Glasgow University Students Representative Council

After a long period of consultation with students, the Gilchrist Postgraduate Club opened its doors in October 2012. The space is managed by GUSRC and represents considerable investment by the University in ensuring postgraduates have a unique and dedicated space on campus in which they can study, socialise and relax. The club forms a central part in GUSRC’s aspirations to develop and engage with the postgraduate community at Glasgow.

The opening of the new Welcome Point in November 2012 represented the culmination of several years planning and has provided GUSRC with an opportunity to heighten its profile through a more prominent and prestigious reception area. Students, visitors and staff all benefit from the information services offered by the Welcome Point by a knowledgeable team of student employees.

On the theme of spaces, 2012/13 saw the beginning of the consultation process on extending the Glasgow University campus to the Western Infirmary site. GUSRC officers regularly met with the Head of Estates to discuss the consultation strategy and were able to secure a place on the new Advisory Board for the campus development. The year saw a campus wide survey take place, allowing students to make their views heard, as well as a consultation and information event taking place in the Welcome Point. GUSRC will continue to work closely with the university as the Western Infirmary site plans are developed.

This year also saw significant changes to the operational structure of GUSRC, with the biggest change being made to the roles of the sabbatical officers. Following an independent review into the sabbatical roles, GUSRC created the new post of Vice-President (Student Activities) to increase our focus on graduate attributes development and oversee such activities as student volunteering, Freshers’ week, student media and fundraising. This was also the second year with a new GUSRC Council structure reflecting the University’s own change from faculties to colleges and schools. The new GUSRC structure has ‘bedded in’ and enabled considerable improvement in our internal communications and representation activity.

GUSRC is most of all, a representative campaigning organisation and we are proud of our work in this area over the year. Our year started with a successful, high profile campaign to save the Wolfson Medical Library from a proposed 64% cut in its opening hours, and ended with the announcement by Scottish Water that they were backing down on their proposals to begin charging student halls of residence for their water use; an issue on which we had campaigned vigorously, enlisting the support of MSPs across Scotland.

This is only a small taste of the many things that took place over 2012/13. We hope you enjoy finding out more in these pages and appreciate the central role that GUSRC plays at the University of Glasgow.

Read Online

You can read a copy of the annual report over at issuu.com.

Download the Report

Alternatively you can also download the GUSRC Annual Report 2012/13.