KevinDonoghue

#1

PresidentFor USI

Solutionsand

Opportunities

As President Kevin will:• Make education an election issue.• Lobby TDs and political parties on educa-

tion issues throughout the year.• Oversee a concise and consistent media

campaign around free education.• Work with the VP Equality and Citizenship

to register students to vote in the run up to the budget and the general election.

• Ensure that the student voice is being heard locally and nationally.

• Provide comprehensive media and lob-bying training to student union officers.

As President Kevin will:• Chair the legislation working group and work with relevant officers to complete mandates.• Distribute information on relevant legislation and bills to SUs and their members.• Build contacts with committee members and chief whips to more effectively lobby for change.

As President Kevin will:• Establish the Student Housing Action Com-

mittee (SHAC).• Launch a country-wide rooms for study cam-

paign, targeting the pressure areas.• Outline a comprehensive plan for dealing

with the crisis in the short, medium and long term.

• Work with the VP Welfare on mental, physical and sexual health issues.

As President Kevin will:• Ensure adequate support is provided to

Students’ Unions before, during and after amalgamation.

• Work with relevant SUs, institutions and organisations on the TU Bill.

• Run a mergers working group for all insti-tutions, based on identifying and tackling issues raised by the merger practice.

6 Mergers and Technological Universities

With the onset of the first merged institutions likely in the coming twelve to twenty-four months two types of support will be needed. A national focus on issues such as legislation and quality assurance and a local focus on the amalgamation of the institutions.

3Kevin for President 2015

3 General ElectionIn many ways the work of the next officer board will revolve around this central event. With an “election” budget likely in October the government will leverage everything it can to ensure it remains in power for the next five years. As a result they will focus resources on areas they feel will generate the most support.

4 Legislation Working Group

There are a number of mandates on the policy book that require USI to either engage with various depart-ments in order to achieve change in legislation. In or-der to do this more effectively USI needs to engage more efficiently with the legislative process.

5 Accommodation & Welfare

Student accommodation has hit crisis point in some areas and is under significant pressure in others. USI needs to outline clear proposals in the short, medium and long term to alleviate this crisis. A student hous-ing committee is needed to adequately address the issues around accommodation across the country. Looking outward to our international counterparts is also necessary in this regard.

“Making Higher Education a General Election issue is crucial in the year ahead”

As President Kevin will:• Put in place a system for recording and detailing projects, campaigns and initiatives that USI en-

gage with each year.• Require all members of officer board to submit reports, for the records, of all campaigns we un-

dertake.• Engage in a comprehensive, independent review of our operations to ensure the strongest na-

tional union possible.

Institutional Memory and Organisational Performance

USI, like many unions, has struggled with institutional memory due to the nature of our term limits. While it is an issue we have recognised for a number of years it is not something we have dealt with adequately. USI needs to deal with this issue, keeping in mind the value of our democratic structure.

Furthermore, the organisation stands to improve itself with a comprehensive external review of how we oper-ate on a day to day and year to year basis.

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As President Kevin will:• Provide multiple opportunities for part-time officer training between June and September• Encourage part time officers to engage in national council, particularly those from the hosting

institution.• Introduce an all officer email to include part time officers.

Part Time OfficersThe current method of training part time officers is ineffective and difficult to deliver. Campaigns such as the one around the budget pose additional difficulties in providing adequate training for part time officers. We also need to be more aware of the commitments part-time officers have over the summer and during term time.

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4 Kevin for President 2015

“Proper grassroots engagment will require changing the way we support our members”

FinancesAt a time when SU budgets are being cut the cost of working with USI remains punitive for many Students’ Unions. There are ways in which to reduce the cost burden on unions while still delivering the high quali-ty service they deserve.

Reducing the cost of USI engagement will also al-low Students’ Unions to have a more well-resourced union on a local level. A list of simple, non-invasive actions will lead to an overall cost reduction for insti-tutions.

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As President Kevin will:• Strive to reduce the cost of participating in

National Council, the national day of action, congress and other events hosted by USI.

• Incentivise engagement in national cam-paigns by providing all necessary materials to participating colleges.

• Introduce video conferencing services to re-duce the cost and time of travelling to na-tional meetings.

• Devise a strategic plan, in conjunction with the commercial manager of USI to signifi-cantly reduce the cost of events such as SUT.

As President Kevin will:• Work with the VP EQ&C to execute a lobby of the Oireachtas on social issues.• Include suggested legislative amendments as part of this lobby.• Prioritise a student campaign on the 8th Amendment.• Continue the work undertaken by this year’s officer board on Women in Leadership.• Work with relevant organisations towards completing USI mandates.• Work with LGBT representative organisations such as TENI, BeLonG To and ShoutOut to deter-

mine how best the student movement can contribute to their campaigns.• Work with a broad range of other representative organisations on equality issues.

Social and Equality Issues

While the ME referendum is by no means won the campaign undertaken by USI in the coming weeks and months will demonstrate the value and power of the youth vote, particularly in the event of a Yes vote. We owe it to ourselves and to others to ensure that we capitalise on this elevated platform and to work on other equality issues. A successful campaign on the issue would be a huge step forward for Irish society. We cannot afford to rest on our laurels when it comes to equality issues.

Issues such as the lack of women in leadership, the 8th amendment and gender recognition need to be focused on in the coming years.

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Graduate Employability

While it is obviously necessary for USI to represent students while in college, we also have a duty to en-sure that they are best placed to face the world upon leaving college. This is already done through engag-ing with quality assurance and promoting meaningful student engagement. However we can do more in re-lation to graduate employability.

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As President Kevin will:• Work with SUs and career centres on cam-

puses to run career information days on campus.

• Hold a C.V. workshop at the student summit, run by companies offering jobs at the event.

• Host regional events on graduate employ-ability and worker rights throughout the year.

6 Kevin for President 2015

As President Kevin will:• Run a comprehensive campaign on workers’ rights in conjunction with graduate em-

ployability and enterprise events.• Include information on workers’ right focusing on part-time work, in the USI Fresh-

er’s bags.• Make USI policy on workers’ rights and Job Bridge a priority.

18 Employment and Worker’s rights

In line with work on social enterprise and graduate employability it is crucial for USI to ensure its members are aware of their rights in the workplace, be that part-time work during college or full-time after. We cannot ignore the exploitative nature of Job Bridge schemes or zero hour contracts and the effects they have on both students and graduates.

As President Kevin will:• Improve on this year’s activist acad-

emy.• Build a more inclusive and connected

network of activists in towns and cit-ies across the country.

• Encourage local and regional acade-mies.

16 ActivismActivism is a central and crucial part of what USI does. In light of evolving tactics USI needs more compre-hensive activist training to get the most from our ac-tivists so we can deliver more for our members. The return of activist academy this year was a welcome one and gives us an ideal platform on which to build.

As President Kevin will:• Run a national event called Student Solu-

tions to promote social entrepreneurship among students.

• Build a network for social entrepreneurs in college, through societies and on cam-pus support networks.

• Distribute information on social enter-prise supports throughout the country.

• Lobby relevant departments and organ-isations to increase funding in social en-terprise.

15 EntrepreneurshipThere is serious potential for engaging with entre-preneurship in the national organisation. We need a national event that focuses on the value of social entrepreneurship. This event should provide support and financial assistance to those involved. An event that benefits not only the participants but society in general is a significant opportunity for us.

As President Kevin will:• Work with the commercial manager

and SUs to devise a five year strategic plan for the student summit.

• Commit to a blended event that sup-ports graduate jobs opportunities and supports student enterprise.

• Introduce a competition called “Stu-dent Solutions” that will allow stu-dents to pursue social initiatives in enterprise.

17 Student SummitThe Student Summit has the potential to be a major yearly event for USI and its membership. The pro-gram designed by the current VP Welfare has seen the event improve significantly in just its second year. However we cannot rely on the interest of a handful of officers each year if we wish to maintain and im-prove this event.

7Kevin for President 2015

SolutionsandOpportunities

8 Kevin for President 2015

• Current USI Deputy President and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Quality Assurance.

• Chair of Education Working Group.

• Established USI’s first Legislation working group.

• Served as VP Border, Midlands and Western Region.

• Board member of Quality and Qualifications Ireland.

• Board member, National Forum for the enhancement of Teaching and Learning.

• Project leader on research retention project “why do students drop out of Higher Education?”

• A project leader on USI Fresher’s bags.

• Co-ordinated leaflet distribution for “Homes for Study” Campaign.

• Regional lead on USI’s “fed-up stand-up” campaign.

Some of Kevin’s Experience