The university landscape is constantly changing and evolving, and student unions play a crucial role in shaping the experiences and opportunities available to students, as well as bridging the gap between student and university faculty. From providing an early platform for political experiences, to lending a helping hand when burdened with visa problems or the cost of living, these organisations take centre stage in creating positive change.
With over twenty years of experience working with students’ unions across the country, Alan Roberts, Partner at Counterculture, has utilised his talents on two exciting projects. The Membership Services Conference, now in its ninth year, is the largest professional services conference in the sector. From this, an exciting collaboration with Wonkhe was born – ‘The Membership Services Show’, a podcast dedicated to showcasing the impactful projects and initiatives within UK university students’ unions.
Alan explains the reasons behind this move; “We started the Membership Services Show podcast to capture peer to peer innovation and share case studies from students’ unions, as the annual conference only allows for a limited number of sessions each year. We wanted to provide more opportunities to share ideas and experiences beyond the single annual conference, which has around 80 sessions but needs to serve over 150 student unions. I do the podcast jointly with one of our corporate partners, Wonkhe, who focus on policy within Higher Education. My co-host Livia leads on their partnerships and our producer, Jim, is a long-standing respected policy voice and agitator in HE and SUs. Doing this together is quite the adventure!
I pretty much never left university after starting work there, first elected as President of Liverpool Hope SU and then, after my Masters at the University of Liverpool, I started my staff career in Liverpool Guild, working various roles and then moving over to NUS. I love the politics of the sector, I always loved – and still love – working across multiple unions and organisations. It’s both an easy sector to work in due to openness to new ideas, but also challenging due to its chaotic nature – I think you have to lean into that challenge though!
How do you select topics and guests for the episodes?
We select podcast topics and guests based on recommendations from their network within the sector, as well as keeping track of who we haven’t spoken to yet. Between my colleague Livia and I, we keep a running list of potential guests and topics. Good practices from students’ unions tend to promote themselves for features. We want to cover a mix of topics related to different staff roles like advocacy, governance, and student development to appeal to their target audience within students’ unions. On top of this we listen to what’s topical within the sector or what is coming over the horizon, so that we are providing useful information when it is needed.
Why do you think these topics are important for students’ unions to address?
These topics are important for students’ unions to address as all unions can improve, and no single union is perfect year on year. Sharing ideas helps different unions implement projects and initiatives over time as needed, rather than any one handbook dictating how to run a students’ union – although I get the irony of me saying that as we do a soft launch of the re-branded show, as “How to run a students’ union”. The ideas discussed in the podcast act as a currency that unions can draw from, when relevant to their context and needs. Addressing recurring issues in multiple ways also helps as students’ union structures and environments are constantly evolving.
How do you see the role of student unions evolving over the next five to ten years?
I see students’ unions evolving to better balance their charitable and membership roles over the next 5-10 years through more flexible structures that meet changing student needs. I think unions will improve at understanding their dual roles of being a service organisation for members and a democratic membership organisation. There have been declines in traditional engagement methods like clubs and bars, so unions need flexibility to engage students through decision making and services in new ways, as students now have less time, money and commitment for traditional involvement.
Student Unions have dominated the media in recent months, with challenges arising across many directions. What can you say about the challenges SU face today, and how can a consultancy service such as Counterculture help them overcome them?
There are several challenges currently being faced by students’ unions, such as rising costs of living, political demonstrations, and UK visa issues. However, these challenges regarding costs and political issues are broader social problems not specific to students’ unions. Counterculture can help students’ unions overcome challenges by assisting with approaches to effective student engagement, service design and governance. Specifically, Counterculture can help unions understand how to gather student insights, listen to student experiences and preferences, and draw together these insights with feasible actions or solutions given local and national contexts, rather than just pursuing populist demands. This helps unions make informed decisions that balance democracy with practical realities.
Can you share a memorable moment or favourite story from your podcast so far?
I think I can fondly recall some impromptu interviews I conducted abroad with guests using just my phone. While on Euro tours promoting the podcast, I have found myself in closed bars, frozen lakes and empty rooms (which were under construction) holding my phone and crossing my fingers in places like Denver Colorado, Ljubljana, Slovenia and Tampere, Finland. Sometimes you can hear my dodgy microphone, or someone loudly shout across a bar (in German) – I can’t always guarantee that the background chat isn’t NSFW! However, I love these more intimate interviews – it gives us something to laugh about, stresses the show’s long-suffering producer (sorry Jim!) and just adds a bit of humour and a more exotic vibe to often difficult topics.
The Membership Services Conference is hosted in Manchester over two days – the 14th & 15th August – and is co-delivered by NUS, Wonkhe, Counterculture and the Union at Manchester Met. With a wide range of speakers, from Students’ Union experts, sector colleagues and industry specialists from related industries, the conference welcomes new staff with a focus on skills and knowledge sharing, networking and training.
Topics range across several sectors; Student Opportunities and development; Advice, wellbeing and EDI; Campaigning and Influencing; Governance and Democracy; and Management and Support.
For more info on the conference & to book tickets: https://event.nusconnect.org.uk/nusevents/detail/615/1723590000000
To listen to the podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/7xyWZ1TA7BIN7ziEqzjWaE?si=49e02c2c05504729