Suffolk +

Suffolk +

 

Welcome to the suffolk plus award!

 

The Suffolk + Award is a tiered reward system and was created to recognise the hard work of our student volunteers and to help enhance their employability, both giving them a recognisable award and an opportunity to reflect on the skills they have developed throughout their volunteering. There are three components to the award:

  • Logging volunteering hours in Students’ Union volunteer roles (10 for Bronze, 25 for Silver, 50 for Gold) ·
  • Completing some learning and reflection on the University of Suffolk’s Future Me portal (1 hour per level) ·
  • Writing a written reflection on the skills they've learnt and the next steps for their employability

 

 

 

 

Interested in getting involved?

 

This is a great opportunity to get rewarded for all of the extra hours you put into your SU!

We want to assist you in becoming more recruitable to future employers and help you to recognised the skills you've gained throughout. Furthermore, we offer incentives depending on how many hours you've dedicated to the scheme.

You can accumulate hours throughout your entire university experience, so you have longer to work towards the award you want.

All of our awards are accompanied with an official SU certification:

 

Bronze

Rewards

 

10 hours volunteering

1 hour of Future Me

1 SU training course

 

 

- A premium SU insulated coffee mug

 

Silver

 Rewards

25 hours volunteering

2 hours of Future Me

1 SU training course

 

- A premium University hoodie 

 

 

Gold

 Rewards

 

50 hours volunteering

3 hours of Future Me

1 SU training course

 

- A ticket to the Summer Ball 2022

 

 

 

 

 

How to get involved:

 

Firstly, create your profile so we know who to reward (you'll need to be logged into the website to be able to do this). Then click on 'log hours' and you'll be presented with these catagories:
 

Student Committees Role

These are any sport/society/activities committees roles. You generally work closely with the Student Opportunities Coordinator. Some examples could be:

- Attending Activities Committee

- Committee meetings

- Events you've planned/hosted

- Collecting kit and managing forms

- Holding a stall at Freshers or maybe postering around campus.

Student Representation Role

These could be any elected post that you hold (Course Reps, Officers or Accomendation Reps, etc). You generally work closely with the Democracy and Representation Coordinator. Some examples could be:

- Attending Council

- Seeing to Sofia

- Volunteering at Officer events

- Dedicating time to a campaign

- Completing online training

Student Union Volunteer Role

This is anything else to do with volunteering. If you've assisted the SU in any way, or maybe worked closely with one department that doesn't fall in the catagories above, you can choose this role. Some examples could be:

- Active Wellbeing Volunteering

- Event assisting such as Summer Ball or Freshers

- Taking part in surveys

- Volunteering to help around the SU

- Extra Shop SU assistance

Skills

We believe that volunteering is an extremely rewarding activity, and throughout the process, you'll gain many skills. However, these skills need to be recognisable and reflected upon in order to make you more employable. That's why, as part of the reward, we ask you to identify what you've learnt and how you've applied it during your volunteering time.

We've already showcased what skills are useful for future opportunities, you just have to tick what applies to you. When finishing the award, we'll ask for a quick exploration on how the skills were adapted and used. 

You'll have the chance to download all the skills you've noted in your skills record, which is handy when it comes to writing a CV or as notes during an interview.

Training

You'll also be given the chance to undergo some training (for free!) as part of our employability module. Each tier requires you to do a certain amount in order to prepare you for future opportunities.

Future Me

As well as logging volunteering hours, we're also asking that you spend an hour per award level working on some Future Me content (please log your Future Me content in the hours log and title it Future Me) - this is to help you reflect on the skills you're developing through your volunteering work, and to generally help you enhance your employability.

Future Me is a set of online tools provided by the University to help students enhance their employability and skills, through a series of online activities.

You can spend an hour on any area of content you feel will help you most, but if you'd like some guidance on where to start, please email careers@uos.ac.uk

You can find out more and begin working on Future Me here: https://www.uos.ac.uk/content/futureme

The Award

Then success! You've reached your reward. Once you've reached your hours and submitted the extra requirements including the written reflective piece, we'll be notified. After a quick review, we'll contact you about all the great stuff you've won and how to receive it. Plus, you'll be able to download your very own SU certification.