Hi, my name is Li and I’m a second year Software Engineering student. I’ve not been at BU long but I’ve already done quite a few things both for the university and for myself. In this blog, I want to showcase things you can get involved with beyond your degree while you study here.
Paid opportunities
As a Student Ambassador, you are friendly, outgoing and approachable. As a part of the job, you can get involved with many different teams within the Marketing & Communications department, such as:
- Open days & events: where you help with events which can range from open days to support hosting events for external companies.
- School Liaison Partnership: where you help run activities put on for school children ranging from primary school up to sixth form, be it on Talbot campus or at their schools.
- Unibuddy: you get a chance to speak to prospective students about your course and other questions they have for you, similar to open days but this could be anytime and day (you aren’t obligated to answer ASAP).
- Content Creation: where you can create content, be it blogs or vlogs for the university (that’s how I’m able to write this very blog).
- Future Student Enquiry Team: another job where you speak to prospective students in an office setting, you could be answering phone calls or emails where questions can range from entry requirements to scholarships and more.
- Clearing Helpline: working alongside the UK admissions team; you create, review and approve clearing applications.
The ResLife team has different opportunities you could get involved with. The key areas that ResLife targets are:
- Social: supporting inclusive activities that give students the best opportunity to meet as many new people as possible, such as video game tournaments or book clubs.
- Wellbeing: being a friendly face for students to speak to if they’re having troubles settling into uni or general wellbeing conversations.
- Skills: supporting to run activities that aid new students to settle into university life, like budgeting or healthy but tasty cooking.
Volunteer opportunities
There’s so many opportunities within SUBU you can get involved with.
- Clubs & Societies: you can volunteer by being a part of a society’s committee. The core roles being: President, Communications/Secretary, and Treasurer. Some societies have more roles, but it depends on the kind of society it is and the activities they do. Can’t find a society that peaks your interest? Make one! That’s what I did, it adds more experience because you went through the hardship of building a society from the ground up.
- Student Representative: be a voice for your fellow students, you get the opportunity to attend meetings on behalf of fellow students. There’s four different rep roles:
- Student Rep: where you attend departmental meetings.
- Department Rep: this is a step up where you could lead the departmental meetings and liaise with the Faculty Rep.
- Faculty Rep: another step up where you help look after the whole faculty you belong to and attend BU meetings.
- Faculty Officer: final step where you attend SUBU executive meetings.
There’s many opportunities within the local community you could also get involved in, if you don’t want to be on campus. SUBU has a webpage specifically for these local communities to advertise themselves to you, some of these could be targeted towards certain courses or interests which you might have!
With all these different opportunities available, there’s something for everyone regardless of your level of experience or interest! You just have to find the right opportunity for you.
7 ways to be social at university
Settling in and Support Services: My Experience
What joining a society will do for your social life at Uni
Part-time paid roles for students at BU… and their perks!
