Royal Holloway Students' Union exists for one reason, to make student life better for our members. To enable us to achieve this it's essential we're fully open and transparent so students understand how we work and the impact they can have through involvement in our work. At the top level, we're governed by our constitution and byelaws which sets out the rules and processes behind everything we do.
If these documents provide the rules of how we operate, our strategy provides the vision. Looking forward into the future, the aim of our strategy - named What's Next III - is to give the Students' Union a clear set of objectives (the key things we want to accomplish), values (behaviours that we want to uphold) and enablers (the infrastructure to achieve everything).
This then cascades down into our team operating plans. These are individual plans that every team in the organisation develops on an annual basis which identify a series of short, medium and long-term aims that link directly into our strategic plan. The goal being that achieving each of these smaller steps will help push us closer to the overall target.
And all of this is managed through a governance process made up of committees, executives and at the very top, the Board of Trustees. Good governance is vital to the success of any charity and ensures we meet all of our statutory requirements while also promoting a culture where everyone is pulling towards making our mission a success.
We're Autonomous From the University
While we receive a large portion of our funding direct from Royal Holloway, University of London, we're also a completely autonomous organisation with our own trustee board and charitable purpose. This ensures that we can always be focused on our mission and remain objective in lobbying on campus and beyond.
We're Led by Students
Students shape everything about the Students' Union and are always at the centre of our thinking. From our Trustee Board, which is made up of over 50% students including our sabbatical officer team and legally responsible for the Union, down to casual staff working in our venues, students are involved in every aspect of our work. In fact, we employ 400+ students, as well as having over 4000 involved in our various student communities.
Our Policies