Hey! How have you been? Since the last time I wrote to you, quite a lot has changed, and I thought it is wise to write to you again so that you are updated on things I’ve been involved with to ensure your interests and demands are continuously fought for.

Graduating International Students’ Visas

Since the start of September, there was panic in the air amongst international students who were due to graduate in September, as many had not received any confirmation from the university that their programme completion has been reported to UKVI for them to apply for their graduate route visa. Bearing in mind that the visas of many graduating students would end a day before their graduation. We had to intervene at different fronts to see that the students received their confirmation letters before their due dates and they were all able to apply!

A simlar experience was had from students whose visas were due in October and November. We intervened and got it sorted with the cooperation of the Senior management team in the university and the immigration team. We advocated at high level university committees like the Council, for processes to be put in place as to prevent this going forward. So that students are not constantly thrown into frustration and a state of panic. I'm happy to note that we have received feedback of some improvements in that regard as most of the International Students who are due to graduate in January have now received a confirmation of their programme completion being reported to UKVI!

Launch of Open Forum

Delivering on my manifesto promise that we will forge Roehampton Students Union to become a Union that will protect students’ interests at all times and ensure that not only will students’ voices be heard, the concerns raised by the voices will be acted upon to bring about changes. We launched the Open Forum in November and had another edition earlier in December, to listen to students voices unfiltered. The Open Forum is a monthly town hall styled meeting where all students from all four colleges come to dialogue with the Officers and staff of the Union on rising issues and concerns in the university. It is a safe space where students come to express their unfiltered opinion about their experiences on campus.

Some of the issues we have discussed and acted on from the forum include:

• Demand for extended open hours at the university library, 24/7 study spaces and request for additional layer of privacy in the library study rooms.
• Demand for a stress-free and seamless enrolment process.
• Improved accommodation maintenance culture: Availability of Service Level Agreement (SLA) on Service Desk to help manage expectations on maintenance requests and demand for constant communication on developments as regards requests put in by students.
• Accessible usage of service desk to automatically recognise students’ records when engaged.
• And much more, which you can find in our Open Forum roundup here

We have taken all these concerns discussed to different departments and committees of the university for action and feedback will be provided at the next Open Forum that will take place at Southlands College on Tuesday 10 February, 2026.

University Free Bus Service

On the back of the back of the conversation had at the Open Forum in November, a submission was made to the RSU President’s Committee to campaign for bringing back the free bus service and improving bus services that serves Roehampton community and it was adopted. We started consultation on it and got it up to the Vice Chancelor’s office to push for the free bus service to return. After several deliberations, we received a shocking revelation on the historical cost of running the bus service.

Before COVID, the annual cost of running the free bus service was around £100k. By 2022/23 it had risen to £200k, and in 2024/25 it reached £331k, even after the £100k contribution from Wandsworth Council which the university received for opening the bus to the public last year. Surprisingly, the cost given to run it this year had risen to £862k, which means it would cost about £7 per student per trip if the service is to keep running. The increase was said to be driven by fuel inflation, higher labour costs and the operator having to move to a more expensive depot. This sudden jump in price has made it unrealistic to run the free bus service this year. However, they are keen on working with us to see alternative provisions that can be made to mitigate cost of transportation for our commuting students.

I’ve met with Fleur Anderson, the MP for Putney to discuss the difficulties our students face commuting to the university, especially those using bus 265 route from Putney Bridge station to the university and all the way to Roehampton Asda which is frequented by our students for shopping. She has expressed her readiness to work with us to see that the situation is improved as she is currently campaigning for improvement of some bus service routes from Putney High Street down to Roehampton with TFL and the office of Mayor of London. Expect a survey that will be rolled out in the new year to give you a chance to you feed into this campaign by sharing your experiences using the different bus routes that lead to the university.

Affordable Food on Campus

In furtherance to the meetings had with our catering provider on campus (Elior) where a major part of our conversation was on making food more affordable to students in the university, they have now introduced several meal deals across all canteens on campus. These include:

• Buy a breakfast bap for £2.45 and add any coffee for £1
• Saver breakfast menu items for £1
• Buy a hot drink and get a pastry for £1.25
• Saver Jacket Potatoes from £2.50
• Meal deal for £3.95
• Free Syrup shot every Friday after 3pm with any coffee
• Add chips to your panini or soup for £1.25

They also have “Too good to Go” offers available at Froebel, Southlands and Whitelands colleges on selected days. Details can be found on the Too Good To Go app.

Black History Month (BHM) Campaign

Throughout the month of October, I led on some of the events and activities we delivered we delivered from the SU to commemorate the celebration of Black History Month. These include;

• Quiz Night
• Campus Tour 
• Movie Night with Discussion Panel
• Afrobeats, Bashment, Dancehall, Amapiano Night
• Arts Night

To recognise the population of Black students of African origin and their contribution to the university, I also campaigned for inclusion of some African languages among the many international languages used on the university’s welcome banners at main campus and at Whiteland College, and this has been approved. New designs have been made to accommodate the new languages, and we are expecting delivery of the new banners to be hoisted on campus between Christmas and new year.

Affordable Housing Campaign

Following the successful pilot of the shared room accommodation introduced by the university over summer, I’ve advocated for the model to be adopted on a larger scale so as create more affordable accommodations for our students. I’m happy to inform you that the university has agreed to this and work is now ongoing to make adequate provision for the conversion of the entire Newman House to shared room accommodation, to be ready for use by the time students return to school in January 2026.

In the same vein, I’ve proposed the “zero deposit” scheme to the university’s head of Off Campus Accommodation. This is a scheme that will reduce the burden of cost on our students that chose to stay in off campus accommodations by paying for just 1 week rent equivalent as security deposit instead of the 4-5 weeks payment they are currently paying when taking up new accommodations off campus. After a critical evaluation of the scheme, she has agreed to present it to the landlords the university currently has a working relationship with for consideration.

The Off Campus Accommodation team are also hosting the annual Accommodation Fair in the University in the new year from 3 to 5 March, 2026. This will be a great avenue for students to meet prospective landlords in Roehampton and its environ. It will also be a great place to learn about the breakdown of the new Renters Rights Act and what it means for student renters, which will come into implementation by May 2026. If you're interested in understanding the Renters Rights Act and how that might affect you, we put together an article that helps explain it!

Student Trustees Recruitment

As the Chair of RSU Board of Trustee, I was part of the interview panel that interviewed the shortlisted candidates for the vacant Student Trustee positions available in November. We received quite a great number of quality candidates that applied to be on the board. But at the end, we can only appoint 3 among them. The selected candidates were recommended to Presidents Committee for election and were unanimously elected before they were recommended to Board for approval and have been subsequently appointed to join the Board as Student Trustees on 16 December.

NUS England Conference

In November, we took a trip to Coventry to participate to be part of NUS England Conference, where student leaders from various universities across England came together to learn, exchange ideas and strategise on campaigning for students’ rights across the country. I was also privileged to listen to the thought-provoking keynote speech delivered by the Palestine ambassador to UK at the conference.

Meeting with MP for Putney, Southfields, Roehampton and Wandsworth Town (Fleur Anderson)

Getting to meet Fleur in November was a great opportunity to further champion students’ causes beyond the university environment. Apart from the issues surrounding transportation difficulties that our students currently face, we also touched down on the Alton Regeneration Project and how students could be engaged as partners in developing the scheme of works for the project. Alton Estate is where Whiteland College is situated and we also have a great number of our off-campus students residing in the estate. Introductions have been made with the Project Team and we are currently exploring the possibility of having at least a student representative on the Alton Community Panel.

On an end note, I just want to say a massive congratulations to you if you read this article all to this point, you are our most valued asset. Till the next time I write to you, keep warm and stay safe. Wishing you a merry Christmas and happy new year in advance.

Love,
Joshua.