to create your events and get connected to students on campus.
With the range of campuses we have, there is no shortage of ideas for clubs and societies coming from our students. It’s fantastic to see so many people working together to provide student-led activities on campus. When there are two societies that are the same on different campus, that just means that those students can work together create bigger networks which can only benefit all of the students involved.
I really enjoy working with my team in the Student Association executive. Everyone in the team is there to support students and they believe they are the best people to help every single ULaw student in their university experience.
The key bit of advice I’d give to any of our students is what I told myself back when I started university – and that is just to get involved. Find something you like the sound of that will put you in touch with fellow students. Meeting new people is a crucial part of life and offers so many rewards, so just get out there and do it.
We are aiming to improve our representative structure and ensure that every student can be heard. Representing students is at the core of what we do in the Student Association. We will always be looking at how we do that, thinking about it critically and working out how it can be improved.
Want to get involved? Read more about our Student Association.
