Clubs & Societies

Clubs are the Union’s biggest strength. Compared to other Union’s, Imperial College Union has one of the greatest number of clubs in the UK and also one of the highest participation rates. Due to the sheer number and variety of them these clubs all have different wants and needs from the Union in terms of support and training. A large, well-established club with several hundred members will have different needs from one of the smaller, quirkier ones.
The majority of the larger clubs want minimal interference from sabbatical officers but at the same time would like to know that there is someone there to support them should anything go wrong whilst smaller, newer clubs look for a bit more help. Speaking as a Club Chair I would attribute this difference to my experience that the best training I received was not at the “formal” training but was passed down to me by the previous Chair. Club officer training needs to be a bit more flexible and a bit less one-size-fits all if it is to become valued by officers rather than treated with the luke-warm reception it currently gets.
In terms of training and resources ICU could do a lot better. We have a fantastic new website that contains all the information that officers need but it could be made slightly more user-friendly to save people a bit of time and effort. Over the past few years turnout at officer training has been poor due to the feeling that a lot of it is of little use. It needs to be streamlined so that the essentials are covered in less time and the training sessions are held at times less likely to clash with students other commitments.
A scheme that I would like to see set up that would help both clubs and the Union as a whole would be a scheme that provides an incentive for clubs to volunteer in the wider community. I think it would be a good thing if the Union provided a small amount of money to reward clubs who use their sporting, cultural or artistic expertise to assist in our local communities. This would be entirely optional and the money used would come from the Union Exec and not from the budgets of clubs who are unable to take part due to other commitments.

Elect me as President and I will:-

1.) Encourage further diversity in our clubs by continuing to allow faculties to set up and run their own clubs if they so wish.

2.) Prioritise the needs of clubs over the Union’s commercial services

3.) Set up a scheme to provide incentives for clubs to take part in volunteer work.

4.) Ensure that ICU Sports continue to be student led.

5.) Look at how officer training could be further streamlined. Their time is better spent running their clubs than viewing some tedious slide shows.