Services and Facilities
The primary role of KCLSU is to provide student representation and advocacy. The Academic Advice service provides much of the individual advice and representation to students regarding academic issues and misconduct, while the democratic structures - which are made up of the elected Student Council (which includes Liberation Officers), and full-time Student Officers, who take a sabbatical year to work - enable the Union as a whole to express an opinion on almost any matter. However, like other students' unions, KCLSU does not affiliate to any political party or religious group.
KCLSU also provides almost all the sports clubs, societies and volunteering opportunities available at King's with over 50 sports clubs, 150 societies and thriving student-led Community Engagement and volunteering projects. In 2003-04, King's came top in the University of London Union overall sporting leagues and the medical school (which, like others, are permitted their own, separate teams) came third, showing the dedication to sporting excellence in London.
In recent years, KCLSU has waxed and waned as a service provider as the numbers of students at King's increased due to the various mergers of different colleges, but also as the spending profile of students has changed with the introduction of tuition fees in 1997, a drive towards a healthier lifestyle and now with the introduction of top-up fees in 2006-07. Following the closure of the student bar at St Thomas' Hospital in 2005 due to Health and Safety reasons, KCLSU currently operates two bars, one nightclub, over 5 rooms of indoor Student Activity Space, the King's shop, and a gym.
In October 2005, KCLSU was awarded the Investors in People standard. In January 2006, due to increased student concern for the global community, KCLSU took its two-year Fairtrade University campaign as a major priority. In March 2006, the Fairtrade Foundation awarded King's College London Fairtrade University status.
Read more about this topic: King's College London Students' Union
Famous quotes containing the words services and/or facilities:
“A good marriage ... is a sweet association in life: full of constancy, trust, and an infinite number of useful and solid services and mutual obligations.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)